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The Art of Tasting in Ninh Binh

Tourists visiting Kim Son pay much attention to Phat Diem Cathedral, a famous and also the largets Buddhist pagoda in Southeast Asia. That’s not all since there are many interesting points that may draw your concern, the cuisine. Most visitors who have once come to this destination will properly be impressed by the Ninh Binh’s unique dishes like enjoying “bún mọc” (a kind of vermicelli made from rice and served with lots of herbs and ingredients), or experiencing a cup of “Lai Thành wine” accompanied by some “gỏi cá Nhệch” (a dish made of raw fishes and vegetables, can be served with sauce) These distinct specialties are carefully and skillfully made by local people. A good cup of wine is resulted from a precise process of chosing input material (the sticky rice, the water, traditional ferment) and a complicated dristilling procedure. The completed wine has special flavor which can “defeat” any connoisseur of drinks. A bowl of Bún mọc Quang Thiên can be considered as another wonderful process. Input materials are rice and pork. Rice is well-grinded will provide white, soft and tight vermicelli threads. The pork are carefully selected (usually from the muscles of pigs) and grinded well before flavoured with other ingredients and made into small round-shaped ones called mọc. Mọc are cooked well in the hot water before served with vermicelli.

Yen Mo is another place in Ninh Binh where you can find good delicacies like Yên Mạc spring roll, Yên Lâm wine, Lồng market dry-pancake. It is said that Yên Mạc  fermented spring rolls and Yên Lâm wine had long been familiar with students in the past that came from other regions but stopped at Ninh Binh before continuing their trip to the examination. Today, Yên Mạc spring rolls are served in many restaurants and hotels in and outside the region. In Tet holiday, many visitors from nearby provinces like Nam Dinh, Hanoi, Hai Phong do come here and buy some such spring rolls back home to serve good friends and guests.

Moving deeper into Hoa Lu ancient capital, you will find delicious dishes and a special art of tasting style. There are dishes which have come into existence recently; however, such dishes have been very much well-known to tourists. They are special dishes made from mountain goats: goat meat is processed in different ways: rare, steam, fried. In Truong Yen and regional areas, goats are raised on rocky mountains. That provided much nutritional values to the goats. Almost all tourists once visited Ninh Binh do enjoy this special dish. The most famous restaurant which serves goat meat may properly be Ma Yen. Every day, this restaurant takes in hundreds of visitors. Moving toward the city, you will have chance to enjoy cơm cháy Hương Mai (a dish made from burned cooked rice), miến lươn Bà Phần (a kind of vermicelli served with eel and other ingredients).

 

Lai Thanh Wine

Lai Thanh is a southernmost commune of Kim Son district (Ninh Binh) that has long been well-known for a special kind of wine dristilled from sticky rice planted right on this land. Every year, local people spend an area of land to cultivate this kind of traditional rice.

Good quality wine depends on the procedure, technique to source of water and barm.

In Lai Thanh, there are many households who are specialized in making barms with traditional secret. Such barms can be preserved for years without losing original flavor and scent. The special flavor of such kind of wine is likely to be improved as you preserve it for a long time. Enjoying a cup of Lai Thanh wine with some specialties there such as gỏi cá nhệch, boiled crab, or a bowl of bún mọc will leave an unforgettable feeling.

 

Ninh Binh’s eel vermicelli (Miến Lươn Ninh Bình)

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If you have a chance to visit Ninh Binh and experience the ell vermicelli, you will realize that the most delicious ell vermicelli is that of Mrs. Phan, whose family has long-standing tradition of producing this kind of dish. The eels and vermicelli are carefully selected and processed before given to diners. Another important ingredient of this dish is banana flowers which make the dish more special and delicious. Besides, there are also many other spices and additives like fish sauce, salted shrimp sauce, lemon, pepper, chilly and other fine herbs to be served with Miến lươn. The acrid flavor of the banana flowers combined with lots of fine herbs and additives will surely attract any diner.

 

Hoa Lu’s rare goat meat

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Hoa Lu is blessed with many lime stone mountains which are suitable for rasing goats. In order to have a good rare goat meat dish, local people have to perform many steps from the processing procedure to the mixture procedure. Goat meat is crush into thin slices and mixed with various spices and additives before displaying in plates. The main ingredients of this dish include ginger, chilly, lemon, seasoning powder, and citronella; all these ingredients and spices are well-mixed with goat meat. Rare goat meat is a nutritious and delicious dish since it is served with many precious fine herbs which are very good for people’s health.

 

Yen Mac fermented spring roll (Nem Chua Yen Mac)

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No one can say the exact time when Yen Mac fermented spring rolls come into existence; however, it has long been a familiar dish for local people as well as frequent visitors. You can enjoy this kind of spring roll right after finishing or you can also enjoy it several days after that without being afraid of losing its original flavor.

Yen Mac spring roll is cover with guava leaves before rolled in banana leaves. The spring rolls are served with fish sauce mixed with chilly, lemon and garlic. Today, this kind of dish can also be found in some other regional area like Yen Nhan, Yen My. In order to produce good quality spring rolls, people have to go through various steps of choosing the input materials and mixing the ingredients together.

 

Cơm cháy (Bunrned cooked rice)

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This dish is made from cooked rice sliced into round shapes. After cooled down, the round slices are soaked into hot oil pan until they turn yellow. Beef and pig’s heart and kidney are crushed into thin slices and mixed with spices and ingredients like tomato, carrot, onion and mushroom. Then the mixture is well-fried and put into the cơm cháy bowl.

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