Sapa salmon sashimi

Salmon sashimi, a new favorite dish in Sapa - Photo: Lam Van Son

Sapa Town in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, encapsulates the beauty of the mountainous north, with unforgettable views of terraced rice fields, misty mountains lined up into the distance, icy cold waterfalls and love markets. As a bonus, another specialty was added in recent years for visitors to Sapa to enjoy – dishes made from locally farmed salmon.

In Sapa, there are many restaurants that are dedicated to serve salmon. Salmon is made into a wide variety of dishes, such as salmon hotpot, salmon sashimi with mustard and wild vegetable, grilled salmon, fried salmon rolled in flour, salmon salads and steamed salmon with wild bamboo.

Of these the salmon sashimi prepared with mustard is recommended most for tourists. The dish delights by the sweetness of salmon, aroma of fresh wild vegetables and a hot bite of mustard.

The second dish that must be mentioned is the salmon hot pot made in a similar way to the sour soup of the South. The soup has pineapple, tomato and salmon. Then it will be served with Sapa-grown wild vegetables and watercress or pumpkin buds.

Salmon farming was piloted in Sapa since 2005 after the local authorities sent experts to Finland to research their aquaculture and buy salmon eggs to raise at Thac Bac Cold Water Fish Center at the foot of Fansipan Mountain. Currently, the center is doing research on salmon breeding and investigating what technology they need to produce salmon food so they can stop importing food and eggs from Finland.

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