Phá Lấu: A Popular Vietnamese Street Food

Phá lấu is a favourite street food of young people in Vietnam. It’s a little sweet, a little sour and a little chewy (“touch” in the original), and once you start eating it, it’s hard to stop.

What phá lấu is

A hot bowl of phá lấu comes with a little thick soup, tamarind fish sauce, chilli and bread. There are 2 types: one made from cow’s intestine and one from pig’s. In English you may see them called beef intestine stew or pig intestine stew.

It’s just a street food, but it appeals to every generation, from children and students to workers and the elderly. You can find phá lấu anywhere on the streets in Vietnam.

How it’s made

The original puts the dish down to many years of Vietnamese and Chinese cooking coming together. Phá lấu includes stomach, small intestine, heart, lung and other parts from cows and pigs. They are cleaned before cooking, marinated with many flavours, then fried and hard boiled. The main ingredient of the soup is what the original calls “first coconut syrup” (the original does not explain the term).

How to eat it

At a typical phá lấu stall, customers sit on plastic chairs, eating and watching the street, and you choose whatever you want to eat. You don’t use a fork or chopsticks: small wooden sticks are the best choice for phá lấu. Every piece carries several flavours at once: sour, sweet, chewy and hot.

Where to try it

Phá lấu is now served in restaurants as well. But if you want the real experience in Vietnam, and you have a good stomach, eat it on the streets or in markets such as Ben Thanh Market and Cho Lon. When this was written, it cost around 10,000 to 15,000 VND.