Let's explore the top 10 famous delicacies of the Ancient Capital with Migo through the article below!
Kim Son vermicelli
Along with Lai Thanh wine specialties, Kim Son vermicelli is a rustic delicacy not to be missed when visiting the land of Ninh Binh. The bowl of fragrant vermicelli suffocates the sweet smell of the broth, the large, firm, and rich balls become an ecstatic gift for diners in the early morning.
The pieces that grow in the bowl of Kim Son noodles are made from delicious buttocks that are finely pounded, the whole piece is as big as the palm of a child's hand, not round like the meat of Hanoi wood ears. The chef quickly sliced the pieces and dropped them into a bowl, poured them over the simmering broth and served it to diners while it was still hot. The point above is fragrant fried onions and green coriander. When enjoyed, the sweet broth is soaked into the chewy vermicelli fiber. Pick up some bean sprouts, sliced banana vegetables, cilantro, basil, marjoram, and spinach to make you remember it once you eat it once.
Suggested address:
To Nhu vermicelli: 10 Quang Thien street, Kim Son, Ninh Binh
Reference price: 30,000 VND/bowl
Photo: chudu24
Sticky rice with ant eggs
Having stopped in Nho Quan, Ninh Binh, no one can ignore this ant egg sticky rice. With many jagged limestone mountain ranges, Nho Quan land has many species of brown ants nesting on the climbing trees in the rocky mountains. In some places, this type is also called asphyxiating ants, curvy ants for fatty, protein-rich eggs.
In particular, the ant egg season only exists from around the full moon of the 2nd lunar month. The process of retrieving ant eggs is also very arduous. Therefore, ant egg sticky rice has become a delicacy worth waiting for.
Usually, ant eggs are obtained only on sunny days. People use a hook to bracket the whole ant nest, wait for the nest to drain all the ants, then put the whole array into the sieve, tap lightly to let the ant eggs fall. When all the ants are discharged, people use a basin of warm water again and let it dry. The ant eggs are then fried with fatty onions, carefully marinated in dried banana leaves to absorb the flavor and put on the fire. Wait for the sticky rice to cook, then sprinkle ant eggs, stir evenly to mix the ant eggs into each sticky rice seed. When eating, the fragrant sticky rice blends with the greasy ant eggs.
Suggested address:
Ant egg sticky rice: National Highway 12B, Ngoc Luong, Nho Quan, Ninh Binh
Reference price: 50,000 - 100,000 VND/plate
Photo: naturekey.vn
Fan vermicelli
Bun Cha, but the ancient capital vermicelli has its own characteristics, not only a favorite dish of locals, but also very popular with tourists. Ninh Binh fan vermicelli is exactly a breakfast dish not to be missed if you visit this land.
From a distance, I could see the attractive smell of fan rolls. Because the patties are sandwiched by a charcoal fan in a grill as big as a human hand. The whole plate of large patties is attractive with a large piece, almost edged, golden on the outside, sweet and soft on the inside, and full of spices. The vermicelli eaten with the patties is also a type of baby vermicelli, not a puppet vermicelli like other places. Pick up a piece of white vermicelli with a piece of golden patties, dip it with a sweet and sour dipping sauce to taste, add a little herbs to bring the taste.
Suggested address:
Tinh Mai Fan Bun Cha: No. 7 Pham Hong Thai, Ninh Binh City
Reference price: 25,000 - 50,000 VND
Photo: VnTrip
Braised fish
Referring to one of the irresistible delicious rustic dishes of the land of Ninh Binh, you can't ignore braised fish.
The gourd tree grows at the foot of hills and streams. The shell fruit is round, the skin has soft thorns similar to rambutan, sour taste, sweet and cool. Indigenous people often use tamarind and crocodiles to cook sour soup and fish stock. Fish braised shells are usually green shells, with a slight acidity, slight astringency and characteristic fruit smell. After cleaning the fish, people put it in a pot, one layer of fish, one layer of scoop. Stocked spices include fish sauce, colored water, dried onions, chili,.. simmer until the pot is empty, then complete. The color of the braised fish is eye-catching, the special aroma of the gourd overwhelms the fishy smell of the fish, the taste of fish meat is sweet, fatty, salty mixed with a slight sour taste that makes anyone who has eaten it once remember it forever.
Photo: Dan Viet
Mountain goat meat with lime
When it comes to Ninh Binh cuisine, goat meat cannot be ignored, but a special dish that must be tried is lemon goat meat.
Goat meat is available in many regions of Vietnam, but Ninh Binh is considered the land with the most delicious goat meat. In 2012, Ninh Binh mountain goats were in the TOP 50 Vietnamese specialties.
The characteristic deliciousness of Ninh Binh goat meat is due to the special way of raising goats here, goats are raised freely in the mountains, eating natural vegetables and grasses, including many precious medicines in the mountains, thanks to which goat meat is firm and low in fat.
Lime pale goat meat is the dish that highlights the taste of goat meat the most. The deep, soft, fragrant sweetness of goat meat and the aroma of lemon, lemongrass, roasted sesame, galangal... extremely attractive. Goat meat is famous in the whole land of Ninh Binh, but the best is still enjoyed in the Hoa Lu mountains, near Trang An, Tam Coc.
Reference address:
- In Trang An: Thang Long Restaurant, De Chinh Thu Restaurant, Dung Pho Nui Restaurant
- In Tam Coc: Thao Beo Restaurant, Duc Duc Restaurant, Anh Dzung Restaurant
- In Ninh Binh city: Duc De Ninh Binh restaurant, Hoang Long restaurant
- The price of a portion of ready-made goat meat is from: 100,000 - 350,000 VND/dish depending on the dish and large or small portions.
Photo: naturekey.vn
Grilled banana fish
Visitors to Van Long lagoon definitely cannot ignore the delicious grilled banana fish - a specialty of the beautiful Van Long lagoon.
Van Long lagoon banana fish is large and round, living in flooded caves. Fish meat is tough, firm, rich sweet, and the best is grilled right after being caught. People usually only clean the fish and then grill it, very little seasoning or seasoning so as not to lose the characteristic delicious taste of the fish. The best grilled banana fish enjoyed with dipping sauce or rolled in rice paper and accompanying herbs are extremely attractive.
Photo: sieungon.com
Ninh Binh elderberry
When it comes to Ninh Binh delicacy, it is impossible to ignore elderberry - a dish with a tradition of more than 100 years of fame of this land. Ninh Binh elderberry is cooked from a cast iron pot, with delicious flexible rice. Thick cast iron pot, cook the rice over high heat so that the rice burns evenly, edged, crispy but not hard, fragrant without burning, spongy, crispy but still fleshy and greasy. Nowadays, industrial elderberry making facilities fry elderberry in oil, making the elderberry seeds bloom evenly, crispy, fragrant, sweet, the typical taste of delicious rice in the North.
The best elderberry is enjoyed with a chan sauce made from goat meat. The sauce is fragrant, sweet, rich, and extremely suitable to eat with elderberry. Elderberry is also enjoyed with spicy and sour sauce, rubbed with minced shrimp. In some places, it is eaten with onion fat fish sauce.
Currently, in Ninh Binh, there are many establishments producing elderberry and vacuum packaging that are convenient to buy as gifts or easily transport far away.
Reference price: from 35,000 VND/package
Photo: naturekey.vn
Ninh Binh drift cake
It is also a traditional rice cake, but Ninh Binh rice cake has a new feature when combined with sugar, honey, finely pounded dried peanuts and moldy chrysanthemum leaves, creating an extremely impressive taste.
Moldy chrysanthemum leaves are a local herb, after being collected and washed, finely chopped, marinated with honey sugar for half an hour so that the sugar is evenly absorbed and then added to make a filling with crushed peanuts. The cake has a gentle aroma, not harsh sweetness. When boiling, people add a few moldy chrysanthemum leaves and grapefruit flowers to help increase the flavor. The round cake exudes the gentle aroma of moldy chrysanthemum leaves, the aroma of peanuts will make anyone want to taste it once.
Photo: indianembassy-tm.org
Spider fish salad
Anyone who passes through the waters of Kim Son Ninh Binh, cannot help but stop to enjoy spider fish salad - a delicacy that Kim Son people remind everywhere they go.
Spider fish is a healthy and ferocious fish that lives mainly in saltwater, freshwater, brackish water, mainly caught in coastal lagoons and estuaries. To process spider fish salad, the process is extremely feat. The aroma of fish salad is fragrant with the smell of roasted glutinous rice, the mild sour taste of vinegar, blended with the spicy and fragrant taste of garlic, chili, pepper, and lemongrass.
Each slice of spider fish meat is thinly sliced, squeezed with lemon juice, adding spices and ears from golden roasted glutinous rice. Fish skin with fish bones is fried crispy, fish skin can be mixed with salad, fish bones are pounded and cooked together with sour batches, chicken eggs, pork belly. If fish salads are often eaten with fish sauce, Ninh Binh spider fish salad is the best to eat with fish sauce. The dark red, thick, and fragrant bowl adds to the attractiveness of the dish.
When eating, enjoy spider fish salad with guava leaves, cake or fig leaves, add apricot leaves, thorny smell, basil, pennywort, lentils, mint stuffed into a funnel, then add spider fish in the middle, pour over the water, finally add galangal, dried onion, thinly sliced chili peppers on top and enjoy.
Suggested address:
Spider fish salad restaurant Vu Bao Kim Son Ninh Binh
Reference price: 150,000 - 400,000 VND/dish
Photo: vubao.vn
Mountain snails
Not a sophisticated dish or delicious sorghum, but in recent years, Ninh Binh mountain snails are one of the dishes not to be missed when visiting the ancient capital. This is a species of snail that lives in caves and rock cavities in the limestone mountains of Tam Diep, Nho Quan, Yen Mo towns...
From April to August every year, the rainy season begins, new snails crawl out to feed and breed, this is also the bustling season of hunting mountain snails. Snails only eat wild plants and moss, including many medicinal flavors. When preparing snails, people often do not soak thoroughly, only wash briefly to retain the precious medicinal tastes. Mountain snails can be processed into many dishes such as grilled snails, stir-fried snails with tamarind, steamed snails with ginger and lemongrass or snail salad with onions.
Mountain snails are sweet and strong, when eaten without leaving the intestines, chew carefully slowly to feel the cool taste and aroma of herbal medicine.
Suggested address:
Quoc Quan Restaurant, Thang Long, Vu Bao Ninh Binh Restaurant, Van Bao Ngoc Restaurant
Reference price: 150,000 - 300,000VND/ item
Photo: naturekey.vn
Yen Mac sour spring rolls
Referring to Ninh Binh specialties, it is impossible to ignore Yen Mac sour spring rolls, a delicacy associated with the verse:
"Yen Mac specialty of sour spring rolls
Cult parties often buy and use."
The origin of Yen Mac spring rolls is still told to this day: it is a specialty dish created by the daughter of the High Secretary Pham Tan Duat, Pham Thi Thu, based on the sour spring rolls of the Hue royal court. Sour spring rolls are made from lean buttocks meat to remove all the excess fat, then use a knife to cut them into small pieces, slice them gradually until they reach there. After slicing the meat, wrap it in a clean cloth and compress it to drain the water.
Pork skin is circled inward, tied and boiled. The ripe skin is taken out and pressed straight and then used a knife to shade thin, as small as a monofilament. Finally, the skin and meat are mixed with salt and cinnamon to ferment.
Yen Mac sour spring rolls are wrapped in banana leaves, in summer, only wrapped after 1 day can be eaten, in winter, after 3-4 days can be eaten. When enjoyed, sour spring rolls are often rolled in guava leaves, enjoyed with apricot leaves, fig leaves, lentils leaves with chili sauce, becoming an extremely attractive drink and snack.
Nowadays, you can easily buy Yen Mac sour spring rolls at many Ninh Binh specialty establishments. Reference price: 70,000 - 80,000 VND/fruit
Photo: hoanglongriversidehomestay.com
Gia Vien shrimp paste
Gia Vien Ninh Binh is a low-lying area with fields that are flooded almost all year round, giving this land a rich source of freshwater seafood, including small shrimp - the main ingredient to make the specialty shrimp paste.
Shrimp paste is made from fresh baby shrimp, cleaned and salted and then mixed with rice. Standard shrimp paste has a beautiful bright red color, rich consistency, and characteristic sweet saltiness. Shrimp paste is often enjoyed with boiled meat, boiled vegetables, or shrimp paste enjoyed with white rice.
Suggested address:
Thanh Nguyen shrimp paste (Ninh Binh city), Thuy Toi shrimp paste (Me town, Gia Vien), Ba Thieu shrimp paste (Me town, Gia Vien)
Reference price: from 130,000VND/bottle 380ml
Photo: cachlammonngon.vn
Synthetic Migo