NOM – SALAD

Vietnamese salads are wonderful for their super fresh ingredients. Exotic when compared to standard leafy greens, some Vietnamese standards star key ingredients such as banana flower, lotus stem and green papaya.

Nom Du Du – It tastes a lot better than the name gives it credit for

Nom Du Du is a slightly sweet and sour green papaya salad, topped with your choice of meat (dried beef is most commonly found in restaurant versions of this dish). When you order a nộm đu đủ plate, the seller will put some shredded papaya and carrot in the dish first, then she will add your meat topping of choice, herbs such as coriander, mint, basil, freshly roasted ground peanuts, and nộm broth made of sugar, fish sauce, vinegar infused with minced hot chili and garlic. The dish has interesting textures and zesty because of herbal flavors mixed with chewy meaty topping, crunchy papaya, and buttery taste of peanuts with sweet, sour and spicy broth.

Where: Hom market, 25 Hàm Long st, 43 Mã Mây, Hồ Hoàn Kiếm st – near water puppet theatre

When: Late morning to evening

How much: 20,000 to 30,000 VND

 

Nom Hoa Chuoi – Definitely not one to miss out on

Nom Hoa Chuoi is a salad that uses the actual flower from the banana tree topped with a lightly sweet and sour, spicy sauce mix with pig ear or chicken and top of peanuts.

Where: Any Bia Hoi place where you can park yourself on small plastic chairs. Order the fresh local beer with your food and enjoy watching the world go by as you tuck in to this wonderfully local delicacy.

When: Afternoon

How much: 30,000 to 40,000 VND