Cha Ca

I’m not going to lie and say I had a vast understanding of Vietnamese cuisine before going to Vietnam. Honestly, I only knew about Pho and Banh Mis. This may seem like next to nothing, but that’s two more dishes than most people in America can recognize. Basically, knowledge of Vietnamese cuisine is virtually none. So it was to my amazement that the food there was as incredible as it was. It was extremely complex in the depth of flavors that were achieved, yet the dishes themselves were very simply made. It takes true comprehension of the ingredients being used in order to do that.

The second best dish I found in Vietnam was something called Cha Ca, at a restaurant named Nha hang Cha Ca Thang Long. Basically, it’s a fried river fish in lemongrass in thyme, served with vermicelli noodles and seasonings. At first it may look very similar to Bun Cha, but it is completely different. The way the fish is prepared and the herbs that it is made with make this dish a whole different thing. The concept may be the same, but the outcome is different.

When you order, they begin by bringing you your herbs, noodles, fish sauce, and peanuts. Then you wait while the waiter brings a pan full of already fried fish and hot oil. He places this pan on a hot plate that is already on the table and waits for it to heat. As it heats, he begins placing the thyme and lemongrass with the fish so it can sautee. As it sautees, the smell that is coming from the pan is absolutely incredible. It literally makes your mouth water and makes you want to dig into the pan as it is cooking.  

Once the fish is ready, you basically prepare yourself a little bowl of food very much like Bun Cha. It tastes incredible and makes me wish I had more time to try it again at a different location. I can’t see it being better than it already was, but maybe different places use different methods. This was a great dish, and it definitely opened my eyes to the one of the dishes I had no clue even existed prior to having it.