The fiery central-Vietnamese beef-and-pork noodle soup from Hue, built on a lemongrass-and-shrimp-paste broth stained red with chili oil, with thick round rice noodles, beef shank, pork knuckle and a slice of congealed blood. Bolder and spicier than pho.
Bun bo Hue comes from the old imperial capital of Hue in central Vietnam, and it is everything pho is not: assertively spicy, scented with lemongrass and shrimp paste, and built on thick cylindrical rice noodles rather than flat ones. Migrants carried it south, and Saigon took to it despite, or because of, the heat, with long-running specialists like Bun Bo Nam Giao serving it since the 1990s. The broth balances the funk of mam ruoc shrimp paste against lemongrass, chili and a touch of sugar, and a proper bowl carries beef shank, pork knuckle, cha and cubes of blood.
1 editor pick for Bun bo Hue in Ho Chi Minh City, ranked by editorial score. All Ho Chi Minh City signature dishes · Bun bo Hue across every city.