Cuisine

Bun dau mam tom is perhaps one of the most ordinary dishes of Hanoi, because of its taste, way to serve and even how it is sold. For a long time people in Hanoi have been familiar with the images of young women with a shoulder pole carrying a stove, a pan, rice vermicelli, vegetables, tofu, cucumbers, bowls and plates, vinegar with chilies and garlic, shrimp paste, cooking oil, a dozen of plastic stools… creating a mobile food stall selling bun dau mam tom.

From morning till afternoon, especially around noon, many people can be seen surrounding a bun dau shoulder pole with a sizzling pan filled with greasy, spongy golden cubes of tofu. The seller, while talking with her customers, skillfully does her work, picking up tofu or vegetables with a pair of chopsticks, making shrimp paste sauce, slicing cucumbers, cutting rice vermicelli or arranging the bowls and plates… Cubes of tofu from Mo village are deep-fried until golden and spongy. Goodshrimp paste is mixed with vinegar, sugar and fresh lime juice until bubbles appear, when boiling cooking oil and some slices of bird’s chili are added. The white, thin rice vermicelli from Phu Do is formed into fist-size rolls, p l a c e d neatly inside a round basket, under a layer of banana leaf. The owner gently cuts each roll into smaller pieces and places them in a corner of a plate, then cuts the tofu and places them beside, before completing the dish with such herbs as Vietnamese balm, water mint from Lang, coriander and perilla. Everything is placed on a flat bamboo basket and presented to customers. Trying a piece of rice vermicelli with a cube of tofu and Vietnamese balm dipped in shrimp paste sauce, you can feel the cooling rice vermicelli, the hot cube of tofu, crispy and soft at the same time, and the beautiful harmony coming from the taste of tofu, shrimp paste, lime juice, perilla and bird’s chilies. Recommended places: - 31st Alley, Hang Khay Str., Hoan Kiem Dist. - Trang Tien Alley, Hoan Kiem Dist. - 49 Phat Loc Alley, Hoan Kiem Dist.