As Tet, also known as the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, approaches, Vietnamese families eagerly prepare to welcome the new year. Along with traditional customs, Tet food is crucial in creating a warm and festive atmosphere. Each region in Vietnam has unique dishes, reflecting the country’s diverse cultural heritage. Your hunt for Vietnamese Lunar New Year Food ends here! We have listed some must-try traditional dishes from the Tet Feast and the top places to find them!
Typical Tet dishes of the Northern Tet tray
The traditional Tet holiday in the North is an occasion for family reunions and enjoying typical Tet dishes imbued with traditional flavours. The Tet meal in the North cannot lack the square green Chung cake, symbolizing the earth, with fatty green bean filling and fragrant fatty meat. Next is a plate of clear, cool meat jelly, served with sweet and sour pickled onions. Delicious pork sausage, thinly sliced and beautifully presented, is also an indispensable dishes.
Not only savory dishes, the Tet meal tray also has the color of sweet dishes such as coconut jam, pumpkin jam, peanut candy. Fresh, fragrant, red sticky rice with gac fruit, symbolizing luck, is also a favourite dish of many families. And of course, we cannot forget the hot, flavorful bamboo shoot and vermicelli soup, which helps balance the taste buds after days of enjoying many greasy dishes.
Each Northern Tet dish is not simply a culinary dish, but also a unique cultural feature, containing good meanings, wishing for a new year of peace and prosperity. The delicious flavour of each dish blends into the warm, cosy atmosphere, creating a beautiful traditional Tet picture.
Typically, Northern families will prepare a Tet feast full of traditional dishes. However, to meet the needs of busy people or tourists from far away who want to experience the taste of Northern Tet, some places specialize in providing these dishes:
Banh Chung
A dish symbolizing the earth and sky, expressing the gratitude of descendants to their ancestors and nature. Delicious Banh Chung must have the natural green colour of dong leaves, fatty green bean filling, and fragrant fatty meat.
You can find delicious Banh Chung at traditional cake shops in Hanoi such as: Banh Chung Ba Lan (Lane 76 An Duong), Banh Chung Gia An (Cau Giay).
Jellied meat
A rustic, refreshing dish made from stewed pork leg with wood ear and shiitake mushrooms. Good jellied meat must be clear in color, solidify when cooled, and be served with sweet and sour pickled onions. Some famous restaurants serving jellied meat in Hanoi: Quan Kien (Hang Tre), Quan Thit Jellied meat 37 (Hang Bac).
Pork sausage
An indispensable dish on the Tet holiday tray, made from minced lean meat, wrapped in banana leaves and boiled. Delicious pork sausage has a natural pink-white colour, a fragrant meaty smell, and is chewy and crispy. You can buy delicious pork sausage at reputable production facilities such as: Uoc Le Pork Sausage (Thanh Oai), Phu Huong Pork Sausage (Ha Dong).
Planning your Lunar New Year Holiday? Check out our curated guide on TET travel ideas!
Central Vietnam Tet Flavor
The Tet meal of the Central Vietnamese is a simple dish and a crystallization of tradition, culture and family affection. Each dish has its meaning, conveying good wishes for the new year.
Indispensable on the ancestral altar and the Tet meal tray is banh tet, with a layer of fragrant sticky rice wrapped around a filling of fatty green beans, rich fatty meat or sweet bananas. Next to it is sour shrimp paste with a salty, sweet, sour and spicy taste, helping to balance the flavour for a complete meal. Pork soaked in fish sauce with a harmonious salty and sweet flavour, fragrant with garlic and chilli, is a snack that goes well with rice on Tet.
The Tet meal in the Central region also cannot lack delicious, chewy spring rolls, sausages, and tre, often served with banh tet or pickled vegetables. And finally, golden, fragrant banh thuan brings a sweet, warm taste to complete the spring day.
Below are the addresses and brands of some Central Vietnamese dishes for Tet that you can refer to and buy as gifts:
Tré
A dish made from boiled pig head meat (ears, nose, tongue), thinly sliced, mixed with galangal, sesame, rice powder, wrapped in guava leaves or Polyscias fruticosa leaves. Tré has a sour, sweet, spicy taste, often eaten with rice paper and raw vegetables. You can visit Dong Ba Nem Cha Tre shop (25 Dao Duy Tu, Phu Binh, Hue City, Thua Thien – Hue Province) to buy as a gift or enjoy.
Sour shrimp paste
A unique dish of Hue, made from fresh shrimp fermented with galangal, garlic, chilli, and sugar. Sour shrimp has a sweet, salty, spicy, and sour taste, often used as an appetizer or served with rice and rice paper. You can find delicious sour shrimp paste at the Co Do Specialty Store – Ly Hung at 4A Nguyen Phuc Nguyen, Kim Long, Hue City, Thua Thien – Hue Province.
Don’t forget to check out Top TET markets for all your TET shopping!
Discover Vietnamese Lunar New Year Food in the South.
Tet comes and spring returns, the Tet meal in the South is not just a meal but also a subtle blend of culture and cuisine. Green sticky rice cake with the fragrant smell of banana leaves, fatty mung bean filling, and rich fatty meat is an indispensable dish during the three days of Tet. Braised pork with the sweet taste of coconut water an attractive cockroach brown colour, served with sweet and sour crunchy pickled cucumber, creates a perfect balance for the taste buds. Bitter melon soup stuffed with meat, although slightly bitter, means “the bitterness will pass”, wishing for a lucky new year.
In addition, we cannot forget to mention the side dishes such as sweet and sour pickled onions, crispy pickled vegetables, or golden spring rolls. Each dish has its own flavour, contributing to creating a colourful and meaningful picture of Southern Tet cuisine.
Southern Vietnamese food trays are often rich and diverse, with many Tet dishes that have sweet and fatty flavours. Below are addresses selling some typical dishes for the day in the South:
Banh tet
Southern banh tet has a variety of fillings, the most popular being mung bean, fatty meat, and grated coconut. Some typical types of banh tet in the South are banh tet la cam (Can Tho), banh tet Tra Cuon (Tra Vinh), etc.
Chinese sausage
A dish made from minced pork, marinated with spices, stuffed into small intestines and dried. Chinese sausage has a sweet and salty taste, delicious, often fried or grilled. This is a dish you can find in food stores.
Pickled shallots with dried shrimp
The sweet and sour taste of pickled shallots blends with the salty and sweet taste of dried shrimp, creating an attractive side dish that stimulates the taste buds. You can visit Cho Lon – District 5, Ho Chi Minh City (where many shops are selling delicious pickled shallots with dried shrimp)
The traditional Vietnamese New Year is not only an occasion for family reunion but also an opportunity to enjoy dishes imbued with national identity. Each dish has its own flavor, contributing to the beauty of Vietnamese culinary culture. Let’s cherish these traditional values and preserve the beauty of Vietnamese culinary culture together.
To make your journey home for Tet more complete, don’t forget to take advantage of special offers from redBus! You can now enjoy a 40% discount with the code DAUTIEN when booking bus tickets. redBus also offers many other attractive promotions, such as exclusive Flash Sales for the upcoming Tet 2025 season with cheap tickets and special offers. Dont forget to check out our Vietnam Bus Booking Guide to help you book your TET bus tickets online!
Don’t miss out on this excellent opportunity to save money on your trip! Head over to the redBus Vietnam website or download the redBus app to get the latest updates and start your journey to celebrate Tet with your family!