When mentioning Hai Phong, many people often immediately think of banh da cua. But for gourmets, mixed banh da ngan is the perfect favorite dish for a full- flavor food tour.
Hai Phong mixed rice paper uses small, tough white rice paper - a specialty cake of the land of Cang, famous for its beautiful color and moderate softness. The cake is thoroughly steeped in water, not broken, and not too harsh.
The gourd meat is selected from fatty, firm, boiled gourd to preserve its natural sweetness, then thinly sliced to taste.
Accompanying rice paper and sugarcane is indispensable with sour bamboo shoots, fresh herbs and a little yellow fried onions, giving off a fragrant aroma, creating a harmonious and attractive blend of flavors.
If in the regular version of banh da nuoc, the di ngan is always included in the cake with banh da and the broth is poured, then Hai Phong's mixed banh da ngan has another way to enjoy it.
After filtering all the bones, the goose meat is mixed with onions, herbs and poured into sweet and sour dipping sauce. The special thing that makes Hai Phong mixed banh da to conquer diners is the bowl of sweet and sour dipping sauce.
Each restaurant has its own secret, but together they achieve a balance between the sour taste, sweetness and a little bit of the spicy taste of fresh chili. When pouring the broth into the rice paper bowl, all the ingredients are mixed together, awakening all the senses, making it impossible for the diner to stop the chopsticks.
The price of a bowl of mixed banh da ngan is very "petty", from only 40,000 VND, suitable for all subjects, from students, office workers to tourists. The shops selling this dish are often small, popular shops, without elaborate signs but always bustling with customers coming and going.
Diners can easily find mixed banh da ngan on familiar streets such as Le Loi, Cat Dai, Lach Tray or small alleys near traditional markets.
A multi-dining cake shop known to many people is modestly located in lane 73 Dien Bien Phu, Hong Bang district. No need for grand signs or big advertisements, just a delicious bowl of mixed banh da and the hospitality of the restaurant owner is enough for diners to pass on to each other.
After enjoying this light but filling early-day dish, you still have a belly to continue "traveling" to discover countless other delicious dishes of Hai Phong such as spicy fish noodle soup, spicy fish sauce, fruit-bearing yogurt or cool green worm sweet soup. This is the way many "landlords" of cuisine intertwine to have a Hai Phong food tour that is both filling and experienced with the most flavors.
