Nam Vang Noodle (hủ tiếu Nam Vang)

Along with Phở (Beef noodle) this's also my favorite, but I need to tell you it's more expensive than Phở because of a big shrimp they serve in it!
Talking about the name why they call Nam Vang, first of all - Nam Vang is Phnom Penh , so this noodle could be originated 100% from our neighbor - Cambodia!
Or maybe it was created by Cambodian chef during living in Vietnam! No idea! Someone said it was created in Cambodia by a Chinese! Maybe!

Hu tieu Nam Vang (with soup) 

Anyway nowadays this noodle became a part of our eating tradition, we can eat in the morning, afternoon or late at night! Whenever we feel we like to eat!
Different from Phở, the soup for this noodle is pork base, with minced pork, big poached shrimp, some pork's parts as liver, intestine, small poached egg... and with fried minced garlic. The vegetable to go with this noodle is also different from Phở.
Just remember we also have another noodle - quite similar to this, called "Hủ tiếu Mỹ Tho" - noodle from Mỹ Tho (a town in Mekong Delta), long time ago, with one older friend I tried Hủ tiếu Mỹ Tho in Tôn Thất Thiệp, Thanh Xuân - name of the shop - at that time it was very crowded, but today, still there, but in much smaller scale and empty! Time changed? Many bars, coffee, ice-cream shops nearby for upscaled customers!

Celery always with Hu tieu Nam Vang

The taste of Nam Vang noodle is a bit sweet (it explains why at some place on the table we find a box of sugar for us to add to the soup! I never do), but I do like it, maybe of the flavor from the pork's liver, I like also shrimp, it's specially good at Liến Hứa shop in Võ Văn Tần St. I like to put celery (rau cần) to this soup, the celery flavor goes very well with this noodle.

Specially for this noodle that you can order two versions(!): dry (khô - without soup) and water (nước i.e with soup!), for dry version they mix the noodle with soy sauce, and serve you with separated small bowl of soup, you can eat just noodle first and taste the soup later! Dry version is good, but for me I always order "double" noodle otherwise it looks very "small" portion!

Hu Tieu Nam Vang without soup but with soy sauce

Where to have the best Nam Vang noodle in Saigon?
I would recommend Liến Hứa in Võ Văn Tần (here quite expensive, 60-70k VND - 3,5 USD per bowl!) or you can try more affordable shop in Nguyễn Trải St. near to Phạm Ngũ Lão (backpack area!), they sell till very late after midnight!
At Lien Hua shop they still serve with some side dish to eat with this noodle: meat ball (xíu mại), char kway (giò cháo quẩy, a kind of fried dough, very popular in Asia, esp. in China, Hongkong and SEA)...

Meat ball (xiu mai)

Giò cháo quẩy (char kway) and bánh tiêu (kind of fried dough)