Bun dau mam tom will make you drool with its perfect combination of fermented shrimp paste, rice vermicelli, protein ingredients and local fresh herbs. Don’t miss the chance to taste this unique and flavorful dish during your trip to the S-shaped country.
During your Vietnam trip, besides visiting famous tourist attractions, enjoying Vietnamese bun dau mam tom should be one of the top activities on your bucket list. This special dish features the typical characteristics of the S-shaped country’s cuisine. Read on to discover the flavor of bun dau mam tom and some fantastic restaurants serving this attractive delicacy.
1. What’s special about the bun dau mam tom recipe?
Bun dau mam tom is one of the most well-known dishes in Vietnamese cuisine in general and Hanoi cuisine in particular. As the name suggests, this dish consists of vermicelli, deep-fried tofu, and fermented shrimp paste. Traditionally, this dish features clumps of soft tangled rice vermicelli and the best tofu from the then Mo Village. Now, many other kinds of toppings are available to be enjoyed, including boiled pig’s leg, pork belly, pig offal, green rice, pork nuggets, and fried spring rolls.
The traditional version of Bun dau mam tom
The side dish of this special Vietnamese food consists of fresh herbs and vegetables, such as fish mint, perilla leaf, basil, oregano, and cucumber. The dipping sauce – mam tom or shrimp paste – is the feature of this dish. It has a distinct pungent taste that goes extremely well with all the toppings. People who are not used to shrimp paste can use fish sauce with chili and lemon extract instead.
2. The proper way to enjoy bun dau mam tom Vietnam
Carefully taste the shrimp sauce
Mam tom plays an important role in each meal, it’s the element to decide whether the food is tasty or tasteless. Before giving the mam tom to each customer, the chef pours a little boiling oil into the sauce to make sure the shrimp paste will ripe and smell perfect. They also put sugar with enough quantity as their experience. Therefore, some restaurants have more delicious bun dau mam tom than others because of the sauce recipe.
Now, it’s your mission to add kumquat to your sauce by yourself. At this decisive moment, you have to taste the paste carefully. For example, sometimes, if the paste is too sweet for you, then you should add more sugar into the sauce; if it’s not sour enough, you should add more kumquat drops. Additionally, there is sugar, kumquat, and fish sauce,… on each table, so you can easily add more spices as long as it’s perfect for your taste!
Stirred fermented shrimp paste
Eat with herbs
Although the taste of shrimp taste is great, the smell of it is undeniably uncomfortable. Therefore, while having bun dau, don’t forget to have some herbs such as coriander, basil, oregano, and some perilla leaves. During the meal, the herbs can have you reduce the smell and make each bite more delicious with the combination of many flavors.
3. The Difference Between Bun Dau Mam Tom and Other Kinds of Noodles
Bun dau mam tom doesn’t have the broth like other noodles such as pho, bun thang, or Cao Lau,… The main sauce of this food is shrimp sauce, which is saltier than other kinds of noodles. However, that’s why bun dau mam tom becomes so special: the sauce can enhance other ingredients’ taste.
Besides, bun dau mam tom is a kind of seasonal food. The most suitable time for Bun dau mam tom is summer because this food does not contain hot broth and some herbs as an ingredient are in the best period. So instead of sipping a spoon of broth, you can order some reduced-temperature water such as a soaked apricot drink or soaked crocodile water for a more savory meal.
On the worldwide culinary map, bun dau mam tom has not got any rewards, but in almost Vietnamese hearts, it’s a delicious, impressive, and unreplaceable food. For a local Vietnamese, nothing is happier than relaxing in lunch with some chat and chit conversation while having bun dau mam tom in the small eatery. If you want to experience local life, let’s try bun dau mam tom at least once! We hope that the tips and information above will help you to enjoy Bun dau mam tom restaurant in Vietnam entirely