Hotpot is created and enjoyed in different ways. Chinese people like to get the deep sweetness of broth from bones, such as the Sichuan hot pot and the Thai seafood hotpot, which focuses on species. Meanwhile, Japanese hot pot sauce is less seasoned but respects the lightness of vegetables and herbs.
With many diners, Vietnamese hotpots are highly appreciated for their variety and freshness, as they enjoy various vegetables in harmony.
Mix plenty of ingredients, typically vegetables, to become a typical Vietnamese hotpot.
In this post, Vietnamdrive introduces each famous type of hotpot and suggests a popular address to taste this food at the end of each part.
Let’s go along the country, from North to South Vietnam, to discover the unique hotpot dishes in each region!
1. Duck hotpot braised with Sau fruits (Lẩu Vịt Om Sấu)
Sau fruits are typical in North Vietnam with their mild sour taste and light aroma, and they are easy to process in many dishes. Many people use this type of fruit in the braised duck hot pot, creating a must-tried food you can find when you have the opportunity to visit Hanoi.
Sau fruits must be carefully selected to cook a tasty dish- not too big or too small. The duck meat is also processed meticulously. The slight sourness from these fruits helps to balance the greasy duck meat, creating a tasty hotpot. This dish is also interesting, whether eaten in the cool or chilly weather of the capital.
Address to taste duck hotpot: Vit 29 Restaurant, 29 Nguyễn Thượng Hiền, Hanoi, Vietnam
2. Ninh Binh goat hotpot (Lẫu Dê Núi Ninh Bình)
Ninh Binh not only attracts tourists with its majestic wild beauty but also offers a typical mountainous specialty: Ninh Binh goat meat.
Why is the goat meat here special? Due to being growing in nature plus fresh green grass from abundant soil conditions, the quality of Ninh Binh goats is fresher and more flavorful than in other regions.
Goat hotpot is a favorite dish because it is highly nourishing for the body, especially in keeping warm in the cold season. To cook goat meat, the chef stews the goat at low heat and continuously skims foam to make the broth clear.
Another tip is to add red coconut juice to make goat meat more delicious. Also, cooking this meat with lemongrass and turmeric will help deodorize and enhance the natural flavor of goat meat.
Depending on each person’s taste, a diner can choose a suitable dipping sauce to enjoy. However, this goat hotpot with a sauce made from chili, lemon, and sugar has the right taste.
Address to taste this hotpot: Duc De Ninh Binh Restaurant at 29/458 Nguyen Hue Street, Ninh Binh City, Ninh Binh Province, Vietnam
3. Sour bamboo shoots hotpot (Lẫu Măng Chua)
The starting is the specialty of Northwest Vietnam. The locals spend much time selecting, preliminary processing, and thoroughly brewing bamboo shoots to make completed products.
From such an elaborate process, sour bamboo shoots give a typical sour taste.
Almost with sour bamboo shoots hotpot, you can add fish or meat suitable for processing. Served with this food is rice or vermicelli.
Many people add sour bamboo shoots to soups or stir-fries to neutralize the taste of meat and fish and increase their taste buds.
With unique ingredients of sour bamboo shoots, there are a series of hotpot dishes: sour bamboo shoots hotpot, sour bamboo shoots frog hotpot, sour bamboo shoots salmon head hot pot, sour bamboo shoots fish hotpot, etc.
Address to taste sour bamboo shoots hotpot: Cha Ca Vong Ngu, 29 Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Dong Da District, Vietnam
4. Hai Phong crab hotpot (Lau Cua Dong Hai Phong)
Although Hai Phong is a famous beach city, freshwater crab hotpot become a well-known dish in this area.
The main ingredients to make this food are freshwater crabs. The yellow parts of the crab are taken out separately and fried with oil to add to the soup to make it golden. The crab meat should be filtered so that, when cooked in soup, it will float into plump pieces on the surface.
As for eating the crab hotpot, red rice paper cake often comes with it. A hotpot with lots of colors comes with vegetables and sweet broth, which can attract you at first sight.
Address to taste Hai Phong crab hotpot: Minh Quynh restaurant at 188 Van Cao Street, Ngo Quyen District, Hai Phong City, Vietnam
5. Phan Thiet seafood hotpot (Lau Tha Phan Thiet)
Lau Tha Phan Thiet, also called Seafood hotpot, is a popular dish made from easy-to-find ingredients right from the local area and sea. Many guests select this food in a must-try list of this sunny and windy land.
The highlight of this hotpot is the presentation: all ingredients are placed on a plate, including apricot fish, sliced eggs, vegetables, and rice vermicelli. Each ingredient is contained in a banana flower pedal like a boat. Also, the hot pot is in a terracotta bowl, accompanied by white rice vermicelli, making the overall hot pot more eye-catching.
Phan Thiet seafood hotpot is a harmonious combination of the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. These elements correspond to the five flavors of spicy, sour, bitter, salty, and sweet and to the five colors of white, green, yellow, red, and black.
With this typical food, you can discover and enjoy a full range of flavors with deep philosophies and meanings of Vietnamese cuisine.
Address to taste Lau Tha Phan Thiet: Soc Nau Mui Ne Restaurant at 3B Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam
6. Chicken hotpot with E leaves (Lẫu Gà Lá É)
E-leaf is one of the famous Vietnamese herbs, and it is used a lot in cooking and eating fresh raw vegetables in Vietnam. The taste of é leaves is sour and slightly acrid when eaten raw. Chicken hotpot with é leaves comes with the habit of tasting these leaves in the life of Phu Yen people, but now it’s famous in Dalat.
It is not difficult to process this hotpot, which only needs to choose firm chicken for a sweet broth with fragrant meat. In particular, the E leaves must pick up the young ones to create the inherent aroma.
Chicken hotpot with é leaves has become a more famous dish since it was introduced to Da Lat. Perhaps only when eating é leaf chicken hotpot in the cold weather of Da Lat can you feel all the typical tastes because of its warm feelings and sweet broth with a fragrant smell.
Address to taste this food: Lau Ga Restaurant, 28 Huynh Thuc Khang Street, Da Lat City, Vietnam
7. Vung Tau stingray hotpot (Lẫu Cá Đuối Vũng Tàu)
More than 100km from the center of Ho Chi Minh City to the southeast is the crowded coastal city of Vung Tau. And, if you have traveled around this area, you should not miss trying the well-known stingray hot pot – it’s really flawed.
This fish is typical but can be caught all year round, so the stingray hotpot restaurant is also bustling. The main point that attracts a lot of Vietnamese diners to come to eat this hotpot is every piece of fresh fatty fish meat that is tight when cooked. Typically, the fish bones are soft like cartilage.
The hotpot broth is rich in various ingredients with plenty of vegetables of water spinach, bananas, mint, etc.
Stringray fish is the best to be eaten when just taken out of the hot pot and enjoyed it with pure fish sauce.
One note is that the stingray hotpot is a little fishy taste for first-time diners, especially if you are a foreigner. So, try it with small peace during the first.
Address to try this dish: Stingray HotPot Tran Restaurant, at 42 Nguyen Truong To Street, Ward 3, Vung Tau City, Vietnam
8. Beef hotpot (Lẫu Bò)
For a long time, beef has been known as a food of high nutritional value, favorably appearing on many family menus and restaurants. The ingredients for Vietnamese beef hotpots are not picky- of course, the beef meat and its bone; the basic spices, such as satay, chili, and lemongrass, are easy to find in the kitchen.
However, the broth of a beef hotpot takes a long time to simmer the beef bones and meat to make a tasty soup. The two indispensable ingredients of this hot pot are anise and cinnamon. Without them, the taste of beef hotpot can reduce flavor.
Enjoying beef hotpot is also based on each person’s preferences. There are various types of beef hotpot, including mixed beef hotpot, beef tendon hotpot, and oxtail hotpot.
Address to eat this food: Beef Hotpot Hoang Thu Restaurant, 84/1 Ho Thi Ky Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
9. Keo fish hotpot (Lẫu Cá Kèo)
The Mekong region in Vietnam is naturally endowed with a wealth of freshwater and brackish water products. It also has a familiar aquatic species in people’s meals- Keo fish (long goby). Long gobies are very popular because they prefer brackish water rivers, ponds, and canals in this area.
This fish is processed into many tasty dishes at meals or parties, such as long goby braised with laksa leaves, grilled long goby, and deep-fried long goby. The Keo fish hotpot is attractive because of the sweetness of fish meat in the soup.
When eating this hotpot, you add a little fresh vermicelli and a little bit of water spinach. It’s better to buy yellow squash flowers to use for this hotpot. And then, all family members can gather together and enjoy the flavorful hotpot.
You can optionally add different herbs to the long goby hotpot: acid leaves, laksa leaves, coriander, etc.
Address to taste this food: Keo Fish Hotpot Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, 87 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street, Ward 7, District 3, HCMC, Vietnam
10. Fish sauce hotpot (Lau Mam Mien Tay)
When you travel to the south of Vietnam, you will find many types of fish sauce hotpots, which are typical food in the riverlands.
Once it’s fish sauce hotpot, you need to eat it with plenty of vegetables of the floating season, such as yellow burrhead, crab vegetables, banana flowers, and mints. Then, you can feel the rich flavor spreading from fish sauces of small carp (ca linh), choke fish, and snakehead fish.
The secret to eating fish sauce hotpot in the Mekong Delta is to get lots of shrimp, meat, and fish. However, depending on the season and favorite taste, this hot pot can be cooked with fish and vegetables. That’s why the fish sauce hotpot is diverse and unique in its way, which is rare in other regions.
However, the fish sauce is the main ingredient, creating the core taste of this hot pot. Depending on the type of fish sauce, the locals have different names, such as Snakehead fish sauce hot pot and Linh fish sauce hot pot with Danchi flowers (bong dien dien).
Although fish-sauce hotpot originated from the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, it is also served in many famous restaurants in Saigon.
Here is a suggested address to taste this food: Lau Mam Chi Sen (Chi Sen Fish-sauce Hotpot Restaurant) at 40 Vinh Khang Street, Ward 8, District 4, HCMC, Vietnam.
Along with the countless beautiful scenes of the country, Vietnamese cuisine is infused with the locals’ lives, giving diners a lovely flavor. Hotpot fully carries the message and lifestyle of the locals.
Eating Vietnamese hotpot means trying various vegetables and herbs with different ingredients, such as beef, pork, fish, chicken, or ducks.
Each type of hotpot has its taste and flavor. If you try hotpots in Vietnam for the first time, you need to pay attention to the kinds of fish hotpots that can come with a fishy taste and smell. Thus, beef, chicken, crab, or seafood hotpots can be a good choice.
One thing to notice when eating hotpots is that you have to put the vegetables in the pot, boil them before eating, and do the same with other ingredients.
Now, it is your turn to choose a hotpot dish to enjoy with friends or relatives.
