Ba Be food guide
You eat on the stilt-house floor at Pac Ngoi, or at Bo Lu when Long Tong is on. Grilled lake fish, sour shrimp, and five-colour sticky rice are the plates, with a small cup of leaf-yeast wine when then singing starts.
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Photo: Khương Việt Hà · Public domain
The hamlet has few shops, so book the meal with the house and carry water. With the fish come măng vầu, upland sticky rice, and roast suckling pig when the house has it.
The fish is cá mương, a little bigger than a finger, clamped in bamboo and grilled until golden, with shrimp beside it. The flesh is fragrant, soft, fatty, and chewy, and also described as white and firm. It is not fishy, and the sweetness is the lake’s. Eat it hot. Pork hung in the kitchen smoke takes salt, wine, and ginger. The Thái Nguyên portal calls that pork golden. VnExpress, on 2 December 2014, calls it yellow-black and says it keeps a year.
Five-colour sticky rice is on the Long Tong trays at Bo Lu with glutinous wine, and at the Pac Ngoi houses. Upland sticky rice, steamed in a wooden pot, is a different bowl on the same table.
The counters in Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu sell the gifts: fragrant green squash and its tea, dried buffalo, dong vermicelli, jiaogulan tea, dried banana, kitchen-hung sausage, Nà Hai spring wine, and Nếp Tài rice. Khẩu mẩy vùng cao is on that list too.
Ba Be specialties
Grilled lake fish, sour shrimp, and five-colour sticky rice lead the table. The cakes, the wines, and the gifts follow.
- Five-colour sticky rice
- Grilled lake fish
- Grilled lake shrimp
- Sour shrimp
- Soured lake shrimp
- Măng vầu
- Upland sticky rice
- Roast suckling pig
- Bamboo-tube rice
- Pork over the fire
- Kitchen-hung sausage
- Crisp stream fish
- Hill chicken
- Boiled chicken
- Mugwort rice cake
- Gac rice cake
- Banh gai
- Tay rice cake
- Fiddlehead fern
- Forest sweet leaf
- Trotter
- Leaf-yeast wine
- Glutinous wine
- Corn wine
- Na Hai spring wine
- Dong vermicelli
- Fragrant green squash
- Jiaogulan tea
- Dried banana
- Nep Tai rice
Five-colour sticky rice Xôi ngũ sắc
Coloured sticky rice on the Long Tong offering trays at Bo Lu, with glutinous wine, and at the Pac Ngoi houses.
Grilled lake fish Cá nướng
Small cá mương, a little bigger than a finger, is clamped in bamboo and grilled over charcoal until golden. It is not fishy, the sweetness is the lake’s, and the flesh is fragrant, soft, fatty, and chewy, and also white and firm.
Grilled lake shrimp Tôm nướng
Lake shrimp grilled beside the fish until both turn golden.
Sour shrimp Tôm chua
Lake shrimp kept in a jar, mildly sour and fragrant, with sweet meat, garlic, chili, and galangal. It is eaten with boiled trotter or belly, sour starfruit, green banana, and đinh lăng.
Soured lake shrimp Tép chua
Fresh tép salted and soured with steamed nương rice and leaf yeast. It is mildly sour, with pork fat, garlic heat, and the smell of galangal.
The bamboo shoot on the Pac Ngoi table with the grilled fish and the upland sticky rice.
Upland sticky rice Xôi nếp nương
Sticky rice from the upland fields, steamed in a wooden pot until the grains are soft and do not stick to the hand. It is fragrant, and less cloying than a sweet cake.
Roast suckling pig Lợn sữa quay
Roast suckling pig at the Pac Ngoi table when the house has booked it with the meal.
Bamboo-tube rice Cơm lam
Rice grilled in a bamboo tube and eaten with sesame salt that is fragrant and nutty.
Pork over the fire Thịt lợn gác bếp
Pork hung in the kitchen smoke with salt, wine, and ginger, for guests and for Tết. The color is given as golden, and also as yellow-black, a piece that keeps a year.
Kitchen-hung sausage Lạp sườn gác bếp
Village pork sausage, smoked or hung in the kitchen, seasoned with gừng đá, a hot fragrant ginger of the limestone. It is better with local wine.
Crisp stream fish Cá rán giòn
Small stream fish fried crisp, or grilled, or simmered with sour bamboo. The flesh is firm and naturally sweet, and the fried fish is crisp and fragrant.
Hill chicken Gà đồi
Hill chicken named for a stay at Pac Ngoi, with the forest greens and the other house plates.
Boiled chicken Gà luộc
Boiled chicken on the Long Tong offering trays with five-colour sticky rice and glutinous wine.
Mugwort rice cake Bánh dày lá ngải
Upland sticky rice pounded with mugwort, soft, and filled with sesame or beans. The mugwort gives a mountain smell, and the cake is not cloying.
Banh gai Bánh gai
Bánh gai, named at the Pac Ngoi market with the bamboo-tube rice, the grilled fish, and the five-colour rice.
A round Tay cake, bánh trời or pẻng phạ, with a crisp shell under a dusting of white powder and a moderately sweet inside.
Fiddlehead fern Rau dớn
A forest green from wet ground near the rocks, cooked the day it is picked: stir-fried, boiled, or as nộm.
Forest sweet leaf Rau ngót rừng
A forest green that is sweet and has its own fragrance.
Boiled trotter or boiled belly beside the sour shrimp, and braised trotter, chân giò hầm, as its own plate.
Leaf-yeast wine Rượu men lá
The small cup of leaf-yeast wine with then singing on the stilt-house floor.
Glutinous wine Rượu nếp
Glutinous rice wine on the Long Tong trays with the five-colour sticky rice.
Nà Hai spring wine, the gift at the counters in Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu.
Dong vermicelli Miến dong
Dong-root vermicelli sold as a gift at the counters in Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu.
Fragrant green squash Bí xanh thơm
The fragrant green squash sold as a gourd at the counters in Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu.
Jiaogulan tea Trà giảo cổ lam
Jiaogulan tea sold as a gift at the counters in Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu.
Dried banana Chuối sấy dẻo
Chuối sấy dẻo, dried banana sold as a gift. It is not the seeded banana on the path to Ao Tiên.
The stilt-house table
The rest of the house table: the sour jars, the bamboo shoots, khau nhuc, hill chicken, the fern, the trotter, and smoked buffalo with sour bamboo. Khẩu mẩy vùng cao is a name on the gift list beside them.
Pác Ngòi
Small cá mương, a little bigger than a finger, is clamped in bamboo and grilled over charcoal until golden. It is not fishy, the sweetness is the lake’s, and the flesh is fragrant, soft, fatty, and chewy, and also white and firm.
Bó Lù and Pác Ngòi
Lake shrimp kept in a jar, mildly sour and fragrant, with sweet meat, garlic, chili, and galangal. It is eaten with boiled trotter or belly, sour starfruit, green banana, and đinh lăng.
The boat landing, and Pác Ngòi
Fresh tép salted and soured with steamed nương rice and leaf yeast. It is mildly sour, with pork fat, garlic heat, and the smell of galangal.
Pác Ngòi
The bamboo shoot on the Pac Ngoi table with the grilled fish and the upland sticky rice.
The house table
Forest bamboo, kept apart from măng vầu, stir-fried, boiled, made into soup, or dried, and also served as a boiled shoot.
The house, for a festival, Tết, or a wedding
Belly pork and taro, fried, layered, and steamed until the layers are soft and mixed, for a festival, Tết, or a wedding.
Pác Ngòi
Hill chicken named for a stay at Pac Ngoi, with the forest greens and the other house plates.
The house table
A forest green from wet ground near the rocks, cooked the day it is picked: stir-fried, boiled, or as nộm.
Pác Ngòi and Bó Lù
Boiled trotter or boiled belly beside the sour shrimp, and braised trotter, chân giò hầm, as its own plate.
The lake
Smoked buffalo stir-fried with sour bamboo, a Tay dish of the lake. It is not the dried-buffalo gift, and not the pork over the fire.
Cakes
The mugwort cake, bánh dày gấc, and the round Tay cake, pẻng phạ. Bánh gai is the dark leaf cake named at the same Pac Ngoi market.
The house
Upland sticky rice pounded with mugwort, soft, and filled with sesame or beans. The mugwort gives a mountain smell, and the cake is not cloying.
Pác Ngòi
Bánh dày gấc, named with the other cakes at the Pac Ngoi market.
The lake, as a gift
A round Tay cake, bánh trời or pẻng phạ, with a crisp shell under a dusting of white powder and a moderately sweet inside.
Wine
Four names, kept apart: the leaf-yeast cup with then singing, corn wine with the sour shrimp, glutinous wine on the Long Tong trays, and Nà Hai spring wine at the counters.
Pác Ngòi
The small cup of leaf-yeast wine with then singing on the stilt-house floor.
Bó Lù and Pác Ngòi
A small hot cup of corn wine beside the sour shrimp.
Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu
Nà Hai spring wine, the gift at the counters in Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu.
Gifts at the counters
Seeded banana is sold on the path up to Ao Tiên and from the gate down to the lake. The counters hold the tea, the dried buffalo, and Nếp Tài rice. Khẩu mẩy vùng cao is on the gift list too.
Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu
Tea made from the fragrant green squash.
Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu
Dried buffalo sold as a gift at the counters. It is not the smoked-buffalo stir-fry, and not the pork over the fire.
Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu
Jiaogulan tea sold as a gift at the counters in Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu.
The path to Ao Tiên, and from the gate down to the lake
Seeded banana from the hills, sold on the path up to Ao Tiên and from the gate down to the lake, as a gift and a remedy.
Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu
Nếp Tài, an upland rice sold at the counters in Chợ Rã and Nam Mẫu.
Casual dining
There is no cafe street. You eat in the house, you buy the gifts at the two counters, and a weekend market once opened at Pac Ngoi.
Pác Ngòi, on the Lèng
The stilt-house meal: grilled fish, sour shrimp, măng vầu, upland sticky rice, and roast suckling pig, with leaf-yeast wine. Book it with the house. The hamlet has few shops, so carry water.
Thị trấn Chợ Rã, and xã Nam Mẫu
Two counters, one in Chợ Rã and one in Nam Mẫu, for the local gifts and specialties.
Pác Ngòi
In September 2019 a weekend night market at Pac Ngoi, over the 2 September holiday, sold bamboo-tube rice, grilled fish, five-colour sticky rice, bánh gai, and bánh dày gấc.