These special dishes have been already propagandized broadly in the mass media. It is easy to catch the images of dragon fruit stalls right at the gateway to the south of Phan Thiet or along two sides of the National Highway 1A (at the route belonging to Hong Son and Hong Liem communes, Ham Thuan Bac district). The blazing color of plenty of dragon fruit arranged tidily inside the stalls or deep bamboo baskets looks so cool. Nowadays, Binh Thuan dragon fruit has been exported to European and Southern Asian countries. People do not only enjoy the fresh fruit, but also savor special dishes made of dragon fruit such as: dragon fruit salad, soup cooked with ground meat, dragon fruit cooked with brine, etc. Otherwise, beverage and even cosmetics can be also processed from this fruit.
Another special dish that nobody can forget its flavor is Phan Thiet half-dried squid. It is wonderful enough for those who can taste a chunk of yellowish squid dipping into chili sauce. On the other hand, Phan Thiet fish sauce is a second to none. Thanks to its moreish and sweet taste of protein, Phan Thiet fish sauce is not only well-known throughout Vietnam but also gains its fame in all over the Indochina and Western countries in an event of Phan Thiet fish sauce, titled Con Voi (Elephant) made by Lien Thanh Company taking part in an international fair at Marseille (France) in 1922. Since then, Phan Thiet fish sauce is available in European markets. More than 30 years ago, visitors can realized Phan Thiet when they passed by this location because of the smell of fish sauce.
Lau tha is made of popular materials including fishes (either Silago sihama or escualosa thoracata or Leresthes tenuis, but the best one is escualosa thoracat*), sea shrimp, pork, green vegetable, unripe mango, horizontal-sliced star-fruit, slim-sliced cucumber, banana flower, baked rice-paper, rice vermicelli and fried egg. Also, we can not ignore an important factor that can make the pot-au –feu more delicious is specific sauce. This sauce must be processed from Phan Thiet anchovy fish sauce, plus some ground chilli and peanuts.
There are two ways of enjoying lau tha. We can either eat the food in dry or watery way. The former is to put all the ingredients in a bowl and souse fish sauce on them while eating. The latter is to put the consommé on a cooker, add a little lemon juice and some slices of chopped chilli. The mixed flavor of underdone fishes, peanuts, consommé, rice-paper, boiled meat, fried egg, plus with fruit and vegetable bring both appetite and memorable feeling to those who have a chance to give taste to this course of homeland.
In 2010, lau tha won the silver prize at Hanoi Food Festival in celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi. The dish itself has also got many prizes at other cooking contests in some provinces across the country. In addition, in the trip to Binh Thuan, the famed chef Yan Martin also paid a special compliment on this delicious pot-au-feu when he cooked on trial.
Indeed, it is really a big pride for us when our beloved homeland’s specialties was widely honored. I wish these specialties will be more and more delicious and further widespread.
My Thien (Source: Binh Thuan Newspaper)
Escualosa thoracat* (deep-bodied fish) is one of fish specialties of Phan Thiet- Binh Thuan coastal area.
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