Vietnam’s Lesser Known Delicacy - Xôi - An Adventure In Sticky Rice
Wherever you are in Vietnam you’ll never go hungry. Food is available 24/7. From the pavement of the bustling scooter filled streets, to high-end, Michelin Guide restaurants. Vietnam is famous the worldover for its delicate pho broths, its flat rice noodles, punchy herbs and of-course the ubiquitous banh mi, but what if we told you about another delicacy? A Vietnamese speciality that’s not as well known to travellers as pho or bun bo hue, but a hearty, comforting dish, full of flavour. Let us introduce you to xôi.
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What is Xôi?
Xôi in Vietnamese, literally translates to ‘sticky rice’. Although completely accurate in naming the ingredient of the dish, it feels a bit flat. Yes the rice is sticky, but there’s so much more to it than that!
Xôi in Vietnam can come in two different forms, the savoury (which we will talk about in more detail below), or sweet. In either form, the base ingredient is the same with glutinous rice either being steamed or cooked to create a sticky base layer to soak up and carry other flavours.
For the sweet versions, the rice is usually cooked in sugar and served with mung bean paste and coconut. There’s a celebratory sweet xôi called Xôi Chè which is eaten during Tet celebrations, or when a baby is born, a bit like wetting the babies head in the UK. This type of xôi is a sweet version, made up of glutinous rice, ginger and sugar!
If you’re visiting Hanoi during the autumn there’s also another sweet xôi called Xôi Com. A bright green xôi that is only available for a small window of the year. Similar to traditional sweet xôi, the xôi com is cooked with sugar, mung beans and coconut strips, however the colour of the xôi is completely different. Xôi com is bright green due to the mature green rice grains used. Once cooked the xôi com is then topped with lotus seeds, strips of white coconut and a sprinkling of sugar. The taste is supposed to be silky and sweet. Let us know in the comments if you try it!
For savoury versions of xôi, the rice grains are steamed in a meaty stock and topped with any combination of; rich pâté, slices of meat, eggs, meat floss or beans. Rice is one of those great carriers of flavour. On its own, rice is quite plain with only a subtle hint of nuttiness but pair it with stock, meat or sauces and the flavours just leach into the grains. Savoury xôi is just one big flavour bomb, full of different layers of taste making each mouthful a unique and interesting bite.
Whether you’re more of a sweet or savoury person, a vegetarian or a meat eater, there’s a bowl of xôi for you!
There are so many different variations of xôi available in Vietnam, it would take us too long to list them all (it is believed that almost every city within the country has their own variation). If you want to learn more about the different xôi’s types available throughout Vietnam, check out this guide by the Vietnam Nomad.
Where to eat Xôi?
As we mentioned above, xôi can be found all over Vietnam, from the highlands of Ha Giang and Cao Bang all the way to the waterways of the Mekong Delta. Served in modern, air conditioned restaurants, to small, roadside stalls with only a few plastic chairs, a serving of xôi can be found all over the country. It’s a Vietnamese staple, and popular amongst the locals for a reason!
In the bigger cities, during the day you will often see local Vietnamese ladies carrying large baskets of xôi on their shoulders. To order, just hail them down and they’ll stop on the street to make a parcel of xôi right there and then for you. Some ladies will have plastic stools for you to sit on after you’ve ordered, but a lot of the time the xôi is made for take away.
If you are ever unsure just look for the word xôi on menus, signs or posters. Many restaurants are named after their most famous dish, so if the restaurant has xôi in the title you will be in good hands!
Although xôi is available throughout the whole day, the dish is an extremely popular breakfast item, especially for those working in or around one of the fresh markets. If you’re after a really local experience, we’d recommend heading over to your nearest market (chợ in Vietnamese) and dining with the locals as dawn breaks with a banana leaf package of xôi. In fact we did just this on our early morning tour of Long Bien Market in Hanoi where we sampled four different types of savoury xôi, coated with purple beans, pork floss, roasted garlic, shallots and crushed peanuts. It was delicious with a salty, nutty undertone from the toppings. After trying it that morning, we can see why it's such a popular ‘go to’ breakfast in the market as its tasty carby-ness and would keep you full all morning!
Read on to find out about two restaurants we recommend you seeking out on your Vietnamese travels; one up north in the capital of Hanoi and the other down south in the bustling city of Ho Chi Minh
Eating Xôi in Hanoi - Xôi Yến restaurant
Hanoi’s Old Quarter is a rabbit warren of old streets full to the brim with different eateries, street food stalls and restaurants. We were leaving Hanoi to head north to the town of Ha Giang. Before catching our bus we wanted a hearty lunch and so headed to Xôi Yến (location) to try our first bowl of savoury xôi.
Set in a narrow street of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, Xôi Yến is an institution famous throughout Hanoi and beyond. There are tables inside the restaurant, but the best seats are the small chairs that crowd the pavement, right next to the parked scooters.
When we visited it was extremely busy with locals with a seemingly never ending queue of Grab drivers picking up plates of xôi for take away. Ordering from the restaurant is simple, just wait in line, head up to the server, place your order and take a seat.
The restaurant serves three types of xôi. Xôi xéo, a bright yellow sticky rice cooked in turmeric to give its golden colour, xôi trắng, the traditional white rice and xôi ngô, sticky rice cooked with corn. We both chose to stay traditional and so opted for the xôi trắng.
Our toppings however were where things got interesting. John kept it classic and went for the Chinese stewed roast pork and egg. Simple, but roast pork is always a crowd pleaser. I, the princess, who can never just have one topping, decided that as I’m special, I wanted a bit of everything and chose the mixed meat with egg.
After ordering, we navigated our way through the scooters, stored our backpacks as out of the way as they could be (always an embarrassing issue when backpacking), and took our seats.
John’s bowl of xôi came to the table first. It looked amazing! The roast pork looked incredible. Small squares of delicious meat, with alternating layers of sweet meat and fat and topped by a crispy square of crackling. It looked divine. To say I was jealous is an understatement. As is always the case whenever John chooses something different to me, I was overwhelmed with jealousy. Thinking that he had made the better choice, I had to resist the urge not to stomp my foot in frustration! This jealousy ended rather quickly however, when my bowl came out. I didn’t have the crisp roast pork like John, instead I had a bit of meat from everything they had on the menu. On top of my xôi sat strips of stewed pork meat, a wedge of peppery Vietnamese sausage, a spoonful of rich dark pâté, slithers of thin, almost translucent Chinese sausage and pork floss. Now feeling rather smug with my decision, we dove in.
There’s something special about the ‘first’ time you have a dish. The anticipation and excitement of trying something new, is something that can never be recreated. The first mouthful is always one you’ll remember, with the new tastes and flavour zinging all across your tongue. As travellers who love their food, seeking out new food to try is just one of the many pleasures of exploring. Tasting the xôi for the first time was just one of those times.
The xôi at Xôi Yến was incredible. Nutty and meaty, with a soft snap from the glutinous rice. It was everything we had hoped it would be. To counteract the rich xôi, we added pickled cucumbers soaked in a tangy vinegar and chilli to our bowls which gave a needed sourness to the decadent bowl of rice.
We finished our bowls with not even a grain of rice grain left, and headed to our bus. If you’re in Hanoi, Xôi Yến is great. We can’t say if it’s the best xôi restaurant in the city, but for our first try of this Vietnamese delicacy it really didn’t disappoint!
Eating Xôi in Ho Chi Minh City - Xôi Bát restaurant
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city, after three incredible months travelling north to south through Vietnam. Despite having eaten our weight in noodles and rice, we were still craving another bowl of some delicious savoury xôi.
Throughout our travels in the country, we had stumbled upon it numerous times on the streets and in the local markets, but still we wanted more!
Back in our favourite neighbourhood of Saigon (a small enclave far to the north of District 1) we started googling around to find some xôi and this led us to - Xôi Bát (location).
Already excited by the prospect of more xôi, our interest was piqued by a certain review mentioning that the restaurant had been featured in the Michelin 2023 guide. To anyone who is a foodie, this is like being fed catnip! It was possible we may even get a better bowl of xôi than we had eaten in Hanoi!
The restaurant is located off a side road off of Hoàng Hoa Thám. From the outside the restaurant doesn’t look like much, and if you weren’t looking for it specifically, you could easily just walk past without noticing it.
Inside, the restaurant is very small with only a handful of tables. We visited late on a Monday lunchtime and easily grabbed a table, but if it was the weekend we can imagine we might have had to wait a little.
Xôi Bát translates to bowl of sticky rice and the restaurant's small menu offers just that. With about ten different bowls on offer, each topped with a variety of meaty toppings. It was a hard decision, both the pork options were strong contenders, but in the end we both opted for the xôi thịt kho tàu, a bowl of sticky rice served with caramelised pork and eggs.
Shortly after ordering out came our ricey feast! A small bowl of sticky rice was topped with a large chunk of caramelised pork, a whole boiled egg, crispy shallots and coriander. Next came out small bowls of a clear soup and carrots, and finally two small dishes of pickled vegetables.
It was time to dig in, and boy were we in for a treat! The pork was sweet and tender. It was so soft you could easily cut it with a spoon and when you put it in your mouth it literally melted away. The deep fried shallots and garlic were sweet and crunchy and were a great texture against the soft meat and egg.
The toppings were delicious, but the xôi itself was ‘star of the show’. The grains had been cooked in a rich meaty stock with a taste of coconut studded through. The rice was chewy, snappy and hearty with a sweet undertone from the coconut. On top of this sweet, meaty, rice layer sat a thin covering of salty pâté. It was the perfect, savoury counterpoint to the sticky sweetness of the rice.
The bowl of xôi had the perfect balance of sweet and salty, but pair this with the pickled vegetables and suddenly you have the perfect mouthful. Tangy and sour, the vinegary cabbage and carrots gave a sharp kick to the rich rice and meat. The clear soup on the side was delicately flavoured with pepper and a subtle vegetable notes. It was a perfect refresher for the xôi flavour bomb.
We can see why this restaurant was recommended in the Michelin guide for 2023. Everything seemed to pair perfectly well with each other, in a wonderful harmony. It was an incredible lunch!
If you’re in Ho Chi Minh City we’d recommend hailing a taxi and heading here. Not only is the food amazing at Xôi Bát, but if you’re still hungry after, the whole area is packed full of local eateries, street food stalls and coffee shops. We’ve stayed in the area for nearly a month in total now and haven’t even gotten close to eating everywhere. There’s just so much choice!
If you’re short on time, and Xôi Bát is a bit far from your accommodation, then you can always get a bowl delivered straight to your door via Grab. Something we’ve already earmarked for a few days' time when we head to the airport. A bowl of xôi from Xôi Bát will certainly be cheaper and will almost certainly beat the usual drab airport food offerings!
To order food via the Grab app, you will need a Vietnamese SIM card. To arrange this in advance of landing in Vietnam, why not order a Vietnamese eSIM from Airalo.
We cannot stress how good a bowl of xôi is. It’s hearty, filling and packs a huge punch of flavour. Whatever time of day, it’ll keep you full for a very long time, and will set you up for a full day of exploring. If you’re in Vietnam, Xôi is a must try dish. Trust us, you won’t be disappointed!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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