Our journey begins in the North, in Hanoi,
with its idyllic city lakes and serene pagodas and temples,
where visitors burn incense to honor their ancestors.
Here, revered leader Ho Chi Minh lays in rest in a state mausoleum.
Vietnam’s Communist leaders control the official imagery of the country,
but more noticeable is the thumping pulse of the country’s free-market enterprise.
At a small restaurant in Hanoi, we stop for bun cha,
cool rice noodles served with crisp fried spring rolls,
grilled pork patties, sliced red chilies and a lime-laced dipping sauce.
Note the profusion of herbs and leafy greens on the side,
the ever-present table salad.
Diners tear the herbs and lettuces into their bowls,
along with the noodles and sizzling meat.
The garlicky dipping sauce, with its undertone of fish sauce
—Vietnam’s favorite source of umami—
ties it all together.
Another popular address in Hanoi for locals who appreciate good food
is Cha Cha La Vong, a casual restaurant with a specialty that is not to be missed:
a catfish hotpot cooked at the table by the diners themselves.
The aromatic soup includes masses of green onion and feathery sprigs of fresh dill,
an herb much appreciated in the Hanoi kitchen.
Mai Pham shows her tablemates how to assemble the bubbling soup,
adding green onions and dill to taste, and how to eat it.
The tender catfish and wilted greens are spooned over rice noodles,
along with a dipping sauce—a satisfying, light and well-balanced one-pot meal.
As you can already tell, fresh herbs aren’t just a garnish in Vietnamese cooking.
They are a main ingredient, used lavishly, and valued for their health-promoting properties.
Every first-time visitor to Vietnam should make time for an excursion to Ha Long Bay,
a three-hour drive east of Hanoi.
It is a landscape without parallel—silent, but full of stories.
The craggy limestone outcroppings here seem otherworldly,
and you can spend a memorable day floating between them,
photographing the glassy reflections in the water and the haunting shapes in the blue-gray mist.
Mai and her companions bought crabs and clams from another boat on the bay
and enjoyed a seafood feast right on the water.
About halfway down the country’s long seacoast is the ancient imperial city of Hue.
Bisected by the Perfume River, the city greets visitors with its massive Citadel,
a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in the early 19th century
to protect the emperor’s palace.
Hue is known for its spicy noodle soup called bun bo Hue.
And one of the finest artisanal tofu makers is there,
making her bean curd by ancient methods, over a wood fire.
Be sure to notice her ingenious ladle.
The charming seaside hamlet of Hoi An has a magnificent open-air market,
with some of the freshest seafood in all Vietnam.
Banh xeo, sizzling rice crepes, are one of the specialties of food vendors here.
The lacy crepes look like thin omelets, but there is no egg involved.
In nearby Tra Que village, more than 130 families
grow many of the vegetables and herbs for the town,
on some of the most beautiful and productive farmland you can imagine.
No chemical fertilizers are used — — only algae from the nearby lagoon.
The workers here call themselves artisans, not farmers,
because they farm with such artistic methods.
In southern Vietnam, daily life transpires along the Mekong River.
The floating market here is one of the most engaging markets in the world,
with lively commerce in everything from melons to banh mi sandwiches.
For buyers and sellers here, the river is the most efficient trading route.
The richness of Mekong Delta agriculture is on vivid display as you float the river.