The Vietnamese like noodles and they like soup, so combining these two said loves is a regular occurrence, which is what led me to bun mam on a rainy day in Hanoi.
To read about bun rieu click here.
The first time that I tried the dish I was certainly not alone in Hanoi. There was a recently departed President visiting, as well as the North Korean leader. Yes I was there for the Trump – Kim summit. Of course I had come for much more than trying Vietnamese soups, but this was a nice little bonus that I got.
So, when you think of Vietnamese noodle soup, the obvious go to is pho, which is famous the world over, but there are a number of other ones such as the aforementioned bun rieu and of course bun mam. Get out of your comfort zone and away from pho!
What is bun mam (bún mắm)?
Bun Mam is pretty much a big fiesta seafood soup that has noodles thrown in for good measure!
The noodles tend to be vermicelli, so less thick than with a pho.
The soup on the other hand is very thick, almost like stock as they make it by cooking up meat bones with lots of herbs and spices. In some ways it makes the dish taste more like a stew. The killer ingredient though is the fermented fish sauce and that is where you will get the main kick up your backside from!
And then there’s the seafood….
You cannot have this dish without a good bit of seafood, which usually comes in the style of shrimp alongside pork, eggplant and chives all arranged on top.
In Conclusion!
I’ve said it before and I shall say it again, but Vietnamese street food is the best in the world. I personally love taking the train around Vietnam and then stopping at various places to try all the regional dishes, bun man being just one of them!
When you combine all of the eclectic ingredients together this is way more than a snack! this will fill you up and the broth is so amazing that you will probably end up drinking that too. I’d lean more towards eating bun mam as a lunch rather than a dinner dish.
And that is another review of another Vietnamese noodle soup! I am sure there will be more to come.
To read more about street food in Hanoi click here.
