Chả cá: Hà Nội’s turmeric fish with dill, and how to eat it

Most Hà Nội dishes come to you finished. Chả cá finishes in front of you. A pan of hot oil arrives on a little burner at your table, then a plate of golden fish, then a mountain of dill and spring onion. Everything hisses, the smell fills the room, and you are cooking.

What it is

Chả cá is fish marinated with turmeric and galangal, grilled, then finished in the pan at your table with lots of fresh dill (thì là) and spring onion (hành). The turmeric turns it bright yellow; the dill makes it smell like nothing else in the city. The classic fish is cá lăng, a river catfish with firm flesh that holds together in the pan.

What comes to the table

• The fish: in the pan, sizzling.
• Dill and spring onion: piled on top and stirred in until just wilted.
• Bún: cold rice vermicelli.
• Lạc rang: roasted peanuts, to scatter over.
• Herbs: a plate of fresh greens, which change from place to place.
• Mắm tôm: fermented shrimp paste, beaten with lime and chilli until it foams. Or nước mắm, fish sauce, if you ask.

How to eat it

1. Let the dill wilt in the pan for a moment, no more. It should still be green.
2. Put a little bún in your bowl, then fish, dill and spring onion from the pan.
3. Add peanuts and herbs, and a small spoon of mắm tôm or fish sauce.
4. Mix, eat, and do it again. Add more fish and greens to the pan as you go.

Staff may cook the first round for you. Watch, then take over. Like bún chả, it is a dish you build bite by bite, not one you pour over.

About the mắm tôm

Mắm tôm is the purplish paste with the very big smell. With chả cá it makes perfect sense: salty, funky and sharp with lime against the rich fish. Try a little. If it is not for you, ask for fish sauce instead; nobody minds.

The street named after a dish

Chả cá is so tied to Hà Nội that a street in the Old Quarter is named after it: Chả Cá street. The dish is famously linked to the Đoàn family and their restaurant there, Chả Cá Lã Vọng, which is why you will often see the dish itself called chả cá Lã Vọng. The story goes that the name comes from a statue of Lã Vọng, the patient fisherman of Chinese legend, that the family kept in the shop.

Today chả cá is cooked all over the city, at old family places and newer ones, and plenty of them do it well.

How to order

• “Cho tôi hai suất chả cá.” Two portions of chả cá, please. Specialist places often cook nothing else, so that is all you need to say.
• “Thêm thì là.” More dill.
• “Cho tôi nước mắm.” Fish sauce for me, please.

When to go

Chả cá is a sit-down meal for lunch or dinner, not a quick bowl on the way to work. It is best shared with friends, it costs more than a bowl of noodles, and it goes very well with a cold bia hơi. Go hungry and take your time.

Eat Hà Nội with us

Chả cá is not on our menu, but our Hà Nội outings are built around the same kind of local places: start at dawn with the Dawn Phở Run, or end the day at a Bia Hơi Corner Night.