Hải Phòng Province

Thick red-brown rice noodles in a rich crab paste and tomato broth - Hải Phòng's most iconic dish, eaten only here with its specific thick noodles and topped with pork ribs, fried tofu, and water spinach

Spicy bánh mì unique to Hải Phòng - stuffed with a fiery slow-cooked pork and chilli filling, eaten as a late-night street snack, with a heat level that surprises visitors used to milder northern food

Steamed rice flour discs topped with dried shrimp and spring onion oil - the northern version is thicker and chewier than the Huế original, served in small ceramic bowls with a salty-sweet dipping sauce

Spicy fish noodle soup unique to Hải Phòng - a fiery red broth of fried fish, lemongrass, and fresh chilli poured over rice vermicelli, topped with dill and fried shallots, with a heat level that sets it apart from any other northern fish noodle soup

Fried spring rolls stuffed with sea crab meat, pork, and glass noodles - a Hải Phòng specialty using fresh blue swimmer crab from the bay, the filling is sweeter and more delicate than regular nem rán, eaten at family meals and celebrations

Rice porridge with pork offal, fried dough sticks, and century egg - a Hải Phòng street breakfast with Chinese-influenced roots from the port city's trading history, eaten at dawn stalls near the old market with a sharp ginger dipping sauce

Pork and prawn paste grilled on lemongrass skewers over charcoal - the lemongrass perfumes the meat from the inside as it cooks, a Hải Phòng specialty eaten at street stalls near the ferry piers with rice paper and fresh herbs

Chewy glutinous rice balls filled with sweet peanut and sesame paste in a warm ginger syrup - brought to Hải Phòng by Cantonese traders through the port centuries ago and fully adopted as a local comfort food, eaten at Chinese-Vietnamese stalls in the old merchant quarter