Bún Thang - Hot rice noodle soup - The special comes from its name

Bún Thang is really famous noodles of Trang An (northern) people, but my first time of trying it is in Saigon. I couldn't understand why it is called Bún Thang, because "thang" in Vietnamese literally means "ladder". lol. It cant be used for naming the food. My friend who brought me there, explained that "thang" is the way Vietnamese call Chinese traditional medicine (herb) which always includes many things. And Bún Thang means the kind of noodles that has a lot of ingredients.

Hanoi version

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Saigon version
I was quite surprised when seeing my bowl of Bún Thang. Yea, It does have so many ingredients. Maybe it is the noodles that has the most ingredients I have eaten. There are shredded chicken, julienne fired egg and Vietnamese sausage, mushroom, radish, runny egg and a kind of herb called Vietnamese coriander. It brings for me a feeling of a flower with so many colors.

Bún Thang is kind of noodles that may not fit with everyone. Because its special things is from ingredients but there are something that not everyone can eat. Such as a typical Bún Thang must has shrimp paste and Vietnamese coriander, but these things bring quite strong smell which maybe enough to make you give up.

But trust me that the combination of many ingredients will bring a burst of flavors.

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Quán Cũ restaurant, 31A Phan Dinh Phung Street, Hanoi