Must try food specialties of Phan Thiet

If you are planning a Vietnam tour  to Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan make sure  to try the food specialties here. To truly experience the typical flavour of the land of the charming white sand beach.
Phan Thiet city in the minds of many people is a dry place, with hot weather and full of sand dunes. Therefore, this was not a popular tourist destination until 1995, when a total solar eclipse occurred, with the ideal viewing point being this land. People are more interested in this place and are steadily attracted by the beautiful scenery and especially the delicious food.

1. Quang duck noodles

The first dish is Quang duck noodles at A Gioi breakfast restaurant on Hung Vuong Avenue. The shop is always busy with customers coming in and out early in the morning, is one of the names that make Quang duck noodles only available in Phan Thiet. The shop owner is Ms. Bay, 37 years old, used to be an accountant working in Ho Chi Minh City before returning to her hometown to restore her mother's burden of Quang noodles. After many years of preservation and development, now Quang noodles of Ms. Bay's family have become a big brand not only for locals but also for tourists.
Coming to Phan Thiet and eating Quang Nam specialties is something that many people wonder about, but Quang noodles with duck meat are not widely available. Initially, the shop was called Anh Gioi (Goi is Bay's father's name) but because she wanted the name more impressive, Ms. Bay changed it to A Gioi to attract customers. Every weekday, Ms. Bay makes 12 kg of pork (pork sausage, ribs) and on weekends, 15 kg to boil water. She said, to be suitable for tourists, she has to cook less sweet because tourists from all over the world come to Phan Thiet to play or jokingly call Quang noodles here as "tea" because it is too sweet.

2. Herring rolls

Herring rolls is the second dish that you should try when coming to Phan Thiet. Dung rolls brand has been around for more than 40 years in Phan Thiet. The dish uses two locally available ingredients, herring picked up from the harbour every morning, and cassava roots (legumes) combined to create a signature dish that spans three generations. Hang - who is in charge of the shop's activities, continues to preserve and improve the recipe left by her grandmother. As she recounted, her grandmother is the one who invented and sold herring rolls here.
To make a large quantity, the restaurant requires about 10-12 people for preparation, cooking and helping. Hang is proud of the restaurant's peanut sauce. "The dipping sauce is made from pure peanuts, the taste of which many people praise, can't be found anywhere other than my family."

3. The one-leaf squid dish

Next, it is impossible not to mention the one-leaf squid dish. Ms. Loan, a woman in her 50s who witnessed the change in Phan Thiet's popularity after the 1995 total solar eclipse. It was Ms. Loan, the owner of Cay Bang restaurant, the only restaurant located close to Ong Dia rock. She is the one who found out how to process squid leaves, an unpopular ink that has become a specialty of Phan Thiet.
"In 1996, people only liked two kinds of squid. Squid to make dried squid, cuttlefish to stir-fry. Why isn't the squid delicious?", Ms. Loan shared. The fisherman then told her that when eaten fresh, squid leaves are crispy while most people like to eat soft, and when eaten dry, squid leaves are hard. Listening to opinions, Ms. Loan thought of a way to make squid so that it was both dry and fresh, with a soft and crispy texture and decided to dry it for one day. According to her, this may have become the secret to making squid ink which is famous throughout Vietnam today.
Although the land of Phan Thiet is arid, it produces many specialty dishes. All are simple, ingredients are easy to find and available, but through the hands of dedicated chefs, they have added their own unique and attractive flavours.