bun cha

Bun cha is fun to say. Bun cha is fun to eat. When I was in Vietnam in spring 2019, my very favorite thing I ate there was bun cha – and it’s sister, bun thit nuong. Bun means noodles so at the very least you now know this is a noodle dish that’s made in Vietnam. Maybe that’s all you really need to know because anything combining Vietnam and noodles is going to be big time bueno.

Everyone knows pho. It’s a noodle soup and it’s delicious and they are well known for it in Vietnam. But for me, nothing compares to bun cha. This is a dish that is made up of multiple dishes. When it’s served in Vietnam, you typically are given a bowl containing the grilled/carmelized pork as well as little minced pork blobs all swimming in a lovely clear-orange fish sauce (called nuoc cham), a plate of bright white rice vermicelli noodles (bun) and a plate sporting a floofy pile of fresh herbs, lettuces and maybe some shredded veg (this dish is often shared among the table) — and there is sometimes also a small bowl of chopped up chilis of varying colors. See above for a visual of this set up.

Each bite of bun cha is artwork: a creative endeavor that you, the diner, gets to put together on each spoonful you eat. I was taught to eat bun cha by first cutting up the bun with my spoon to get it into bite size pieces. Then you piece together each bite onto your spoon to make sure it includes: a bit of noodles and fish sauce (this goes on the spoon first and sits in your left hand), a bit of pork (this next, using your chopsticks in your right hand to place it on the spoon) and pieces of herbs + veg (these are added last and they only manage to stay on the spoon for a moment if you pile too high — so get it to your mouth rapido).

Each bite ends up having different levels of each ingredient, making the eating experience more varied and exciting. And on the whole, it’s a very mindful way to eat considering you have to carefully put together each bite yourself.

While I was in Vietnam, I first ate bun cha early on in my trip while I was in Hanoi. I became immediately obsessed and then spent the next couple weeks trying to eat as many versions of the dish that I could find – both in Hanoi and Saigon, which are the two cities where I spent time. I’m only realizing now how similar this is to my roti canai hunting in Malaysia (documented in a separate post). And I also tracked down all the khao soi I could find when I was traveling in northern Thailand (also in another post)… ahh self-awareness of your obsessions, what fun.

In summation, I came to love bun cha so much that my boyfriend (now husband) and I drove all over southern England (when I was living there for the summer after my big solo trip) to get bun cha in Vietnamese cafes in Southampton, Bournemouth and beyond. It was all I craved for months. I’ve now tried the westernized version of the dish in the UK, US and Australia -- and unfortch, it’s just not the same. It’s oftentimes not even called bun cha. It’s called a bun bowl or some other lame name, and all the ingredients are served together in one bowl (fish sauce still on the side though, woot!) and there’s never as many herbs, which are never quite as flavorful as they are in Vietnam.

On the flip side though, Oahu (where I live) has provided me with a few spot-on bun cha options in and around Honolulu’s Chinatown — including perfect bun cha gio at two places so far (one pictured below). Bun cha gio features crunchy spring rolls sliced on top of the dish instead of sliced pork or those little pork balls.

Ah fuuq writing about bun cha gio reminds me that I forgot to tell you about bun thit nuong! Let’s right that wrong. Eeeheh, a slant rhyme. So there is a sister dish to the typical bun cha called bun thit nuong. I had it in Ho Chi Minh City and it is one of the dishes I’ve eaten in my life that I think about the most.

There is a streetside café (like literally you eat on the side of the street, not even on the sidewalk) called Bun Thit Nuong – Nguyen Trung Truc. Everything perfect that there is about the ambience of a Vietnamese street café is present: the colorful plastic stools, the tiny low tables, a sugarcane juice vendor nearby. And then you get presented with their main dish (as stated in the name of the restaurant) and it’s a stunner and you eat it and it’s delicious.

So it’s basically an amped up bun cha (see photo below). It’s the carmelized/grilled pork and those pork minced balls all sitting on top of the bun in a happy blue ceramic bowl – but in this dish, the pork is joined by a perfectly crunchy Vietnamese egg roll (called cha gio) cut into four pieces. All that is topped with some shredded veg (fresh carrot + daikon, cooked green onion) and a sprinkling of peanuts. And of course, hanging out on the side for you is a little bowl of that sweet spicy fish sauce. I’m not even sure if there is a specific way to eat this dish but I decided to use that same bun cha style of art-pieced-together-on-a-spoon-for-each-bite. Worked beautifully.

Now in true summation, I love bun cha. I love bun thit nuong. I love Vietnam. I love life. Life is tasty. xoxo.