Because I was born and raised in America, when I meet Vietnamese elders, they are often surprised that: (1) I can speak Vietnamese, and (2) I not only can eat, but love to eat, Vietnamese food. Then when I say I even love mam tom and mam nem, they are shocked. This is because mam tom and mam nem are the stinkiest of stinky sauces. If you thought nuoc mam, or fish sauce, was bad, wait till you get a whiff of this purple stuff!Truthfully, I love these pungent condiments. I drown my bo 7 mon (7 courses of beef) in the fermented whole anchovy sauce (mam nem). When eating bun rieu, I dollop more shrimp paste, or mam tom, into my broth. Like with regular fish sauce, a little goes a long way; it adds an inimitable umami quality that deepens a dish.My pops always teases me about , a pungent rice vermicelli dish heavily spiked with fermented shrimp sauce, saying he didn’t think I could handle it. I tried bun mam for the first time when my step-mama made it for family lunch (it’s my then 13-year-old sister’s favorite Vietnamese dish). when I mentioned this to Summer during our food escapade, she promised to take us to a very good bun mam shop in Danang. I was excited to try it again to see how different, if at all, it would be from the one I’d eaten at home.The bun mam at Bun Mam Van was similar to my step-mama’s, in that both consists of rice vermicelli topped with roasted pork, fried tofu, the omnipresent fresh herbs and veg, and dressed in the pungent mam. Apparently, I learned there are different kinds of bun mam: there’s the soupy kind that is supposed to be the most pungent (I.e. Least tolerable), and then there’s this dry version here.To everyone’s surprise, even my Korean hubs (whom, beknownst to me, loves Vietnamese food) and my BIL (whom is a less adventurous eater than us) both liked the bun mam—a win-win-win for all!Maybe it was wanderlust affecting our palates, but we thoroughly enjoyed the experience: dining al fresco on a small side street probably would’ve made almost anything taste great. But, that’s not to discount Summer’s knowledge of great food.The shopkeeper recognized me, and we took a photo together before leaving. “How was the food?” she’d asked.“Very delicious!” I said. Smile!If you find yourself in Danang and want to try some authentic Vietnamese food off the beaten path (ahem, not your typical pho and banh mi), come to Bun Mam Van and test your tolerance for fermented shrimp sauce—I dare you! This is now on my list of dishes I want to add to my own recipe repertoire.Bun Mam VanK23/14 Tran Ka Xuong St.Danang, Vietnam