Soc Trang Food & Drink Guide - Top things to try in Soc Trang

Soc Trang cuisine is a quintessence in the traditional culture of the Soc Trang people. It is no coincidence that Soc Trang cuisine is considered a cultural quintessence, praised and appreciated by friends around the world. That is because Soc Trang cuisine is rich in ingredients, delicate in processing, and especially each region has different eating habits to create its own distinctive flavors, enjoy once and then remember forever. Read on to discover the top things to try in Soc Trang City and where to find them.

CNN TV channel (USA) voted Vietnamese cuisine as one of the 10 best cuisines in the world. The American travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler once compared that Vietnamese banh mi as one of the best street foods in the world. Or like Vietnam's pho, which was voted by the famous Business Insider magazine as one of the must-try dishes once in a lifetime. Fried spring rolls were also voted by CNN as one of the top 10 dishes most loved by tourists in the world... The world's leading brand expert, Philip Kotler once visited Vietnam and suggested "Let's make Vietnam the kitchen of the world" to attract tourists to Vietnam.

In the US program Masterchef season 4, episode 21, broadcast on August 28, 2013 on Fox TV channel, Vietnamese noodle soup has become a difficult topic for the contestants in the top 5. Gordon Ramsay's favorite dish when he came to Cai Rang floating market, Can Tho, Vietnam.

By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | Official Soc Trang Visitor Guide

Cong Cake (Banh Cong)

Find them: Dai Tam Commune, My Xuyen District, Soc Trang City

Best time: After 2pm

Don’t miss: Bun nuoc leo cay me

Local’s pick: Banh Cong vendors, 500m from Bowl pagoda

Tourist’s pick: Many Cong cake local restaurants in Soc Trang city center.

One of the best Soc Trang Street Foods is definitely Cong Cake (Banh Cong). It is a hot, crispy drain cake with the greasy meat, shrimps and the green beans served with sweet and sour sauce and vegetable

It’s called “Banh Cong” because people use a “Cong” to cook. A “Cong” has a long handle and looks like a small metal milk bottle. In the Mekong Delta, people still use “Cong” as a unit of measures in dealing at the market. “Cong” has many sizes:  ½ “xị”, 1 “xị” (4 “xị” equal to 1 liter), ½ liter, 1 liter and the biggest size is 2-liters Cống.

Banh Cong is made with rice flour mixed with wheat flour to keep Banh Cong soft and crispy. You can use rice flour or soak rice then grind to make Banh Cong. Rice flour grinded is always better than buying rice flour from the market because it keeps the fragrant flavor. If you don’t know how to select rice flour at the market you can easily get old, moudy flour and make your cake sour and bitter.

Banh Cong is always served with sweet-sour fish sauce, lime and minced chili. Fish sauce adds more shredded cucumber, carrot and radish. Aromatic herbs are fish mint, lettuce, basil, herb mint… Read more

Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang's Noodle Soup

Find them: In the center of Soc Trang City

Best time: After 2pm

Don’t miss: Bun nuoc leo and spring roll

Local’s pick: Bun Nuoc Leo Cay Me (search this name on Google maps)

Tourist’s pick: The visitors will see many Bún Nước Lèo Sóc Trăng local restaurants along the national road No 1A in Soc Trang city. There are many street foods in Soc Trang for the locals, expats and tourists to give a try.

Soc Trang is considered by food connoisseurs to be the "old capital” of Bun Nuoc Leo noodle soup of Mekong Delta, Vietnam.Bun nuoc leo is a kind of rice noodle/ vermicelli with soup. People call Soc Trang noodle soup as a dish of solidarity, because the dish is the quintessential combination of Kinh - Khmer - Hoa ethnic groups, shown in each dish ingredient is typical of 3 ethnic groups. The "soul" of the broth is a blend of lemongrass, fish sauce and ngai bun - a turmeric-like tuber, slightly darker than turmeric. Accordingly, commonly used fish sauce is locally available such as: three-spot- gourami fish sauce (mắm cá sặc), especially Khmer people often cook with mắm bò hóc, ngải bún; lemongrass to eliminate fishy smell and create fragrance. Therefore, even if you are a poor eater, afraid of the fishy smell, you have to move your chopsticks to enjoy the steaming bowl of noodle soup with a distinctive scent. At Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang’s restaurants, there are 3 types of fish sauce combined: mắm bò hóc, mắm cá sặc and mắm nêm when cooking the broth.

The feat in the broth pot is like that, but it is not enough, but the vegetables and accompanying ingredients for the "perfect" bowl of noodle soup are also meticulously prepared. The usual accompanying vegetables include: bean sprouts, chives, grated morning glory, grated banana, with a little more herbs for flavor. As for the ingredients, there are 3 main things… Read more

Pia Cake

Pia cake is a unique product of Soc Trang. Enjoying a few cakes with a sip of ginger tea, sharing a couple of stories will warm the hearts of tourists. And it is a pity for anyone who comes here to miss the opportunity to taste these small but long-lasting cakes.

Pia cake has many fillings, durian, taro, green bean, salted egg and even vegetarian pia cake.

Coming to Soc Trang, you not only can enjoy the beautiful scenery of ancient pagodas or participate in joyful and colorful festivals with the identity of the three ethnic groups Kinh, Hoa and Khmer, visitors also enjoy delicious cakes of this place. The most special thing to mention is the Pia cake, the sweet taste and pure aroma of durian fruit, a specialty of the Soc Trang, Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

According to local people, from the 17th century, Pia cake appeared here. It is a type of cake brought by Han Chinese immigrants to Vietnam. However, over time, pia cake has been modified and changed according to Vietnamese taste and has become a specialty of the Mekong Delta region.

It can be said that to have standard pia cakes, one has to go through a lot of meticulous steps from making dough to baking. Pia cake has 2 parts, the filling and the shell. The filling is made from taro, green beans, and eggs. Treated green beans, peeled taro, washed all, put in a steamed pot and then pureed. Then continue to stir-fry with sugar, durian in the right proportion. Let the mixture cool, one by one wrap the filling around each duck yolk. In addition, if you want to increase the rich flavor, you can add pork to the filling… Read more

Pro Tips:

Here are our tips for easing your mind (and stomach) around food-handling environments that you may not be used to.

Make sure the food is freshly cooked. If you're eating hot street food, it's always safest (not to mention more delicious) to eat food you can see being cooked to order.

Look for lines and busy stalls. Busy street food stalls are an indicator of popularity, and their high turnover rate means the food is never sitting out for hours and developing dreaded bacteria. Yes, long lines can be discouraging when you’re hungry after a full day of exploring, but it’s not worth the risk of grabbing precooked food from the empty spot next door.

Eat when the locals are eating. The last and most important element here is when to eat. You’re likely already on a weird eating schedule while you’re traveling, but it’s important to try and adjust to the eating times of where you are. A bowl of pho might be lunch for Americans, but it’s breakfast for the Vietnamese. This ensures that you’re eating freshly cooked food and that you can find the best and most popular places to eat.

If you can’t drink the water, then you can’t eat the salad. Most people get so hung up on not drinking the water or skipping ice in drinks that they don’t think about all of the other ways in which water is used in food service. Fruits and vegetables tend to be washed with tap water in most places, rather than the filtered water that locals drink—or sometimes it’s not washed at all. If you’re really craving some produce, try fruits you can peel or cooked veggies.

Trust your gut. If you’re unsure about the food or the way that it’s being prepared, then keep moving. Eating street food all over the world doesn’t make you an expert. Every stall and every country are different, and sometimes the rules can be harder to follow. When something doesn’t look, smell, or feel right, don’t eat it! Trust your judgment. Chances are that there’s another spot close by that’s making something more delicious.

Soc Trang food & drink guide ranges from street food, authentic, fancy to fusion foods. As a tropical land of many fresh vegetables and homegrown gardens, which always make Soc Trang cuisines fresh, close to nature and very traditional. If you are a food lover, don’t hesitate to put other bites onto your food lists such as Cong Cake, Pia Cake, Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang’s Noodle Soup…

Soc Trang tourist attractions are magnificent itself, but if you have enough time, don’t forget to put other places onto your bucket lists such as Bat pagoda, Chen Kieu (Bowl) pagoda, Dung islet, Ghe Ngo boat race festival, pink trumpet tree road, Clay pagoda (Chua Dat Set), Khleang pagoda, Nga Nam floating market, Phat Hoc 2 pagoda, Soc Trang central market, Soc Trang museum, Som Rong pagoda, popular and clean homestays and hotels in Soc Trang…

Hopefully, the above tips will help you to come up with a great plan for your adventure in Soc Trang, Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Have a safe trip!

“Sleep less, travel more, respect more” – Thomas Vietnam – Local travel expert.

Thank you