Bun Thang: Hanoi's Delicate Chicken, Egg and Noodle Soup

Bún thang is a Hanoi noodle soup built on careful knife work. Nearly everything in the bowl is cut into fine strands and laid out in small sections, so it arrives looking like a palette of yellow, white, pink and green. Vietnamese food writers often hold up bun thang as an example of how refined Hanoi home cooking can be. This guide explains what is in it, how it is tied to the Lunar New Year and how to eat it.

What bun thang is

A bowl has three layers of work behind it.

• The broth. Clear and lightly sweet, simmered from chicken or pork bones with dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms. The Hanoi Department of Tourism notes that beef bones are not used, because they would change the smell.
• The toppings. Shredded chicken, a very thin omelette sliced into strands, strips of giò lụa (Vietnamese pork roll), shiitake, shrimp floss or small shelled shrimp, and pickled radish. Some cooks add salted egg or slices of Chinese-style sausage (lạp xường).
• The herbs. Vietnamese coriander (rau răm), spring onion and sawtooth coriander (mùi tàu), cut small.

Each topping is cooked separately and placed in its own corner of the bowl before the hot broth goes in. One Hanoi cook told Nhân Dân that an Old Quarter-style bowl calls for twenty different ingredients. Home cooks often simplify, and VnExpress notes that there are several versions.

How it began

Bún thang grew out of the Lunar New Year, Tết. After days of rich festive food, such as sticky rice cakes, pork rolls and bamboo shoot soup, Hanoi households turned what was left into something lighter, served in a clear soup over noodles. VnExpress writes that families in old Hanoi made it on the fourth day of Tết. It was once mostly a festive dish; today it is eaten all year.

Bún thang is not unique to Hanoi, but it is the city’s name that people attach to it.

Nobody agrees on where the name comes from. Three explanations are usually given:

• Soup. In Sino-Vietnamese, thang can mean soup, so bún thang is simply “noodles with soup”.
• Medicine. A thang is also a bundle of herbal medicine. The way the many ingredients are laid out in the bowl reminded people of making up a prescription.
• A court dish. Some link it to a royal dish called đán hoa thang.

None of these has been settled.

How to eat bun thang

• Look first. The arrangement is part of the dish, so take a moment before you stir.
• Season lightly. Add a little shrimp paste to the broth if you like, plus garlic and chilli vinegar, pepper or a squeeze of lime.
• Mix and sip. Stir everything together with your chopsticks, then taste the broth from your spoon before you start on the noodles.

Traditionally, a tiny drop of essence from the giant water bug (cà cuống) went into each bowl for its sweet, spicy scent. The tourism department notes that most shops no longer have it.

Where to try it

Bún thang takes time to prepare, and the Hanoi Department of Tourism notes that only a few places in the city still specialise in it. Its food pages point to long-running shops on Old Quarter streets such as Cầu Gỗ and Hàng Hòm.

Local tip Taste the broth before adding shrimp paste. The traditional amount is tiny, about what clings to the tip of a chopstick, just enough to lift the flavour.

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Good to know before you order

• Shellfish. The broth uses dried shrimp, and the toppings and shrimp paste contain shrimp. If you have a shellfish allergy, bún thang is not a safe choice.
• Egg and pork. The bowl contains egg and pork (pork roll, sometimes sausage and pork bone broth).
• Insect essence. If a shop offers cà cuống, it is made from an insect; you can ask them to leave it out.