Vietnamese udon in Hue style!

It's funny when I realize a combination of three facts in the name of this post: Vietnamese, udon (Japanese) and Hue style (central Vietnam)!
I always call bánh canh - Vietnamese udon, I tried different bánh canh in Sài gòn but few days ago for the first time I tried bánh canh in Huế style! Quite different from the others, esp. the soup and bánh canh itself.

Bánh canh in Huế style here - the noodles are very glutinous, quite sticky but tasty! Usually we have other bánh canh with crab, flower crab or pork knuckle, even famous bánh canh with snakehead - the noodles are different, softer and not that glutinous! I quite like it when chewy it my mouth! The glutinous texture reminds me of another famous traditional savory cake from Huế "bánh bột lọc"!

Here bánh canh is served with crab meat ball that you see in the above photo, some cooked shrimps (they are quite tiny so I missed to take photos!) and pork knuckle! The soup is spicy, but not very so don't worry if you are not chili lover! Tasty but to me a bit salty for the early morning! Usually we say later in the day the soup may be saltier but we went there around 8:30 in the morning! But anyway good soup!

I also like the crab ball, but the shrimps - a bit disappointed as they are so tiny! I may prefer one big shrimp than few of little ones! My friend is from Huế that's why whenever we go for breakfast he always suggests to have bún bò Huế - beef noodles in a Huế style! I didn't try bún bò here, so no comments, but seeing my friend adding a lot of fresh chilies to his bowl, I knew that the dish is not spicy enough for him!
If you want to try something different, this could be the one, far from downtown, located in a quiet and nice corner of new town - Phú Mỹ Hưng! O Tem seems a good choice for Huế dish lovers in this upscale neighborhood!


O Tem, R1, 96 Hưng Phước 3, Phú Mỹ Hưng, dist.7 Tel: 54102655 - 54103651 

"Big" noodle or Vietnamese "udon"!

Bánh canh! literally soup cake!? I really have no idea why we call like this!
To me it's special because the size of the noodle!
Like sumo size compared to other our thin noodles! And chewy! I always prefer chewy texture!
Extremely popular for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
Different variations with different recipes: crab, shrimp, flower crab, pork knuckle, snakehead fish...

I love to use a word "udon" to describe our "big"noodle!
May be Japanese can't not find any similarity between the two noodles, but anyway for me simply to say "udon" and it sounds lovely!

Let's start with the most popular!

Vietnamese "udon" with crab and pork knuckle (bánh canh cua giò heo)

               Vietnamese "udon" with crab at 48 Ngô Đức Kế, dist 1!  

Actually this is a combination of two dishes: with crab (bánh canh cua) and with pork knuckle (bánh canh giò heo)! You can add pork knuckle to crab dish but not the other way around!
 
I do prefer noodle with crab. I love the color of the dish.
Dark orange or red thick soup with strong crab flavor! Don't forget to add a little bit of chopped fresh chili
and squeeze some lemon juice! Spicy and sour flavors make your crab "udon"much more tasty!

Depends on the place, they may add crab meat, deep fried fish cake, or pork ham (chả), cooked shrimp!
Big noodle with crab probably comes from central, or Huế (our former feudal capital)!
Here, they love to create noodle by own recipe and for that reason we can't find it anywhere else in the market!

Vietnamese "udon" with pork knuckle (bánh canh giò heo) 

                Vietnamese udon with pork knuckle at Bánh canh Trảng Bàng!   


 I have to say I don't like this dish served at "bánh xèo Đinh Công Tráng" where is famous only for their
 pancake, not other dishes! Not good! Not good and not good! Better try only their bánh xèo!

 Even we say pork knuckle, but you can select some slices of cooked pork or a whole big
 knuckle as at Bánh canh Trảng Bàng! Here, the "udon" or big noodle made from special rice flour,
 different from other "udon" in town!

Pork meat from Tây Ninh is famous for their freshness, a tiny tiny bowl of fish sauce with black pepper is always served together. Deep pork meat, either knuckle or slices in the sauce before eating!