Mekong Delta is a wonderful destination in Vietnam, which attracts a large number of tourists every year. The destination is famous due to not only its natural beauty but also its culture, daily lifestyle of the local and regional cuisine. Specially, regional Mekong cuisine is absolutely delicious and brings a rustic flavor characterizing the daily life of the local. Vietnam tours Packages
Elephant Ear Fish
Being a specialty dish in the Mekong Delta, tasting elephant ear fish is always on list of the best things to do in Mekong. The dish’s weird name is due to its appearance which looks like an elephant ear. The dish is always severed in homestays in the Mekong Delta.
To gain its absolute best, the dish has to be cooked in a traditional Mekong style. The chef will fry the whole fish to crispy perfection and then cut it into pieces and server upright, with its scales and teeth still attached and a flower in its mouth. The proper way to enjoy the fish is to roll it in rice paper along with pickles and dipped in fish sauce, chili and lemongrass. Besides, you can eat this fish along with some kind of vegetables and herbs.
Ba Khia (Freshwater Crabs)
Ba Khia is a rustic specialty in the Mekong Delta cruise. One of the best things to do in the Mekong Delta is to enjoy Ba Khia with many different processing.
Ba Khia is a small and dark freshwater crab; and usually seen at salinity-intruded forests along the coast of Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau provinces. They look like Cua Dong (field crabs) with three stripes on their back, two brown-red pincers, a slightly red belly and eight legs with soft fur at the tips.
The dishes from Ba Khia are served popularly at local restaurants. Ba Khia is made different dishes such as: Ba Khia salad, salt-fried Ba Khia, etc but the most popular dish is salted crab mixed with chili, garlic, refined sugar, lemon juice and Vietnamese mint. With this dish, Ba Khia will bring a pungent smell and sweet, salty and sour taste, which are classic hallmarks of regional Mekong cuisine. Specially, the rustic flavor from Ba Khia is enhanced by the interior decoration of the local restaurants with their bamboo table sets and bamboo food booths; and bamboo products surrounding such as: bamboo fish traps, bamboo vegetable baskets.
Coconut Candy
Coconut candy is one of the most popular candies in Vietnam and is a specialty in Ben Tre Province, where is the homeland of coconut. Coconut candy is produced in a simple way. Fresh grated coconut is squeezed to obtain coconut milk and then mixed with sugar, and finally boiled until the soft crack stage. Because candy will be sticky when it cools, the producer will immediately cut it into thin strips and continue to cut these thin strips into the smaller pieces of candy. The final products are coconut candies with a nice shine and nutty flavor. Besides, when producing coconut candy, they are usually mixed with durian or pandan leave flavor or roasted peanut to create a special flavor.
Therefore, in any your trip in the Mekong Delta, you should spend time to visit a coconut candy factory. This thing to do in Mekong will help you learn about “how to make coconut candy” and have chance to taste coconut candy at the factory.
These special dishes will help you explore and enjoy unique cuisine in the Mekong Delta, which always brings a rustic flavor of the local’s life. Surely, they will bring you a perfect trip in the Mekong Delta.
Travel lovers.
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