What makes ‘bun cha’ Hanoi so special that Obama ate for dinner?

The US President enjoyed bun cha together with a famous American chef Anthony Bourdain at a popular bun cha restaurant in Le Van Huu Street. The head of the White House then said the friendliness and sentiments of the Vietnamese people touched his heart. Taking a bun cha serving and 2 bottles of Hanoi beer and buying four more bun cha servings, President Obama made good comments on this specialty of Hanoi. He said after leaving office he will return to Vietnam to enjoy food, Vietnamese culture, and to try iced milk coffee.

What makes bun cha, the Vietnamese dish which U.S. President Barack Obama had for dinner on his first night in the Vietnamese capital on Monday, a delicacy of Hanoi people?

Popular in the northern region of Vietnam in general and in the Vietnamese capital in particular for its taste and simplicity, bun cha is a dish made from very simple ingredients.

It is comprised of two main simple parts, bun (white rice noodles) and cha (grilled pork and meatballs), and always served with vegetables and dipping sauce made from fish sauce, carrot and green papaya.

A combo of bun cha could also be complete with an optional dish of nem cua be (crab spring rolls).

A classical meal

Becoming a favorite of many northerners, the dish could be found everywhere in Hanoi from an outlet on the sidewalk, a storefront, or a stall at a market to a restaurant, and is easy to be made at home as well.

Being favored by Vietnamese people, the noodle dish has also become a choice for many tourists coming to the country, and been recommended by travel and cuisine sites.

Last year, a story about street food in Vietnam of The New York Times mentioned bun cha as “a classic Hanoi meal of charcoal-grilled pork slices and pork patties, served over thin noodles.”

According to the author of the piece, the Bun Cha Nem Cua Be Dac Kim storefront, a one-dish joint in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, is “where phenomenally flavorful grilled meat arrived hot and juicy, and the dipping options included a mountain of pepper-spiked garlic, along with fish-sauce-based condiments.”

In 2014, the dish was chosen as the world’s best street food by the internationally-renowned National Geographic Travel website.

The selection was made based on comments from National Geographic Travel’s Facebook fans, who were asked to share the best lip-smacking street eats they had sampled around the globe.

Earlier in 2011, bun cha was listed among the top 40 delicious Vietnamese dishes by CNN Travel.

“Pho might be Vietnam’s most famous dish but bun cha is the top choice when it comes to lunchtime in the capital,” the site said.

Hanoi’s most famous bun cha outlet is at 1 Hang Manh in Hoan Kiem District, according to CNN Travel.

Other famous and long-time outlets for bun cha in the capital include Bun Cha Duy Diem at 140 Ngoc Khanh Street in Ba Dinh District, Bun Cha Sinh Tu at 8 Ta Quang Buu Street in Hai Ba Trung District, Bun Cha 34 at 34 Hang Than Street in Hoan Kiem District, and Bun Cha Huong Lien where President Obama and renowned American chef Anthony Bourdain stopped by on Monday at 24 Le Van Huu Street in Hai Ba Trung District.