Bun Thang (or Vermicelli with Chicken soup) is a typical dish of Vietnamese cuisine. It is said that Hanoi’s dishes are very complicate, sophisticated and delicate. Who has eaten Hanoi’s dishes once cannot forget the taste of these delicious dishes and still remain the memory about this land. And it is so true with “Bun Thang”.
1. The story of Bun Thang:
Bun Thang has played an important role as one traditional food in the food culture of Hanoian for many centuries. Its origin is from an ancient soup of Hanoi. This dish is made oftraditional ingredients such as dried shrimp, chicken, chicken bone, pork-pie and so on which show the clever, thrifty, cultivating of the old Hanoi women. The word “Thang” in Chinese means soup. Vermicelli with Chicken soup can be understood as "Vermicelli is soused by soup".
According to some sources, Bun Thang is a food which is cooked behind each Tet holiday, when every house burns the votives on the 4th. It is the day to see the ancestors out and also the day to finish the holiday. After that, what remains of Tet will bring out to do “Bun Thang”.
2. Ingredients and preparation:
Bun Thang is not a simple dish. To cook this dish, you have to prepare ingredients sophisticatedly:
- Vermicelli. The vermicelli is selected must be the tangled kind.
- Chicken.
- Duck eggs.
- Bone tube, usually chicken bones.
- Pork-pie.
- Dried shrimp.
- Fresh shrimp.
- Onion, leafy vegetable, ginger, field mushroom, dried radish.
- Shrimp paste, fish sauce, seasoning, sugar and vinegar.
3. Cooking method:
- Chop the pork-pie into long and thin strands.
- Wash herbs and chop into small pieces.
- Pound ginger and dried onion.
- Boil the chicken. When water is boiled, add one spoon of seasoning, dried onion and ginger. Boiling chicken with the low temparature until it is done (within 30 minutes).
- When the chicken is cooked, tear the meat into small pieces.
- Boil the bone tubes, remove the first broth. After that, roast the bones with a spice spoon. Add the boiled chicken’s broth in order to soften the bones.
- Roast the dried shrimp, then add it with field mushroom into the broth. Put one more sugar spoon too. Simmer this broth in 3 hours.
- Smash the eggs into big bowl, then beat and fry it. Chop fried eggs into thin strands.
- Boil fresh shrimps with a little water. When the shrimps are cooked, peel the skin and pound. Roast with a spoon of cooking oil and a spoon of fish sauce.
- Soak the dried radish in warm water in about 30 minutes. Then wash it again with the cool water, mix well with 2 spoon of vinegar, 1 spoon of sugar and soak this mixture within 30 minutes.
4. How to enjoy “Bun Thang” as a Hanoian:
When enjoying “Bun Thang”, you have to put all cooked ingredients on top of the vermicelli in a big bowl, then souse the hot broth.
Hanoian always taste “Bun Thang” when it is still hot in order to feel the savory of broth and the aroma of ingredients. Hanoian also add shrimp paste when eating “Bun Thang” as an indispensable spice. Shrimp paste is considered as a charm of this dish.
5. Notable restaurants:
Around Hanoi, there are many famous “Bun Thang” restaurants such as:
- Bun Thang Ba Duc at 48 Cau Go street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi. The cost of one bowl is 35.000VND.
- Bun Thang Thuan Ly at 33 Hang Hom street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi. Each bowl’s price is 30.000VND.
- Bun Thang at 29 Hang Hanh street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi. The price for per bowl is 30.000VND.
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Tour relate:
- Hanoi City Tour and cooking class.
- Hanoi traditional village tour
