Best Central Vietnamese Foods You Need To Try

Central Vietnam has its own spicy, strongly-flavored cuisine, distinct from the Chinese-influenced fare of the North and the light tropical flavors in the steamy South.

Hue, capital city of the ancient Nguyen empire, is famed for its imperial cuisine—a banquet-style procession of elaborate dishes—but it also boasts a colorful, snack-heavy street food culture. Hoi An, a historic trading port-turned Unesco World Heritage site, is influenced by a confluence of Vietnamese-Japanese-Chinese-Mediterranean cuisine, and is home to both a noodle soup of mythical proportions and what might be the best bahn mi in all of Vietnam.

Between the two cities, there are enough unique dishes to almost make you forget about the food other parts of Vietnam.

Top Famous Central Vietnamese Foods

Banh Ep

The ingredients for banh ep are eggs, garlic, green onion, pork, and shrimp

The ingredients for banh ep are eggs, garlic, green onion, pork, and shrimp. It is served with cucumber, carrot and green papaya shreds, and fish sauce. The combination of the light flavors of the papaya and carrot with the meatiness of the dipped pork makes for a delicious combination.

Banh Trang Trung 

Banh trang trung is one of the top famous central Vietnamese foods

The preparation involves cracking the eggs out of their shells and spreading the yolk mixture over the crispy rice cracker. Next, chopped scallions, minced pork, and shrimp are added, and the entire mixture is cooked over hot coals while various sauces are poured over it to create a vibrant dish of rice pizzas.

Banh Beo

 Banh beo is a popular street snack

A taste of Hue’s imperial cuisine minus the pomp and ceremony, banh beo—steamed glutinous rice cakes with shrimp and pork rinds—are a popular street snack. You’ll see stacks of empty two-bite bowls piled high on certain corners, though there are also restaurants that specialize in different varieties of miniature steamed banh.

Banh Khoai

Banh khoai are like the smaller cousin of southern Vietnam’s famed banh xeo

Yet another pancake-family Hue specialty, banh khoai are like the smaller cousin of southern Vietnam’s famed banh xeo. The crisp yellow shell is made from an egg and rice flour batter, which is folded around slices of barbecue pork, sausage and shrimp, then topped with pickled vegetables and fresh bean sprouts.

Bun Bo Hue

Bun Bo Hue is among the most typical dishes in Hue

Bun Bo Hue is a popular vermicelli soup and one of the most typical dishes in Hue. The broth is made for a long time with beef and bones, then chili and lemon grass are added. Thin slices of beef, chunks of boiled oxtail, pig's knuckles, or pork are placed inside the bowl, and the dish is typically served with a lot of herbs.

Bun Thit Nuong

Bun thit nuong is all over Hue

A cool vermicelli noodle salad laced with tangy nuoc cham, pickled vegetables, bean sprout and fresh herbs, topped with delicious smoky-sweet grilled pork and a scattering of crushed peanuts. Bun thit nuong is all over Hue (and much of Vietnam in general), but the trick is finding a restaurant or vendor with superior pork.

Nem Lui Hue

Nem lui Hue is a novel new take on the “meat-on-a-stick” idea

A novel new take on the “meat-on-a-stick” idea: ground pork is molded around lemongrass stalks and charcoal-grilled, then served with raw veggies (starfruit!), fresh lettuce and herbs, and a viscous peanut and pork liver dipping sauce.

Com Hen and Bun Hen

Com Hen and Bun Hen

Hen are tiny freshwater clams, beloved in Hue as a topping (along with everything else on this platter—pork rinds, roast peanuts, crushed garlic, shrimp paste, etc)—to rice (“com”) or vermicelli noodles (“bun”). The finishing touch is a ladle full of clam broth and a handful of torn cilantro.

Vegetarian Delight

Hue is also the historic capital of vegetarianism in Vietnam

Hue is also the historic capital of vegetarianism in Vietnam, and there are several health-minded veg restaurants in town. This simple stir-fry of fresh corn, mushrooms and scallions was a much-needed break from all the grilled pork.

Cao Lau

Cao lau is hawked on every corner in Hoi An

Hoi An’s most famous dish, and one only available in this tiny town, thanks to a generations-old legend stipulating that the noodles can only be made with water from a special, bottomless local well. Cau lao is hawked on every corner in Hoi An, and while I doubt every bowl is made with this special water, most renditions are still delicious: thick udon-esque wheat noodles in a smidge of ultra-rich pork broth, with roast pork, fresh herbs and fried noodle “croutons” for crunch on top.

White Rose Dumplings

White rose dumplings

Named for their supposed resemblance to the flower, these delicate steamed dumplings are filled with shrimp and pork, then topped with crunchy fried shallots and served with a sweet dipping sauce. Like cao lau, the translucent wrapper dough is supposed to be made with the special well water, so white roses are a dumpling variety native to Hoi An and Hoi An alone.

Fried Wontons

Fried wontons are almost like Vietnamese nachos

On the complete opposite of the dumpling spectrum in Hoi An are these deep-fried wontons, which are almost like Vietnamese nachos. The wonton filling is minimal—this dish is really just a vehicle for the sweet-and-sour tomato/pepper/onion/shrimp topping, which wasn’t all that different from the Chinese.

Com Ga, aka Chicken Rice

Com Ga, aka Chicken Rice

A close cousin to the Hainanese dish of the same name (and likely a holdover from Chinese traders in Hoi An centuries ago), Hoi An’s com ga features shredded chicken mixed with herbs and copious amounts of raw onion, served over rice that’s been cooked in chicken broth and pickled veggies on the side.

Banh Mi Phuong

Hoi An Banh mi Phuong

Let’s just get this out of the way: yes, Anthony Bourdain featured the banh mi from Hoi An’s Banh Mi Phuong on “No Reservations” a few years back, so the stall isn’t exactly a hidden gem, but their sandwich remains, quite simply, the Platonic ideal of banh mi perfection. I am still dreaming of this thing: a manageably-sized, crusty-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside baguette with carefully arranged meats, a light-handed scattering of pickled vegs, and Phuong’s secret weapon: an addictive hand-ground chile sauce on top.