Vietnam shall forever be known for its delicious noodle soups, with phở, inevitably and unsurprisingly, immortalised as its national dish. But saying that phở is Vietnam’s best noodle dish is like reducing American fast food to French fries – delicious, yes, but ignoring the sheer variety available throughout a country with many regional specialties.
Of the coastal cities of Vietnam, one of which is Da Nang, many claim origin to a dish called bún chả cá, and for good reason. It’s delicious. A noodle soup topped with chả cá (fish cakes), aromatics and fruit lends sweet, sour, and savoury flavours to create a dish that is both explosive in flavour yet artfully balanced. While it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact location where it was created, there’s little reason to argue over it being hailed as a must-try if you’re passing through.
Bún chả cá Bà Hoa
If you’re in the right cities, bún chả cá is widespread, and not difficult to find. A quick search on Foody (the Vietnamese equivalent of rating site Yelp) in Da Nang should yield a fair number of establishments in your area. We chose Bún chả cá Bà Hoa for no reason other than its availability, what with our out-of-whack meal times, and its very close proximity to our Airbnb. Many restaurants are rated well on Foody, so you should be spoilt for choice.
At Bà Hoa, the menu is fairly limited. A small portion of bún chả cá is only đ25,000 (US$1.10), and a large portion đ30,000 (US$1.30). A bowl of bún chả cá contains thin vermicelli noodles, a clear, red soup, and fried, steamed, or a combination of fishcakes.
The soup has a light savoury flavour similar to the fish cakes. It has hints of sweetness and sourness, likely lent from the tomatoes that colour the soup and the fresh pineapples that we saw them peeling and coring as we ate. The chopped spring onions and fresh coriander reduce funky flavours of the fish, brightening the flavours with crisp, clean notes, and the fresh vegetables you can add to taste add texture and crunch.
While we can’t say for other restaurants, this bún chả cá was also slightly spicy, enough to feel a warmth in the back of our throats without becoming overwhelming or burning. For those who are familiar with the flavour, it is very similar to a Penang assam laksa though much less heavy and pungent.
The fishcakes are made of minced fish which is combined with flour or starch to make a slurry, and then cooked. The resulting is a bouncy, spongey texture, not dissimilar to a frankfurter sausage, and a light sweet, savoury flavour that is not all that similar to fish at all, but rather an ambiguous meaty flavour. We felt it was less homogenous than some of the super squidgy fish balls that are found commonly in Cantonese cooking.
The addition of pepper adds a nice fragrance. The fried fishcakes lend more flavour due to its cooking style compared to the steamed. Several kinds of fishcakes were found throughout this bún chả cá, but nonetheless they were all delicious, its mild flavour pairing well with the light soup and thin noodles.
Of course, spicy is always delicious, and the freshly chopped chilli adds just the right kind of heat. Adding lime juice adds a sharpness that makes the flavour from the fish milder. Bún chả cá is recommended for people who like the sweet and sour combination, and people who like fish. It may not offer fresh fish but its flavours are so fragrant that you won’t miss a thing.
Dare we say that the combination of flavours makes it arguably more enjoyable than even phở? A controversial statement, certainly, but that only means that you have to try it to make sure for yourself.
Bún chả cá Bà Hoa
27 Lê Hồng Phong, Phước Ninh, Hải Châu, Đà Nẵng 550000, Vietnam
Mon-Sun 6am-1:30pm; 4pm-10pm (Hours according to Foody)
Bún chả cá Bà Hoa Foody Listing
