If you’re a beginner to Vietnamese cuisine, you’re not alone. There are many people who’ve come to try Vietnamese food in the last decade and who’ve become big fans but a lot of the ingredients or meal preparation is not common in North America. Vietnam’s top dishes include pho, banh mi, and com ga but there’s so much more to Vietnamese cuisine than simple three meals. Regarding where to start in eating Vietnamese food, we thought we’d share some common dishes as well as the sorts of meals prepared in the culture.

Fish mint.

Fish mint is like a heart-shaped, solid green food that does not taste or look like not and leaves only a fish-esque taste. It gives off a strong fish aroma and is something which not a lot of North Americans have the palette for.

Read more: See the Most Common Dishes in Vietnamese Cuisine, and what you Can Expect to Find when Eating...

Bring a little bit of Vietnam right to your kitchen table with these 5 amazing comfort foods based on authentically prepared Vietnamese cuisine. For any night of the week when you think you’ve got it in you to get in front of the stove and get cooking, these are all excellent dinner dishes. Although pho’s our favourite, perfecting that broth that take time and is quite tricky. If pho’s comforts aren’t achievable tonight, you still got options. Here are some ideas.

Che bap.

Che bap is a sweet coconut tapioca soup. Add a handful of corn to the mix and you’ve got a winning comfort meal right there. This dessert soup can help add something to the corn which might just be sitting around your freezer. It’s easy to prepare, quick to make, and the only real time you need to invest in it is waiting for it to cool down. It should eventually come out into a pudding-esque texture.

Read more: 5 Tasty Vietnamese Comfort Foods you can Make From Home

One of the biggest questions we get about our pho and hearty Vietnamese pho in general is, what makes it so healthy – well, that’s something we hope to answer here.

Pho is hot, comforting, and absolutely delicious. There’s no disputing that and it’s widely agreed upon. It’s easily customizable and usually comes in a salty broth, with filling meat, vegetables, herbs, spices, and rice noodles. Although pho can be made at home, it’s also served at several Toronto restaurants, with some tasting better than others. Here is some general nutritional information on what you can expect when enjoying a bowl of pho.

Read more: Why Pho is one of the Healthiest Dishes you Might Find at Any Toronto Restaurant

From Vietnam, there are three dishes probably the most well-known which are banh mi, bun, and pho. A lesser known dish however is known as ‘cha ruoi’ which translated means deep fried ragworm cakes. Today, it’s a very popular Vietnamese street food however in the past, it was a dish only enjoyed by the richest of the rich. In Vietnam today, you’ll find street vendors creating these deep-fried cakes from ragworms retrieved from the ocean every morning. Although admittedly ragworms can look very intimidating, when mixed with other ingredients and fried, it’s one taste that is absolutely delicious and which cannot be compared to anything else.

Read more: What are Deep Fried Ragworm Cakes and What They Mean to Vietnamese Cuisine

East Asian cuisine is some of the most delicious and satisfying food there is. If you’ve never tried the following foods, they’re well worth a taste. Dishes always have a homemade feel, fresh ingredients, and use little oil. Although Canada and the US have always had a deep love affair with Chinese food, there’s a lot of Vietnamese cuisine and East Asian dishes we think deserve a look.

Thai salad

Read more: 5 Vietnamese Foods and other East Asian Cuisine you absolutely Need to Try

If you’re a student living in any of Canada’s major cities – Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, Toronto, London, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener, or Montreal – chance are you’ve been to a pho restaurant before.

Pho is an amazing Vietnamese soup-like meal that has caught on a big way among Canadians. An authentic Vietnamese dish with a hundred-year history behind it, pho’s an inexpensive, filling, and balanced meal. It also happens to be one of the top ethnic cuisine dishes in the world. Canada’s has had love affairs with things like salsa and tortillas, olive oil and pasta, soy sauced dishes, and a wide range of what were once unfamiliar ethnic dishes. These days, they’re all normalized. What those are today, pho will be in the future. Utterly delicious, there’s nothing like pho.

Read more: Why do University Students love Pho so Much in major Canadian Cities – read here!