In addition to its beautiful mountains, romantic rivers, beautiful beaches and numerous best places to visit, Da Nang boasts rich cuisine with ‘Mi Quang’ (Quang noodles), ‘bun mam nem’ (rice vermicelli with anchovy fish sauce), and ‘banh trang cuon thit heo’ (belly pork and vegetables wrapped in soft rice paper).

A bowl of Da Nang-style mixed ‘pha lau’

Amongst, mixed ‘Pha Lau’ (offal stew) is considered to be one of the must-eat dishes when you are in Da Nang.

This delicious food is cooked from beef internal organs such as beef tripe, small intestine, heart, stomach, lungs, and liver.

Some ingredients used for the delicious mixture, including sliced beef organs, thinly-sliced green mango and unripe bananas, and ginger fish sauce.

Vegetables comprise chopped salads, herbs, and basils

In Ho Chi Minh City, to make this dish, these organs are cut into tiny pieces. They are then marinated with the five-flavour powder with white wine and high-quality soy sauce, minced garlic, pepper, salt, and white sugar.

After about one hour of being marinated, the meat will be fried. Then they are cooked in coconut water until well-cooked.

Therefore, this food is a perfect blend of flavourful broth, tender and crunchy organ meats.

This delicious dish is usually served with bread or instant noodles, and sweet-and-sour fish sauce.

Unlike Ho Chi Minh City, this dish is prepared in another way imbued with Da Nang style.

Da Nang-style ‘pha lau’ is a delicious mixture of beef internal organs and vegetables.

Accordingly, beef organs will be cleaned and boiled. Then, cooked beef organs will be cut into tiny pieces which will then mixed with ginger fish sauce, vegetables, and thinly sliced green mango, and unripe bananas.

A ‘pha lau’ dish is being sold at the price of between 25,000VND and 30,000 VND.

A HCMC-style ‘pha lau’ is served with bread and sweet-and-sour fish sauce

A ‘pha lau’ cooked with tamarind…

… and instant noodles

In Da Nang, you can visit the Huong ‘Pha Lau’ stand in front of the main gate of the Con Market or the Pha Lau Met Restaurant at 163 Le Thanh Nghi in order to try this Da Nang-style delicious food.

Meanwhile, HCMC-style ‘pha lau’ is available at the Pha Lau Sai Gon-1976 Restaurant at 16 Xo Viet Nghe Tinh, the Pha Lau Thu Restaurant at 781 Tran Cao Van, and the Pha Lau Di Ba Restaurant on Luong Truc Dam, all in Da Nang.