Hue Specialties

Like most places, each city in Vietnam has its own specialty dish or variation of a national dish.  Our tour guide introduced us to a family-run restaurant (Hang-Me) away from the main thoroughfare in Hue.  There were only five items on the menu.  We ordered by the numbers and found some interesting tastes - some of which we liked and some of which we didn't like. But it was an interesting food experience, all revolving around shrimp - stands to reason as Hue is on the water.

Banh Beo - an appetizer of steamed rice pancake with shrimp bits and shredded pork skin on top - tasty!  The pork skin really gave it a crunch.

Banh Nam - a steamed flat rice dumpling made with shrimp, pork and rice flour cooked in oil and water then wrapped in banana leaves

Banh Loc,  a Hue specialty, clear dumpling made with tapioca flour filled with shrimp and pork 

Banh Ram It - sticky rice shrimp dumpling on top of deep fried pig skin - delicious!  I love the contrast between the sticky glutinous rice and the crunchy pig skin - never mind the cholesterol.

L to R - Banh Uot - rice roll with shrimp bits which we tried in Hanoi; Cha tom - a shrimp sausage/patty - Hue specialty

For more photos of the Hue food scene, please visit my travel blog Travels with rarecat.