A Food Lover's Travel Guide to the Best of Vietnamese Food

Banh Canh

Vietnamese Thick Noodle Soup

Tapioca flour is used to make these thick glutinous noodles. Sometimes the flour is cut with rice flour. The noodles are thick, like udon noodles, but sometimes they'll look more like a white pasta. You will probably see signs around Vietnam that simply say bánh canh (banh means cake and canh means soup), but there are many variations of this dish and the region you are in could dictate which version is most likely to be served. If you are in Hue, you can assume that you'll get the Hue version. In the south central part of the country, the assumption could be made that it's the fishcake or the crab version. But, like with many other dishes, each cook has their own take on it so other than big thick noodles, you never know what might pop up in your bowl. The soup's broth depends on the version, but the protein floating in it, often matches the ingredient used to make the broth.

Popular Variations

  • Bánh canh bột lọc - "filtered flour", basically a more translucent version of the noodle
  • Bánh canh cá lóc - snakehead fish
  • Bánh canh chả cá - fishcake
  • Bánh canh cua - crab
  • Bánh canh đầu cá - fishhead soup (literally a fishes head)
  • Bánh canh giò heo tôm thịt - pork hocks and shrimp
  • Bánh canh hẹ - chives, but often includes fried fish and a hard boiled quail's egg
  • Bánh canh khô - not actually a soup, a dry variation
  • Bánh canh Quảng Bình - named after the province where it's popular. It usually contains shrimp and pork rib
  • Bánh canh tôm - shrimp, sometimes includes coconut milk in the broth
  • Bánh canh Trảng Bàng - Trang Bang is a town in the southeast part of Vietnam, served with boiled pork and rice paper with local herbs
  • Bánh canh xứ Huế - a version that includes snakehead fish

Where To Find It:

Ho Chi Minh City
Nam Giao - 136/15 Lê Thánh Tôn, District 1
banh canh cha ca or Vietnamese thick noodle fishcake soup

Banh Canh Cha Ca - Thick Noodle Fishcake Soup

Banh Canh Tom Bot Loc or Vietnamese Thick Noodle Shrimp Soup with Fine Flour

Banh Canh Bot Loc - the clear noodle version served with shrimp and ground pork