Mentioning Tam Dao is mentioning the lush green chayote shoots, which are both sweet and fragrant. Because nature has bestowed a cool climate and the soil is very suitable for growing chayote, if you come here, you will be “treated” to chayote in almost every meal.
The price of chayote shoots is not too expensive, and they are very fresh, even if you buy them home as gifts. Each bunch of chayote costs only about 20 – 25,000, the more you buy, the more discount you get. Many people here make a living selling chayote, so you don’t have to be too picky, the sellers are also very friendly and easy-going.
Tam Dao’s grilled dishes are also something you should try when you come here. In the billowing smoke, in the chilly morning air, if you can hold a grilled sweet potato and peel it right off the stove, it will definitely be an unforgettable experience.
The price of each grilled dish is only about 10 – 15,000 VND, not exactly cheap but if it is a snack, it is quite reasonable. You can find these dishes anywhere, at the market or on the roadside.
Royal Banana of Tam Dao
Royal bananas are also a specialty of Tam Dao mountain region. The bananas here are not big, just small but have yellow flesh and are very fragrant. If you do not know what to buy as a gift, buy a bunch of Tam Dao royal bananas. If they are still green, you can put them in the corner of the house and wait for them to ripen and eat them gradually.
In meals at Tam Dao restaurants, there are often wild bamboo shoots, and they are also sold at the market for tourists to bring back as gifts. Wild bamboo shoots are soaked in salt water, blanched in boiling water, put in a jar, add spices including vinegar, garlic, chili, and leave for a week to eat. The price of each box of salted wild bamboo shoots is not too expensive, only about 30,000 VND and you can buy it as a gift.
The armpit pig is a specialty of any mountainous region, and Tam Dao is no exception. Tam Dao wild pig is a true wild pig that grows naturally on roots and vegetables in the forest, so the meat is very lean and firm.
Tam Dao wild boar meat is processed into many delicious dishes, from grilled skewers to stir-fried and boiled dishes, etc. Every dish is fragrant, sweet, and firm. Enjoying it with a little wine is a great meal.
Along with wild boar is hill chicken. Mullet chicken is a bamboo chicken, a chicken raised on the mountain so the meat is very tough and fragrant. Hill chicken is processed into many dishes such as boiled, steamed, roasted or wrapped in clay, grilled chicken sprinkled with salt, grilled chicken with fragrant honey.
In the cold weather of the mountain town night, enjoying a crispy grilled chicken that has just sizzled and emitted its aroma on a charcoal stove and sipping a glass of fragrant spicy wine is indescribable. The price of each hill chicken is about 250 – 300,000 VND/chicken, although small, it certainly will not disappoint you.
Goby fish is always a specialty, although it is only as small as two fingers, its meat is delicious, whether fried or braised, it is extremely delicious. The natural stream goby fish in Tam Dao is really worth trying because the locals here have raised it by building dams in the stream.
In addition to being fried and dipped in fish sauce, garlic and chili, stream goby is also extremely delicious when stewed with soy sauce in a clay pot. If you eat this dish with white rice, you will not need any other special dishes.
Chit wine or chit wine is a specialty wine of Tam Dao. The wine is soaked from chit worms, which are shaped like silkworms but smaller, and are often collected in lush green chit forests. The collected chit worms do not need to be washed, they can be put directly into white wine, soaked for about 2 months and then enjoyed. Not only does it taste delicious, chit worms wine is also a very valuable medicine.
Rare beef with ant bites is a strange and unique dish in Tam Dao, made from freshly slaughtered, still hot veal, cut into pieces and hung right next to ant nests on forest trees. Poke the ants in the nest to release their breath and cover the meat. After that, wash the meat and grill it on hot coals until it is rare, it has a delicious flavor, and can be enjoyed with wine.
Above are the delicious specialties of Tam Dao mountain area. Once traveling to Tam Dao, never miss enjoying them!
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