Bun Cha
I’ve spoken about bun cha before, but since then my tastes have changed. I care more about grease level, and I’m none too impressed with enormous portions which I either force myself to eat, or which make me feel ungrateful for leaving loads on my plate. I care more about prices now too. So I often get my bun cha fix locally and pass on the often greasy and disappointing nem (spring rolls).
This place is the best bun cha I’ve found that is local to me. It seems that other expats like the pork patties but shy away from the fatty pieces of pork, so the workers here pre-empt the complaints by serving white non-Vietnamese speakers with a bowl of patties only. I adore the chewy fatty real pork bits and though I don’t know how to ask for them in Vietnamese mostly manage to let them know what I want via interpretive dance.
The broth here is served steaming hot with fresh and plentiful greens, and there are always bowls of chopped garlic and chilli nearby. I add a big hit of this garlic, a few slices of chilli and ladelful of the chilli garlic vinegar. Give everything you want to eat a good bath in the broth, it is that good.
This small eatery, open at lunchtime, is often full and does a raring takeaway trade to customers who don’t even get off their bikes. Be careful when riding your bicycle past this blaring hot streetside charcoal grill
How to spot a bun cha joint? A plume of acrid smoke, metal grids sandwiching pork patties and a hungry crowd come lunch time.
Mai Anh Bun Cha
47 Xuan Dieu st
Hanoi.
Bun Cha (+ white tax) 20,000vnd
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