Hu tieu, the southern bowl you can order dry
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Hu tieu is the southern answer to pho, and it answers a different question. The broth is pork rather than beef, the noodle changes from shop to shop, and the whole thing can arrive dry with the soup in a separate bowl.
What is in a bowl of hu tieu?
A bowl holds a clear pork-bone broth, rice noodles, sliced and minced pork, prawns and usually a quail egg. Fried garlic, chives and Chinese celery go on top, and a plate of herbs and bean sprouts sits beside it.
The broth is the southern signature: light, clean and faintly sweet, often from rock sugar and dried squid simmered with the bones. It is the opposite of the heavy lemongrass and chilli of bun bo Hue.
Offal appears in the fuller versions — liver, heart, sometimes intestine. A kitchen will leave it out if you ask, and nothing else about the bowl changes.
| What | Hu tieu | Pho |
|---|---|---|
| Broth | Pork bones, lightly sweet | Beef or chicken, clear and savoury |
| Noodle | Chewy clear, soft rice, or egg | Flat rice noodles only |
| Region | The south and the delta | National, northern in origin |
| Dry version | Yes, hu tieu kho | No |
| Toppings | Pork, prawn, quail egg, fried garlic | Beef or chicken, spring onion |
Which noodle do you get?
Three noodles are in play and the kitchen will ask. Dai is the chewy, almost translucent noodle made with tapioca starch; mem is the soft rice noodle; mi is the yellow egg noodle.
Saying hu tieu mi gets you a mixture of the rice noodle and the egg noodle in one bowl, which is a normal order rather than a compromise. Most regulars have a fixed preference and give it before the bowl is built.
The chewy version is the one visitors notice, because nothing else in Vietnamese noodle cooking behaves like it. The noodle soup guide puts it against the rest of the family.
What does ordering it dry mean?
Ordered kho, the dish arrives with the noodles tossed in a dark, slightly sweet sauce, the toppings on top and the broth in a separate bowl. Nothing is missing: you drink the broth alongside, or tip it in when the noodles are half eaten.
Nuoc is the soup version, and it is what you get by default. The two cost the same and come from the same pot.
Kho is the better order in hot weather and the better order at a cart, where the broth cools quickly. Most Saigon regulars order it dry more often than not.
Where does the dish come from?
The dish came south with Chinese communities, mostly Teochew, and took its best-known form in Cambodia before returning across the border. That is why the standard Saigon bowl is called hu tieu Nam Vang, Nam Vang being the Vietnamese name for Phnom Penh.
Other versions belong to specific towns. My Tho in the delta makes its own, with a clearer broth and its own noodle, and Sa Dec is known for the noodles themselves rather than for the soup.
The dish sits in the same lineage as the delta itself, which the Mekong page covers: Chinese, Khmer and Vietnamese cooking in the same kitchens for two centuries.
What does a bowl cost?
A street bowl runs 35,000 to 60,000 dong, which is one to two dollars at about 26,000 dong to the US dollar. Extra prawns, extra offal or a large bowl push it towards 80,000.
Night carts sit at the cheaper end. These are the go carts, named for the wooden knock that announced them through the streets before mobile phones did the same job.
Air-conditioned chains charge double for a bowl that is no better, a gap the cheap eating guide covers across the country.
When is it sold?
Kitchens sell it at breakfast and carts sell it at midnight, with a quieter middle. Kitchens open before seven for the market and office trade, and the carts come out after eight in the evening.
A morning and an evening service is unusual. Most Vietnamese specialities pick one end of the day, as the breakfast guide sets out, and this one works at both.
The lunchtime version exists and is the weakest. Broth that has stood since six in the morning tastes like it.
Where is it worth eating?
Ho Chi Minh City and the delta towns, which is where the dish is at home. District 5, the old Chinese quarter, has the deepest concentration of kitchens making the Nam Vang version properly.
In the delta, look for it in Can Tho and My Tho, where the local version is a point of pride and the noodles often come from Sa Dec.
North of Da Nang it is a transplant. Hanoi sells it, and the northern kitchens do other things better — the city-by-city guide is the map for that.
FAQ
What is hu tieu?
Hu tieu is a southern Vietnamese noodle dish built on a clear pork-bone broth, usually with dried squid and rock sugar in it. The bowl carries sliced pork, minced pork, prawns and often a quail egg, and it can be ordered wet as a soup or dry with the broth on the side.
What is the difference between hu tieu and pho?
The broth and the noodle. Pho is a beef or chicken broth with flat rice noodles and a northern accent. Hu tieu is a pork broth, lightly sweet, with a chewy clear noodle or an egg noodle, and it belongs to the south and to the Chinese and Cambodian kitchens that shaped it.
What is hu tieu Nam Vang?
The Phnom Penh version, and the one most Saigon kitchens sell. Nam Vang is the Vietnamese name for Phnom Penh, and the bowl carries pork, prawns, minced pork, offal and a quail egg, with fried garlic over the top. It arrived with Chinese-Cambodian cooks and stayed.
What does hu tieu kho mean?
Dry hu tieu. The noodles come tossed in a dark sweet-savoury sauce with the toppings on top, and the broth arrives in a separate bowl to drink or to pour in later. Ordering kho rather than nuoc is the single most useful word for this dish.
What does a bowl of hu tieu cost?
About 35,000 to 60,000 dong at a street kitchen in Ho Chi Minh City, which at roughly 26,000 dong to the US dollar is one to two dollars. Bowls with extra prawns or offal cost more, and a cart at night usually charges the lower end of that range.
When do people eat hu tieu?
Breakfast most of all, and late at night from the carts. Morning kitchens open before seven for the office and market trade, and the night carts work the streets from about eight until the small hours, which makes it one of the few dishes available at both ends of the day.