Cao lau noodles

The Dish: Vietnam's Cao Lau

by Robyn Eckhardt on May 14, 2009

The ancient central Vietnam trading port of Hoi An has much to offer the traveler, including a well-preserved historical center (a Unesco World Heritage site) and dozens of skilled tailors ready to stitch local silk into a resplendent outfit at a moment's notice.

For the culinary-minded, the town's most notable asset is the water drawn from its centuries-old square wells. It is crucial to the making of Hoi An's specialty, cao lau (pronounced gaow laow), a textural tour de force consisting of thin slices of soy-simmered pork, crispy fresh lettuce and herbs such as basil, cilantro and mint, and crackly squares of deep-fried dough, all resting on a tangle of bean sprouts and wide rice noodles. It's drizzled with just enough rich meat broth and served with sweet and hot chili jam and half a lime-like kalamansi, for squeezing.

Cao lau noodles possess a chewiness that's absent from other Vietnamese rice pastas, a characteristic attributed to a special...Read More >>