As soon as we arrived in Hue we were accosted with signs shouting that they were selling the dish that Hie is famous for.
It wasn't until the second day that we stumbled across a road side restaurant, starving after a morning of sight seeing, and were excited to see they served it.
The beef soup here also comes with a beef bone and congealed pigs blood giving it a distinct richness.
We ordered two bowls and say down to await our meals.
Avoiding restaurants and Trip advisor reviews means we never know what we are going to get. We have had some great experiences this way but also some truly awful meals. Our expectations are always low when we eat roadside meaning we get the chance to be blown away or pleasantly surprised.
Thankfully on this day we were blown away.
Two steaming hot bowls of Bun Bo were placed in front of us. Unfortunately, as I wanted to try it, sans pigs blood. They may have assumed we weren't that keen!
The lashings of herbs you adorn the dish with turns this soup into a fresh sensation.
The beef soup was completely different to the north. While the pho has a richness of flavour coming from cinnamon and star anise, the bun had high notes of lemon grass and chilli and was all in all a much cleaner dish.
I also prefer the bun noodles, it makes me feel like im eating pasta which is never a bad thing.
The beef was lean and delicious and the meat we got off our bones melted in your mouth.
I could quickly see why this was a dish that everyone seems to eat no matter what time of the day. It was delicious!
You are served a giant plate of rice and then you simply point at the dishes from the buffet you want piled on top.
This place had some amazing dishes but I wanted some vegetables to supplement my soup.
The lady who owned the shop was a master of her craft, we watched her, mesmerised, as she carved up a duck for he table next to us and made a dipping sauce to go with it just based on her flavour instincts.
I claimed to be to full to try a bowl of this but the way she devoured it made me think I was perhaps the crazy one and I promised myself if I saw it again I would try it.
If nothing else it would make for an interesting blog post.