When it comes to food, Vietnamese cuisine never ceases to attract scores of patrons with some of the best tasty treats.
Besides mouthwatering delights, Vietnamese cuisine also boasts some of the world’s weirdest foods that will give you serious goosebumps. From rare street snacks, spooky bugs, fresh animal organs to a beating heart of a deadly snake. You name it, Vietnam’s got it. Can’t wait to fly to Vietnam for your culinary passion? Visa2Asia is here to support you get a Vietnam visa upon arrival quickly and easily.
So are you brave enough to devour these exotic hidden culinary offerings that even the local foodies haven’t dared to try? Let’s dig in!
Vietnamese offal stew (Phá lấu) – the most exotic Asian stew
Fried crickets (Dế chiên) – a must-try in your adventurous eating
Sandworm pancake (Chả rươi) – the world’s most peculiar pancake
Horse meat hotpot (Thắng Cố) – the Vietnamese way of feasting horses
Grilled rat meat (chuột đồng nướng) – something you don’t think of eating
Fried pig penis (Ngọc trư) – the street food that shocks every foody
Giant isopod (Bọ biển) – the scariest deep sea delicacy in Vietnam
Can’t picture how an alien-like creature tastes? Try the grilled giant isopod.
Giant isopods, one of the scariest looking creatures from the ocean, take Vietnamese seafood to an extreme. The cockroaches of the ocean live at the bottom of the sea, which consumes dead animals falling to the ocean floor.
This is the delicacy of the Vietnamese wealthy class. The isopod is rare and hard to catch, which sky-rockets its values. An average isopod is worth over $100. The isopods are cooked in various ways, but according to local foodies, there are the best 3 unique isopod dishes. The sea cockroaches are always first steamed up in a streetside sauna for 20 minutes. After that, the real fun begins:
Deep-fried isopod: They are cut into pieces, coated with flour, then deep-fried for a couple of minutes. Then, they are tossed to another wok where they are seasoned with a load of salty spices and stirred with garlic, ginger, leeks, and chilies.
Fried isopod with pork fat: For fried isopod, the sea creature is stir-fried with a blazing sweet and sour hot sauce. What makes this version incredibly dynamite is the added pork fat, which boosts the fulfilling fatness and bold flavor.
Grilled isopod: Firstly, the chef removes the shell from the isopod’s belly. Then, it is tossed on the grill and topped with scallion fat and lots of peanuts.
Though the seafood delicacy is very high priced, it is absolutely worth a shot. Take one big bite, you will feel the savory oceanic aroma enfolding your body. It is like the entire ocean is in your mouth assaulting your taste buds. So if you are down for some high-end supersize aquatic species, this dish is for you.
Have these dishes sparked your curiosity yet? The craziness doesn’t stop here, let’s jump to the higher level of insanity.
Balut (Hột vịt lộn) – an entire duck cooked inside an egg
Balut, or fertilized duck egg, the most popular traumatic Vietnamese street dish. It is a regular dish for the locals, but a nightmare for foreigners who have never tried it. Balut is consistently ranked as one of the most horror foods in the world by many international food magazines. So why is it so scary that only a few people are brave enough to try it?
If you look inside balut, you may get squeamish at first. What is inside is a whole baby duck with a beak, furs, wings, legs… basically the embryo of a 17-21 days old duck. The most popular balut dish is the traditional boiled balut. The eggs are boiled for around 15-20 minutes. Timing is everything. If boiled in a short time, the eggs are not evenly cooked. Conversely, if being cooked for too long, they will lose their nutritional value and flavor.
How to eat boiled balut? You need to put it in a small cup. Remember to put the small head down and leave the big head upright, since you will eat from the big head. Use the back of a small spoon to crack the egg, then gently peel the shell, leaving a small hole on the egg for scooping. First, take a sip of the flavorful broth inside. Next, scoop the embryo of the duck and feel the harmonious richness tickling your taste buds.
There are other exciting balut variations. Stir-fried balut with tamarind is absolutely dynamite. The balut is marinated with a special dense tamarind sauce. Then, it is served with sliced fried onion and Vietnamese coriander. The fusion of strong aroma with the sweet and sour taste from the tamarind sauce will leave you speechless.
Since balut has always exploded throughout the country, you will spot balut at numerous street vendors and small eateries in any urban area.
Coconut worm (Đuông dừa) – the best Vietnamese moving dish
Would you dare to try some raw worms swimming in the fish sauce?
The coconut worm is most found in Ben Tre, the coconut kingdom of Vietnam. These worms got their name due to where they live, the coconut trees. The locals perceive these creatures as a gift of nature. An interesting fact is that selling coconut worms is illegal in Vietnam since the government doesn’t want to encourage the spread of this pest. Nevertheless, trades of coconut worms are still conducted in some hidden black markets.
This is the simplest Vietnamese odd dish. The crawling tiny creatures are live caught from coconut trees. You can try catching them with the local folks. After being washed thoroughly with water, they are tossed into a small bowl of fish sauce with chilies.
How to enjoy coconut beetle larva? Just grab the entire tiny larva, put it in your mouth and chew. Many foreigners who first see the dish would be horrified by seeing the squishy worms at the size of a thumb in motion. However, the flavor permeating out is extraordinary despite the gross-looking appearance of the dish. The worms are incredibly rich, meaty, and fleshy, quite similar to egg yolk melting inside your mouth. The savory of fish sauce and the spiciness of chilies add up the deliciousness. To sum up, the dish is weirdly delicious.
If the raw moving worms are too terrifying, you can opt for other cooked versions of this rare insect. There are a grilled version and a stir-fried version with butter. Both variations bring out the stunning flavor of Ben Tre’s specialty.
To have the best experience chowing down on coconut worms, you have to visit Ben Tre. The locals will serve you the best coconut worm dishes ever.
Jumping fish salad (Gỏi cá nhảy) – the “freshest” dish of Vietnam
Northwest Vietnam is rich in fish species thanks to its complex river systems. And the local Northwest Vietnamese has figured out a chest-thumping way to enjoy the fresh fish – have it raw with salad.
Can you imagine a huge bowl of salad with little fishes jumping on the top? That is how the locals “preserve” their freshness. First, they catch the small carps at streams far away from the residential area and put them in a huge pot with water to keep them alive. Then, they prepare the greens with rare vegetable species. This dish is not served in the public. Only households of ethnic minorities enjoy this creepy salad. Even the local Vietnamese would faint out when witnessing the dish.