Every year around the first lunar month, dense schools of sardines eagerly swim upstream along the Thu Bon River to spawn. The highest concentration of sardines is found in the section of the river flowing through Duy Tan (Duy Xuyen) and Dai Thang (Dai Loc) communes in Quang Nam Province. Interestingly, for some unknown “fate,” sardines tend to gather most around Thu Bon Village (Duy Tan). During the annual festival at Thu Bon Lady Temple (Lăng Bà Thu Bồn), visitors have the chance to enjoy traditional dishes made from river sardines.
The sardine fishing season runs from the first to the fourth lunar month each year. Local fishermen use fishing tools such as traps and nets to catch sardines. Some can catch up to hundreds of kilograms daily. When there’s too much to sell, they make fish sauce or dry the sardines for later use and to sell during rainy winter days.
From these sardines, people create unique dishes such as sardine Quang noodles, braised sardine patties, fried sardines, sardine salad, and more. River sardines resemble ocean herring but are whiter and thicker, about the width of two to three adult fingers. Freshly caught sardines, still flipping and glistening, are cleaned, sliced across their bodies, then either grilled and served with salt, pepper, and lime, or fried crispy and dipped in ginger fish sauce — all delicious with rice.
The most special dish is sardine Quang noodles. In addition to other ingredients like pork belly and river shrimp, the bowl of noodles includes flavorful braised sardine fish cakes. The dish becomes even more enticing with an added “special ingredient” made from sardine roe.
When preparing the sardines, the roe is separated, cleaned, and seasoned. After about ten minutes, hot oil is sautéed with onions and garlic until fragrant, then the sardine roe is added and stirred. A bit of rice flour water mixed with turmeric is added to slightly thicken the mixture. Quang noodles with sardine filling are best enjoyed with young banana blossom salad, long green chili, and crispy grilled sesame rice paper — a true “rural” delicacy.
A bowl of Quang noodles with sardine filling is visually captivating — the white noodles, the red of chilies and tomatoes, the golden brown of fried sardine cakes, the green of herbs — all blending with the aroma of hot braised sardine sauce, captivating travelers passing through Thu Bon Market or the Lady Temple area.
In the years before the pandemic, to serve tourists attending the festival at Thu Bon Lady Temple, many noodle shops near the area featured sardine dishes — grilled, fried, or wrapped and fried — and hundreds of bowls of Quang noodles with delicious sardine filling. Each bowl was sold at 20,000 VND, served with fresh greens and crispy grilled rice paper.