Da Nang shows off a rich and flavourful street food background. In particular, dishes such as ‘banh beo’ (Vietnamese bloating fern-shaped cake), ‘banh can’(little round pancake made of rice flour, eggs and shrimp and served with dipping sauce and herbs) and ‘oc hut’ (sucking snails) served with a spicy ginger fish sauce have become highly attractive dishes for both locals and tourists. Despite being small, food stalls have always kept their diners on their toes.

Young people cherish ‘oc hut’ as an attractive street food. Photo: T.Y

Extensive menu

Strolling around the city, it is not difficult to see snack shops located along the streets. Small cabinets, tables and chairs are nestled under the porch, on the sidewalk, after trying to leave a small space for pedestrians to pass by. The idyllic, simple but close, intimate space has raised many poor families in the heart of the city.

The small stall of ‘ram cuon cai’ (fried spring roll in cabbage)  helps the family of Mrs. Trinh Thi Hoa from Thanh Binh Ward, Hai Chau District make ends meet. Every day, around 3.00 pm, she leaves her rented room in an alley on Ong Ich Khiem Street for a section of pavement to display yummy ‘ram cuon cai’ for sale. Every day, she makes about 300 pieces of ‘ram cuon cai’, selling in a plate of 10 rolls served with raw vegetables, sweet and sour fish sauce at only VND 25,000.

Mrs. Hoa’s stall is always crowded with customers, especially young people. To keep regular customers, she has always been strongly dedicated to her craft. The woman usually goes to the market every day to buy meat, mushrooms, vermicelli, bean molds, purple potatoes for preliminary processing, and rolls them with rice paper.

Each crispy roll is brewed in a thermos container, served with green vegetables and a cup of sweet and spicy fish sauce. Not attaching too much importance to eye-catching texture, her dish leans to quality, enough to bring up a very unique flavour.

Da Nang is also the ideal land of ‘oc hut’ and ‘goi mit tron’ (Vietnamese young jackfruit salad), served with grilled rice paper with chili sauce. Located at the end of 47 Ly Thai To, an eatery that serve these street food prepared according to the recipe of the Quang people, is always packed with dinner. Nearly 40 years ago, Ms. Nguyen Thi Mong set up a small table on the sidewalk selling ‘goi mit tron’ to earn money to support her life.

The eatery is small, without a signboard, but young people in Da Nang still rush here. The crunchy sweet taste of jackfruit, the chewy taste of pork skin, the spicy aroma of chili sauce, the fat of roasted peanuts mixed with the spicy and sour spices together make mixed jackfruit become a favourite dish of many people, especially young gourmets.

Each plate of mixed jackfruit or pork skin costs from VND15,000 - 20,000, served with VND3,000 rice paper.

At the age of 82, Ms. Mong still maintains a jackfruit salad stall but she has 2 more assistants who are descendants of the family. To keep the food fresh, as long as the guests make orders, she just starts to taste the spices. Skillful hands pick each ingredient into the bowl before mixing it like a real 5-star chef.

Coming here at peak hours, especially late afternoon, sometimes diners have to wait because there are not enough tables and chairs.

Not fussy, ornate, street food woos diners by its simplicity, deliciousness and becomes the main source of income for many families. Nguyen Thiep Street, An Hai Tay Ward, Son Tra District is more than 100m long but there are more than 30 sidewalk stalls selling all kinds of street food such as ‘oc hut’, ‘goi mit tron’ and especially the famous salted yogurt. Perhaps, it is hard to find yogurt served with a cup of fine salt in a way that blends the sweet and cool taste of yogurt with the salty, bar of salt elsewhere in Viet Nam.

It is known that the salted yogurt dish originated from Mrs. Pham Thi Loi, the owner of ‘Bon mua’ (Four Seasons) restaurant. According to her, in 1998, her friend showed her a recipe to make yogurt to prevent colds. She tried to eat yogurt with salt and found it delicious, so she decided to open a small shop selling salted yogurt and cold jackfruit.

From a la side job, selling salted yogurt became Ms. Loi's main source of income when the shop has increasingly crowded.

Planning needed to raise level of delicious food

If you are a lover of street food, you should not miss concentrated addresses such as Helio and Son Tra and Hoa Khanh night markets or similar ones along Pham Hong Thai, Huynh Thuc Khang, Phan Tu, Ong Ich Khiem, Ngo Van So, Dong Da, Nhu Nguyet and Nguyen Thiep.

In particular, the Helio night market is compared by young people to a "food paradise" when focusing on dozens of attractive, eye-catching street foods  such as ‘bun tron’ (mixed vermicelli), ‘goi cuon’ (spring rolls), sushi, ‘cao lau’, ‘ banh xeo’ pancakes, Quang noodles, grilled grilled octopus and duck eggs served with chili sauce, ice cream and tropical fruits. Bright colour, irresistible aroma, bustling space, concentrated shops together make this site more highly attractive than ever.

Nguyen Hiep, who sells ‘banh trang kep’ (grilled, folded rice paper) at the Helio night market, said that the centralised planning of snack shops makes his business more stable. Every night, he sells 50-100 cakes topped with eggs, rolls, fried onions and greasy sauce for only VND25,000. Except for fees, the man can pocket VND 300,000 - 500,000.

According to Hiep, it is often assumed that street snacks are only for young people, but after years of touting for business here, he found that about 30% of the visitors to Helio night market are elderly. They go with their children and grandchildren and order the same food. “I am quite excited to serve older customers because this means that street food can conquer all groups of age,” said Hiep.

Chef Vo Quoc, the founder of the publication ‘Vietnamese Delicious’ that introduces Vietnamese dishes, affirms that Vietnamese street food is not inferior to any other country in the world, but they have yet to be evaluated and well-planned to earn commensurate potential. This is partly due to the community culture that only considers street food as snacks. On the other hand, street food is being sold on a temporary basis, in small shops and sidewalk stalls, with insufficient promotion potential, so it is difficult to control food safety and hygiene.

In perspectives of Mr. Bui Van Tieng, Chairman of the Da Nang Union of Literature and Arts Associations, in order to create a vibrant and colorful urban face, it is still necessary to earmark dedicated areas exclusively for street food and consider it as an integral part of the modern civilised urban landscape.

Like big cities such as Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang converges delicious dishes of the 3 main Vietnamese regions to meet the diverse needs of people for cuisine enjoyment. In that development trend, many street foods are automatically present in luxury restaurants.

For instance, ‘banh xeo’ sourced in Central Viet Nam, has been transformed and enhanced to the delicious dish at the ‘Am thuc Xeo’ (Xeo Cuisine) restaurant, when the filling layer is no longer encapsulated in traditional shrimp, pork, bean sprouts as traditionally  but with squid, beef, mushrooms, pork rim, even lobsters. It can be said that street food, whether on the sidewalk or present in luxury restaurants, still retains its attractive and delicious tastes, contributing to creating a colourful culinary picture.

Reporting by TIEU YEN - Translating by A.THU