Saigon – the heaven of street food in Vietnam

Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City is one of biggest cities in Vietnam. Lifestyle in Ho Chi Minh City is very active and bustling. People are more into “on-the-go” routine to catch up the fast and moving forward lifestyle. They use to eat on street to save time and save money other than cooking at home and dining in restaurant. Street foods in Saigon are really cheap and delicious. With only $1 or $2, you can have full meal with tons of options for you to choose. However, there top 5 dishes that you should try in Saigon. 

1. Broken rice 

Com tam, or broken rice, used to be called "poor people's rice” since it was made from grains that broke during harvest or cleaning and were sold cheap. Over the years it has become a popular dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is usually served with grilled pork ribs, bì (thinly shredded pork mixed with cooked and thinly shredded pork skin) or cha (a mix of steamed eggs, crab meat, ground pork meat, Jew's ear mushroom, and vermicelli) or both. It can be found almost everywhere in Ho Chi Minh City in street stalls with plastic stools and tables. 

2. Fried rice flour cakes 

Bot chien (fried rice flour cakes) is a dish that originated in China and has become a popular street snack in Saigon. It is made from rice flour cakes chopped into chunky squares and fried in a large flat pan with whipped eggs and green onion. It’s served crisp with sweet rice vinegar and soy sauce concoction and some shredded pickled young papaya and carrot to cool down the dish. 

3. Mixed rice paper 

Banh trang tron (mixed rice paper) is the favorite snack of teenagers in Saigon. It is like a salad made of shredded rice paper mixed with jerky, dried shrimps, roasted peanuts, boiled quail eggs, shredded mangoes, fried onions, and herbs. It is seasoned with chili sauce, salt, cashew oil, and onion oil until it is sour, spicy, salty, and sweet at the same time. The dish can be found anywhere in Saigon but the most famous street for banh trang tron is Nguyen Thuong Hien in District 3. 

4. Papaya salad 

Goi du du (papaya salad) is made of shredded papaya, rice crackers, sliced jerky, roasted peanuts, and herbs seasonaed with chili sauce. It is usually sold on carts pulled by street vendors. The most famous spot to buy this dish is in front of Le Van Tam Park on Hai Ba Trung Street. 

5. Pha Lau 

Pha lau is pig/cow intestines boiled down to a soft texture in a salty broth. It can be served with bánh mì (Vietnamese sandwich) or noodles. You can find it around any school area in Saigon. Students love Pha Lau because it cheap and tasty.

Royal food: welcome you to central of Vietnam

City of Hue is located in the centre of the long, narrow country, between the Perfume River and the east sea; it served as the country’s capital until 1945, and is still known as the Imperial City. With such a rich history, the city claims several distinctive dishes — from small and delicate creations originally created to please the appetites of Nguyen feudal lords, emperors and their hundreds of wives. When you come to visit hue, there are several foods you should try to explore the hidden charm of this city.

Com Hen (rice with mussel) is a very unique cuisine of Hue. Com Hen contains rice, boiled mussel, star fruit, fish sauce, cabbage, onion, pepper, peanut, chili, and a variety of herbs. The specialty is all of these elements are cold. When people eat Com Hen, they add all the above ingredients to a bowl, and slowly add boiled mussel broth with chili sauce into the bowl (the broth is the only hot thing in Com Hen). Com Hen has an extremely spicy flavor as such, so gastronomes remember it just after one time enjoying.

Bun bo Hue (Hue style beef vermicelli) or more detail, Bun bo gio heo (beef and pig's knuckle vermicelli) is a popular Vietnamese soup vermicelli dish, and one of the most typical foods of Hue, Vietnam. Fine combination of ingredients make the food famous; the broth is prepared by simmering beef and bones for a long period of time, after that a large range of different spices containing lemon grass and chili are added in. Shrimp paste holds no less importance. Hue people usually add thin slices of beef shank, chunks of boiled oxtail, and pig's knuckles or pork into the bowl. It can also contain cubes of maroon brown congealed pig blood, which are good for those suffering from high blood pressure. The specialty is commonly served with a plenty of herbs like sprouts, lime wedges, cilantro sprigs, onions, and sliced banana blossom. Thinly sliced purple cabbage or iceberg lettuces are used in case of lacking in banana blossom. It is highly recommended for tourists to add a few of shrimp paste directly into the soup.

Banh beo (water fern cake) is a kind of small steamed rice pancake. The name is to refer from the shape of the cake (like a water fern-Beo in Vietnamese). It is white in color, sometimes nearly transparent and usually has a dimple in the center, which is covered with savory recipes including chopped dried or fresh shrimp, scallions, mung bean paste, crispy fried shallots, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and oil.

The central of Vietnam is reputable for its Mam tom chua (sour shrimp sauce) and Hue is the best place for this unique sauce. Unlike normal shrimp sauce (has brown color and smooth surface), Sour shrimp sauce has orange color while shrimps still keep its original shape. It is quite simple to make this sauce. First, shrimps are clean by salt water (do not use normal water to avoid bad smells) and “cook” by strong rice wine. The shrimps will turn red. After that, carefully mix the shrimps with sticky rice, sliced lesser galangal, garlic and chili. Slowly put all the mixture into a jar covered by guava leaves. Just need to wait for 5-7 days and we have the mouthwatering sour shrimp sauce of our own making. This is the best sauce for boiled pork with vermicelli.

North of Vietnam food – the yin yang of flavor

When you mention about north of Vietnam, Hanoi is the symbolism for all the food and culture. Not like the other part of Vietnam they only have rain season and dry season, Hanoi have all four seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter. The weather also affects the foods becomes more diverse and balance than the rest of the country.

Let’s begin with the spring – the best season in year. Spring in Hanoi start around February to April with the light rain and chilling cold weather. The weather is perfect for flower bloom and also perfect people come together enjoy some food. People used to have good time with friends eating hot pot, grills and have some beers together. There are some famous hot pot and grill that you should try when you visit Hanoi like: sweet and sour frog hot pot (lau ech), intense hot pot (lau long), chicken feet grill (chan ga nuong), mix meat on hot plate (nuong tong hop), etc.

Summer in Hanoi is extremely hot, the weather most of time around 35 to 40 census degree. People just go out to have some food at night to avoid the heat. Nothing better than have a cold iced lemon tea with some sunflower seed and ketchup with your friends in a summer night, it become a special culture of Hanoi. It also great to have some iced cream to cool down after long hot day. Hanoi iced creams are different, they are made the iced cream everyday and the taste is very fresh with the entire natural ingredient no chemical flavor and preservatives. If you want to try the iced cream, you have to wait and fight for this (there are no line up in Vietnam) but worth.

After the summer long, students come back to university in Hanoi in fall; it’s time for some street foods. Nem chua ran (Vietnamese sausage) caramel flan, jackfruit yogurt, deep-fried cheese stick. Etc. the food is really tasty, cheap, and easy to find everywhere in Hanoi. bun dau mam tom (rice noodle combination) is the great option to have in this weather too. 

Winter in Vietnam isn’t cold like in Canada; we don’t have snow but the atmosphere make it feel colder than the real temperature. Grill corn, grill yam, boil cassava, corn milk, etc. all the hot food is sell on small bike with huge box in the back to keep it hot. Hot coffee also is the good option for a winter day. Coffee in Vietnam is taste stronger and darker. There are few ways to have your coffee Hanoi but the unique one is egg coffee, the combine from the creamy of egg with the bitter of the coffee made it really tasty.

Nowadays, it easy to have all this kind of food every time in a year but the best way to enjoy the food is follow the season!

Top 5 Vietnamese dishes

1. “Bun Bo Hue”

The spicy beef noodle soup that come from the central city of Vietnam – Hue. Not similar to Pho, The dish is greatly admired for its balance of spicy, sour, salty and sweet flavors and the predominant flavor is that of lemon grass. “Bun bo hue” usually includes thin slices beef shank, oxtail, and pig's knuckles. It can also include cubes of congealed pig blood. It is commonly served with lime, cilantro, green onions, white onions and red or white cabbage. 

2. “banh cuon”

“banh cuon” in Vietnamese mean steamed rice cake. “banh cuon” is soft and delicate, the favorite way to enjoy this is straight from the steamer, deep it in the sweet and sour fish source when it still hot. The traditional steps to make “banh cuon” are ladled each scoop of the rice flour-based batter onto the steamer, covering it with a lid for a matter of seconds, then carefully transferred the gossamer-thin sheets with a bamboo stick onto a tray to be filled with minced mushrooms and pork.

3. “goi cuon”

“goi cuon” literally means "salad rolls" and should be distinguished from the fried rolls, which are also sometimes called summer rolls. The rolls are packed with greens, sometimes shrimp and/or pork, and herbs. They need a dunk in sweet and sour fish source or hoisin peanut butter source. Almost every region in Vietnam has its own distinct spring roll but no matter where you are, the wrapping and rolling process is more or less the same.

4. “banh xeo”

“xeo” mean “sizzling” which is the sound when you make “banh xeo”! The savory, crisp-edged, crepe-like pancake is best enjoyed straight from the pan. The batter is made with rice flour, coconut milk, and turmeric (hence the nice golden-yellow hue and not eggs) and is pan-fried altogether with pork, shrimp, and a heap of bean sprouts. Wrap up the pancake with lettuce, herbs and then deep in the fish source. 

5. “che”

Time for some desert. “Che” refers to any sweet pudding or dessert soup, which usually gets covered in jellied or dried fruit toppings. Taste the rainbow of longans, rambutan, mangoes, jackfruit chips, mung beans, black beans, and more sticky sweetness. You can mix all of them or choose 2 to 3 topping you like put together with some shaved ice to create you unique and delicious desert! 

You can have all the delicious and authentic dishes in Toronto at: Pho Linh

location 1: 1156 College St

Toronto, ON (416) 516-3891

location 2: 2100 Steeles Ave W

Concord, ON (905) 660-4478

The Story Behind Vietnamese Cuisine

"Pho" & "Banh Mi" 

Nowadays, Vietnamese food became popular in all over the world. When everyone talks about Vietnamese food, most of them mention about Pho - Vietnamese noodle soup and Banh Mi - Vietnamese sandwich. However, that not all about Vietnamese food, there are tons of different dishes in Vietnam that you never eat in your life. Also, the things you guys call "Pho" and "Banh Mi" actually not like the original because they try to make our food adapt to American taste. 

Not like Indian food, which is created by a lot of spice, Vietnamese food is about the balance between all the flavors. When cooking, we usually just use 1 to 3 spices to rise up the flavor. Some people are thinking Vietnamese food and Chinese food is the same but they are totally wrong. Base on history, our country have really long time dominated by China so it affect our food and culture. Not as Chinese food, which is cook with a lot of oil and salty, Vietnamese food kind of more green and healthier than Chinese food. Mostly we use steam, boil, or stir-fry technique to cook to avoid add more fat on our food; also we’re not adding too much salt and sugar to keep the food have a light taste and balance.

Vietnam's Geography 

Nevertheless, Vietnamese foods are dividing to 3 main different part bases on Vietnam’s geography: north, central and south of Vietnam. In the north, foods are about the stability between salty and sweet, sour and spicy. Go to the south, the foods over there are sweeter and little spicier than in the north. If you like really spicy food, central of Vietnam food is perfect for you. Also central of Vietnam food is well known is Vietnamese royal food. 

In my blog, week-by-week I will introduce to you guys the different food from the 3 main part of Vietnam so you can have more knowledge about our country, our food and culture. 

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