Working-Class Classic · Fermented Shrimp Paste
Bún Đậu Mắm Tôm
Photo: Viethavvh / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The dipping sauce is fermented shrimp paste so pungent that some visitors need a first taste just to get past the smell — locals cut it with lime, sugar, and a splash of hot oil to tame it.
Cold rice vermicelli is piled onto a tray with squares of deep-fried tofu, boiled pork belly, and herbs, all meant for dunking into a small bowl of mắm tôm — fermented shrimp paste whipped with lime and chili. Hanoi street stalls serve it on low tables, often shared among several diners from one big tray.
Why it's made this way: It is widely remembered as a food of Vietnam's lean postwar subsidy period, built from ingredients that were cheap and kept well — rice noodles, tofu, and shrimp paste that could sit in a jar for months — and it never left the city's daily habits after prosperity returned.
More from Vietnam
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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