- Thick round rice noodles (bun bo)
- Beef broth with lemongrass, annatto and chili oil
- Beef slices, pork knuckle, crab cakes (cha cua)
- Banana blossom, bean sprouts and lime on the side
Bun Bo Hue
Bun bo Hue: thick round noodles in the deep-red lemongrass-and-chili broth. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Bun bo Hue is Hue's answer to pho and it brooks no comparison: thick round noodles in a deep-red, lemongrass-and-chili beef broth, with slices of beef, pork knuckle and the Hue-only addition of congealed pork blood and crab cakes.
It is bolder and spicier than pho, the legacy of the imperial court's taste for strong flavours. In Hue it is breakfast; everywhere else it is the dish travellers hunt down.
Key ingredients
Where to try it
- Bun Bo Ba Tuyet (47 Nguyen Cong Tru, Hue): the classic bowl.
- Me Keo (20 Bach Dang, Hue): the riverside favourite.
- Bun Bo Hue stalls in every Vietnamese city: look for the red broth.