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Huynh De crabs |
People in Binh Dinh province make specialty foods that are both popular in Vietnam and liked by foreigners. Among the foods that originate in Binh Dinh are Banh It (a three-cornered patty made from sticky rice and filled with meat or green-bean paste), Bun Song Than (a rice-noodle soup), Banh Hoi (steamed rolls made of rice flour) that are sour, hot, sweet and greasy, and Bau Da alcohol, a beverage that will blow the top of your head off as easily as any other big-name product of its kind.
Huyen Market spring rolls
People in Binh Dinh have a folk saying that goes: “Everyone that visits Vinh Thanh, my homeland, should eat spring rolls at the Huyen Market and watch a Tuong drama in the evening.” The Huyen Market referred to here is located in the Vinh Thanh hamlet, formerly Tuy Phuoc District. It’s always busy and is famous for the Tuong performances that are held there whenever there’s a festival in the province. While getting an earful of Tuong, visitors are encouraged to sample local specialty foods. Among them the spring rolls that are made in Huyen Market might be the best. Along National Highway 19 in Tuy Phuoc district there are many restaurants that sell Huyen Market spring rolls. It’s also sold at groceries and markets in Quy Nhon and actually all over Binh Dinh province. To chew on a Huyen Market spring roll while sipping Bau Da wine is an experience that will last a lifetime.
Huynh De crab
When compared with other seafoods, Huynh De crab fares well. Locals say that it’s as good as snow-fish or salmon. History comes in the form of legend in Vietnam and in this case it’s said that a long, long time ago a Vietnamese king was out on a boat in the waters off Binh Dinh and he watched fishermen catch a pinky-red crab that looked like a tortoise. The king told them that he wanted them to cook that crab for him. It was so delicious that the king told the fishermen that they had better bring him a crab like that every day. And that’s why to this very day this crab is called a Huynh De (royal) crab. Huynh De crab is found in numbers in the sea off Quy Nhon in the springtime. At that time seafood restaurants in the city make two dishes from Huynh De crab – steamed crab that’s served with salt, black pepper and green chilly, and rice porridge with crab and fried onion. It’s recommended that visitors who want to put a little lead in their pencil should eat Huynh De crab.
Jelly-fish soup
In the summertime, when it’s hotter than hell, there are foods that people eat because they believe that this will cool them off. Jelly-fish soup, for example. The vast expanse of the Thi Nai Lagoon in Binh Dinh is home to a wide variety of interesting aquatic creatures – including that year-round resident, the jelly-fish. Jelly-fish is chewy, transparent, and oh so delicious. Several restaurants in Binh Dinh, including Hoa Hoa on Phan Chu Trinh road in Quy Nhon, make jelly-fish soup. A bowl of jelly-fish soup is a demonstration of the art of flavor. Within the concoction is the flavor of mint leaves, oil of coconut, the buttery taste of fried peanuts, the acrid taste of green banana and banana flowers, the hot sting of green chilly, the sour taste of green and delicious smell of that jelly-fish. Once you’d had it, it’s a sure thing that you will never forget it.
The Binh Dinh rice pancake
Banh xeo (rice pancake) made in Binh Dinh are especially delicious. The pancake is folded in half and filled with shrimp, meat, soybean sprouts and mint leaves. There are Banh xeo shops just about everywhere in the province, however, the Nam Tuan Banh Xeo Restaurant in My Cang Hamlet, Phuoc Son Commune, Tuy Phuoc District, is said to make the best in the province. Mrs. Ly Thi Thi, who is well over 70 and has matured with her restaurant, still runs the place which is about 30 km from Quy Nhon on a provincial highway on the way to the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone, the Nui Ba national historical-cultural site and Trung Luong (Phu Cat) beach. It’s very crowded in the morning as people drift in for breakfast but, you know what they say, - if it’s crowed it must be good.
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