Cao Lau is a specialty of Hoi An

Cao Lau is a specialty of Hoi An. LAQUE wishes to bring diners the original taste of a bowl of Cao Lau with crispy yellow noodles served with Tra Que vegetables and country pork raised and grown by indigenous people according to ancient traditions. .

What’s especially interesting about Cao Lau bowl is the way the noodles are made and the anecdotes about it.

Cao Lau fibers are made from rice flour but the rice must be local rice. Before grinding this rice into powder, it must be soaked in ash water taken from Melaleuca wood in Cu Lao Cham and the water to mix the ash to soak the rice must also be taken from Ba Le well. This way the noodles will be chewier and firmer…

With many theories about the appearance of Cao Lau from overseas Chinese in Hoi An, only the char siu meat is confirmed to be similar to the Chinese dish. In terms of noodles and how to eat them dry, without broth, Cao Lau is similar to the cold noodles in Japan’s Ice Udon region, however the flavors of these two noodles are very different.

In the past, rich people who came to restaurants here often sat on high floors with red and green lanterns hanging. This dish was often called “upstairs”, gradually shortened to “cao lau” and became the name until today.