Nam Dinh food guide

One of the dishes Nam Định put forward at its SEA Games 31 food showcase, beside phở bò, bún đũa, bánh dày, bánh cuốn, and bánh xíu páo.

Crab riêu noodles with sliced sung fruit and seasoned pork crackling, also called bún tóp mỡ. Tuổi Trẻ describes a lightly sweet broth smelling of field crab, soft roe, crisp rich crackling, and a mild tannin from the sung.

Fermented pork from Giao Thủy, thin-sliced lean meat and pork skin worked into a ball with thính from gạo tám; Dân Việt spells it nem mắm. Loosen the ball and roll it in lá sung, with đinh lăng, or dip it in fish sauce.

Hải Hậu’s fragrant Tám xoan rice, a long, slender, slightly bent grain that cooks white, chewy, and mildly fragrant. Eat it with kho meat, or with peanuts and sesame.

A second Tám rice on the province’s OCOP product list, sold under its own name beside Hải Hậu Tám xoan.

Traditional fish sauce made from the local catch at Giao Hải, tasted on the Xuân Thủy coastal day. It is a different sauce from nước mắm Sa Châu.

A Nam Định fish sauce chosen for a Top 100 list of gift specialties, also printed as nước nắm. It is a different sauce from the nước mắm chắt of Giao Hải.

Phố Hàng Tiện, around Chợ Rồng

A small, thin, soft rice noodle in a beef broth that Dân Việt says stays clear because it is seasoned with traditional fish sauce. Báo Nam Định calls the broth a little fatty, fragrant, and deeply sweet, and serves crisp quẩy on the side.

Phường Lộc Vượng

Thin, slightly elastic rice sheets with chopped wood-ear, fried shallot, and a slice of chả, dipped in fish sauce with lime or kumquat. It is often served off a banana leaf at a small pavement set.

Lê Hồng Phong, Trần Hưng Đạo, Hàng Sắt, Bắc Ninh, Lý Thường Kiệt, and the old phố Khách

A small baked bun with a thin skin that peels in layers. Dân Việt fills it with fragrant xá xíu, rich fat, wood-ear, and half a quail egg with the heat of pepper, and VnExpress fills it with pork loin fried with garlic, five spice, oyster sauce, and honey.

Phố Bắc Ninh, Hoàng Văn Thụ, and Hàng Sắt

Sticky rice with xá xíu, lạp xưởng, and a savory sauce with pepper. VnExpress calls the rice chewy and fragrant, the sausage rich, and the xá xíu soft and sweet.

Sticky rice with fried cá rô đồng, fried shallot, rau răm, and mùi tàu, eaten hot. The fish fat turns the grains glossy and deep yellow, and the fish is sweet and firm.

One of the dishes Nam Định put forward at its SEA Games 31 food showcase, beside phở bò, bún đũa, bánh dày, bánh cuốn, and bánh xíu páo.

Chợ Diên Hồng and chợ Ngõ Ngang

Crab riêu noodles with sliced sung fruit and seasoned pork crackling, also called bún tóp mỡ. Tuổi Trẻ describes a lightly sweet broth smelling of field crab, soft roe, crisp rich crackling, and a mild tannin from the sung.

Giao Thủy, and Hải Hậu on the Nam Định city portal

Fermented pork from Giao Thủy, thin-sliced lean meat and pork skin worked into a ball with thính from gạo tám; Dân Việt spells it nem mắm. Loosen the ball and roll it in lá sung, with đinh lăng, or dip it in fish sauce.

Nghĩa Hưng, and the coast with Hải Hậu and Giao Thủy

Loach braised in a clay pot, sold as cá chạch kho niêu and as cá chạch kho Nghĩa Hưng. It belongs to the coastal districts of Hải Hậu, Nghĩa Hưng, and Giao Thủy.

A Nam Định home, and Trực Ninh on the OCOP list

Fish cooked by the heat of an upturned basin rather than an open flame, a family dish for the first days of the lunar year. The skin comes out golden and crisp-chewy, and the flesh firm and sweet.

Hải Hậu

Small round balls of Hải Hậu glutinous rice and egg, fried and coated in white sugar until they look like longans. The shell is slightly crisp and the inside chewy, sweet, and fragrant with egg.

The city gift counters

A black glutinous-rice cake filled with mung bean, coconut, fat, lotus seed, and peanut. Thế giới tiếp thị calls the filling fragrant, rich, and sweet-nutty.

One of the dishes Nam Định put forward at its SEA Games 31 food showcase, beside xôi kê and bánh cuốn.

The city

A peanut and sesame candy cooked with sugar and malt, rolled thin, and cut into bite-size pieces. Dân trí says it has more peanut and less malt than ordinary kẹo lạc, so it is crisp, fragrant, and does not stick to the teeth.

Hải Hậu

Hải Hậu’s fragrant Tám xoan rice, a long, slender, slightly bent grain that cooks white, chewy, and mildly fragrant. Eat it with kho meat, or with peanuts and sesame.

A second Tám rice on the province’s OCOP product list, sold under its own name beside Hải Hậu Tám xoan.

Giao Hải

Traditional fish sauce made from the local catch at Giao Hải, tasted on the Xuân Thủy coastal day. It is a different sauce from nước mắm Sa Châu.

A Nam Định fish sauce chosen for a Top 100 list of gift specialties, also printed as nước nắm. It is a different sauce from the nước mắm chắt of Giao Hải.

The old Hàng grid, by Chợ Rồng

The pho street. Dân trí says one shop closes at 09:00, and Dân Việt says a bowl can be found at any hour, so come early.

Lê Hồng Phong, Trần Hưng Đạo, Hàng Sắt, Bắc Ninh, Lý Thường Kiệt

Dân Việt’s afternoon walk for hot bánh xíu páo, with xôi xíu on Bắc Ninh. VnExpress adds Hoàng Văn Thụ and Lê Hồng Phong, the old phố Khách.

The center

Bún đũa stalls, which VnExpress places here and at Chợ Rồng. Dân Việt also names bún sung at chợ Ngõ Ngang.