Mì Quảng

Mì Quảng is turmeric-yellow noodles tossed with just enough pork-and-shrimp broth to coat rather than swim in, topped with a rice cracker, peanuts and herbs. It comes from Quảng Nam province in central Vietnam, and the defining choice behind it is a negative one: unlike phở or bún bò Huế, it deliberately isn't a soup, served with only a few spoonfuls of intensely reduced broth rather than a full bowlful.

What it really is

Flat rice noodles, tinted yellow with turmeric, get tossed with sliced pork, shrimp and a small amount of broth reduced hard enough to taste concentrated rather than brothy — the ratio of noodle to liquid sits far closer to a dry noodle dish than to a soup. A whole rice cracker, roasted crisp, sits propped against the bowl, meant to be broken up and stirred in for crunch, alongside crushed peanuts, sliced banana blossom and a scatter of herbs and fresh chilli.

The small amount of broth is deliberate restraint, not an oversight. Adding more broth to make it soupier turns the dish into something closer to a regular noodle soup and loses the specific texture — noodle, cracker crunch and just enough sauce to bind everything — that makes Mì Quảng recognisably itself.

How it's served

• Warm, noodles tossed with a small amount of broth rather than served in a full bowl of it.
• With a whole rice cracker propped against the bowl, broken and stirred in by the diner.
• As a main dish, most associated with Quảng Nam province and Da Nang.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the shellfish, fish sauce and peanuts.
• Say that it isn't a soup, since guests expecting a full broth may otherwise be caught off guard by how little liquid arrives.
• Note whether pork, shrimp, or both are included, since some versions lean on one protein more than the other.