The Mekong Delta (메콩 델타 / 湄公河三角洲 / メコンデルタ) has strong opinions about noodle soup. "Hu tieu" — the region's answer to pho — splits into distinct local dialects depending on which town claims it, and the My Tho version is one of the most debated. In Can Tho, that version gets a subtle southern reinterpretation worth eating side by side.
What Makes Hu Tieu My Tho Different
The My Tho style starts with a pork-bone broth that's been simmered low and long — sometimes six to eight hours — with dried squid and shrimp shells added to the pot. The result is clearer than a Saigon-style hu tieu (후띠우 / 粿条 / フーティウ) and noticeably sweeter, without the funkier fermented edge you'd find in the Phnom Penh version that crossed over with Khmer influence farther south and west near Ha Tien.
The noodles matter too. Hu tieu My Tho traditionally uses thin, slightly chewy dried rice noodles made from the white rice grown in Tien Giang province. In Can Tho (껀터 / 芹苴 / カントー), vendors source similar noodles regionally, and the texture holds up well in both the wet (nuoc) and dry (kho) preparations.
The standard bowl comes with a combination of sliced pork, a few prawns, a quail egg or two, and sometimes pig's liver if the vendor is old-school about it. Fresh bean sprouts, lime wedges, green onion, and fried shallots land on top or beside the bowl. You add them yourself. Nobody rushes you.
How Can Tho's Version Compares
Can Tho is not My Tho. The distance is roughly 75 km by road, and the broth shows it. Can Tho vendors tend to lean the sweetness a fraction further — likely from added rock sugar — and the shrimp portion is often more generous, reflecting the Delta's access to fresh river prawns. The Phnom Penh-style hu tieu, which Saigon (사이공 / 西贡 / サイゴン) also does well, is brothier and uses a darker, more complex base that includes preserved radish and sometimes pork offal. My Tho-style, whether eaten in My Tho itself or in Can Tho, stays cleaner and lighter by comparison.
If you've had pho (쌀국수 / 越南河粉 / フォー) in Hanoi and assumed all Vietnamese noodle soups operate on that logic — deep, layered, spice-forward — hu tieu My Tho in Can Tho will reset your expectations. It's a quieter bowl. The sweetness is background, not foreground.
Photo by Duy Nguyen on Pexels
Where to Eat It in Can Tho
Hu Tieu Co Ut — Nguyen An Ninh Street
This is the kind of place that has no sign worth reading but a line forming by 6:30 a.m. Co Ut (the vendor's nickname, meaning "Auntie Youngest") has been running this stall on Nguyen An Ninh Street, near the intersection with Tran Phu, for over two decades. A bowl runs 35,000–45,000 VND depending on toppings. She closes when the broth runs out, which is usually before 10:00 a.m. Go early or go somewhere else.
The broth here is textbook My Tho style — clear, lightly sweet, with a faint dried-seafood depth that's easy to miss until it isn't. The quail eggs are always fully cooked, which is the right call.
Floating Market Stalls — Cai Rang
Can Tho's Cai Rang floating market, about 6 km from the city center, is genuinely active as a wholesale market starting around 5:00 a.m. — not a tourist recreation of one. A handful of smaller boats anchor near the edges selling breakfast to the traders, and hu tieu is one of the options. Eating a bowl while sitting in a narrow wooden boat on the canal, watching wholesale durian and dragon fruit change hands fifteen meters away, is an experience that doesn't need embellishment.
The hu tieu on the water costs around 30,000–40,000 VND and is simpler — usually pork and bean sprouts only, no quail egg — but the broth is solid and the setting is the point. Get there by 5:30 a.m. if you want both the market and the bowl. A xe om or Grab to the canal takes about 20 minutes from the city center.
Hu Tieu Kho at Phan Dinh Phung Night Market
For the dry version, the stalls along Phan Dinh Phung Street in the evening serve hu tieu kho — same noodles and toppings, no broth, dressed in a small amount of lard, fish sauce, and chili. A small cup of broth comes on the side for dipping. It reads closer to a noodle salad than a soup. Prices here are 30,000–40,000 VND and the stalls run from around 5:00 p.m. until late.
Photo by FOX ^.ᆽ.^= ∫ on Pexels
Practical Notes
Hu tieu My Tho is a morning dish in Can Tho — most dedicated vendors are done by midday. The floating market option requires an early alarm and either a boat hire or a riverside walk to Cai Rang. Bring cash in small bills; nobody has change for a 500,000 VND note at 6:00 a.m.
Last updated · May 26, 2026 · independently researched, never sponsored.
