52: A tale of two bún mọc
Welcome to my little dining out project. Its purpose is to get more acquainted with Vietnamese cuisine while I have the privilege of living in Vietnam. A tale of two… will see me try the same dish at two different restaurants. Trying something once is great, but two tries, hopefully in quick succession, should offer me (just slightly) more insight into the dish.
Whether it’s something I’ve had before or one that is brand new, my hope is that the small comparison will help me better understand the dish, what variations might exist regionally or just between cooks, and what I generally think of it. I want to become less ignorant when writing about Vietnamese food and a less ignorant resident of Vietnam.
I am also a recovering picky eater, and I feel I’m still on a journey of coming into my more mature palate. I hope this project will help with that, too.
Previous tales have been on phở and bánh cuốn.
Last tale, I mentioned I welcome feedback on how I write about these eating experiences. I didn’t get any directly, but I think the post on bánh cuốn was my worst post ever, statistically speaking. How many readers opened their email is a primary Substack metric. Fewer subscribers opened the free-to-read bánh cuốn post than my last restaurant list update that was only for paid subscribers. I’m slightly confounded but not deterred. I write to be read1, but I don’t write for good stats.
Three (six, rather) meals into this project, and I think it’s been way more useful as a tool for motivation to eat more Vietnamese food than my spreadsheets and Google Maps pins have been. What I love about Substack is how much more accountable I feel than I did with blogging because of the inbox factor. Having this project as part of my Substack is keeping me accountable to exploring the cuisine of the country I now live in. I’m sorry, not sorry if these posts don’t interest you; constructive feedback is, again, welcome if you have two cents to share for what would bring you more reading pleasure.
Hardy har har… another dish from the North.
I learned about bún mọc on TikTok. The creator introduced it as a noodle soup you’ve probably never heard of, which was correct for me. And the “you,” would be those outside of Vietnam, I’m assuming. While I think he might have said it was underrated, I only made mental note of the awareness tidbit, because if there are dishes I should try to work into this project, it’s those that future me would have a hard time finding on a menu outside of Vietnam.
Basic Google searches in either English or Vietnamese don’t offer much beyond cursory overviews of the soup, which is totally fine. These three pages can help you learn a little more beyond the basics of it being a Northern dish from Mọc village of a clear, pork-bone broth with thin vermicelli (bún), meatballs made from pork paste (mọc), and Vietnamese sausage (chả). It’s topped with scallions and fried shallots, the standard plated accompaniments are banana flower blossoms; herbs such as mint; fresh chiles; and bean sprouts.
Most people describe it as a very simple and light soup as mushrooms are the only big addition to the pork broth when it’s being made. No heavy seasonings or spices. Home cooks mention that it is also easy to prepare because it is not time intensive, which is not the case with broths made for soups such as phở or bún bò.
Shops
When I went in search of shops that might be convenient for me, I easily found two. One is close to work, the other to home. I did no other searching as reviews sounded favourable enough for both. I don’t walk by either regularly, so I have no idea how popular they are or how busy they get. I ate at both in the late afternoon, which is a very off hour, so they were extremely quiet.
Photos with “Grand Opening” type banners on the Google Maps entry suggested that Bún Mọc 1 (BM1) is relatively new. The modern decor and air conditioning are clear signifiers of this. I appreciated the latter and that the menu had both Vietnamese and English descriptions. Multiple positive Google reviews within a short time frame a while back were probably from friends or influencers shortly after opening, but there were enough more recent ones that I didn’t think I was going to experience something terrible.
Bún Mọc 2 (BM2) is a much more old school spot with wooden stools, an open entry to the street—so fans only—and no English menu. But it occupied kind of a hybrid position between modern and traditional quán/diner because as the tenant of the ground floor of a small tower, an elevator is in the middle of the dining room. Oh, Vietnam.
Toppings
As for bowl offerings, BM1 had a number of meat toppings that could be ordered in combinations of two, three, four, and I think also five. In addition to the standard meatballs and sausage (mọc, chả), they also had chicken, pork ribs, pork bone, and pork hocks. Every bowl also came with a large cube of blood pudding/jelly(huyết). I went with the meatball, sausage, and chicken (gà) bowl.
BM2 only offered two variations, đặc biệt or đầy đủ. Most translate the former as “special,” and it is usually the most expensive bowl on offer. Google Translate tells me that đầy đủ means “full,” which isn’t overly helpful for trying to distinguish it from the special, which you would assume would be… full. Both often are seen on menus together, often with no further description. Because each shop defines what is special or full to them, you just have to ask if you want to know exactly. The auntie helping me spoke no English, but after a few moments of my poor Vietnamese and some not very helpful use of Google, I understood the difference. The two bowls had the same toppings—two types of mọc (fried/regular), two types of chả, and sườn (pork ribs)—but the special just came with more of them. Obviously I went with that one.
When researching bún mọc, descriptions state that traditional mọc for this dish are made with pork paste and wood ear mushrooms. The accompanying photos clearly showed balls flecked with little dark brown mushroom bits. BM1 had none. BM2 had what would amount to a pinch. So, I was slightly disappointed because I like mushrooms and was looking forward to their inclusion. I’m unsure if that’s the shops preference or a regional variation. I’ve subsequently looked at photos from other Saigon shops, perhaps ones more associated with a true Northern soup, and I have noticed more mushrooms in the mọc.
Mọc are also characteristic of Asian-style meatballs that are more bouncy and firm in texture. Having grown up eating meatballs from cuisines that prefer meatballs to be tender and moist, I’m still getting used to the bounce. It’s not a turn off, just something I’m learning to appreciate.
The standard toppings were definitely the aspect of the two bowls that were the most different to me. At BM1, the bowl contained one very large meatball and one very large piece of sausage. The photo doesn’t show how the sausage was maybe two inches long. To eat both, I had to take multiple bites. This wasn’t always the easiest as both were quite firm and larger than the spoon could easily hold. At BM2, the meatballs were almost one-bite size (my mouth is on the small size) and the sausage was in slices, maybe only a quarter inch thick. BM2’s meatballs and sausage were also more tender than their brethren at BM1. Flavourwise, there wasn’t a noticeable difference to me. The fried meatballs at BM2 were also not hugely different from the normal ones.
BM1 had fewer scallions than BM2, and their plate of lettuce; herbs; blossoms; and sprouts looked sadder than BM2’s (sorry for no photo). BM1 had everything in a sort of single pile on the plate. At BM2, the various toppings were more separated into piles, so you could choose which ones you wanted and how much.
The shredded chicken breast at BM1 was very tender, and I liked it a lot. I do like blood pudding variations, but again, the cube at BM1 was very large and not-so-easy for taking bites. The pork rib at BM2 was as tender as you’d want it to be. Bites easily pulled off the bone, and the size was not too large to be unwieldy when doing so.
Both spots had a standard array of condiments for you to use for dipping your meats or for adjusting your both. BM1 had a propriety dipping sauce that tasted a little like Hoisin. It was good.
Broth and bún
Both broths were clear, but BM2’s was more so. I don’t know if lack of clarity is related to this, but BM1’s was saltier. I added fish sauce to BM2’s because I found it a little bland on its own. I did add a few fresh chiles to both, and I’ve yet to remember how just a few slices can imbue the broth with a lot of heat after soaking for a while. I have remembered to start pulling them out as I see them closer to the end of the bowl so I don’t end up ingesting them (too painful on the way out…).
The simplicity of the broth definitely sticks out as distinguishing the soup from other notable ones, and I’d guess that’s why it is considered more under the radar. Without the distraction of spices, it was easier to appreciate how nourishing and hydrating a broth can be. The scallions are added right before serving. They retain some texture but also add a bit of pungency that might be lost if they soaked for a longer period of time. I add as many of the greens to my bowl as will fit, so the lightness of the broth changes. But it does allow all of the various toppings to let their pure flavours shine more.
The rice noodles at BM2 were thicker than BM1, but not as thick as ones more typical of bún bò. Because I don’t love their softness, I find that mouthfuls of a thinner tubular noodle are chewier than mouthfuls of a thicker one. Maybe that’s just me, but I do notice it.
Takeaways
It is still rare for me to want to eat a noodle soup, Vietnamese or otherwise, beyond trying one for the first time or knowing it would make me feel good when sick. Bún mọc didn’t change this, but I can see how if you were a noodle soup person, you might want something simpler on some days. Not every noodle soup day is for tonkotsu ramen or laksa or phở. And while I don’t think I will ever truly enjoy hot soups on hot days, the hydration factor can’t be overlooked.
Based on the two bowls I tried, I’ll say that I’d prefer my next bowl to have a saltier broth and thinner noodles like BM1, but the sliced sausage; smaller meatballs; and bigger scoop of scallions that I got at BM2. If I were to return, it would only be to BM2, so I’ll share their details in my next HCMC restaurant list update.
For another bowl, however, I think I’d go elsewhere first than go back to BM2. Given how I’d now say, yes, this is a Vietnamese dish I like and think others should try, I’d prefer to go to a spot that makes it more like the original with mushroom-heavy meatballs. I’ve made a note on the already too long Saigon eats bucket list.
I don’t record audio for the restaurant list updates because they’re too long. I’ve decided I will no longer record audio for these posts 1% because I think referring to the pictures while reading might be useful and 99% because I’m too insecure about poor Vietnamese pronunciation.