Japan Foundation staff from seven Southeast Asian countries and Japan report with pictures and videos about what they had for lunch for five days. You will hear “Delicious!” in each language in the video. Catch a glimpse of their daily diet while you enjoy the reports
Bun Bo Nam Bo
I’m on a diet this month, so I bought ‘Bun Bo Nam Bo’ for lunch today, ordering less fresh sour rice vermicelli and beef and extra vegetables.This is a delicious dish consisting of fresh sour rice vermicelli and stir-fried beef with sweet and sour fish sauce, combined with raw vegetables, soused green papaya, crispy fried shallots, poached bean sprouts and roasted peanuts.Not only is Bun Bo Nam Bo a special street food in Hanoi, it has always been one of the most favorite dishes in my family, because it is simple to make and suitable for everyone’s taste.
This dish is one of my favorite food, and it is Hanoi’s specialty. Normally, we avoid to eat it at the office, because of the smell of the shrimp paste. But, due to Covid situation, our colleagues are working in different shifts, so I thought this smell of my lunch will disturb lessBecause it contains many vegetables and herbs, and tofu and sour rice vermicelli have little protein, this dish is very popular, especially in summer and autumn.And you know, our director also loves this dish very much.
I went to work without breakfast, so for lunch, I decided to treat my stomach to ‘Com Tam Saigon.’ This dish is not only a specialty of Saigon people but also the favorite food of our colleagues as well as Japanese artists who came to Vietnam.
I’m busy at work today, so for lunch, hm, I think I better order ‘Goi cuon’ (fresh spring rolls) with shrimp, pork and vegetables. For the dipping sauce, today I got fish sauce and tamarind sauce. This dish is served in compact rolls, so I can finish my work and have a quick lunch at the same time.Depending on the taste of each person and depending on the season, you can choose any food as ingredients for these rolls. Dipping sauce also varies between each family and each region. As for my family, each time I make this dish, I will prepare 3 or 4 different kinds of sauce. I might make a variety of meat, shrimp and fish, either grilled or boiled, and accompanied by many kinds of herbs.This is a dish that can help you promote your creativity to a great degree, isn’t it.
“Shall we order something with grilled meat for lunch and share the cost?” asked my colleague.So I ordered ‘Thit nuong banh muot’ for the 2 of us, as I saw many good reviews of this restaurant on Facebook.This is a modified dish from Hanoi’s famous specialty ‘Bun cha’. It’s the same recipe with grilled pork meat, but instead of fresh sour rice vermicelli they use plain steamed rice pancake (called Banh muot in Southern Vietnam and Banh cuon in the North), with the same mixed fish sauce and seasonal herbs.