Best Hue Cuisine at Madame Thu Restaurant

I am always a little wary when someone, in this case the hotel owner recommends their cousins restaurant, but on this occasions I took the bait and went to Madame Thus Restaurant. I was not to be disappointed as it truly did offer a great selection of Hue Cuisine.

And how did I end up here? Well after picking my own “local” restaurants that were not all that good, as well as chasing Hue Street Food often to a brick wall. Sometimes you really should follow local advice, even if there is a vested interest.

What the Madame Thu, Hue?

If you look up Madame Thu Online you will find that generally not only is it pretty well known, but much like The DMZ Bar is also a bit of an institution.

Its main MO is to present authentic Hue cuisine, which itself is pretty famous not just by the dish, but also through offering expertly crafted plates that offer a “bit of everything”.

And all this is done in a clean, safe and well priced environment particularly aimed at those who are perhaps not as adventurous as to go and chase backstreet Bun Bo Hue.

Madame Thu Address;

45 Võ Thị Sáu,

Phú Hội, Thành phố Huế,

Thừa Thiên

Huế

530000,

Vietnam

Quite literally walking distance from walking street, the DMZ Bar and many great hotels, bars, as well as the train station should you be taking the Da Dang to Hue train.

And the Madame Thu Menu?

Pretty much everything you would expect is here, such as Bun Bo Hue, but also the lesser known dishes associated with Hue and Imperial Vietnamese cuisine. And it was here that I feel they were really into something with their mixed plates.

I personally went for the mixed plate that included, Beo Cake, sticky rice cake, rice paper wrapped around grilled pork, rice pancakes, grilled chopped pork with lemongrass, mix meat, fried spring rolls, name cake, and loc cake.

Alas the menu did not give the names in Vietnamese and sadly I am too lazy to translate, but the whole things was pretty much epic.

And while I liked the whole thing, I certainly had favorites, some of which are now very much in my radar. One of these is the minced pork wrapped around lemongrass. This dish uses the thick lemongrass essentially as the “stick” from where you eat the meat off of it as if it were wood. Of course this helps deliver all of that lemongrass goodness too.

Another two favorites in one were the “fresh spring rolls”, as well as the rice paper. In Cambodia the fresh spring roles are done with soft noodle like dough, while in Hue at least they are finished with the crisp taste of the rice paper.

Then there is the rice paper itself, something I have had mixed opinions about in the past. Here at least it worked as the prefect conduit for the meats, vegetables and the number of sauces that were provided as part of the tasting set.

This was all served for a mouthwatering 190,000 dong, or around $7, with it advertised as good for two, or as in my case one hungry street food guy.

Com Muc Xao

The other dish that I had at Madame Thu’s was Com Muc Xao, which is basically stir-fried beef, with pineapple and served with bell peppers, onion steamed rice and soy sauce.

I picked this for two reasons, firstly it is apparently local, but secondly as I have not had that many rice dishes in Vietnam, due to the prevalence of noodles within the country. This dish had undoubtedly been calmed for the western palate, but still reminded me of an East-Asian/South-Eat Asian curry dish almost and was well worth the try.

So, while Madame Thu is not likely to change your life, if you are looking for somewhere that is clean, well presented and that offers a real delve into the cuisine of Hue, then you will not be let down by this joint.