A Guide to Vietnamese Menu Items

Walk through any Vietnamese town or city and you will find aromas wafting from every corner, street and restaurant. As night falls, Vietnamese gather in street-side stalls and restaurants, often in the late hours. Small plastic stools, families and friends sharing meals, the exotic aromas of dishes being cooked just metres away, everyone engaged in conversation with smiling faces.

It's all very Vietnamese and, quite often, so are the menus. The street-side stalls are definitely worth trying, as it's here that you will find real Vietnamese food and at the same time, eat and perhaps try a conversation with the friendly locals. However, the markets and stalls do not always have English language menus. So it's worth knowing a few popular menu items in Vietnamese to save you from having to flip through your well-travelled guide book. I wrote the following words on a small piece of paper. As I travelled much of the country on a motorbike, I was able to produce my small language guide when ever hunger occurred.

Fortunately for Westerners, the Vietnamese language is no longer commonly written using Chinese characters. The Latin based script (quoc ngu) developed by Alexandre de Rhodes in the 17th century is widely used and seen throughout Vietnam.

Note: For clarity (and ease of typing) the tones (shown with diacritical marks above the letters have been left off) - apologies to any Vietnamese.

Some popular menu items

(Com) - Rice

Just like the rest of South East Asia - rice is the number one staple.

(Pho) - Noodles

A very common sight are the com-pho restaurants and stalls (Rice and noodle bars).

As with many Asian restaurants in western nations, dishes are often grouped under the main ingredient, rather then its base of rice or noodles.

Words to look out for.

Chicken - ga - example in a dish - ga-quay or ga ro-ti (roasted chicken)

Pork - lon in the north or heo in the south - example in a dish - thit lon quay (roasted pork)

Beef - thit bo - example in a dish - bo xao sa ot (spicy beef)

Fish - ca - example in a dish - ca sot chua ngot (sweet & sour fried fish)

Shrimp/prawns - tom - example in a dish - tom xao chua ngot (sweet & sour fried shrimp)

Tofu - dau phu or dau hi

Other examples of dishes

Pho bo - beef and noodle soup and...

Pho ga - chicken soup with rice noodles

A common dish that you will find is spring rolls, or nem.

Remember that the Vietnamese language varies from the North to the South.

So spring rolls in the north are nem and in the south - Cha gio

Both of these dishes will most likely contain minced pork so look for the nem rau (vegetable spring rolls), if you're vegetarian. In fact, keep an eye out for the word rau.

A word of advice. Learn to look out for cac mon chay (vegetarian). I once ordered a vegetable soup with what I thought was tofu. It turned out the tofu was in fact congealed blood.

Almost all Vietnamese dishes will be accompanied by Nuoc Mam. This is a fishsauce similar to how soy is used in other Asian dishes. For Westerners, you might try the less aromatic nuoc mam cham. Warning - it has a very strong odour.

I couldn't not mention the great Hoi An specialty of the wonton. I've had these before, but they have never tasted as good as these ones.

Coffee

The Vietnamese grow coffee and serve a great brew. It is very strong and often served with sweet condensed milk. The great little dripper placed over the cup - a legacy of the French - means you will always have a real coffee, brewed right in front of you.

Soft Drinks

Coca-Cola, pepsi, 7-up have all made their presence felt.

Beer

They have their own brands such as Saigon Export and Saigon Lager. For the beer lover keep the words bia hoi in mind, which means draught beer.

Ice

Ice is often carted on the back of a bicycle and cut up with a hand-saw on the street. Be careful of hygiene -- so as a general rule, many travellers avoid ice. That said, there is a lot of bottled water available under various names copying the French La Vie, so it may be worth asking if the ice is from bottled water.

Wine

Although producing many varieties of wine, I couldn't help but mention the snake rice wine (ruou ran). This, apparently can cure anything. It is easily visible and widely available - just look out for a snake floating in a bottle.