Cat Bi Culinary Paradise

Dubbed a "culinary paradise" and " a world of snacks," anyone visiting Cat Bi Market (Hai An District, Hai Phong City) can eat to their heart's content at incredibly cheap prices.

After passing the sign that reads "Cat Bi Market - A Paradise of Snacks," and walking about 30 meters inside the market, you begin to hear the clicking sound of scissors cutting salad, the sizzling of oil frying spring rolls, and the fragrant aroma of countless kinds of food spreading throughout the air.

" Culinary Paradise" Cat Bi

Spanning approximately 50 square meters, the food court at Cat Bi Market boasts over a dozen stalls, each specializing in local delicacies such as vermicelli with tofu and pork, crab noodle soup, savory pancakes, and beef skin salad. From 3 PM onwards, the stalls are packed with customers. Most of the food sold here consists of snacks at very affordable prices. For just 10,000 VND, you can buy a delicious hot bowl of clam porridge or a refreshing glass of iced sweet soup to cool you down on a hot summer day.

Stir-fried sea bass - a specialty of Hai Phong

Besides Hai Phong's crab noodle soup, when you visit Cat Bi Market, you absolutely must try stir-fried sea cucumber. This is a Hai Phong specialty that everyone should try. Sea cucumber, also known as sea slug, is a type of mollusk with tender and sweet meat, living deep beneath the sea sand. A distinctive feature of sea cucumber is its long, bean sprout-like legs. Although delicious and relatively inexpensive, the dish requires quite a bit of effort to prepare.

According to the owner, preparing this dish requires meticulous cleaning. The sea snails must be soaked for at least 6 hours before cooking to remove all dirt and impurities. The cook sautés onions and garlic until fragrant, then adds the sea snails and stirs them in. When the snails become fragrant, seasonings such as fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, and turmeric are added to taste. Most locals eat the sea snails with chili sauce and herbs. A steaming hot, golden-brown, fragrant bowl of stir-fried sea snails is often sprinkled with lemongrass and pepper. When eaten, it's stirred well, creating a uniquely delicious and captivating flavor. Each bowl of stir-fried sea snails costs only about 10,000 VND, very affordable and light on the stomach.

Beef skin costs between 25,000 and 50,000 VND.

Furthermore, if you're a die-hard fan of beef skin, you absolutely can't miss it when you visit Cat Bi Market, as this dish has become a signature item there. The beef skin at Cat Bi Market has just the right amount of crispiness and chewiness, the beef is tender and flavorful, and the dipping sauce is incredibly rich. Most people eat the beef skin dipped in shrimp paste, wrapped with fresh vegetables and star fruit. However, if you don't like beef skin or this type of sauce, you can still choose beef shank dipped in fermented soybean paste.

Besides serving signature dishes featuring the flavors of Hai Phong's produce, you can also find many "specialties" from other cities such as: fried fermented pork rolls, pho rolls, snail noodle soup from Hanoi; tapioca dumplings, beef noodle soup from Hue; wonton noodles from Saigon…

It's easy to find specialties from many regions in Cat Bi Market.

After exploring the local specialties, if you still have money left and aren't full, you can choose to eat cassava sticky rice, shrimp noodle soup, snail noodle soup, braised chicken, pork trotters, grilled pork noodle soup, mixed vermicelli, rice cakes, steamed dumplings, grilled pork sausage, or for dessert, various sweet soups, dried beef salad, cassava cake, tapioca cake, etc.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/diem-den-hap-dan/thien-duong-am-thuc-cat-bi-2020121722301001.htm