Be Thui Cau Mong: Roast Veal on Highway 1, Dien Ban

Be thui (bê thui) means calf that is thui, singed and roasted over a fire. Cau Mong (Cầu Mống) is the village whose name the dish carries. A calf of about 25 to 30 kg is roasted whole, carved into thin slices and rolled at the table in rice paper with raw herbs and a bowl of mam cai.

If you are driving through Quang Nam on the main road, this is the stop Tuoi Tre once told travellers heading north or south not to skip.

Where Cau Mong is

Cau Mong is a small village at the northern end of the Cau Lau (Câu Lâu) bridge, where Highway 1 crosses the Thu Bon river. When Tuoi Tre wrote about it on 15 June 2015, that put it in Dien Phuong (Điện Phương) commune, Dien Ban (Điện Bàn) town, Quang Nam.

Place names have moved since then, so check the date of whatever you read. As of 16 October 2026 the area, once Dien Phuong in Dien Ban town of the former Quang Nam province, falls under Dien Ban ward, Da Nang city. Both names mean the same stretch of road; when you search a map, type “Cau Mong” and “Dien Phuong” together.

From Hoi An old town it is about 9 km. For Hoi An itself see the history of Hoi An.

How the calf is roasted

Stall owners pick only small calves of about 25 to 30 kg, grazed freely on the riverside flats of Go Noi (Gò Nổi) village. Tuoi Tre watched the older method: the roaster carries a torch of mulberry stalks and sugarcane bagasse back and forth along the body.

After more than an hour the skin blisters. The roaster scrapes it with a knife, wipes it with cloth and carries on. The skin turns golden only after more than three hours.

The job is mostly fire control. The roaster has to keep the flame just right, because one moment of neglect and the fire catches and the meat scorches. Locals later moved from bagasse to charcoal, for quality and for looks.

Slicing and the plate

The seller slices the calf into thin, even slices for diners. The plate is usually cut thin enough to taste both meat and skin, and carving starts only once a customer orders.

A full table has more than meat. Beside the plate comes a tray of Tra Que (Trà Quế) herbs: celery, basil, perilla, lettuce, bean sprouts, sour star fruit, banana blossom, astringent banana and pickled papaya. Two sides are indispensable: thin astringent banana and sweet-sour pickled papaya, which keep the richness in check.

The dip: mam cai

The bowl in the middle decides the meal. The sauce is pure mam cai (mắm cái) of anchovy or mackerel from the fishing villages by the Hoi An coast, strained and mixed with sugar, pounded chilli and garlic, a little ginger and roasted sesame. Other writers call the same bowl mam nem (mắm nêm). If you know banh trang cuon thit heo, the dip will feel familiar, though the fish and the seasoning change from kitchen to kitchen.

How to eat it

Spread a sheet of rice paper, lay a few slices of calf on it, roll with greens, dip in the mam cai and bite a green chilli. Chew slowly, so the sweetness of the meat, the saltiness of the sauce and the scent of the herbs all arrive.

Some shops also use the bones: bun xuong, calf-bone porridge, black-bean porridge or xi quach hotpot, depending on the kitchen. If you are staying in the region for a few days, pair this with mi Quang for a full day of Quang Nam eating.

The stalls on Highway 1

Nobody has a clean date for the start. Villagers told Tuoi Tre they do not know exactly when the dish began, only that it tastes right when made by people of Cau Mong on both banks of the Thu Bon. Older villagers place its appearance in the sixties, and it has stayed famous since.

One commercial guide of February 2026, citing local records it does not name, says a hat boi performer called Mr Doi (real name Nguyen Loi) started it in the late 1960s. Treat that as a story, not a fact: the 2026 article above says accounts of who built the trade differ.

What is clearer is the setting. The lower Thu Bon and the road through the Cau Lau area let the local dish meet travellers, and it grew into a food street along Highway 1A through Dien Phuong. From small stalls the name then spread to many places; Mia.vn adds that shops in central and southern provinces also use it. A “Cau Mong” sign far from Dien Ban therefore tells you about style, not address.

Where to eat, and what it costs

Be Thui Muoi is listed at Ql1A, Cau Mong, Dien Phuong commune, Dien Ban, on a Foody page of 23 December 2021, and Mytour (15 January 2024) gives QL 1A, Dien Phuong, Dien Ban, Quang Nam. No dated stall-level price or opening hour is confirmed, so ask when you sit down.

In Da Nang city, Mia.vn (undated) lists a Cau Mong calf shop at 100 Dien Bien Phu, with a reference price of VND 50,000 to 110,000.

As a general guide, a Hoi An IT price table of 23 February 2026 puts one portion shared by two at VND 50,000 to 150,000 and a family combo for 3 to 4 people at VND 300,000 to 500,000. These are guide-level ranges, not a quote from any stall.

Photos (1)

• Memberofc1, CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab)