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Chef finds Hue to success through noodles
Genuine Hue dishes, once nearly impossible to find, can now
easily be tasted in HCM City. Xuan Hiep visits a restaurant that serves
authentic bowls of bun bo Hue as well as other fare from the central
city.
Central
Viet Nam is home to an elegant and complex cuisine whose origins are in
the former royal capital city of Hue. Internationally recognised for
its often labour-intensive mix of flavours, these exquisite traditional
dishes are hardly found elsewhere in the country.
Though HCM City can boast of a few restaurants specialising in the cuisine, they are few and far between.
But Bun Bo Mo Te restaurant hopes to dispel the notion that the genuine article can only be found in Hue.
Opening
in September last year, Bun Bo Mo Te aims to introduce the aromatic
herbs and spices of dishes from the country's central region.
The restaurant's star attraction is bun bo Hue (beef noodle soup Hue style).
Located
on quiet Lam Son Street off Phan Dang Luu Street in Binh Thanh
District, the restaurant is surrounded by a leafy garden area that adds
to the relaxing and cosy ambience, even during peak hours.
Le
Quang Hai Au, the restaurant's owner, told me that he decided to open
the business after thinking about it for more than two years.
"I had been dying for the Hue dishes cooked by my mother, who was born there," Au told Viet Nam News.
So he opened the restaurant and asked his mother, Nguyen Thi Kieu Thanh, to be chef.
Thanh
is especially proud of her native city's distinctive cuisine, which
consists of traditional dishes as well as cuisine especially created for
the Imperial Court.
She said that presentation was important as
the cuisine should be seen as an art form with harmonising food elements
and colours.
Unlike the traditional and more famous pho dish from
Ha Noi, bun bo Hue is spicy with a lemongrass essence and a bit of
shrimp paste.
Some foreigners dislike the smell of shrimp paste, but the Vietnamese version is good and a small amount enhances the dish.
Also,
unlike pho, the noodles for bun bo Hue are round and fat. The soup is
served with sides like bean sprouts, shredded banana flowers, chilli,
lime and white basil.
To make the dish, cooks use pork or beef,
and the lemongrass is crushed and put into boiling water, which
contributes to its special flavour and aroma.
Au said several ingredients are imported from Hue to ensure the dish's authenticity.
Recently, the menu has been updated with a new dish, lau bun bo Hue (beef noodle soup hotpot).
Instead
of being served in a bowl, the soup is presented in a hotpot, which
allows the diners to place the noodles in the broth, thus keeping it
hot.
Taro and turnip are added to the pot, which gives the soup a
slightly different taste from bun bo Hue. I preferred its sweeter and
tastier broth.
A small hotpot for two persons costs VND99,000 (US$4.5) while a larger portion for four is VND179,000 ($8.5).
The menu also includes a variety of Hue traditional cakes, including
banh loc (rice flour with shrimp cake), banh beo (thin cake), banh nam
(rice flour wrapped in banana leaves with shrimp cakes) and banh ram it
(glutinous rice cake), each of which costs VND22,000 (about $1).
If you want to sample all of
these, I recommend a mixed plate for VND35,000 ($1.5) and bun bo Hue in a
large bowl (VND35,000-45,000) or hotpot.
The restaurant has also added vegetarian Hue dishes, and offers Hue sweet soups for only VND10,000-12,000.
Damien
Carriere, a French tourist who was having breakfast while I was there,
said he liked the atmosphere. "It's very peaceful and relaxing. I love
Vietnamese cuisine."
The 300sq.m restaurant can accommodate up to
100 customers during peak hours on the weekend. Au said he planned to
open two more offshoots over the next five years.
Since its
opening last year, the restaurant has developed a regular clientele. I
can see why and it won't be my last visit, either.
VNS
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Chủ Nhật, 30 tháng 3, 2014
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