Cao Bang Food: Eating Like a Local, 5 Dishes You Need to Try

Best Food in Cao Bang: When and Where to Find Each Dish

The five best dishes to try in Cao Bang are phở chua (sour pho), bánh cuốn with bone broth, xôi trám (black canarium sticky rice), seven-flavour roast duck and bánh áp chao. Most are sold at set times of day rather than all day, so use the table below to plan when to look for each one.

To try all five in one day, have bánh cuốn early in the morning, phở chua or xôi trám before lunch, bánh áp chao in the late afternoon and roast duck with dinner.

5 Cao Bang Dishes You Need to Try

1. Phở Chua Cao Bằng: Sour Pho

Phở chua is a dry noodle dish served at room temperature, not a hot soup, which makes it a good choice in summer. A bowl combines soft, chewy rice noodles with crispy roast pork belly, roast duck, fried pork liver and stomach, shredded cucumber, fried strips of khoai tàu (a local tuber), roasted peanuts and fresh herbs. Char siu pork is my favourite topping, and many shops let you choose duck, pork or both.

The sauce, which locals call lủ, decides whether a bowl is good or not. It is sweet and sour, made with vinegar and often cooked with juices from the roast duck, garlic and shallots until slightly thick, and each shop keeps its own recipe. Mix the bowl gently from the bottom so the noodles take on the sauce without breaking. Phở chua used to be served at weddings and family feasts; today it is sold at breakfast eateries and markets across the province.

Map: Phở Quyên

2. Bánh Cuốn Cao Bằng: Steamed Rice Rolls with Bone Broth

Bánh cuốn in Cao Bang is a breakfast of steamed rice rolls eaten with a bowl of clear pork bone broth instead of the fish sauce dip used in Hanoi. The rolls are thin sheets of rice batter filled with seasoned minced pork and wood ear mushroom, many shops also make an egg version, and a full serving often comes with slices of giò (pork sausage).

On the table you will usually find pickled bamboo shoots with chilli and mắc mật leaves. Locals add a little of each to the broth for a sharper, more fragrant taste. The rolls are steamed to order, so at popular shops expect to wait a few minutes for a fresh batch.

3. Xôi Trám: Sticky Rice with Black Canarium Fruit

Xôi trám is glutinous rice mixed with the soft flesh of black canarium fruit (trám đen), which turns the rice purple-pink and gives it a rich, nutty taste. The fruit is softened in warm water, the stone removed, and the flesh mixed through freshly steamed sticky rice. It is seasoned with salt and eaten plain, with minced pork, or topped with fried shallots.

Black canarium grows in several northern mountain provinces, so the dish is not exclusive to Cao Bang, but the Cao Bang version was named in the Top 100 Vietnamese specialties for 2020 to 2021 by the Vietnam Record Association. Fresh xôi trám is easiest to find during the harvest, which Báo Cao Bằng puts at late August to early October.

4. Vịt Quay Cao Bằng: Seven-Flavour Roast Duck

Seven-flavour roast duck is a whole duck seasoned from the inside with a family spice mix, sewn shut with a bamboo strip and roasted over charcoal until the skin is crisp and deep golden. You will also find it sliced on top of phở chua.

“Seven-flavour” refers to the marinade, but there is no single fixed list, because families keep their own recipes. Common ingredients include mắc mật leaves, garlic, ginger, shallots, fish sauce and honey, and the skin is brushed with honey and vinegar before roasting. The liquid that collects inside the duck becomes the sauce, poured over the chopped meat or served on the side. People often compare it with the mắc mật roast duck of neighbouring Lạng Sơn; locals point to this cavity marinade and its sauce as the difference.

5. Bánh Áp Chao: Crispy Duck-Filled Rice Cakes

Bánh áp chao is a deep-fried rice cake with a piece of marinated duck inside, eaten in Cao Bang as an afternoon snack. The batter is made from rice flour and glutinous rice flour; the cook pours some into a flower-shaped mould, adds the duck, covers it with more batter and fries it until it floats, golden on both sides. Many stalls now offer a pork filling too. It comes with raw vegetables, shredded green papaya and a sweet-sour fish sauce, and many people order extra roast duck or fried duck gizzards alongside.

This is by far one of my favourite dishes. It is perfect on a cold afternoon with a cup of coffee (don’t tell the locals I’m making this combination), but go before early evening, when stalls often sell out. Cao Bang bánh áp chao was listed in the Top 100 Vietnamese specialties for 2021 to 2022.

Map: bánh áp chao stall

What to Eat in Cao Bang at Night

At night in Cao Bang, go to Kim Đồng Walking Street in the city centre on a Friday or Saturday evening, when it is closed to traffic and its food market sells local specialties. In the cold months, look for two evening dishes: sweet bánh coóng phù and savoury trứng vịt lộn hấp bia, balut steamed in beer. On other nights, plan an earlier dinner, because most local dishes are sold during the day.

Bánh coóng phù is Cao Bang’s version of bánh trôi: small balls of glutinous rice dough, some coloured red with gấc fruit, served in hot ginger syrup with crushed peanuts and sesame. Stalls on Sông Hiến and Vườn Cam streets and around the Xanh market start selling once the weather turns cold and stay open late into the evening. It was named in the Top 100 Vietnamese specialties for 2020 to 2021.

For something savoury, try trứng vịt lộn hấp bia. Trứng vịt lộn is balut, a fertilised duck egg with a partly developed embryo inside, and here it is steamed in beer with ginger, shallots and lemongrass for about 10 to 15 minutes. The beer softens the egg and takes away much of its strong smell. It comes with salt, pepper and lime, fresh chilli and herbs. Balut is eaten all over Vietnam, so the dish is not unique to Cao Bang, but steaming it in beer is a favourite way to eat it here on cold evenings. If you have never tried balut, it is worth knowing what is inside before you order.

At the walking street, the programme of folk games and cultural performances changes from week to week, so a Friday visit and a Saturday visit can feel quite different.

Restaurants in Cao Bang: How to Choose Where to Eat

For local food in Cao Bang, choose small shops that specialise in one dish over restaurants with long menus, and go at the hour that dish is normally eaten. A bánh cuốn shop at 7 am or an áp chao stall at 4 pm is serving food straight from the steamer or the pan.

For bánh áp chao, two stalls that appear in Vietnamese food guides are Áp chao cô Ngân at 138 Phố Cũ and Áp chao cô Hạc at 116 Hiến Giang, both in the city centre. Restaurants with larger menus work better for groups who want roast duck, grilled meats and seasonal vegetables on one table.

Cao Bang Specialties to Take Home

The Cao Bang specialties most often bought to take home are smoked sausage (lạp sườn) seasoned with mắc mật, Trùng Khánh chestnuts, Phja Đén canna vermicelli (miến dong) and bánh khảo, a pressed sweet cake made from roasted glutinous rice flour. Smoked buffalo or beef dried over the kitchen fire (gác bếp) is also sold widely, though it is common across the northern mountains rather than specific to Cao Bang. For packaged products, check the production and expiry details on the label, and for crafts as well as food, see our guide on what to buy in Cao Bang.

Other Cao Bang Dishes Worth Looking For

If you have more than a day in Cao Bang, three more dishes are worth seeking out: phở vịt, khâu nhục and bánh trứng kiến.

Bánh trứng kiến depends on ant eggs gathered from the forest, so it is only made for a short season each spring. If you are allergic to insects or bee larvae, ask before trying it.

FAQ About Cao Bang Food

Can I try these dishes on a Cao Bang Loop trip?

Yes. Our Cao Bang tours include lunch stops at local restaurants along the route, and if you ride on a Cao Bang motorbike rental, our team in the city can suggest food stops before you set off. Have bánh cuốn in the city on the morning you leave.

Is it easy to eat vegetarian food in Cao Bang?

Not without planning. Most signature dishes contain pork or duck, and bánh cuốn broth is made from pork bones, so tell the tour operator or homestay you have booked, including village homestays such as those in Khuoi Ky, that you eat vegetarian, avoid pork or have allergies. Vegetarian food in Cao Bang is also limited in variety, and plant-based mock meat dishes are hard to find. Our Eco Bistro & Stay can prepare vegetarian dishes with mock meat on request.

Conclusion

For me, the food in Cao Bang is so much more than a plate on the table. It’s sitting down and feeling like you’re part of something, whether it’s a family meal or a stranger at the next table making sure you eat things the “right” way. So if you come all this way, don’t just visit the waterfalls. Make time to eat slowly, share the table, and let the food show you what Cao Bang is really about.

• Website: Caobangecotravel.com
• Email: Caobangecotravel@gmail.com
• Hotline & Whatsapp ( 7am-11pm)

         + ( 84) 868252168