Bestowed with a nourishing variety of rare, precious, delicious, and nutritious seafood by the Mother of Nature, Halong Bay, which is most famous for its magnificent scatter of islands, scenic ocean karst topography, fresh atmosphere and hospitable fishermen, attracts not only backpackers, photographers but also food lovers.
A visit to the extraordinary landscape of Halong Bay always goes with its beautiful memory relating to local culinary specialties so that even when you have left this place, you always remember every single dish that you have enjoyed there. When coming to Vietnam’s most prized treasure, besides sampling many tasty seafood recipes, you also should not forget to bring some of the freshest ones back home as a gift for your family and friends. Let these unique presents help your relatives and friends envision what you have experienced there is not a bad idea.
What kinds of fresh seafood to buy as gifts in Halong Bay? This article will have a lot to share with you.
Geoduck – Tu Hai
Also called a snail spout, Tu Hai in Halong is the specialty of The Van Don Island District. Looking like just a normal kind of shellfish, but actually very rare and precious, Tu Hai is not a strange ingredient in Asian cuisine. While Koreans eat geoduck raw or stew it, Japanese enjoy it in a sashimi set, and Vietnamese often steam tu hai to preserve its special savory flavor and crunchy texture. The sweet and refreshing taste of this dish mixed with fish sauce, dried onion and garlic, and fresh onion leaves will make you want more and more. Leaving Halong Bay without trying tu hai will be the biggest regret in your trip to this spectacular area. If you want something more complicated than steamed geoduck, you can grill or bake it with cheese, cook soup or make a salad. No matter which method you choose, a dish from Geoduck is always delicious and nutritious. Arcady Cruise Ha Long Bay
Ngán
A kind of hard oyster, Ngan is a seafood specialty of Halong Bay. Unlike what its name means in Vietnamese (boring or tasteless), it is so tasty with a very delicate and amazing aftertaste that it is ranked as the top seafood in Halong Bay.
A mollusk with bivalves looking like oysters but with bigger sizes, Ngan is one of the most popular and favorite ingredients of local chefs. Though Ngan is easily found in different places in Halong Bay, the mouth of Bach Dang River is believed to have the most nutritious ones. Processed into a lot of mouthwatering dishes and served at the food stalls along the street, Ngan is an indispensable part of every meal when you are in Halong.
Ngan can be bought at Cai Ram market and Vuon Dao market. When cooking Ngan at home, there are some cooking methods for you to choose from such as soup, salad, porridge, steaming, grilling and deep-frying with vegetables or noodles. A product made from Ngan that you cannot make at home is Ngan wine, which has its own scent from the sea. When visiting Halong Bay, you should not miss the chance to experience this unique beverage. A cooked ngan in Halong is about VND 20,000-30,000 and a kilogram of fresh ngan is about VND 500,000 (USD $22).
Horseshoe crab (Sam bien)
Despite being available in other coastal areas, horseshoe crab in Halong Bay is said to be the freshest ones. These 8-leg sea crabs can be cooked into various exotic and delicious dishes such as steamed crabs, pudding crab, horseshoe crab salad, sweet and sour crab legs, crab sauté with peppers and lemongrass, sweet and sour fried crab legs, fried crab’s eggs with citronella and chili, fried crab’s cartilage, stir-fried crab with vermicelli or glass noodle.