Bun thang is a Hanoi chicken noodle soup: rice vermicelli in clear broth, topped with thin strips of chicken, egg and pork sausage arranged like flower petals.
Bun thang is traditionally eaten the day after Tet, made from the leftovers of the New Year feast. Chef Thuy Linh Do's family says that after Tet nobody wanted to waste the boiled chicken, banh chung and cha lua, so the soup was invented to use them up, and it was called the dish of the poor. She does not know when it began. Many Hanoians now eat it every day.
