Tuy Hoa food guide

Chive noodle soup Bánh canh hẹ

Tuy Hòa’s own noodle soup: soft strands that do not break, sea-fish cake, and a thick cover of chives. The smell of the chives is the draw, and the cake comes up in the same spoon.

Ocean tuna Cá ngừ đại dương

Ocean tuna, also called cá bò gù, is the fish Phú Yên led the country in catching. The plate to order is thin cold slices rolled in mustard greens with wasabi, chilli sauce, soy, herbs, green banana, and ginger.

O Loan blood cockle Sò huyết đầm Ô Loan

Blood cockles from Đầm Ô Loan, with thick pink meat and yellow roe. Grilled on charcoal until the juices run, they are eaten hot with salt, pepper, and lime.

Emperor crab Cua Huỳnh Đế

The emperor crab of Đầm Ô Loan, red or yellow in the shell even while alive, with a tuft of short yellow hair. Its claws sit at the front, so it walks forward.

Oyster porridge Cháo hàu

Oysters fried with onion, salt, and pepper, then simmered with red rice and glutinous rice. Eat it hot, while the oysters are still sweet.

Rice sheets with pork Bánh hỏi lòng heo

Fine woven rice-noodle sheets with roast or grilled pork and offal, scallion fat, herbs, and garlic-chilli fish sauce. In Phú Yên it is the plate of weddings, death anniversaries, and pagoda days.

One-day beef Bò một nắng

Beef thigh and loin seasoned and dried for a single day, then grilled over charcoal and pounded soft. It is eaten with herbs, cucumber, and muối kiến vàng, the yellow-ant salt.

Phu Yen chicken rice Cơm gà Phú Yên

Lean, yellow, slightly chewy garden chicken over rice cooked in the chicken broth, so the rice stays light, fragrant, and sticky. Cucumber, pickled onion, and đồ chua come on the side.

Steamed rice cakes Bánh bèo

Small steamed rice cups, fragrant and chewy, topped with fried bread, pork floss, and scallion fat and finished with sweet-sour fish sauce. Tuy Hòa’s cups are not the bánh bèo of other places.

Jumping-shrimp pancakes Bánh xèo tôm nhảy

A small rice-flour pancake about a hand wide, filled with bean sprouts and seafood, usually shrimp and sometimes squid. You eat several, rolled in rice paper with herbs.

Quan De liquor Rượu Quán Đế

Rice liquor from Xuân Lộc and Xuân Bình in Sông Cầu, lighter and sweeter than ordinary rice spirit. The seahorse bottle is the one people ask for.

White-stone mango Xoài Đá Trắng

The mango from the garden of Chùa Từ Quang, once sent to the royal court and so also called xoài Ngự. A local proverb pairs it with the cassava of Phường Lụa: “Xoài Đá Trắng, sắn phường Lụa”.

Song Cau grilled chicken Gà nướng Sông Cầu

Chicken cut into wings and thighs, marinated with onion, pepper, chilli, garlic, and fish sauce, and grilled over charcoal. It comes with at least five dipping salts.

Cu Mong crab Ghẹ đầm Cù Mông

Crab from Đầm Cù Mông with sweet, fragrant meat. Steamed until the shell turns red and the meat white, it is dipped in salt, pepper, and lime.

Jumping snail Ốc nhảy

Sông Cầu’s jumping snail, also called ốc đực, with crisp, sweet, fatty meat the color of chicken fat. Order it steamed with lemongrass and dipped in mắm gừng.

An Dan corn noodle Bún bắp An Dân

A yellow corn noodle from xã An Dân in Tuy An, sweet with corn and chewier than rice noodle. The simplest plate fries it with scallion fat or chives and eats it with chilli fish sauce and herbs.

Seaweed salad Gỏi rong biển

Seaweed from the reefs around gành Đá Đĩa, soaked in fresh water and tossed with herbs, shredded coconut, chopped mango, lime, and roasted peanuts. Broken sesame rice crackers go in the bowl.

Rice-paper rolls with boiled pork Bánh tráng cuốn thịt heo luộc

Thin slices of boiled or steamed belly pork, lean and fat together, rolled in local rice paper with lettuce, herbs, cucumber, and green banana. The dip is a fish sauce made from cá cơm, cá sặc, and cá thu.

Tuy Hoa market Chợ Tuy Hòa

Trần Hưng Đạo side of the market

Bánh canh hẹ is sold all day at the Ngô Quyền and Trần Hưng Đạo corner and along the Trần Hưng Đạo side of the market.