As a land where many ethnic minorities reside such as: Cham, Khmer, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc., An Giang’s culinary culture is very diverse and rich, each dish has its own flavor and identity.  Traveling to An Giang, you can not only visit the majestic historical and cultural relics, beautiful scenery of wild and majestic mountains, but also enjoy delicious and unique local specialties here.

By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | An Giang Travel Guide

1. Bun Ca Chau Doc (Chau Doc Fish noodle soup)

Bun Ca Chau Doc used fish to cook fresh water, add dried shrimp to make it rich and indispensable wormwood vermicelli, fish sauce, lemongrass, chili, garlic, fresh turmeric.  Chau Doc fish noodle soup today is still kept almost original, rustic with snakehead fish, broth and fresh vermicelli.  The broth is cooked with the bones of the tube, simmering for fresh water, just simmering and skimming so that the broth is always clear.  The cleaned copperhead snakehead fish is boiled in boiling water with lemongrass and turmeric, so it is not fishy and has a faint aroma.  The fish meat is removed from the bones, marinated with spices and then lightly sautéed with turmeric so that the meat is firm and has a beautiful golden color.

The seasoning for the broth has fish sauce, fish sauce to remove the body, add wormwood vermicelli, crushed turmeric to filter the water.  The stove simmer, the flavors of the ingredients mixed with the previous bone broth to create an attractive and rich broth.

 The bowl of vermicelli is served with a strong aroma of fish and turmeric, the yellow broth covers the white vermicelli, accompanied by every fiber of snakehead fish, roasted pork cut into bite-sized pieces.  Those who like to eat fish heads should order them separately in a small bowl, snakehead fish heads eat fatty leopards with whole intestines dipped with salt and lemon chili or delicious fish sauce soaked in dangerous chili. The plate of green vegetables eaten with fish vermicelli is typical for the richness of the Southwest region. There are Dien Dien flowers, water lilies, bitter vegetables, banana seeds, finely grated water spinach and sometimes some vegetables.

2. Bay Bong Restaurant

Find them: 20 Suong Nguyet Anh Street, Chau Doc, An Giang

Best time: 6:30 am – 9:30 pm

Don’t miss: Catfish cooked in the clay pot

Local’s pick: Basa fish sour & sweet soup/ hot pot

Price: 15,000 – 300,000 VND.

Tourist’s pick: Bay Bong 2 at 121 Trung Nu Vuong Street, Chau Doc, An Giang

Facts: Located in an easy-to-find location, with a spacious and airy space, Bay Bong is a restaurant specializing in serving delicious quality rice dishes at a cheap price. Bay Bong restaurant is ideal for tourists and locals to choose as a lunch and dinner spot when coming to Chau Doc. The menu of the restaurant is quite diverse, which can include a number of dishes such as: sour soup with basa fish, fried shrimp, braised snakehead fish, braised meat with pepper…  typical of the Mekong Delta.  If you are a visitor from another region, you will find the food here a bit sweet. Although it’s just a popular restaurant, this restaurant has a fairly open space, enthusiastic friendly staff, spacious parking space, and is a dining spot for hundreds of visitors every day.

3. Sugar Palm Fruit (Thot Not Fruit)

Sugar Palm fruit can be prepared in many ways but the most delicious is still fresh Sugar Palm.  Visitors traveling to Chau Doc from An Giang can quench their thirst with chilled Sugar Palm juice or eat Sugar Palm rice.  People usually get Sugar Palm juice by using a bamboo tube that has been gutted into a long tube, the upper end is split, clamped on many cut jaggery flower stalks and then tied with nylon to let the water in the flower stalk flow along the bamboo tube hanging on the side. The Sugar Palm juice taken and used with the rice of the Sugar Palm fruit and ice will give it a delicious, sweet and cool taste.  Traveling to Chau Doc, do not forget to taste this fresh and delicious drink.

Palm juice, in addition to being a cooling drink, is also used as jaggery.  The process of making sugar is quite elaborate and you must be careful in each stage to produce the best quality sugar.  Sweet and fragrant Sugar Palm is wrapped in jaggery leaves that look like a beautiful tet cake.  Many tourists traveling to Chau Doc have chosen to buy jaggery as a gift.  Palm sugar is often used to process dishes such as tea, Thot Not cake, jasmine jelly, etc. Not only is it a raw material to use in cooking tea dishes or an additive to glasses of water.  With a natural sweetness, Sugar Palm is also used as a seasoning in other dishes such as dipping sauce…

4. Banh Bo Cake in Chau Doc (Banh Bo Thot Not)

Just like how to make other types of Banh Bo cakes but without using white or yellow granulated sugar.  The ingredients to make the cake include ground rice flour mixed with sugar (from sugar palm tree) and then brewed with rice wine.

Palm tree is inherently a straight tree, with broad leaf arches, poor cold tolerance.  The tree has many parts that can be used by humans, such as jaggery for refreshment or jaggery with a sweet and flexible taste.  In addition, there is jaggery which is taken from the water on the palm tree and processed through a process of many hours.

The important point of the processing is the way to prepare the rice wine to ferment the dough before pouring into the mold to be steamed. Usually, the cake mold is as big as the mouth of a large plate, about 3cm thick.  When steaming nearly nine, people will cover the cake with a flavor that helps improve the quality of the cake.  That is cooked coconut milk.  According to the baker’s experience, to make coconut milk fat and fragrant, you should put a little salt before cooking.

When the cake is finished steaming, open the lid, the scent spreads so much, so overwhelmingly, that everyone is attracted by the passionate, unforgettable rustic flavor of the Bay Nui region – An Giang, the land of Palm tree.

Currently, cakes are not only popular in An Giang but also in Can Tho.  This further proves the irresistible attraction of the unique flavor found only in this Western specialty Banh bo cake.

This Banh Bo cake now has many innovations in preparation.  However, the traditional way of making it still brings an indescribable special taste of the cake.

When eating, people often cut the cake into small pieces that can both be used to treat guests and can be used in parties and anniversaries.  It is the meticulousness and meticulousness in making cakes, the fragrant Banh bo cakes, once eaten unforgettable, have left in the diners the taste of the jaggery homeland.

This type of cake should be the choice for those who want to experience new flavors and the quintessence of baking.  Surely, you will not only eat once but will want to eat many more times.

Because the cake is made from premium sugar (jaggery).  This type of sugar has no chemicals, so it is very safe, with the main ingredient being polysaccharide, so it is less high in blood sugar like simple sugar.

In addition, this dish also contains a number of antioxidants, vitamins, etc., so it is very good for the body.  Although it is a snack, it is very high in energy.  If people eat in moderation, it will help reduce blood fat and diabetes.

Usually beef buns are best when used during the day.  You can even keep the cake for a week by placing it in the refrigerator.

5. Catfish hot pot

Catfish is a familiar food and is used to prepare many different dishes for Vietnamese people.  Delicious, fatty, and low-bone fish meat is very suitable for processing dishes such as sour soup of catfish or fried catfish… Hot and sour catfish hotpot is a favorite dish that many people love and choose to cook. 

6. Mam (Fermented fish)

Mam is sold everywhere but most concentrated in Chau Doc market.  Therefore, for any visitor coming here, the definite must-do is to visit the market, first look and then buy some kinds of fermented fish as a gift.  If it is your first time visiting this local market, you will surely be overwhelmed by the fish sauce and dried fish found everywhere.  The snakehead fermented fish, Sac fermented fish, Linh fermented fish, Ba Khac fermented fish piled up into the “mountain”, the rows of dried fish of all kinds are extremely attractive.

Among the types of fish sauce sold at Chau Doc market (An Giang), Thai fermented fish is popular with many people. The main ingredients to make this fermented fish are usually snakehead fish, remove the bones and skin, then shred it, mix it with shredded papaya and ram bacon, add rice, sugar and chili peppers.  The sugar used to make fish sauce is jaggery – a specialty of Bay Nui (An Giang).

Thai fermented fish served with raw vegetables, acrid bananas, boiled bacon is the right style.  People who make fermented fish in Chau Doc said that any fish can make fish sauce, but the most delicious are snakehead fish, catfish, gourami, carp, and spirit fish.

Here, many fermented fish stalls became famous, known by many locals and tourists everywhere, such as Mam Ba Giao Khoe, Ma Ba Giao Thao, Mam 9999, Mam 6666… ​​In addition to being sold domestically, fermented fish is also sold in the country.  Export to neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Laos…

Everything is as simple as “the taste of the countryside”, but there is no visitor who is not captivated when the taste is melted before the characteristic aroma of fish sauce mixed with the world of colors of the product.  accompaniment.

This is the crispy water lily stalk, with the bright yellow color of the dandelion flower, the pumpkin flower, the green color of the coconut vegetable, the cilantro, the chives, the water chives, the warm spicy taste of the young ginger, the crunchy taste of the chili pepper. 

No wonder nutritionists believe that eating braised fish sauce is enjoying a meal rich in nutrients and variety of substances compared to many “seafood” dishes.

According to the people selling here, there are many ways to eat fish sauce: raw, fried, steamed (sometimes mixed with duck eggs, bacon), and braised.  Eating fish sauce cannot be without eggplant.  If eating with raw or fried fish sauce, using long eggplant and breaking it by hand, cutting it with a knife is not good.  And the braised fish sauce must be a dish, the fruit is round, and taking the whole eggplant shell is stylish.  Braised fish sauce needs a lot of vegetables, but if it lacks water lily, Dien Dien flowers, and rau dua vegetables, it will lose its taste.  Thai fish sauce with boiled bacon, eaten with vermicelli, fresh vegetables or rice paper are delicious.

7. Dong Que Restaurant

Address: 108 Trung Nu Vuong, Ward 8, Chau Doc City. Price: 25,000 – 200,000 VND. Located on Trung Nu Vuong Street, Dong Que is one of the most famous eating places in Chau Doc that tourists should visit if they have the opportunity. Thanks to the excellent food quality and diverse menu, this restaurant has attracted a large number of visitors from near and far. Of all the dishes at the restaurant, the hot pot sauce is considered the most delicious. Cooked from premium pure fish sauce, Quan Dong Que fish sauce hot pot has a strong natural flavor and aroma. A hot pot of fish sauce here is sold for 200k including whole basa fish, bacon, shrimp, squid and other wild vegetables. In addition to fish sauce hotpot, dried pangasius mixed with vinegar, squeezed beef, grilled beef are also dishes that visitors should try when coming here.  In particular, the price at Dong Que restaurant is considered quite affordable.

8. Phu Huong beef noodle soup

Address: 78 Nguyen Van Thoai, Chau Phu A Ward, Chau Doc City. Price: 15,000 – 39,000 VND. If tourists come to Chau Doc and want to enjoy delicious beef noodle soup, they can visit Phu Huong restaurant on Nguyen Van Thoai street.  This restaurant’s beef noodle soup is considered unmatched. The broth made from the bones gives a natural sweetness, the noodles are chewy and not soft, and the beef is fresh and authentic, Phu Huong Pho gives people the typical taste of the Northern tradition. A bowl of pho here is sold for about 40k, neither too expensive nor too cheap, affordable for all customers. Open for sale from 5am to 11pm, Phu Huong beef noodle shop is ideal for visitors to eat at any time of the day. The restaurant has an airy space, clean toilet tables and chairs.  In the mornings, lunches, and afternoons, there are a lot of customers coming to eat, visiting the restaurant at this time may have to wait a little longer.

Pro Tips 

Here are our tips for easing your mind (and stomach) around food-handling environments that you may not be used to.

Make sure the food is freshly cooked. If you’re eating hot street food, it’s always safest (not to mention more delicious) to eat food you can see being cooked to order.

Look for lines and busy stalls. Busy street food stalls are an indicator of popularity, and their high turnover rate means the food is never sitting out for hours and developing dreaded bacteria. Yes, long lines can be discouraging when you’re hungry after a full day of exploring, but it’s not worth the risk of grabbing precooked food from the empty spot next door.

Eat when the locals are eating. The last and most important element here is when to eat. You’re likely already on a weird eating schedule while you’re traveling, but it’s important to try and adjust to the eating times of where you are. A bowl of pho might be lunch for Americans, but it’s breakfast for the Vietnamese. This ensures that you’re eating freshly cooked food and that you can find the best and most popular places to eat.

If you can’t drink the water, then you can’t eat the salad. Most people get so hung up on not drinking the water or skipping ice in drinks that they don’t think about all of the other ways in which water is used in food service. Fruits and vegetables tend to be washed with tap water in most places, rather than the filtered water that locals drink—or sometimes it’s not washed at all. If you’re really craving some produce, try fruits you can peel or cooked veggies.

Trust your gut. If you’re unsure about the food or the way that it’s being prepared, then keep moving. Eating street food all over the world doesn’t make you an expert. Every stall and every country are different, and sometimes the rules can be harder to follow. When something doesn’t look, smell, or feel right, don’t eat it! Trust your judgment. Chances are that there’s another spot close by that’s making something more delicious.

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Can Tho: Co Ut’sCong cake, Ut Dzach Fine Rice Vermicelli, Thanh Van Grilled Pork Sausage, Crab Noodle Soup At Floating Market, Scorched Rice with Caramelized Fish Sauce, 7-Toi’s Duck Meat Pancake, Banh Mi Thuy, Banana Blossom Salad, Fried Spring Rolls, Fresh Spring Rolls, Fetal duck egg (balut), Honeycomb Cake, Mini Sticky Rice Cake, Cassava Silkworm Cake, Grilled Banana Wrapped in Sticky Rice, Khmer-style Bun Goi Da Soup, Egg Coffee, Con Son Grilled Snakehead Fish, Bun Mam – Fermented Fish Noodle Soup, Lau Mam – Fermented Fish Hotpot, Grilled Snails with Pepper, Magenta Sticky Rice Cake, Duck cooked with Fermented Tofu, Rice Noodle Pizza, Vegetarian Noodle Soup…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Chau Doc: Chau Doc Fish Noodle Soup, Sugar Palm Fruit & Banh Bo Cake, Basa Fish Hot Pot, Mam (Fermented fish), Phu Huong Honeycomb Noodle Soup, Broken Rice with Pork Chop, Long Xuyen Broken Rice, Nui Cam Pancake, O Thum’s Chicken Grilled with Lime Leaves, Stir-fried Shrimp with Sesbania Flower, Sweet & Sour Soup with Siamese Mud Carp Soup & Sesbania Flower, Caramelized & Braised Catfish, Grilled Rice-field Rat with Salt and Chili…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Soc Trang: Pia Cake, Cong Cake (Banh Cong), Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang’s Noodle Soup, Soc Trang’s Bun Goi Da Soup, Duck Noodle Soup with black Pepper, Curry Noodle Soup, Grilled Honeycomb on Tile, Khmer-style Tube Cake, Khmer-style Mung Bean Cake (Banh In), Dried Radish (Xa Bau), Stir-Fried Noodles with Seafood (Mi Sua), Soc Trang’s Green Rice Flakes…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ben Tre: Phu Le Rice Wine, Ben Tre’s Coconut Candy, Flat Banana, Coconut Rice, Snail Pancake, Sea Snail with Coconut Milk, Coconut Worm, Young Coconut Salad with Shrimp & Pork, Son Doc Puff Rice Paper…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Cai Be: Puffed Rice Cake…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Vinh Long: Elephant Ear Fish (fried giant gourami)

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in My Tho: Fried Sticky Rice, Snakehead Fish Rice Porridge, Hu Tieu My Tho (Noodle Soup), Coconut Banana Cake…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Tra Vinh: Macapuno Coconut, Bun Nuoc Leo Tra Vinh’s Noodle Soup, Tra Cuon’s Sticky Rice Cake…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Sadec: Sa Dec Noodle Soup, Sadec Crab Hotpot, Lai Vung Spring Rolls, Sa Giang Shrimp Puff Pastry, Lai Vung Tangerine…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Bac Lieu: Spicy Honeycomb Noodle Soup, Bac Lieu’s Three-striped Crab, White Radish Pies, Bac Lieu Thick Noodles & Creamy Coconut Milk, Bon Bon Pickles…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ca Mau: Banh tam ga cay (Silkworm rice cake with curried chicken), Grilled Vop clams with salt and pepper, Grilled Mudskipper Fish, Stone Crab Roast With Salt, Young Bee Salad, Nam Can’s Crab, U Minh Forest’s Honey, U Minh’s Fermented Fish Hotpot…

Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Hau Giang: Cau Duc Pineapple, Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge, Hau Giang’s Bronze Featherback Fish Cake…

Hopefully, the above tips will help you to come up with a great plan for your adventure in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Have a safe trip!

“Sleep less, travel more, respect more” – Thomas Vietnam – Local travel expert.

Thank you