Local foods for your Hue trip, what to eat?

Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam's Nguyen Dynasty, is now one of the tourist attractions attracting domestic and foreign traveller. Besides the ancient mausoleums, imperial citadel, and traditional craft villages, Hue also has an attractive and rich cuisine. You come to Hue and you wonder what to eat in a day since there are too many choices. Let's choose a menu of dishes in a day in Hue!

Menu for Hue trip, what to eat?

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1. Hue food for breakfast

What better way to start a day of exploring Hue's culture than to eat a famous dish of Hue? The first choice for breakfast is Bun Bo Hue! Hot bowls of beef noodle soup, full of side dishes such as pork leg, vegetables, oxtail, etc. And especially the sweet, flavourful broth with the “Mam ruoc” (a thin paste of small shrimps) will be a full-energy start for you to explore the ancient capital all day long.

Address to enjoy Bun Bo Hue food for breakfast: Me Keo – 20 Bach Dang, Ba Tuyet – 47 Nguyen Cong Tru, Cam – 45 Le Loi, etc.

Bun Bo Hue - a famous local food in Hue

Another attractive option for breakfast in Hue is mussel rice or mussel vermicelli. This is a traditional breakfast dish of Hue people, but for tourists, it is exotic. A serving of this dish will include peanuts, pork rind, vegetables, star fruit and mussels that are seasoned. The combination of sweet and sour flavours will help you get a gentle, fresh start in the ancient capital. Hoa Dong mussel rice & mussel vermicelli restaurant at 64 Alley 7 Ung Binh, Vy Da, or the restaurant at 17 Han Mac Tu are the places that are worth visiting.  

Mussel rice in Hue - Com Hen

If you are an explorer and want to taste the authentic foods, then you can also opt sticky rice with Hon meat for breakfast. This breakfast dish is one of a kind in Hue. It is delicious sticky rice mixed with sweet and fatty pork legs. It is not too greasy because of less fat, but is still soft enough not to feel dry because of lots of lean meat. The buttery taste of peanuts will be the ingredient added to the uniqueness of the dish. This choice will help you have a sweet start to the day in Hue.  The address to enjoy this dish is at 10 Pham Hong Thai, and 75A Nhat Le, Hue.

2. Hue food for lunch

By noon, it's time for you to end a morning roaming the streets of the Hue ancient capital and recharge your batteries for an afternoon of discovery that awaits you. So what's on the Hue food for lunch?

One of the most famous and attractive dishes in Hue is traditional cakes, which can be mentioned as Nam, Ram it, Beo or Bot Loc. You can find restaurants selling these famous cakes and recharge there. Banh Bot Loc (tapioca ravioli) is wrapped smooth and you can see the layer of shrimp meat just below. Banh Nam and Banh Beo are typical of Hue flavour that you won't find anywhere else. The Ram it cake is excellent with two colours, yellow and white, dotted with green onions and red shrimps. Surely, these cakes will make you satisfied because they are not only delicious but also very beautiful and filling! You can visit O Le restaurant at Alley 104 Kim Long, Chi at 65 Nguyen Trai, or Mrs Cu – An Dinh Palace at 177 Phan Dinh Phung.

Banh Beo in Hue

Local food for lunch in Hue also has a very scary-sounding rice dish, which is Am Phu rice – Hell rice. The name of this rice dish is a bit scary, but it tastes so yummy. It is known that when the king disguised himself as a commoner to go on a pilgrimage, in the evening, the king stopped at an old widow's roadside restaurant. She offered him a bowl of white rice, in which a variety of vegetables were arranged around. Nostalgic for that simple taste, the king ordered his chef to re-process it. The rice dish of Hell comes from there.

A meal of Hell rice will be decorated with 7 colours from 7 different dishes that are very artistic and delicious. Made from very normal dishes, it is the fullness of the rice plate that many people choose as a lunch dish in Hue. Some of the addresses we would like to introduce to you are the Hell rice restaurant at 51 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Am Phu Hue 54 at 54 Phan Chau Trinh, or ABC at 48 Ngo Quyen.

Hell rice- a delicious local food in Hue city

Hue is also the land of Buddha, so vegetarian restaurants are also part of Hue cuisine. The vegetarian menu in Hue is very diverse and rich with delicious and healthy vegetarian dishes. You will have many choices if you want to enjoy vegetarian dishes. All vegetarian dishes here are made with tapioca starch, which enhances its taste. If you want to enjoy a refreshing lunch with vegetarian dishes, remember to pocket the address of these vegetarian restaurants: Lien Hoa 3 Le Quy Don, Thanh Lieu 50 Nguyen Cong Tru, or Tinh Quan 2 Tran Cao Van.

3. Hue food for supper

After a long day of exploring Hue, you should try learning the habit of eating snacks among Hue people in particular and Vietnamese people in general. Light yet delicious and refreshing dishes are always a good choice before dinner time.

Hue has always been famous for sweet soup dishes, and the most famous and unique is the sweet soup with grilled pork wrapped in cassava flour. Soft, chewy grilled pork is wrapped in cassava flour combined with sweet alum sugar soup, along with the mild spicy taste of ginger. The combination does not seem to be real, but it is super delicious and blends together to create an unforgettable taste. In addition to this sweet soup, you can also enjoy other dishes sold at the shop. Some popular sweet soup shops are Snacks 169 at 169 Tran Phu, or Hue alley sweet soup - 1/29 Hung Vuong.

Sweet soup or Che Hue

Another equally wonderful dish for a snack is Banh ep - pressed cake. Pressed cake is quite similar to Bot Loc cake, but the processing is somewhat simpler. The filling consists of pork, pate, egg, etc… The cake is served with spicy and sour fish sauce combined with coriander, cucumbers and carrots, which forms an extremely delightful flavour. This must be the cheapest delicious dish of Hue cuisine that you should try. You can visit the following eateries to enjoy, including Gia Di – 4 Phung Chi Kien, Chi Xi – 107 Nhat Le, or King of Banh Ep- 1/64 Nguyen Sinh Cung.

4. Hue food for dinner

For dinner, we have some options for you as well.

Nem Lui Hue is a popular dish among many foodies when they visit Hue. The delicious and rich flavour of this dish makes many gourmands fall in love the first time they enjoy it. Although Nem Lui is available in many places, only when you come to Hue can you feel all the unique flavours which cannot be confused with flavours anywhere else. If Nem Lui in other places are eaten with sweet and sour fish sauce, Hue spring rolls are dipped in "Leo" sauce. This sauce is rich, thick and delicious and is considered the soul of the dish. Some places we would like to recommend to enjoy this dish are Nem Lui Ba Ty 81 Dao Duy Tu, Thu Luong 36 Nguyen Du, Hong Mai 110 Dinh Tien Hoang, etc.

Nem Lui  Hue - attracts many tourists to enjoy this local food

Another suggestion is Nam Pho noodle soup. This dish is made from Banh canh - a mixture of rice and tapioca flour, shrimp, crab, spring rolls and some accompanying herbs. The reason for the name Nam Pho noodle soup is that this is an heirloom dish of Nam Pho village, Phu Thuong commune, Phu Vang district, and Thua Thien Hue province (now Phu Thuong ward, Hue City). You will enjoy the rich, unique flavour, and you will be assured that once you taste it, you will remember it forever. This is known as a delicious, cheap dinner in Hue, which is suitable for almost everyone's taste. If you want to enjoy this unique noodle soup, you can visit the following addresses: 16 Pham Hong Thai, 374 Chi Lang, 54 Nguyen Cong Tru, etc.

Nam Pho noodle sup

A different and interesting option for dinner in Hue is vermicelli noodles with fermented fish sauce – Bun mam nem, which has a strong Hue flavour. The unique feature of this dish lies in the special seasoning of fermented fish sauce, which is both sour and fragrant. Eating the dish with a lot of raw vegetables, making the flavour bold and refreshing, you will not be able to stop eating. Some restaurants for you to enjoy delicious seasoned vermicelli noodles in Hue are O Be 1 Phan Dang Luu, 35 Nguyen Truong To, etc.

Hope that you will be able to choose your own menu of dishes in Hue. Let's share with Ama Journey about your food tour experience in this beautiful city!

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