Chè: Vietnamese sweet soups and desserts, and how to order them

Mid-afternoon, or after dinner, Việt Nam goes looking for something sweet, and it usually finds chè. The word covers a whole family of desserts: sweet soups, puddings and tall glasses layered with beans, jellies, tapioca pearls, fruit and coconut milk. Some are served hot, some over crushed ice, and nearly all are eaten with a long spoon.

What goes in

• Beans: mung beans (đậu xanh), red beans (đậu đỏ) and black beans (đậu đen), cooked soft and sweet.
• Jellies: in every colour, cut into cubes or strips.
• Tapioca pearls: chewy and see-through.
• Fruit: banana, pomelo, jackfruit, lychee and whatever is in season.
• Nước cốt dừa: coconut milk, poured over the top.
• Ice: crushed and piled high on the iced kinds.

The kinds to try

• Chè ba màu: “three-colour” chè, beans and jelly in three bright layers, under coconut milk and ice. Pretty, and a good first glass.
• Chè bưởi: pomelo chè, made with the pith of the pomelo rather than the fruit, so it is crunchy and chewy at once, with mung beans and coconut milk.
• Chè đậu đen: black beans in a light syrup, hot or iced. Simple, and very good.
• Chè chuối: banana cooked in coconut milk, often with tapioca pearls and a sprinkle of roasted peanuts. Usually served warm.
• Chè khúc bạch: a Hà Nội favourite. Soft cubes of milky jelly with fruit, syrup and toasted almond flakes.
• Chè thái: mixed fruit, often jackfruit and lychee, with jellies in a sweet, creamy milk.
• Sương sáo: grass jelly, dark and gently herbal, served with syrup and ice.
• Chè thập cẩm: “mixed” chè, a bit of everything. The answer when you can’t decide.

Hot or iced, and when

Chè is an afternoon and evening thing: a snack on the way home, or something sweet after dinner. When it is hot out, which in the south is all year, the iced kinds win. In Hà Nội’s cool winter, the warm kinds make more sense.

In Huế, make it a daily habit: the city has dozens of kinds of chè. More in our Huế food guide.

How to order

At a chè stall the ingredients often sit in pots and trays at the front, so you can point at what you want. Or say it:

• “Cho tôi một cốc chè bưởi.” One glass of pomelo chè, please. In the north a glass is a cốc.
• “Cho tôi một ly chè ba màu.” One glass of three-colour chè, please. In the south a glass is a ly.
• “Ít ngọt.” Less sweet.
• “Ít đá.” Less ice. “Không đá.” No ice.

For more words to use at the stall, see our street food phrases.

How to eat it

1. Stir it from the bottom. The beans sit low and the coconut milk sits high, and the point is to get both in every spoonful.
2. Eat the iced kinds quickly, before the ice turns everything to soup.
3. Take your time with the hot ones. Blow first.

Finish the night with chè

Our Back-of-the-Bike Food Night in Sài Gòn has you riding pillion with a local driver through District 4 and District 5: six stops, six stools, from bánh xèo to snails to chè, with drinks included.