The blend of rice noodle, fried tofu, meat, fresh vegetables, shrimp sauce makes a great dish, dancing in your mouth.
This street food is not suitable for everyone, not only foreigners but also some Vietnamese people cannot stand the smell of shrimp sauce. But once you've eaten, you'll want to try again, again and again. You are addicted to it and cannot live without it. The important thing is that you should notice about food safety and hygiene.
Ingredients
“Bun” (rice noodles) is very popular in Vietnamese food, especially in the street food culture. There are many different recipes of “Bun” in Vietnam. Each one has its own ingredients. “Bun Dau Mam Tom” is very special because it doesn't use normal “Bun”, it uses “Bun banh” (similar to “Cha Ca La Vong”). We call them “Bun mieng” in which “mieng” is for the shape of the noodles.
“Dau ran” (Deep fried Tofu) is the main ingredient of this dish. It should be enjoyed when still hot, with the outside crispy, yellow and the inside still juicy, soft and white. The smell and attractive color will attract your eyes immediately.
“Mam tom” (Shrimp sauce) is a fermented shrimp sauce that appears in many recipes in the Northern of Vietnam. In this dish, if you can’t eat “Mam tom”, you can order fish sauce or soy sauce instead.
Besides of the main ingredients above, you can order some different dish that will combine excellently with “Bun Dau Mam Tom”, such as Pork meat (often the meat from pig leg), Vietnamese sausages “Cha Com” and fresh vegetables. Some restaurant even offers “Nem” (Spring rolls) and “Long Heo” (pig's tripes).
Suggested Locations
You can easily find “Bun Dau Mam Tom” for lunch in everywhere in the Old Quarter, from “via he” to nice restaurants. These are some locations where is the most famous in Ha Noi.
Hang Khay Street
Here you can find the best shrimp paste among many restaurants offer “Bun Dau Mam Tom”. You can order all the additions dish above to eat together with “Bun Dau Mam Tom”. The total price for 1 person order a full dish (Bun, Dau, Cha Com, Lòng, Thit, Nem) is about 80,000 VND (~3 EUR). If you only order “Bun Dau Mam Tom”, the price is 30,000 VND (1.1 EUR).
Disadvantage: There are only a few seats and very hot, especially in summer. It takes about 15 to 25 minutes to be served after your order since the restaurant always very crowd.
Trang Tien Alley (Ngõ Tràng Tiền)
The customers here often are the officers work around. The price here is often 30,000 VND (1.2 EUR) for 1 person with Rice noodle, Fried Tofu, Pork meat and Vietnamese sausages. If you order “Nem”, you should pay more.
Ma May Street
This street is very famous with many old restaurants where offer Vietnamese food and many souvenir shops.
There are some “Bun Dau Mam Tom” restaurants here, such as No 8 Ma May str, or No 5 Ma May str. The taste is similar so you can try at any place. The price is about 20k to 45k depend on what set you order. The full set for 2 people as below is about 90k (3.5 euro)
Other different places for you:
No. 1B Ngo Tram, the price is about 50k/ person (2 euro) depend on what you order.
Trung Huong 49 Phat Loc Alley, the price is about 40k~60k/ person (1.7~2.5 euro)
“Goc Da” No. 3 Ngo Gach, the price is about 50k/ person (2 euro) depend on what you order.