Top 10 Must-Try Delicious Dishes In Mui Ne

In addition to its enchanting beaches and impressive dunes, Mui Ne attracts tourists every year with its incredibly diverse cuisine. It’s hard to pick just one dish as the best, but the top 10 dishes in this article are must-tries when you visit.

Introduction to Mui Ne Tourism

Mui Ne is a cape in the city of Phan Thiet, renowned for its long stretches of blue beaches and beautiful dunes. The best time to visit Mui Ne is during the months from November to March when the sea is calm and clear, and there is little rain.

When you come to Mui Ne, you’ll have the chance to experience a variety of tourism activities: enjoying nature, participating in beach recreational activities, exploring local culture, and especially, indulging in fresh and diverse cuisine.

The Diversity of Mui Ne Foods 

Blessed with a vast fishing ground, Mui Ne has had a thriving seafood industry for a long time, providing the region with an abundance of seafood. While it has the same types of fresh seafood as other coastal areas, the unique touch of local chefs makes Mui Ne foods special.

From snacks to main courses, every dish in Mui Ne is prepared with its distinctive style, yet the flavors are unforgettable. Let Lua Viet Tours guide you through this rich culinary journey!

Tha hotpot 

The first dish that must be mentioned is Tha hotpot. Tha in Vietnamese means “Drop”, so that means you drop food into a boiling hot stove of aromatic broth. This hotpot features ingredients caught directly from the Mui Ne sea, such as Mai fish and Suot Tuoi fish, combined with various other ingredients to create an incredibly delicious flavor.

In addition to its taste, the presentation of Tha hotpot is also unique. It is based on the yin-yang and five elements philosophy: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, corresponding to the five colors in the dish: white, green, black, red, and yellow, along with the five flavors: spicy, sour, sweet, salty, and bitter.

The dish is believed to bring energy and robust health to those who enjoy it. Not only is it a familiar dish to the locals, but Tha hotpot has also gradually won the hearts of tourists from all over the world. One of the world-famous chefs, Yan Cook, was so impressed that he wanted to try making it himself right after tasting Tha hotpot.

Grilled Dong – Leiolepis 

Mui Ne boasts vast, expansive dunes that stretch over hundreds of hectares. Besides offering various entertaining activities, these dunes are also home to the Dong, a type of reptile that resembles a lizard but is larger.

Grilled Dong with salt and chili is an extremely popular dish here, especially as it is a favorite at drinking parties due to its irresistible appeal. When grilled, Dong produces a unique aroma and has a chewy, crispy texture that is both delicious and intriguing.

It is typically served with vermicelli, rice paper, and aromatic herbs, and dipped in tamarind sauce. Besides its distinctive flavor, Dong meat is also highly nutritious.

Fishcake

Thanks to the abundant and fresh seafood, fish cakes in Mui Ne are always a favorite among tourists. These fish cakes are typically handmade, without any flour or preservatives. To make the fish cakes chewy and delicious, the main ingredients often include mackerel, swordfish, barracuda, and other local fish.

Fish cakes are usually fried and served with chili sauce or a thick, flavorful fish sauce made with Mui Ne’s signature anchovy fish sauce, garlic, chili, and lime. This dish is also a popular choice of local meals.

Moreover, fish cakes are a key ingredient in many other famous dishes such as Banh Canh (a thick noodle soup) and Banh Mi (Vietnamese baguette sandwiches). If you are looking for a souvenir to take home after your trip to Mui Ne, fish cakes are a great choice.

Mai fish salad

Mai fish is a highly nutritious fish that lives in brackish water, characterized by its small, elongated body and milky white color. This special fish typically appears from January to the end of summer and can be used to prepare many delicious dishes, with the most famous being Mai fish salad.

After selecting the freshest fish, the heads are removed, the bones are taken out, and the fish is soaked in ice water to firm up the flesh. The fish is then mixed with chili, roasted peanuts, spices, crushed garlic, and dill, and left to marinate for an hour.

A crucial accompaniment to the salad is a bowl of fish sauce mixed with garlic, chili and a bit of ground-roasted peanuts. Additionally, you can enjoy the salad with fresh herbs such as lettuce, mustard greens, thinly sliced green bananas, and fresh vermicelli.

Seafood Banh Xeo

Banh Xeo is a traditional Vietnamese dish that can be found everywhere, with variations in preparation depending on the region. Banh Xeo in Mui Ne is the signature of Central Vietnam, making it smaller than the ones in the Mekong Delta, just slightly larger than a rice bowl.

Seafood Banh Xeo in Mui Ne is made from rice flour batter mixed with a bit of coconut milk and spices. The batter is poured into a hot pan, left to crisp for a few seconds, and then topped with shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts. Once cooked, the pancake is folded in half and served with various fresh greens and sweet and sour fish sauce.

>>> Want to know more about Mui Ne – Phan Thiet and its diverse cuisine, explore here! 

Spanner crab

This type of crab was once offered to royalty in the imperial court. The crab is vibrant red, with a hard shell like real ‘armor.’ It is highly nutritious and difficult to catch, which is why it commands a high price in the market.

Despite being challenging to prepare, the taste of spanner crab is exceptionally exquisite and unforgettable. This crab can be used to create many delicious dishes:

• Steamed crab with beer, lemongrass, and ginger: eliminates the fishy smell while retaining the sweetness and nutritional value.
• Crab porridge: the crab is shredded, sweet, and fragrant, perfect for cold days.
• Tamarind crab, salted crab, …

Quai Vac Cake

Quai Vac Cake is a must-try dish closely linked to the local culinary culture. The main ingredient for making this dish is wheat flour, which is shaped into small, crescent-shaped dumplings. These are then boiled in water until cooked.

Once cooked, the dough turns translucent, revealing the shrimp and pork filling inside. To enjoy, simply soak the dumplings in sweet and sour fish sauce. Then, sprinkle fried shallots and crispy pork fat on top. The chewy dough, the savory filling, and the flavorful fish sauce blend to create an irresistible dish.

Cha Lui Lagi

A crispy dish sure to satisfy the hungry travelers visiting Mui Ne is Cha Lui Lagi. Although made from simple ingredients like ground meat, minced shrimp, rice paper, and various vegetables, the locals’ skillful combination of these ingredients and their unique cooking methods result in an exceptional dish.

Along with Cha Lui and vegetables, there is a special dipping sauce made from a unique recipe featuring tomatoes, minced meat, and ground peanuts. To fully appreciate the dish, you should enjoy it the right way: place all the ingredients from Cha Lui to the vegetables on a thin rice paper, roll it up, and dip it in the sauce.

Mam Ruoc Rice Paper

When the last rays of sunshine disappear, the heat gives way to cool breezes, and it’s truly wonderful to nibble on some Mam Ruoc Rice Paper while gazing at the fishing village at night. Mam Ruoc Rice Paper is one of the most famous snacks in Mui Ne, loved not only by the locals but also by tourists.

Mam Ruoc Rice Paper uses thin rice paper, spread with a layer of Mam Ruoc (fermented shrimp paste) that has just the right amount of saltiness, along with quail eggs, Vietnamese sausage, scallion oil, chili sauce, and more. All of these ingredients are grilled over hot coals, resulting in an incredibly enticing natural aroma.

Re Cake

As a long-standing specialty in Mui Ne, Re Cake is beloved and often purchased by tourists as gifts for loved ones. The name ‘Re Cake’ comes from its resemblance to the ‘Re’ – a utensil used in old Vietnam to place pots to avoid dirt and heat.

Made from sweet potatoes and melted sugar, Re Cake has a sweet and crispy taste, very delicious. You can use Re Cake to satisfy hunger or enjoy it with tea, which is very suitable.

Summary 

Your journey to explore Mui Ne will not be complete without indulging in these specialty dishes. If you want to have a fantastic experience in Mui Ne with your family and friends, contact Lua Viet Tours now to get exciting deals!

>>>> Check out the latest tourism trends and culinary signatures of Vietnam here!