Hu tieu My Tho Hủ tiếu Mỹ Tho
Mỹ Tho’s rice-noodle bowl comes dry, the strands tossed with pork crackling, fried shallot, and soy under minced pork, or wet, with sliced pork, liver, shrimp, squid, and quail egg under the broth. A good strand smells of rice and stays soft without going mushy or sour.
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The bowl’s fame dates to the early 1960s, from carts between Mỹ Tho and Gò Công, with a 2014 listing as a dish of Asian culinary value. A second account also starts in the 1960s and names the cooks Phánh Ký, Tuyền Ký, and Nam Sơn.
Hoa cooks at the end of the 19th century are the older start. One account claims a hundred years, and records a cooperative in 2007 and a brand certificate for “Hủ tiếu Mỹ Tho” in December 2008.
Why it matters
Mỹ Tho eats it at breakfast, lunch, and supper. It is its own bowl, not hủ tiếu Nam Vang, hủ tiếu Tàu, phở, or bún bò Huế.
One serving uses bean sprouts, lime, chili, and soy, and leaves off lettuce, vinegar, and a herb plate. Fresh greens are also put on the soup bowl.
Texture
The strand should smell of rice and stay soft without turning mushy or sour, so it is blanched only briefly.
Taste
You season it yourself from the soy, lime, sugar, and fresh chili or satay on the table.
One broth uses pork leg bone, grilled dried squid, cassava root, and spices. The old phường 9 ward office uses bone, dried squid, dried shrimp, and daikon. A 26 Jan 2023 account adds marrow bone, spare rib, dried shrimp, and grilled squid.
How to enjoy it
Order it dry, topped with cooked minced pork, or with the broth poured over and finished with spring onion and more crackling.
Add bean sprouts, lime, and chili, then mix the soy, sugar, and satay to your taste.
Where to try it
Eat it in the town streets or at the night court. Inside the tourist-boat pier on đường 30 Tháng 4 the hours are 18:30–02:00 as of 5 Jan 2019, or from 18:00 and busiest 19:00–22:00.
Visit ấp Hội Gia in phường Mỹ Phong, open 07:00–18:00, to watch the strands made. The bowl itself is served in town.