3 Special Dishes of Dalat Food That You Must Try

Dalat food is one of the attractions that highlight the city on the map of Vietnamese cuisine. Besides the must-eat ones that make the name of the city, the locals keep updating the menu of food in Dalat. And here are the three dishes that I just found, which were added to the menu to make you a Dalat food tour in one day.

1. Bánh Căn Nhà Chung

If you have a chance to go to Dalat City, one of the dishes that you can’t miss is Bánh Căn Nhà Chung.

So Firstly, What is Bánh Căn?

In Vietnam, Bánh Căn is a specialty in Nha Trang, Phan Rang, and Dalat. Bánh Căn in the coastal areas has a crust made from mixed rice flour with egg yolk, added shrimp, sliced pork, or seafood above. A meal is served with raw vegetables and sweet and sour fish sauce. Differently from Nha Trang and Phan Rang, Bánh Căn in Dalat City is processed more simply with a unique sauce that raises an unforgettable taste. To elaborate, let’s see what we have with the one in Dalat food menu.

Find The Outstanding Bánh Căn Restaurant of Dalat

One of the famous places that are highly recommended to visitors is ‘Bánh Căn Nhà Chung’, located at no. 1 Nhà Chung Street, Ward 3, Dalat City.

As mentioned above, Dalat’s Bánh Căn is very different from the rest because the crust is baked from rice flour with quail eggs or chicken egg yolks on top, served with seasoning sauce and meatballs homemade, adding onion grease and peanut to create fat, green mango to create acidity. In addition, it is served with Vietnamese pork sausage. Together will boost the flavor of Bánh Căn at Nha Chung to the top in your mouth!

Bánh Căn Nhà Chung restaurant is quite popular with young people in Dalat. The restaurant opens from 15:00 – 21:00. The location is at the beginning of the street so it’s quite easy to find. Even though it’s near the central area, the price is very affordable at about 20.000 – 40.000 VND. Plus, the owner is also very funny and cute. As a result, the restaurant is quite crowded so you should go early to have a seat and must not wait for a long time.

2. Cà Ri Chàaa

Just a warning, this dish is only open in the evening and there are very few tables so if you accidentally come to the restaurant when it’s so crowded, you definitely cannot find a table! The dish is recently appeared in the list of Dalat cuisine and I’m sure you will be fascinated by the curry.

About This Special Curry

Local people often call the Chams (or Cham people) “Cha Va” (read from Java), so the Chams’ curry is called Curry Cha. In cooking, Cham people use a lot of spices and aromas, especially curry powder and pineapple leaves (also called fresh curry leaves), red onion, garlic, and meat (beef, pork, goat, or chicken), which are indispensable spices to create the taste. In the dishes of the Cham people, the indispensable ingredient is coconut milk. It is very special to “make a face” when curry cooking is finished, cover it. The chef not only uses a lot of chili peppers cooked with ingredients but also enhances dried chili.

The Only Place Sells ‘Chà’ Curry in Dalat, Do You Know That?

Dalat has a secret place to sell ‘Chà’ curry that even local people know little about. This restaurant named ‘Cà Ri Chàaa’ (Curry Chaaa) is located at 32 Ánh Sáng Street, Ward 1, Dalat City, Lam Dong Province.

To give you the delicious curry pot, the preparation of the ingredients selected by the people is significantly meticulous and elaborate. Besides that, the most important is the skill of the Cham women in the way of mixing ingredients, and fat without being bored, but still delicious. Because the owner wants to treat guests with their best dishes, they must prepare and cook from the previous day. The key ingredients for processing these three dishes are raw materials such as beef, chicken, curry powder, and curry leaves.

The restaurant opens 16:00 – 21:00 daily. Because it’s always in a crowded situation, you should arrive early to enjoy it, and not to wait for a long time. Furthermore, the owner is really happy and enthusiastic to tell you interesting things about Dalat if he knows that you are a new tourist.

3. Bún Bò Bốc Khói

It would be a huge mistake when talking about Dalat food without mentioning this dish. A local just introduced me to the restaurant on my trip to the city.

What Makes Bún Bò Bốc Khói So Different?

As usual, a typical Bún Bò bowl will have Hue-style pork sausage, pork hocks, beef shank, and parts of beef brisket. Of course, there will be the typical noodles for the dish and several herbs and vegetables to eat. The specialty is, that the broth is merely cooked with beef bone and pork leg, making it a natural sweetness in taste.

Differently from Hanoi and Saigon food, the cold weather in the highland always makes Dalat foods cool quickly. And that is what contributes to the exceptional of Bún Bò Bốc Khói. To illustrate, the restaurant uses a stone-made bowl to keep the heat of the soup for a longer time. Therefore, visitors can slowly enjoy one of the best bún bò in the city.

You can easily find Bún Bò Bốc Khói from 8:00 to 21:00 at 211 Phù Đổng Thiên Vương Street, Ward 8. The restaurant has just upgraded to a bigger space. Hence, there are more seats, more comfort, and more convenience for its customers.

Final Say

With the cold weather in Dalat, after walking around the slopes as well as exploring famous places, it’s ideal for a group of friends to stop at Bánh Căn Nhà Chung, Cà Ri Chàaa, or Bún Bò Bốc Khói. Together sitting next to the warm fire stove, enjoying specialties, charging energy – it sounds so exciting. Do you want this feeling once in your life? Engaging in a Dalat food tour and tasting the foods, I promise you will never regret it.

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Mai Dang
Vietnam Contributor
A girl lives in HCMC with endless love to try the cuisine of different places. Also, she’d like to go wildly to new lands and write about her enjoyed experience.

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