Nuong: the charcoal half of Vietnamese cooking
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Half of what smells good on a Vietnamese street came off charcoal. Nuong is the word for it. Grilled: it sits at the end of a dish name the way roast sits at the front of an English one.
Grilled food is also the half a visitor eating pho and banh mi can miss entirely. Most of it happens after four in the afternoon.
What does the word cover?
Anything cooked over fire, from one skewer to a whole fish in a banana leaf.
| Dish | What it is | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Bun cha | Grilled pork patties and belly in broth, with cold noodles | Hanoi, at lunch |
| Nem nuong | Grilled pork sausage, rolled at the table with herbs | Nha Trang and the south |
| Thit nuong | Marinated pork over rice or in a roll | Everywhere |
| Bo la lot | Beef wrapped in wild betel leaf, grilled | The south |
| Muc nuong | Squid, split and grilled, with chilli salt | The coast |
| Banh trang nuong | Rice paper grilled with egg and toppings | Da Lat, from carts |
The marinade is the constant rather than the meat: fish sauce, sugar, garlic, shallot and lemongrass. That is why grilled pork here tastes nothing like grilled pork anywhere else. Caramelised sugar is what gives it the dark edge.
Which one is worth crossing a city for?
Bun cha, in Hanoi, at lunchtime. Patties and slices of belly come off the coals into a bowl of warm, sweet fish-sauce broth. A plate of cold rice noodles and a pile of herbs sit beside it, and you assemble each mouthful yourself.
Bun cha is a lunch dish and a Hanoi dish, and both halves matter. The good places open around eleven and are out by two. The bun cha page sets out the whole order, and the herb guide covers the leaves that arrive with it, which are not garnish.
The southern equivalent is nem nuong, especially in Nha Trang. Grilled pork sausage arrives whole, and you roll it at the table in rice paper with lettuce, green banana and a thick peanut-and-liver sauce. The spring roll guide explains the rolling.
How does a grill table work?
You cook it yourself. A burner sits in the middle of the table, raw plates arrive, and everyone grills as they go. It is the same social shape as the hot pot, which many places offer on the other half of the menu.
Order fewer plates than you think and add more. Beef, pork belly, squid, prawns, okra, mushrooms, enoki wrapped in bacon, sweet potato. The staff will usually start the first plate for you and then leave you to it.
Two conventions worth knowing. The chilli-salt-and-lime dish is mixed by you, not brought made up. And the cold beer is the point of the evening as much as the food is, which is where bia hoi fits.
What does a skewer cost?
Between 10,000 and 25,000 dong for a skewer from a cart, and 50,000 to 150,000 for a plate in a restaurant. A grill-table dinner with beer lands at 200,000 to 350,000 dong a head. At about 26,000 dong to the dollar, that is eight to fourteen dollars for the longest meal of the trip.
Bun cha sits at 50,000 to 80,000 dong a bowl in Hanoi. The pavement carts selling banh trang nuong in Da Lat charge 15,000 to 30,000 for what the town calls Vietnamese pizza.
Is a pavement grill safe?
The fire is on your side here. Meat goes over live coals to order rather than sitting warm in a case. Sitting warm is the failure mode the street food guide actually warns about.
Watch the same two things you would anywhere: turnover, and what is raw. The herbs, the shredded green mango and the dipping sauce never saw the fire. A busy place turning those over is worth more than a quiet one with a spotless grill.
When does the grilling start?
Late afternoon, and it goes until the coals die. This is evening food in a country that eats early. The carts appear around four, the grill tables fill from six, and by ten most of it is finished.
The exception is bun cha, which is lunch and only lunch. Turning up at a bun cha place at seven in the evening gets you a closed shutter. That surprises anyone who assumes grilled food means dinner.
FAQ
What does nuong mean?
Grilled, usually over charcoal. It appears at the end of a dish name — thit nuong is grilled pork, muc nuong grilled squid, nem nuong grilled pork sausage — and it covers everything from a single skewer to a whole fish.
Which grilled dish should you try first?
Bun cha in Hanoi, where grilled pork patties and belly arrive in a bowl of sweet fish-sauce broth with cold noodles and herbs alongside. It is the dish that explains what charcoal does in this cuisine.
What is a grill table?
A restaurant table with a charcoal or gas burner set into it, where you cook the raw plates yourself. It is called nuong tu chon or lau nuong, it is priced per plate or as a set, and it is where Vietnamese groups eat in the evening.
What does grilled street food cost?
Roughly 10,000 to 25,000 dong a skewer from a cart, and 50,000 to 150,000 dong for a proper plate in a restaurant. A grill-table dinner with beer runs 200,000 to 350,000 dong a head.
Is Vietnamese grilled food safe from a pavement stall?
As safe as any busy stall, and the fire helps. Meat is cooked to order over live coals rather than held warm, so the usual rules apply: choose a place with turnover, and be more careful with the raw herbs and the dipping sauce than with the meat.
Can vegetarians eat at a grill?
At a grill table, yes — mushrooms, tofu, okra, corn and sweet potato are standard plates. At a street cart the tongs and the grill are shared with meat all evening, which some vegetarians mind and others do not.
When does the grilling start?
Late afternoon, and it runs until the charcoal goes out. Bun cha is the exception: it is a lunch dish in Hanoi and most places have sold out by two.