Food File: Goi Cuon Cha Ca

One of Quy Nhon’s special dishes is bún cá, a noodle soup with fresh bun noodles and various types of fish sausage.

Bún cá was on my list of things to eat before leaving Quy Nhon at the end of my three-day parenting holiday last week.

But as I placed my order for a bowl of bun ca, I noticed an unusual dish on the menu: gỏi cuốn chả cá.

I had walked an awful long way to get to Ngoc Lien, one of Quy Nhon’s recommended bún cá joints, so I figured I could manage a side of gỏi cuốn with my fish noodle soup.

Everyday gỏi cuốn are known in English as fresh spring rolls or summer rolls. They’re usually made with rice paper wrapped around fresh bun noodles, pork, prawn, cucumber strips and garlic chives.

Chả cá, meanwhile, is fish sausage. I’d never seen these two concepts combined before.

It was rather delicious (insert posh English accent here). Fish sausage, lettuce and some crunchy fried rice paper for texture, dipped in a tangy nước chấm dipping sauce.

I almost wish I’d forgone the bún cá so I could have had more than one of these beauties.

The bún cá was pretty good, though.

Try bún cá and gỏi cuốn chả cá at Ngoc Lien, 379 Nguyen Hue, Quy Nhon.

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By: Barbara

A career girl who dropped out, traveled, found love, and never got around to going home again. Now wrangling a cross-cultural relationship and two third culture kids.