A must-try dish when visiting Nha Trang

A must-try dish when visiting Nha Trang

Khanh Hoa Province and its capital Nha Trang are popular destinations for international tourists taking advantage of natural beaches and scuba diving. However, beside these attractions, tourists coming to the coastal city are advised not to miss nem Ninh Hoa, a specialty of the province.
Nem Ninh Hoa is a dish originating in the Ninh Hoa District of Khanh Hoa Province. However, it is strange to notice that although there are many restaurants in Ninh Hoa District offering this special dish, such as restaurants in Tran Quy Cap Street or Ninh Hoa Market, the dish is only famous in Nha Trang. The flavour of the dish, nonetheless, is retained by the cook.
Nem Ninh Hoa is not nem chua (fermented pork roll), made from pork’s thigh meat, which is also sold in many places in Khanh Hoa Province. To make fermented pork rolls, the meat must be ground and husked then mixed with garlic, pepper, sliced pork skin and spices. Then it is wrapped in a special kind of cherry leaf to make it fermented. Fermented pork roll is an appetizer in restaurants serving nem Ninh Hoa.
To make nem Ninh Hoa, pork meat is ground or chopped and then grilled. Then, diners use griddle cakes to roll this grilled hash with many kinds of fresh vegetables and another kind of fried griddle cake to make a roll of nem Ninh Hoa. The sauce of nem Ninh Hoa is also carefully made since it is a crucial ingredient to contribute to the taste of the dish. The sauce is so important that each restaurant has its own secret recipe.
A dish of nem Ninh Hoa for one person is about VND 12,000. However, a dish for two people can easily serve three guests.
Nowadays, there are around twenty restaurants offering this special dish from the afternoon to the evening. These restaurants line the main streets of Nha Trang City, including Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Le Loi, and Hoang Van Thu streets.
Among them, Dang Van Quyen and Ngoc Tien restaurants are the most crowded. Dang Van Quyen Restaurant on Hoang Van Thu Street offers a dish of ten rolls of nem Ninh Hoa at the price of VND 10,000. The restaurant owner is also the pioneer in opening the restaurants offering nem Ninh Hoa in Nha Trang.
(Source: SGT)