Northern Vietnamese

Northern Vietnamese cooking, centered on Hanoi and the Red River delta, is the country's most restrained and least sweet — it favors black pepper, lime, and herbs over the sugar and chili heat common further south, and it relies on fish sauce and shrimp paste rather than coconut milk. This is the birthplace of pho, the beef noodle soup whose clear broth is simmered for hours with charred ginger, onion, and star anise, and of bun cha, the Hanoi lunch of charcoal-grilled pork patties and pork belly served in a bowl of sweet-sour fish-sauce dressing with rice noodles and herbs. Bun rieu is a tomato-and-freshwater-crab noodle soup soured with tamarind, and banh cuon are silky steamed rice-batter rolls filled with minced pork and wood-ear mushroom. The dipping sauces here are saltier and less sugary than in the south, and the northern climate means more cool-weather greens and fewer tropical fruits and herbs.