Bun rieu

Vietnamese Crab Noodle Soup

So this is day two in Vietnam and Jetlag has really kicked my butt today. My hotel is situated in a very central location in the heart of the old Quarter in Hanoi. So one does not need to walk very far to stumble upon an alley way wafting with something delicious bubbling away.

The language barrier is real as I have challenged myself to not sit in a restaurant for the first leg of the journey, so far so good! However that does leave me vulnerable to anything goes, there is plenty of googling and pointing and praying that the dish I am giving is in the same post code of what I was hoping for. One thing you don’t have to fear is whether something will be edible or not, there is so much pride and volume that one never has to worry.

This morning saw a lot of rain and with the rain comes the slowing down of the traffic and people. So armed with nothing other than the name of the dish I walked down a couple of streets in search of a sign that has that name in it.

I stumbled upon a little alley that was leading to a day spa where two beautiful Aunties were working their magic. It looked to me as if they were shareing the alley. Bun riêu on the one side and what looks to be Chicken Pho on the other.

I sat down under a large umbrella armed with chopsticks, spoon and a chilli sauce (satay, as they call it) that was surely going to shake me out of my Lag.

The Chilli that kicked me right out of my jet lag

Bún riêu believed to originate in the north of the country and as the folks slowly migrated south, so did this dish. The broth is clean and clear and has a crab base and also the only soup base to have tomato. It is quite hard to describe, but if i had to have a go i would say it is a slightly less spicy tom yum style base. The soup base is made with bone broth and the addition here is crab. They use “paddy” crab, so little crabs that get caught in the paddy fields, blended and to a paste. paste gets added to the broth and as the broth start to simmer so all the crab comes together at the top. This then gets set in to a cake or sausage shape and refrigerated.

The base then gets fresh tomato, tamarind, vinegar, annatto seeds and a few other spices. This one was topped with fried tofu, crab sausage, beef brisket, water spinach and snails. This gets served with a healthy serving of leaves on the side, perilla leaves, Vietnamese mint, basil and butter lettuce. You keep adding the fresh herbs with each mouth full for a punch of freshness with each bite. I think this is going to be the greatest challenge in trying to re create this in the restaurant, some of these herbs are so specific in flavour and such an integral part of the experience, but try we will.

Snails are making such a massive comeback in South Africa at the moment and I think this would be such a great way of featuring them outside of the garlic butter norm and perhaps using crayfish when in season.

As soon as I am back in the restaurant we will work on a recipe and add it to this blog for you

Another Empty Bowl