Hà Nam

Hà Nam is the gateway province south of Hà Nội, famous for the cá kho braised in a niêu đất (clay pot) from làng Vũ Đại, the village of Nam Cao's fiction, along with chuối ngự Đại Hoàng — a banana once chosen as tribute to the king — and simple breakfast dishes such as bánh cuốn Phủ Lý. The cooking here is thoroughly Red River Delta, drawing carefully on the produce of the Châu and Đáy rivers.