Cao Lau

Cao lau is thick chewy noodles with slices of marinated pork, greens, herbs and crisp squares of fried dough, dressed with a small amount of dense broth rather than served as a soup - closer to a dry noodle dish than to pho. It belongs to Hoi An and nowhere else, and the tradition insists on two local ingredients: water from the Ba Le well, an old Cham well in the town, and lye made from the ash of trees on Cham island, used to treat the rice for the noodles and give them their texture and colour. How strictly modern cooks observe that varies, and the dish is now made outside Hoi An, which purists dismiss.

What you actually see

• Thick chewy noodles - dressed with dense broth, not soup.
• Marinated pork and crisp dough - the standard accompaniments.
• Water from the Ba Le well - the ingredient the tradition insists on.
• Ash lye from Cham island - used to treat the rice.

When to go

Year round; morning and evening are when most stalls work. A meal.

Honest expectations

Versions vary widely and the tourist-facing restaurants in the old town are not usually the best ones. Whether the well water is really used is unverifiable. The dish is filling and quite dry - people expecting soup are surprised.

Nearby

Hoi An's old town is around the stalls; Tra Que and Thanh Ha are outside it.