Bun Oc Thanh Hai - One of the best Bun Oc Rieu Cua in Ho Chi Minh City!
Bun Oc Rieu Cua
Bun Oc Thanh Hai
Bun Oc Thanh Hai
Snail, crab meat, and crab roe vermicelli soup, for me as a Singaporean this dish is unique and slightly exotic (especially on the snail part) as we don’t really eat snails that often compared to my wife who is a Vietnamese.
After mixing in the vegetable, fresh chili, squeezed lime, and special homemade sauce (guessing a mixture of ginger, chili, fish sauce, and something to make it sour)
Bun Oc Thanh Hai
Bun Oc Rieu Cua (45k VND)
Before I tried it, I didn’t expect myself to like this dish to be very frank. (Probably the snail part in my mind)
First sip of the broth wow me with the unique taste of both sweet and sour with meaty flavors and fresh mint.
The dish consists from what I could see physically in the bowl are: snails, crab meat/roe, tomato, and we added in luncheon meat (additional side dish). But of course I believe there are many other ingredients required to make the broth base.
Next, onto to the highlights of the dish:
Snails are sliced to bite-size and quite crunchy when you eat it (feels like eating a much crunchier Top Shell).
Crab meat/roe have the melt in your mouth texture, very creamy feeling (maybe due it’s in a minced meat state mixture of both meat and roe), and got the natural crab sweetness.
Taste wise I have never eaten anything similar to this in my life, maybe Assam Laksa or Tom Yum Pla will be the closest, but both of those dishes are sour and spicy instead.
Overall I would highly recommend to try this unique dish if you have time or if you are around the Pink Cathedral (Tan Dinh Church), as is it relatively near there.
Rating: 3.5/5
Menu
Bun Oc Thanh Hai
Shop Front
Bun Oc Thanh Hai
Note: The restaurant is inside of an alley in the middle of Ky Dong Street, if you are taking GrabCar most likely they will drop you in the middle of the street and walk in yourself (which they did in my case) as the width is only wide enough for 1 car to go in/out. If you are taking GrabBike, I guess they will drop you at the restaurant directly.
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Address: 14/12 Ky Dong, Phuong 9, Quan 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Opening Hours: 7am-9pm daily
(Last visited: May 2019)