CAO BANG SPECIALTIES.

Cao Bang has some culinary characteristics unique to the Tay and Nung ethnic groups. The strangely named dishes made from simple ingredients of nature in the subtle spirit of the north-eastern mountains can both intrigue and evoke special feelings in people who enjoy them.

Ants egg cake is called peng lang lay in the Tay language. Traditionally, the cakes fillings only included ants eggs, with fried onions, fat and salt. However, as demands rise, people now have to mix in minced pork also. Ants egg cake is not a complex dish; the cook only needs to spread sticky rice dough thinly on fig leaf, then add the stir-fried fillings on top and another layer of fig leaf, and lastly steam the cake. This cakes delicious ness is in the simplicity of sticky rice dough with the exotic flavour of ants' eggs itself.

chongqing chestnuts are famous not only for their taste but also their rich nutritional values. Especially, even when cooked in various ways, Chongqing chestnuts still retain their own flavour. whether roasted or boiled, the savoury taste that lingers on your tongue, the sweetness extracted from the sun and rain of the rest are distinctive of this premium chestnut.

when talking about the people's specialties of Cao Bang, we cannot forget da hien vegetable (Erythropalum andens Blume), mac mat leaf (clausena indica), jiaogulan... or dishes that remind people of Cao Bang such as sour noodle soup or bee larvae porridge