Vegan White Rose from Hoi An

We did wonder whether we’d run out of things to write about relating to vegan travel in Vietnam but there’s so much opportunity to eat vegan food here that it doesn’t look like that will be happening anytime soon!

Today’s post is all about a speciality snack from Hoi An called ‘Banh Bao Vac’, or White Rose and we’ll be looking for vegan White Rose from Hoi An, of course…

They must be somewhere out there under the blue sky….

White Rose are little rice paper dumplings which are made from a secret recipe that, to this day, is held by only one family here. This family began to supply the whole town with this famous snack and now it’s everywhere. Others have tried to copy the recipe with no success and Jolie (our lovely Vietnamese homestay host) confirms that the secret recipe still stays with the original family.

They’re normally stuffed with pork or shrimp but thanks to the existence of several Vietnamese Buddhist veggie restaurants here, we have been able to get our hands on vegan White Rose. Admittedly, the vegan version doesn’t use the famous secret recipe but we’d rather break with tradition and go plant-based anyhow.

A plate of vegan White Rose from Hoi An

They are called White Rose as this is what they look like when they have been cooked; a plate of little scrunched up white roses, which have been scattered with fried garlic and drenched in a deliciously sweet, spicy dressing. Ours were stuffed with a small cube of mock meat as a replacement filling.

Hard to hold the slippery dumplings in your chopsticks so need to eat them quickly

They are a very moreish little snack, these little dumplings, soft and slippery on the outside, with a chunk of tasty mock meat in the middle, then covered in the slices of fried garlic and that wonderful dressing.

We shared a plate of 5 between the two of us and they were gone in 5 quick mouthfuls, we could have easily eaten a few more but at 35,000 VND (£1 / $1.65) they are expensive as a little snack. This might seem crazy to you but this bowl of filling, tasty noodles is the same price.

These noodles make a filling meal and cost the same as vegan White Rose. Crazy?!

It’s definitely worth the trip to Hoi An to come and try vegan White Rose, you can read about Minh Hien where we ate these delcious snacks in our vegan guide to Hoi An.