Bun Mam Nem (fermented anchovy sauce noodles) is a popular local food in Da Nang, Hoi An, and Hue cities. This dish includes rice noodles, fermented anchovy sauce, boiled pork belly, steamed pork sausage, fermented pork, raw vegetables, herbs, peanuts, etc. It’s served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you are a foodie or foody adventurer, why not try? Now let’s HoiAn Day Trip Company tell you everything about Bun Mam Nem (fermented anchovy sauce).
You may also like: Da Nang Specialty Food, Hoi An Specialty Food
• Content by Tam Le, founder of HOIAN DAY TRIP CO.,LTD
• Designed by Giang Cong Minh, co-founder of LS E&C LTD and his team
• Photo by Dang Cong Loi, Dao Xuan Son, Tam Le & others
Must Knows about Bun Mam Nem (Fermented Anchovy Sauce Noodle)
– Name meaning:
– Other name(s):
– Origin: central Vietnam
– Ingredients:
– Where to find: local restaurants, markets, street vendors
– Pronunciation:
– Served for: breakfast, lunch, dinner
– Price: 35,000-50,000 VND/bowl
– Travel blog: https://hoiandaytrip.com/fermented-anchovy-sauce-noodle-bun-mam-nem
– Calories:
– Gluten free: yes
– Vegetarian: bun mam nem is not vegetarian food
– Fact:
Ingredients of Bun Mam Nem ( Fermented Anchovy Sauce Noodle)
A bowl of Bun Mam Nem (fermented anchovy sauce) has fermented anchovy sauce (nam nem), rice noodles (bun), boiled pork belly (thit heo luoc), boiled pig’s ear (mui heo luoc), boiled pig’s noise (mui heo luoc), roasted pork (thit heo quay), steamed pork sausage (cha), fermented pork (nem), raw vegetables (rau song), herbs (rau thom), roasted peanuts (dau phong), cashew nut oil (dau dieu), fried shallot (hanh phi), boiled young banana (mit luoc). Depending on local culture in each city, except anchovy sauce and rice noodles, other ingredients may have or may not have.
Fermented Anchovy Sauce
Fermented anchovy sauce (mam nem, nam cai) is a must-have ingredient in Bun Mam Nem. It’s made by fresh anchovy fishes (ca com) catched by local fishermen in the area, from 1st to 2nd lunar months, or from 3rd to 8th lunar months. The best anchovy fishes are in the 3rd lunar month (approx April). To make the sauce, local artisans will do these steps:
Step 1: wash anchovies carefully
Step 2: take about 1/3 of total anchovies to dip into a pot of salt water, stir around, and then dry them in the sun for 4 to 5 hours.
Step 3: the rest of the anchovies will be crushed slightly by a pestle (by hands). After that, mix them with sun-fried ones with salt and thinh (roasted rice powder).
Step 4: put everything in a ceramic or glass jar, tighten it by the lid, and then dry in the sun.
Step 5: after 2 days, drain the water in the jar, and pour it down into another jar or bowl. Next, press the fish and pour the water again into the last jar (containing fish). Cover the jar with a lid, and then wait for 20-25 days to have an eatable sauce.
In many local restaurants, especially street food vendors, ‘raw’ fermented anchovy sauce is used. To have better food safety and more flavours, local people now prefer using ‘cooked’ anchovy sauce. Simply, they just pour the sauce into a pot or a pan, boil it and then eat. To reduce the saltiness and fishiness, they can boil the sauce with pineapple.
Rice Noodles & Other Ingredients
A bowl of Bun Mam Nem (fermented anchovy sauce noodles) has many other ingredients, besides the anchovy sauce. Here they are:
– bun tuoi (rice noodles, rice vermicelli): today, local people don’t make rice noodles anymore, and they will buy at local markets or supermarkets, to save time. Bun is made from ordinary rice (gao te) that is also used to cook rice in Vietnamese daily family meals.
– boiled pork (thit luoc): a long piece of pork belly is boiled and then sliced into small pieces (to easier mix with other ingredients in the bowl).
– cha (steamed pork sausage): this food is made with lean pork, black pepper, and other spices. The pork will be chopped and well grinded by hands. After that, a small amount of grinded pork is wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed. At local restaurants, the owners buy from traditional makers and just take off the leaves when someone wants to eat.
– nem chua (fermented pork): this food is made from lean pork, pork rind, roasted rice powder, garlic, chilli, and some other spices. The pork will be well grinded, the pork rind will be boiled and thindly sliced. After that, mix all of them together, and wrap in banana leaves or guava leaves. It’s eatable after 2-3 days. At local restaurants, the owners buy from traditional makers and just take off the leaves when someone wants to eat.
– raw vegetables (rau song): lettuce, shallot leaf, heart leaf or fish leaf (la diep ca), sweet basil leaf (la hung que), lemon basil leaf (la hung chanh), baby mustard (rau cai cay), coriander leaf (rau ngo),…
– boiled young jackfruit (mit non luoc): young jackfruit is boiled and then sliced into small pieces.
– shredded green papaya (du du bao): green papaya is peeled, cut, and then shredded into moderately long strips (to easier mix with other ingredients later)
– cucumber: cut into small pieces
– fried shallot: purple shallots are sliced thinly, and then fried.
– cashewnut oil: buy at the market
– roasted peanuts
How to Make & Eat Bun Mam Nem (Fermented Anchovy Sauce Noodle)
A bowl of Bun Mam Nem (fermented anchovy sauce) has fermented anchovy sauce (nam nem), rice noodles (bun), boiled pork belly (thit heo luoc), boiled pig’s ear (mui heo luoc), boiled pig’s noise (mui heo luoc), roasted pork (thit heo quay), steamed pork sausage (cha), fermented pork (nem), raw vegetables (rau song), herbs (rau thom), roasted peanuts (dau phong), cashew nut oil (dau dieu), fried shallot (hanh phi), boiled young banana (mit luoc). Depending on local culture in each city, except anchovy sauce and rice noodles, other ingredients may have or may not have.
To make a bowl of Bun Mam Nem, local makers firstly take a handful of rice noodles, a handful of raw vegetables and then put them into a bowl. After that, they add other ‘toppings’, such as cucumber slices, boiled young jackfruit, shredded green papaya, steamed pork sausage, fermented pork, sliced boiled pork, roasted peanuts, cashew nut oil,…
To eat, local people will mix everything with chopsticks. To personalize the taste, they can add fermented anchovy sauce, fish sauce, chilli, lime,…that are available on the table.
After eating, locals can drink a cup of hot or cold tea (depending on the weather/season).
Best Places to Eat Bun Mam Nem (Fermented Anchovy Sauce Noodle)
Better to Know about Eating Local in Da Nang/Hoi An/Hue
– Local family-run restaurants always serve better local foods than tourist restaurants. Places inside small alleyways potentially are hidden gems. The price is even more affordable at these lesser known spots.
– Restaurants where you can see a queue or crowds, food or drinks there are absolutely better or safer than others. Vietnamese people also avoid places without people eating, such as roadside eateries.
– Hot foods are often safe to eat for non-Vietnamese people. Refuse cold food (especially ones sold on the street, markets) or things you don’t see people cooking.
– Make sure that you learn some basic Vietnamese words or sentences to order foods, such as xin chao (hello, hi), cho toi mot (something) (I want one…), toi an chay (I am vegetarian), khong cay (no spicy), cam on (thank you), tam biet (goodbye) or numbers (mot/one, hai/two, ba/three, bon/four, nam/five, sau/six, bay/seven, tam/eight, chin/nine, and muoi/ten).
– Ask any local people you know (tour guide, driver, hotel receptionists, bellmen, etc) to receive their recommendation for good places to eat local.
– Raw vegetables are popularly used in local dishes, such as noodles or noodle soup or sandwich. They are often washed by tap water or unwashed. If can not drink tap water, remove or refuse them. Likewise, in most iced drinks (such as coffee or herbal tea), people add ice made by tap water also.
– On the 1st day and 14th-15th days of each lunar month, Hoi An citizens eat vegetarians. Many local restaurants and street businesses will be closed by that.
– If you don’t eat pork or beef, due to diet or religious restrictions, be careful when want to try local food here, if don’t see the ingredient description. Pork and beef are very popular meats, so they will be in numerous dishes. Street vendors may say ‘no pork’ or ‘no beef’ for better business, but please check before buying!
– Consider joining a food tour guided by locals who know much better about dishes in the city, including things never mentioned in guidebooks or on the internet.
– If have an allergy (milk, egg, peanut, wheat,…), ask anybody you know before trying or search for ingredients on the internet. By the way, fish sauce is popularly used to marinate Vietnamese foods, so make sure that you know this information if you’re fish allergic.
– Food portion (or size) here is often not really big (locals prefer eating with their family at home). You may try double or some different dishes for main meals.
– If don’t see the price on the menu, please ask in advance to avoid overcharging, especially when you are not a local. In Vietnamese, how much is bao nhieu.
– Most popular cutleries are chopsticks and spoons. To know how to use it, browse here
