Scorpion
Small black scorpions are easily to catch in Bay Nui area of An Giang. The scorpions are not killed and cooked right after being caught but after a few days so that their stomachs will be empty and “clean”. The cook usually deep-fry these scorpions until they becomes crispy.
Grilled "climbing" beef
In Tan Chau, An Giang province, there is a specialty with funny name of "climbing beef". It is interesting that "climbing beef" does not mean meat of cow fed in mountainous area. However, it has special flavor because it is seasoned with secret condiments.
Looking at its setting, we can understand why it is called as "climbing beef". At the centre of the table, there is a griller made of iron in mountain shape surrounded by a plate of beef marinated with spices, vegetables and herbs and soy sauce. First of all, a piece of pork fat and then butter put on the griller placing on ember. Pork fat, butter and beef grilled make an irresistible aroma. Specially, no matter how long beef is grilled, it still preserves perfect flavor, soft and tasty. Grilled beef will be wrapped by rice paper and served with some herbs, vegetables and green banana and special soy sauce.
Grilled naked snakehead
The grilled snakehead is one of the best dishes of the bucolic South’s cuisines. This is a dish which will make you forget how to say “no.” Using a stick to skewer the fish, you will need to grill the fish on the burning charcoal, not straw to have the best of it. Using straw is very difficult, and this technique requires expert hands to put in the right amount of straw.
When smelling the burning fins, you will put the fish on banana leaves, use straw to clean the burning areas, cut the fish in half to see the white and tasty meat, remove the gut. The fish is also served with tamarind sauce, and herbs such as sand dunes, lotus (bông súng), coriander and tamarind leaves. The best way to eat the fish is to roll it with rice paper, and dip in fish sauce to notice sweet and fat of the fish, the spicy of chili, and the bitterness of many types of herbs.
Banh bo Chau Doc
Coming to Chau Doc city, An Giang province, you can see sugar palm everywhere. Sugar palm is a multi-functional tree which leaves are used to install house roof, palm is use to make columns for houses, tables and chairs. Tourists should not miss eating sugar palm fruit’s meat is fresh, chewy but tender. In addition, the juice from sugar palm is used to make sugar and it is the reason it is called as sugar palm. Banh bo made from rice powder, palm sugar and yeast.
Beef sausage (Tung lo mo)
Tung lo mo is the Vietnamese-version name of the beef sausage. This is a delicacy of the Chăm Pa people in An Giang, who live concentrically in An Phu, Tan Chau, and Phu Tan Districts. There are two types of sausage, sour or normal. The sour sausage is made with rice, which is the ingredient makes the sausage has its sourness. The sour sausage is not easy to eat with the people who first tasted it.
Unlike pork sausage, the beef sausage, after cooking, only needs to be dried and the sausage is ready to be cooked. You can fry or grill, but the best is to grill the sausage on the charcoal. After grilling, when cutting the sausage, you will notice that the sausage has pink color and a beautiful smell. The sausage, after cooking and still hot, needed to be dipped in soybean sauce. The sweetness of the grilled beef, the fatness of the fat, the sourness of the sausage, the spicy of the sauce, all are combined to create a wonderful experience.
Fried ground steam sticky rice
Mother Nature gives An Giang a good environment to grow good sticky rice. Locals have used sticky rice to make a very interesting food which looks like a ball. The steamed sticky rice must be crushed carefully until it becomes a smooth dough. The dough is used to make thin circle which is deep-fried in a pan until it becomes a crispy ball. If you come to An Giang, do not miss this delicious food, one of the most amazing specialty foods in An Giang.