Mang Den food guide
Mang Den eats from the farm, the forest, and the grill: free-range chicken with sticky rice from a bamboo tube, thick pork skewers, wild banana-flower salad, and rice wine around the fire after dark. On weekends, the market on the pine hill adds smoked buffalo, forest bamboo shoots, and the highland nut hạt kơ nia.
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Photo: Phương Huy · CC BY-SA 4.0
Start with the chicken. It is free-range, raised on natural feed, grilled in the mountain style, and eaten with cơm lam, sticky rice grilled in young bamboo and dipped in peanut salt. Thick skewers of locally raised pork round out the plate.
Then go further. Porcupine is the local delicacy, served grilled, in soup, stuffed into bamboo shoots, or wrapped in dong leaves. Fried crickets are the crunchy, spiced snack with a beer. A salad of about 40 indigenous vegetables and roots, and diced wild banana flower in a sweet-and-sour broth, keep the table green.
On Saturday and Sunday, Chợ phiên Măng Đen sets up on the pine hill along Hùng Vương, and it has run since October 2023. The Vietnam Tourism rural portal counts 24 stalls. Báo Kon Tum reported 24 at the 7 October 2023 opening and 32 later, and in another article more than 30 at the start and more than 40 since, in the pine garden by the district central square.
Mang Den specialties
Grilled chicken with bamboo-tube rice leads the list. The rest come from the highland kitchen, the cultural night, and the weekend market.
- Grilled chicken
- Lam rice
- Grilled pork skewers
- Fried crickets
- Vegetable salad
- Forest banana salad
- Arabica coffee
- Ruou can
- Trau gac bep
- Ca nuong
- Cua nuong
- Kho qua rung
- Ca dang
- Mang rung
- Heo lang nuong
- Banh sung trau
- Hat de
- Hat ko nia
- Banh nep
- Mang le
- Thit heo hun khoi
- Bo kho
- Com lang
Grilled chicken Gà nướng cơm lam
Free-range chicken, raised on natural feed and grilled in the mountain style, is the plate Mang Den is known for. It comes with cơm lam, sticky rice cooked in bamboo.
Lam rice Cơm lam
Sticky rice is packed into a young bamboo tube and grilled, then broken out of the tube and eaten with peanut salt. Restaurants serve it, and so do street vendors.
Grilled pork skewers Thịt xiên
Thick chunks of locally raised pork, from pigs fed a natural diet, are grilled on skewers. Eat them with rice or with a beer.
Fried crickets
Fried crickets are a crunchy, nicely spiced, high-protein snack. Order them the way you would bar food, with a beer or Vietnamese wine.
Vegetable salad
This salad gathers about 40 indigenous vegetables, leaves, sprigs, and roots on one plate. It sits beside grilled meat or a hot pot.
Forest banana salad
Wild banana flowers, naturally sweet, are diced into a sweet-and-sour broth with chicken, pork or beef ears, herbs, and roasted peanuts.
Arabica coffee Cà phê
The morning ritual is a hot coffee at sunrise, with the town still in cloud. Mang Den grows its own Arabica, sipped while the mist lifts.
Ruou can Rượu cần
Rượu cần is locally brewed fermented glutinous rice wine, poured around a fire at night with gongs. In the villages, homemade wine is drunk through a long bamboo straw.
Trau gac bep Trâu gác bếp
Trâu gác bếp is a buffalo specialty of the Mang Den weekend market. Look also for dried buffalo, trâu khô, and smoked buffalo, a provincial three-star OCOP product.
Ca nuong Cá nướng
Grilled fish is one of the specialties sold at the Mang Den weekend market.
Cua nuong Cua nướng
Grilled crab is one of the specialties sold at the Mang Den weekend market.
Khổ qua rừng, wild bitter melon, is one of the forest specialties sold at the Mang Den weekend market.
Cà đắng, whose name means bitter eggplant, is one of the specialties sold at the Mang Den weekend market.
Măng rừng, forest bamboo shoot, is one of the specialties sold at the Mang Den weekend market. Dried măng le is sold as a separate product.
Heo làng nướng, grilled village pork, is a specialty of the Mang Den weekend market, sold separately from the pork skewers and the smoked pork.
Banh sung trau Bánh sừng trâu
Bánh sừng trâu is a wrapped cake sold at the Mang Den weekend market, where one visitor joined in wrapping it at the stall.
Hat de Hạt dẻ
Hạt dẻ, chestnuts, are one of the specialties sold at the Mang Den weekend market.
Hat ko nia Hạt kơ nia
Hạt kơ nia is an almond-sized nut with a thin brown shell. Peel it for the white kernel, which is rich, fragrant, and sweet and nutty.
Bánh nếp is a sticky-rice cake served at the Mang Den cultural night with cơm lam, grilled chicken, pork skewers, and rượu cần.
Mang le Măng le
Măng le is a dried bamboo shoot sold with the weekend market’s dried buffalo, dried beef, and smoked pork.
Thịt heo hun khói is smoked pork, sold among the weekend market’s dried foods and at the center stall as a provincial three-star OCOP product.
Bo kho Bò khô
Bò khô is dried beef from the weekend market’s dried-food stalls. The center stall also sells smoked beef, thịt bò hun khói, a provincial three-star OCOP product.
Com lang Cơm làng
Cơm làng, village rice, is a weekend-market food that visitors eat with smoked meat and traditional cakes. It is a different dish from the bamboo-tube cơm lam.
The grill
The chicken, the bamboo-tube rice, and the pork skewers are the plates to order first. The weekend market adds grilled village pork, grilled fish, and grilled crab.
Grilled chicken Gà nướng cơm lam
Free-range chicken grilled in the mountain style, served with sticky rice from a bamboo tube. It is the town’s signature plate.
Sticky rice grilled in a young bamboo tube, broken open and eaten with peanut salt.
Thick chunks of locally raised pork on a skewer, eaten with rice or beer.
Hùng Vương
Grilled village pork from the weekend market, a different plate from the skewers.
Ca nuong Cá nướng
Hùng Vương
Grilled fish, one of the weekend market’s specialties.
Cua nuong Cua nướng
Hùng Vương
Grilled crab, one of the weekend market’s specialties.
Forest plate
The forest plate is porcupine, fried crickets, the vegetable salad, and the wild banana-flower salad. At the market, look for wild bitter melon, bitter eggplant, forest bamboo shoot, and dried măng le.
Lean porcupine meat, grilled, stuffed into bamboo shoots, cooked in soup, or wrapped in dong leaves.
Fried crickets
A crunchy, nicely spiced snack to eat with beer or Vietnamese wine.
Vegetable salad
About 40 indigenous vegetables, leaves, sprigs, and roots on one plate, beside grilled meat or hot pot.
Sweet wild banana flowers, diced into a sweet-and-sour broth with chicken, pork or beef ears, herbs, and roasted peanuts.
Hùng Vương
Wild bitter melon, sold at the weekend market.
Hùng Vương
Bitter eggplant, sold at the weekend market.
Hùng Vương
Forest bamboo shoot from the weekend market. Dried măng le is sold as a separate product.
Hùng Vương
Dried bamboo shoot, sold with the market’s dried buffalo, dried beef, and smoked pork.
Dried and smoked
The dried-food stalls sell buffalo, beef, and pork, much of it smoked. The center stall carries the provincial three-star OCOP smoked meats.
Hùng Vương
The market’s buffalo specialty. Dried buffalo and three-star OCOP smoked buffalo are sold too.
Hùng Vương
Smoked pork from the dried-food stalls, and a three-star OCOP product at the center stall.
Hùng Vương
Dried beef from the dried-food stalls. The center stall also sells three-star OCOP smoked beef.
Cakes, nuts, and the jar
Bánh sừng trâu, chestnuts, and hạt kơ nia are market foods. Bánh nếp is the cultural-night cake. Rượu cần is the jar wine. Cơm làng is village rice, not cơm lam.
Hùng Vương
A wrapped cake from the weekend market. One visitor joined in wrapping it at the stall.
A sticky-rice cake on the cultural-night table, with cơm lam, grilled chicken, skewers, and rượu cần.
Hùng Vương
Chestnuts, sold at the weekend market.
Hùng Vương
An almond-sized nut with a thin brown shell. The white kernel is rich, fragrant, and sweet and nutty.
Hùng Vương
Village rice, eaten at the market with smoked meat and traditional cakes. Not the bamboo-tube cơm lam.
Ruou can Rượu cần
Fermented glutinous rice wine, poured around the fire at night. Village homemade wine comes through a long bamboo straw.
Weekend market
Chợ phiên Măng Đen meets on Saturday and Sunday on the pine hill along Hùng Vương, and it has run since October 2023. The Vietnam Tourism rural portal counts 24 stalls, nine of them stilt houses. Báo Kon Tum reported 24 at the 7 October 2023 opening and 32 later. Another Báo Kon Tum article places the market in the pine garden by the district central square, with more than 30 stalls at the start and more than 40 since.
Beyond cooked food, the stalls sell local coffee, macadamia, red rice, organic vegetables, cherry tomatoes, pomelo, oranges, cucumber, and strawberries. The center stall sells wine products and specialty salt. Medicinal goods include hồng đẳng sâm, đương quy, sơn tra, chè dây, tinh bột nghệ, chuối hột, nấm linh chi cổ cò, sâm dây, giảo cổ lam, nấm lim xanh, and mật ong rừng.
Breakfast
Start the day with a hot coffee at sunrise, while the town is still in cloud. Mang Den grows its own Arabica, and the weekend market sells local coffee to take home.
Arabica coffee Cà phê
A hot cup at sunrise while the town sits in cloud, from Arabica grown on the plateau.