Fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Thanh Hoa with Vietnam Airlines, only 2 flights a day, one departure at 12:00 and one departure at 17h40. So to have more time, you naturally have to choose a 12-hour trip. But going to a plane, 12 o’clock at noon … is terrible. Do you know, you have to go to the airport at 10:00 - 10:30 (this range does not yet have lunch), when you go to the airport, you may regret waiting for the plane to eat, and when you board the plane, you will have a piece of cake. Tiny hamburgers are not enough to drive teeth. Not to mention the time delay aircraft, hungry until landing. Because the day I went to delay, so going to Tho Xuan airport is 15h40, doing this procedure and leaving the airport is 16h, coming to Thanh Hoa city must also be crowded 17h. So the day that you have to fly Thanh Hoa is in your friends after breakfast, you will be hungry until about 4-5pm. One is that you have to watch and learn from your own experiences, otherwise, I will show you the delicious food in Thanh Hoa in the late evening until evening to serve your poor stomach.
To Thanh Hoa, the April days are still cool and pleasant. Although it is a bit hot but not too harsh and unpleasant, sometimes even the strong winds make the whole person feel cold, as if there is still a little aftertaste of spring before moving over. The hot air of summer. If you are traveling in Thanh Hoa, you should stay in Ngoc Ly hotel system, especially Ngoc Ly 3. The price is higher than Ngoc Ly 2 (next door) but the facilities are quite good and near the center. That is because many hotels in Ngoc Ly 3 are out of the room (because often the delegations usually book rooms here), it is OK to go through Ngoc Ly 2 hotel.
1. Thanh Hoa specialties: “Nem Chua”
If you ask what specialty is in Thanh Hoa, everyone will say it is: “Nem Chua”. Thanh people go to school or go home to work, they are told to bring: “Nem Chua”. In the North, the region also has “Nem Chua”, each region has a different flavor, but Thanh Hoa “Nem Chua” is still the most famous. The Thanh people created many types of “Nem” like “Nem Chua”, “Nem Thính”, “Nem Nướng”. “Nem” in Thanh Hoa has very bad and fragrant pig meat, while pork is naturally fermented, it is difficult to eat at first but gradually eat and get used to it. Each type of “Nem” has a different acidity, is a very tasty snack and worth a try when you want to eat well in Thanh Hoa.
2. “Chả Tôm” Thanh Hoá (shrimp paste)
Raw materials for making Thanh Hoa shrimp paste are shrimp paste mixed with a small amount of minced meat. After that, in order to get a bright red yellow color, people mixed with water color from gac and cashew extract. The outer shell is a thick and tough noodle cake, creating a moderate softness when biting the patties. Grilled on fresh bamboo braces and baked on charcoal fire, the crust will be slightly burnt, exposing the inner core to create a strong aroma of shrimp meat.
Delicious shrimp paste in Thanh Hoa can be found in Ba That shrimp paste. Sold in the afternoon and only up to 6.7 hours is gone. Some places like prawn in the church, my friends in Thanh Hoa say are quite delicious and famous.
Talking about shrimp paste fish sauce in Thanh Hoa. In addition to being a diluted fish sauce, there must be sliced slices of green papaya, sliced figs, accompanied by fresh chillies, garlic and vinegar … And like Thanh Hoa Nem, the basket cannot be missing. Fresh vegetables are full. But this, eat in the afternoon, you eat a lot of fresh vegetables, but wait until you have to eat the full shrimp and then you have to pay that money.
The weather was cold, gathered around the charcoal stove to wait for each prawn grille, to hear the sizzling fat and the fragrant smell mixed in smoke, it was interesting. And it is even more interesting to enjoy the crispy hot shrimp patties, the prawn flavor in the tip of the tongue, the sweet sour taste of the melon and the spicy chilli of fresh peppers and the cool and fresh vegetables, all creating a feeling Specially about rustic dishes of Thanh land, eating once will remember forever.
3. Bánh khoái tép Thanh Hoá
“Bánh khoái tép” (cake) in Thanh Hoa is like pan pan cake in the south, but the level of cake is somewhat thinner. With the Thanh Hoa people, just mentioning the cake is very interesting and envisioning the comfort of the cake and eating it without knowing it.
In the cake you have a variety of vegetables to make the flavor of the cake become fragrant. The main ingredients are probably vegetables, which are needed when hot with the shrimp and crispy coated bread is ecstatic. Not to mention is the fleshy of cabbage slices, a lot and puree, plus a little leaf is very true North. It is impossible to mention the delicious cake, right? The shrimps follow the baker, they have to stir the leaves with the green onion and some spices such as pepper, salt … to soak them.
The cake-coated material is made from milled rice into water, coated with a smooth cast iron pan. Eaters can add a chicken egg to increase the deliciousness, and fleshy, connecting both vegetables and shrimps to make a delicious cake becomes extremely rich.
Baking ingredients include only milled rice into water, delicious fresh shrimp and vegetables and shredded cabbage, dill. The shrimps bought at the market in the early morning, they were fresh, washed and drained before the profile was added to the green onion with some spices such as pepper, salt … to soak. The processing tool also only needs a cast iron pan, extra fat pieces, fat to smooth the pan surface.
The price is extremely shocking, the cake without eggs is about 8k to 10k each. And the bread with eggs is about 12k to 15k each. You can find delicious cakes in Tong Duy Tan or Nguyen Binh Khiem streets, next to Lam Son specialized school, both delicious and cheap, price for students.
4. Bánh cuốn tôm thịt Thanh Hoá (meat shrimp roll)
The rolls are from the south to the north almost everywhere, and depending on the region, there is a way to pour different rolls. In other regions, the roll is a combination of a thin roll of bread, a roll of meat and mushrooms, chopped wood, chopped cassava. However, to Thanh Hoa, you can enjoy bread wrapped with minced meat, but sprinkled with shrimp powder is very attractive. In Saigon, it is possible to find this kind of rolls at Mon Hue restaurant, the price is hard to resist, just sprinkle shrimp powder without the meat of the meat.
It is said that in some places in Thanh Hoa, there are even more grilled patties, but when I arrived it seemed late, so there was only egg rolls and shrimp rolls. However, this will also be a dish you should try out among the delicious dishes in Thanh Hoa in the evening.