An appealing feast of bun goi da (rice vermicelli with broth) served in My Xuyen Town of Soc Trang Province

Bun goi da (rice vermicelli with broth) is a specialty of the Mekong Delta’s Soc Trang Province.

Nobody knows when the dish was invented or who named it but locals of My Xuyen often recommend it to visitors.

I recently tried bun goi da at a small restaurant in My Xuyen. My friend, a local resident, told me this dish was becoming more popular. He said it is now available in Can Tho City at some bistros on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh and Hai Ba Trung streets, and is even on the menu at the city’s luxury restaurant of Hoang Cung (Royal) near Ninh Kieu Wharf, which serves Asian and European dishes.

What makes bun goi da attractive to many diners is its broth with a characteristic sweet taste. Many sellers in Soc Trang say this sweet taste is created by pork and shrimp.

A good bowl of bun goi da must have sweet and pure broth. The broth, with white vermicelli, red shrimp, brownish-yellow slices of pork and green spring onion, makes the dish especially eye-catching.

Spices also make the dish appealing. Most diners believe a small amount of sour tamarind and salty soybean paste is used for its broth. Almost every restaurant in the Mekong Delta serves it with a small bowl of tamarind paste and peanuts. The peanuts, whole or crushed, increase the fattiness of the broth.

Bun goi da should be accompanied only with fresh bean sprouts. The bean sprouts balance the sweet and fatty tastes of the broth, thus making it easier to eat.

In My Xuyen, a bowl of bun goi da is sold for VND8,000- 12,000 (US$0.50-0.80). In Can Tho, it is VND18,000-25,000 ($1.10-1.60) a bowl.

Reported by Diem Thu