Halong Squid Sausage: Don’t miss it, it’s a must!

Are you a seafood lover and staying in a spectacular place in Quang Ninh Province? Even though you are on a diet, seafood is craved for by all. There’s a lot of seafood choices out there. Let’s find out the best local seafood - Halong Squid Sausage.

Cha Muc Ha Long - Squid Sausage can be called “ The symbol of Halong '' because you also can not eat the same squid sausage that you may expect to eat in Halong. The dish was also voted as one of the country’s top 10 tastiest dishes by Asian Record. So excited to enjoy fresh seafood to appease our hungry stomachs and admire the majestic island with various spectacular sharps and sizes in HaLong Bay. 

Story of Halong squid cakes

Back in time, Squid sausage was an idea of a local chef from Hon Gai Town (now Ha Long City). He owned a restaurant with his wife and the main dish is fried squid. However, the restaurant cannot keep good performance and attract fewer and fewer customers. So, they decided to do something new to turn things around. They tried various recipes and finally found perfection with Squid Cakes. After launching, the dish charmed plenty of visitors from both locals and foreigners and business boomed. Their food had been the best seller in Ha Long market for almost 25 years and became the symbol of Ha Long. When you visit HaLong today, it’s not hard to buy one, there are a lot of restaurants and vendors selling this dish on the market. Locals usually eat the dish with sticky rice (Xoi) or steamed rice rolls (banh cuon) dipped into chili, fish sauce. Everything is perfect! 

What makes this food special? 

Obviously the main ingredient is squid, the dish is simple, made from fresh chopped fairly squid, floured and deep-fried. The recipe is quite simple but only squid sausage from Halong can make your mouth water and boost your mood. The food is very delicious made from “Muc Mai '', a special and exclusive squid (cuttlefish) coming from Ha Long Bay. Not every kind of squid can be used to make Cha Muc Ha Long. To have good quality food, people have to choose fresh, big and thick squid caught in the early morning to make sure that the dish is crunchy and delicate. 

Some secret ingredients will be put in order to bring out the flavor. An average squid weighs over 1~ 1.2 kg contains a lot of protein, iron, magnesium, fat,... It is very healthy because the presence of Omega-3 and nutrition squid lowers blood pressure and helps in reducing the chance of heart disease. The second secret behind the unique flavor of Cha Muc is the handmade squid sausage recipe. The people patiently grind up the squid meat by hand to make it crispy and delicious. Some people try to make squid sausage at home, but they can’t make it in the same way, because they don’t have the fresh “Muc Mai '' and nobody has the patience to grind up squid by hand. 

How about the price? 

Squid Sausage

The price is around 300k- 500k/ per 1 kg squid sausage. You can buy it everywhere in the Halong market. However, you might see a lot of vendors selling just 150k-200k for one kg, the quality of sausage is not good. Because they have to use tactics to reduce the cost and sell at the cheapest price. So you should be wise to avoid buying squid cake with lots of baking powder. 

Vietnamese steamed rice rolls with Squid Sausage / Banh cuon cha muc

Vietnamese Steamed Rice Rolls (Banh Cuon) are made from sheets of steamed rice batter filled with a mixture of cooked seasoned ground pork, wood ear mushrooms, and minced shallots. Adding a glaze of oil and a sprinkle of crispy fried shallots and Vietnamese herbs on the top. People usually eat with some slices of Vietnamese sausage (Cha Lua), hot squid sausage and all dipped in the fish sauce. The amazing combination of this dish will make you never forget this special flavor. So yummy! 

Sticky rice with Squid Sausage / Xoi Cha Muc

“Xoi" or sticky rice combined with squid sausage that only Ha Long will bring you an unforgettable taste. Locals usually eat this unique food in the morning for breakfast. You can enjoy this dish with pure fish sauce and a little pepper to feel its entire flavor. 

Squid sausage can bring the taste of the sea for all visitors traveling Halong, one of the unique culinary specialties you never want to regret your life!