Its useful to note Vietnamese cuisine , which we managed to try in Phan Thiet. Of course, you can try it in any city in Vietnam, but today I am writing about the Phan Thiet area, aka Mui Ne.
Pro Vietnamese cuisine reviews first of all, they note that it is known for its cheapness and a huge amount of seafood. Perhaps, for this, a tourist tempted by gastronomic delights goes to Vietnam. French influences are worth noting in Vietnamese cuisine, for example, shallots are used in local dishes. This bow was brought to Vietnam from France. The French also instilled in the Vietnamese a love of coffee. In the morning of every inhabitant of the country begins with him. Vietnamese cuisine is based on the use of fish, pork and chicken. The main side dishes are rice, noodles and vegetables. Very popular in the cuisine of Vietnam are rolls made of rice paper "nem zan", "nem saigon" (in the northern regions of the country) and "cha zo" (in the south). Among the local exotics, you should try the nuoc mam fish sauce, which the Vietnamese add to all vegetable dishes instead of salt. Also, many dishes are served with lemongrass.
Vietnamese cuisine is the national cuisine of Vietnam
Of course, when you come to Vietnam, you need to try Vietnamese cuisine, and many people already come prepared, having read reviews about Vietnamese cuisine. At first glance, everything seems very useful, because the country does not particularly use refrigerators for storing frozen seafood, everything is prepared literally from a fresh catch.
Vietnamese cuisine refers to oriental cuisine, in which Chinese, Thai and Khmer cuisines are intertwined. Vietnamese cuisine is based on the use raw vegetables and fresh seafood or meat. But this is only for tourists. The locals eat their Vietnamese cuisine - rice and noodles boiled with giblets, it turns out a dirty gray broth, in which they put a lot of herbs. In all establishments where locals sit, basically, such a menu. Seafood and meat are considered expensive. And spicy is used in Vietnamese cuisine for disinfection, so as not to be poisoned by food.
Banh Mi
However, the morning of an ordinary Vietnamese does not begin with lobsters and squids. These eateries are at every step in the city of Ho Chi Minh City, and before work, the Vietnamese often stop to eat the usual sandwiches - Banh Mi. The cost is 60,000 VND (at least for tourists). How much local residents pay for this pleasure, one can only guess.
Banh mi are popular baguettes stuffed with meat and vegetables, sold on every corner of the city. They are very satisfying and quite interesting in taste. Many tourists buy them on the way to the beach. Therefore, once you see a tray with Ban Mi, try it.
Street cafes usually offer traditional dishes Vietnamese Cuisine:
Soup Pho
Pho soup is a national dish cuisines of Vietnam. Pho soup is prepared on beef broth with spices, meat and rice noodles. Be sure to try Pho soup in Vietnam.
Spring roll in Vietnamese rice paper
There is a version that the recipe for rolls came from China. But the Vietnamese were able to adapt this recipe in their own way, which became perhaps one of business cards countries. However, the recipe itself is simple: pineapples, carrots, cucumbers, greens, noodles and boiled meat or seafood are pre-cut into strips, which is why they are folded into rice paper. Voila, the appetizer is ready.) And very tasty!
Spring roll fried
Another popular Vietnamese dish is fried spring roll. They take the same roll and deep-fry it. It turns out crispy and snack. Must have with sweet and sour sauce.
Seafood in Vietnam is caught in large quantities and is actively used for food.
My review of Vietnamese food
What costs a decent amount in Russia will cost very little in Vietnam. For example, Vietnamese dishes - grilled squid in a spicy sauce, or smoked eel. average price depends on the level of the restaurant and the size of the plate, but usually does not exceed $3-9. Before the crisis of 2014, it was super cheap. Now it is already more expensive, but still cheaper than in Russia.
Now there is not much difference with prices in Moscow. However, even for that kind of money in Moscow, where will you get freshly caught shrimp, oysters or carp? Therefore, you will not have a question about Vietnamese cuisine, what to try. Try everything while you can!
In Vietnamese restaurants, everyone will certainly smile at you, and invite you to visit their restaurant, although appearance all restaurants in the resort area in Vietnam are the same, and the recipes do not differ from each other. How it is prepared, sometimes it is better not to see.
When we walked around the city of Phan Thiet, we were very actively invited to Vietnamese restaurants near the embankment, and we decided to stop at one of them, check out Vietnamese cuisine once again. What was our surprise when they brought us a menu without prices, and when we asked, they called very decent amounts. At the same time, there were a lot of Vietnamese in the institution, and they hardly go to expensive restaurants and eat their local Vietnamese cuisine at exorbitant prices with salaries of $100-$200 a month. Without calming down, we talked with a Vietnamese girl in a restaurant and asked her how much she pays for all these dishes. At first, the girl named some prices, but then she asked the waiter and he named her others, 2-3 times more expensive.
Hence the conclusion - the prices in restaurants for tourists and local residents in Vietnam are different. This is sad.
Have you seen somewhere in Russia that there are different prices for foreigners? I personally don't. And I don't support such establishments.
Vietnamese cuisine in Phan Thiet, Mui Ne
For lovers of seafood in the Phan Thiet area, in Mui Ne there is an interesting place called Bo Ke with a huge number of Vietnamese open-air restaurants, about a kilometer long. From 6 pm this street becomes very busy and filled with tourists. There are a lot of Russians among the visitors, so there is a menu stand in front of each restaurant and everywhere there is a menu in Russian. And the whole street is full of signboards and names in Russian, whether it's Dima's Travel Bureau, Madame Anya's store, etc.
On Bo Ke Street you can taste both European cuisine and Vietnamese cuisine prepared in front of you from seafood that you choose. Usually these are scallops, shells, frogs, cuttlefish, squid, shrimp, lobsters, octopuses, snakes, turtles, sharks, ostrich, crocodile, vegetables and greens. Everything is tasty and fresh, seafood is most often live and in aquariums.
Vietnamese dishes are served with various sauces, sweet, spicy, sour. Of course, here you can also try traditional Vietnamese dishes - Pho soup, Lao soup, Nam roll, spring roll.
If you dare, you can order cobra, the food of the Vietnamese emperors. Although, it is rather entertainment for tourists, with an average cost of $ 100 (a Vietnamese salary per month). At the same time, a real show is arranged from the dish, in which you are the main character. In this show, for all visitors to the Vietnamese restaurant, the ticket is free, because they automatically become spectators. Two Vietnamese take the stage with a bag of live cobras. The spectacle is no longer for the faint of heart. You can even hear the hiss of cobras. One of the Vietnamese takes out a cobra, the second cuts her belly. Then he takes out the heart and stomach from the cobra, puts them in a glass. Another Vietnamese squeezes the cobra's blood into a glass and offers you a taste. When you drink blood, other restaurant visitors begin to applaud you. Moreover, the Vietnamese themselves are looking at you with all this process. Then the Vietnamese take the cobra away and cook Vietnamese dishes from it - soup from the skin of a cobra and fry its meat.
If desired, you can order a crocodile, here its meat is very common.
Vietnam is an amazing Asian country with incredibly friendly and helpful people and unforgettable cuisine. Vietnamese cuisine varies depending on the region: northern, central and southern parts of the country. The south of the country is washed by the South China Sea, so the cuisine of this part of the country is the most diverse and interesting. It is full of seafood, vegetables, exotic fruits and herbs.
Traditional Vietnamese food
Vietnamese cuisine is distinguished by an interesting combination of sweet and sour, spicy and sweet. The traditional salad of the south, the same as our Olivier, is sweet corn salad, fresh cucumber, carrots, peanuts, greens seasoned with soy sauce. Corn attached to lettuce sweet taste, and a European person may seem superfluous in this dish.
Soup pho - Vietnamese soup with rice noodles, different types meat and greens. Pho soup is prepared in every home, cafe and restaurant. Hearty, but at the same time low-calorie soup. The broth is drunk from a spoon, and all other ingredients are eaten with chopsticks.
In ancient times, snails were considered a delicacy and only very wealthy people could afford snails. Snail meat is mixed with mushrooms, fried. Tied up for filing green onions so that it is convenient to get out of the shell.
Rice noodles are an integral part of Vietnamese cuisine. Grilled beef, rice flour roll with meat, carrots, rice noodles, lettuce and sweet and sour spicy sauce with red pepper, served in a small saucer separately (served with many dishes).
Features of Vietnamese cuisine
Almost everyone associates frog legs with France. But few people know that grilled frogs are often eaten in Vietnam. Frog meat is very tender and tastes like chicken. Rice is boiled until half cooked and fried with a lot of garlic.
Vietnamese cuisine- this, of course, and exotic dishes, such as crocodile meat. It tastes like fish and meat at the same time.
And of course, shrimp, without them nowhere. Grilled shrimp with lots of garlic.
The famous Vietnamese rice flour crispy pancakes. They can be with absolutely any filling, from meat to bananas. So sweet stuffing are a traditional national dessert.
Delicacies such as scallops, oysters, lobster, etc. are national Vietnamese cuisine dishes and all these European delicacies are caught in the sea near the house.
An amazing discovery will be a sweet-spicy taste, which may seem absolutely incompatible. Various dried seafood very often have such an unusual taste. They are sold by weight and are very popular with the local population.
Any Asian cuisine is something new and unusual, full of previously unexplored tastes and sensations, and Vietnamese cuisine not an exception.
Planning to visit Vietnam? Surely you are wondering what you will eat during the rest, and general information will never be superfluous.
This article will focus on the features of the national Vietnamese cuisine, as well as the main dishes of Vietnam.
The total number of Vietnamese dishes reaches 500 items, and this is not all. The variety of dishes will not disappoint anyone, even the most fastidious gourmet. On merit, Vietnam is considered the core of gastronomic tourism.
A feature of Vietnamese cuisine is an extraordinary aroma, which sometimes even repels. At the same time, the taste of any dish leaves a unique impression and aftertaste.
In one article it is impossible to tell about all the features of Vietnamese cuisine, as well as to compile the most complete culinary guide of this country. Every part of Vietnam has different national tastes and dishes. Due to the territorial and historical prerequisites in Vietnamese cuisine, you will find a combination of Thai, Chinese and even French cuisine.
Vietnamese cuisine is characterized by the use of soup Pho or or Fa Bo ( Pho Bo ) (from beef), crab noodles, sticky rice cake, and various types of rice noodles. The most popular sauce in Vietnam is a fish sauce called Pios Cham.
Vietnamese cuisine will amaze you with its diversity, as well as the combination of a variety of products in one dish. For the Russian perception of taste, perhaps not all dishes will seem tasty, but they will definitely be remembered.
For the Vietnamese themselves, Russian cuisine is considered boring, without a variety of combinations of sour, sweet, spicy tastes, as well as spices and smells, which add from 4 to 15 seasonings to each dish. It turns out a unique taste of the pinnacle of culinary art, skill and secrets, which are more than 2 thousand years old.
Rice (Vietnamese "C ơ m ” is read as “com”). On the streets you can often see such signs with the words: C ơ m G à (with chicken), C ơ m B ò (with beef), C ơ m Heo (with pork). is the basis of almost all dishes in Vietnam. It is used as a garnish and is also converted into other foods such as rice paper, wine, noodles and more.
Conventionally, Vietnam should be divided into three parts according to food preferences - northern, central and southern Vietnam.
So, what are the popular dishes in the northern part of the Asian country?
1. Pho soup "- perhaps the most popular dish in this part of the country, which can be tasted in almost any restaurant and cafe, as well as at any time of the day. It is famous for its aroma and aftertaste. The soup is cooked in a broth that is boiled for 3 to 6 hours, meat (usually beef), sprouted soy sprouts or corn sprouts, and noodles are added to it. Chili sauce and herbs are served separately with the soup. There are three variations, with the meat completely cooked in this broth, with the meat so thinly sliced that when placed in the broth it is instantly cooked right at the time of serving, and with raw meat.
2. Các món ăn từ ốc (in Russian menus it is funny translated as "Monday ocean") - a dish with a strange name containing snails. The dish is famous for its variety, because snails can be cooked with anything, including herbs, garnish, and so on. Snails can be fried and boiled, can be seasoned with various sauces. There are no limits to the imagination of chefs.
3. Spring roll (Viet. cuộn mùa xuân), made from rice paper and filled with minced fish, meat or sweets. The dish is popular throughout the country.
Due to the climate in the north of the country, the Vietnamese prefer to use the grill for cooking, and from the main dishes, soups and broths are more preferred. In addition, the northern cuisine of Vietnam is considered traditional, but the southern one includes admixtures from Thailand, China, France and other countries.
In the central provinces of Vietnam, mountainous regions and cities such as Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An and the mountainous city of Dalat in the south, dishes such as:
1. Bo Kho (Bo Kho) is a fragrant cinnamon and star anise broth with some tomatoes, coarsely chopped carrots and tender beef. It is completely different from traditional Pho Bo and can rather be attributed to European cuisine. It is usually served with a Banh Mi baguette, which is additionally filled with meat and herbs if desired.
2. Baguettes stuffed with Banh Mi (Viet. - Bánh mì), a direct legacy of the French colonial period in Vietnam. One of the most common fast foods in all cities of Vietnam in this region.
The filling of such a baguette with a crispy crust is varied and depends only on the chef's imagination, this includes fried meat and meatballs, seafood, various sauces, greens with sweet onions, and all this is warmed up in a toaster.
3. Soup Bun Bo Hue (Viet. - Bún bò Huế)
In fact, this is the brother of Pho soup. However, it only unites them meat broth which is boiled for several hours. Instead of noodles, round-shaped rice vermicelli is used, the meat is placed in large pieces, as in the Uzbek "Lagman". In addition to the broth itself, lemongrass, black blood and shrimp paste are added.
Chips of banana inflorescences and a lot of greens are necessarily served with it. This is traditional soup imperial capital.
4. Banh Bao rice flour pies (Viet. B a nh bao ), are steamed and somewhat similar to our manti.
They combine minced meat with spices, green vegetables. Half a boiled egg is often added to a classic pie. A very tasty and satisfying dish.
Even the residents themselves do not know the number of filling variations. They often serve as both a snack food and a full-fledged dessert if the filling is sweet.
5. Vegetable stew Ka Tim (Viet. Cà Tím Kho Tộ)
A very common street dish served alongside Pho soup in many small Vietnamese cafes. Prepared in a clay pot with eggplant, tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, potato flour, rapeseed oil, coconut milk, which gives a special tenderness, spices, sugar, soy and oyster sauce. Serve separately green onion, mint and greens. The dish is very unusual. By itself, it is very unusual, and is served with a small portion of rice.
Popular in the South are:
1. Pancakes, which are fundamentally different from Russian pancakes. If you think that these are traditional Russian pancakes, then you are mistaken, because Vietnamese pancakes are a whole cooking masterpiece. Their filling consists of eggs, crab meat, pork, greens, carrots, and cabbage. And the shell (pancakes themselves) is made from rice flour. The dish is fried in sunflower oil.
2. Soup with dumplings (Viet. hu tieu mi hoanh thanh)
One of the most hearty meals Central Vietnam, with fatty broth and dumplings filled with seafood or meat, depending on the desire of the customer.
3. Original dish Laumam can only be found in Vietnam. talking plain language It's meat and vegetables. You will not find such a quantity of mixed vegetables in any other dish (maximum can reach 24 items). A special fish sauce adds spice to the dish.
Many tourists going to Vietnam, of course, heard that the Vietnamese cannot do without strange delicacies - snake meat, dogs, and various insects. This is more an exception to the rule than everyday food for this people. If you can see how dogs are cooked somewhere, it’s not because they really want to eat it, but because dog meat is cheaper than pork.
As for snake dishes, this is a real tourist attraction, which is mainly popular with Chinese tourists.
10 Best Vietnamese Dishes
Vietnamese food is known to be delicious and spicy in taste, thanks to the combination of fresh herbs and greens with rice, noodles, seafood, pork or beef. In many major cities in Vietnam, many big restaurants and five-star hotels may offer extravagant meals, but the best Vietnamese delicacies can actually be found in roadside eateries, street markets, and modest-looking restaurants.
A typical Vietnamese lunch includes rice or noodles, meat or seafood, vegetable dish, soup and Nuoc Cham (fermented) for dipping. Here is a helpful guide on what to eat in Vietnam, most of the dishes can be eaten at almost any time of the day. Although most tourists are familiar with Pho and spring rolls, the variety of Vietnamese cuisine is only available in some regions, so be sure to try it during your visit.
Soup Pho
In fact, the most favorite food in Vietnam for locals and tourists, the composition includes rice noodles in a fragrant broth with meat and various herbs, as well as Nuoc Cham (fish sauce) or chili sauce. The bowl is mostly served with Tai (beef slices), Bo Vien (beef meatballs) or Nam (beef side), with soy sprouts, lime and fresh herbs such as basil, mint, cilantro and onion. Depending on where you eat Pho in a restaurant or roadside cafe, you can opt for more exotic ingredients such as Gan (beef tendons), Sach (thinly sliced pork stomach) or Ve Don (lateral cartilage). Soup Pho is usually eaten for breakfast and costs between 20,000 and 50,000 VND.
Banh Mi (meat sandwich)
Banh mi is a unique French-Vietnamese sandwich that's great for when you need a quick bite to eat. It consists of a toasted sandwich baguette, pickled vegetables, pâté, butter, soy sauce, cilantro, pepper, and hot pepper, costing about 10,000 to 40,000 VND. In most Banh Mi, vendors offer a wide range of meat fillings, including Ho Ki (fried pork), Chung Op La (fried egg), Thit Nuong (fried pork loin), Cha Ka ( Fried fish with turmeric and dill), Cha Lua ( boiled sausage), Exa Xu (Chinese BBQ Pork) and Thit Ga (boiled chicken).
Ban Seo (Crispy Pancake)
Banh Seo is similar to a pancake, made from rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric, and can be filled with: noodles, chicken, pieces of pork or beef, shrimp, chopped onion, soy sprouts and mushrooms. In stalls, at local markets and restaurants, Ban Seo is sold for 15,000-30,000 dong, served with a side dish of fresh lettuce or rice paper. Try eating banh seo like a local - wrap it in mustard leaves, lettuce or rice paper, along with nem lui (pork skewers with lemongrass), and then soak it in walnut sauce.
Goi Suon (Vietnamese fresh rolls)
Goi Suon consists of thin noodles, pieces of pork, shrimp, basil and lettuce, all tightly wrapped in translucent ban trang (rice paper). Because of its delicate flavor, Goi Suon is usually eaten with a sauce of peppers and Hoisin base with crushed peanuts. It is a popular snack and is also a healthy alternative to the Cha Gio snack, which is deep fried (egg roll, noodles, minced pork and spices).
Mi Quang (Vietnamese Noodles with Turmeric)
Mi Quang is served in almost all restaurants in Vietnam, but in fact this dish originated from Da Nang. It is distinguished by yellow rice noodles, it is filled with hearty bone broth, seasoned with black pepper, shallots and garlic, also add pieces of meat, shrimp and boiled quail eggs. As with most Vietnamese dishes, Mi Quang is served with various herbs, basil, peanuts, cilantro, lettuce, banana flower slices, sesame and rice biscuits.
Ban Thit Nuong (Grilled Pork Rice Noodles)
Ban Thit Nuong consists of thin rice noodles, chopped lettuce, cucumber, soy sprouts, pickled daikon, basil, crushed peanuts and mint, topped with grilled pork shoulder. Unlike most noodle dishes, Ban Thit Nuong is not a soup and is not filled with broth, but it can be poured with Nuoc Cham sauce (fish sauce) and then a very aromatic dish is obtained.
Kom Tam (Crushed Rice)
Kom Tam, literally translated from Vietnamese, is “crushed rice” and is traditionally served with fried egg, chopped green onion and various types meat. Although it is a popular breakfast or lunch dish, it can be ordered at any time of the day as it is relatively inexpensive, costing around VND 20,000 at street markets and roadside eateries. Filling options can be Suon Nuong (grilled pork chop), Bi (shredded pork skin) and Cha Chung (braised pork and egg patty). Kom Tam is also served with pickled vegetables, cucumber slices and Vietnamese Nuoc Cham sauce (fish sauce).
Banh Quon (Rolled Cake)
Banh Cuon resembles a large rolled cake and is great when you are very hungry after long excursions in Vietnam. Banh Quon is a combination minced meat(chicken, shrimp or pork), minced tree mushrooms, onions, Vietnamese ham (Cha Lua), stewed soy sprouts and cucumbers wrapped in a steamed rice flour sheet. The overall flavor of Banh Quon is surprisingly bland despite the rather bland ingredients, you can dip it in Nuoc Cham (fish sauce) for extra flavor. Due to its popularity among tourists, Banh Quon can be easily found in roadside cafes and restaurants.
Xoy Xeo (Sweet Sticky Rice)
Xoi Xeo is a sweet and savory Vietnamese snack usually topped with Mung Bean pasta, dried shallots and soy sauce. For a fuller meal, many restaurants offer a variety of ingredients such as pâté, chicken, Cha Lua (Vietnamese ham), marinated pork, or canned eggs. Xoy Xeo can also be served as a dessert, which consists of dried coconut flakes, roasted sesame seeds and crystallized sugar.
Ka Kho To (Caramelized fish in a clay pot)
Ka Kho To you must try if you love fish, consists of a stewed catfish fillet in a clay pot. Basically, the dish is available in the cities of South Vietnam, especially in Ho Chi Minh City. Ka Kho To is prepared by slicing a whole catfish into fillets, then cooked in a clay pot in a thick caramel sauce made from a combination of soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, shallots, garlic and spices. The dish is always served with white rice and fresh herbs.
We talk about what we eat in Vietnam (how much it costs and how it looks). This is our big overview of Vietnamese food, dish names and prices.
Within a month and a half we will be, so it became necessary to somehow understand the food - what is what in Vietnamese cuisine. Having purchased a special notebook, we began to enter the names of dishes and their translation, as well as everything that could be useful when communicating (more precisely, when trying to explain ourselves) with employees of local street eateries. The situation is complicated: the menu, if it exists at all, is only in Vietnamese, and among the catering workers almost no one knows English, and if anyone knows at least a little, they speak with such an accent that we can’t understand anything. So you have to explain yourself mainly in sign language.
Advice: For correct translation from Vietnamese, use the Tieng viet TCVN 6064 virtual keyboard in Google Translate - you will find all the necessary characters there.
With the introduction of the names of dishes in Vietnamese into a notebook, it became easier - you can simply show the chef the inscription and he will say if there is such a dish, or twist the “flashlights”, which means “no” in Vietnam.
We started our journey from Ho Chi Minh City, and as we move to the north of Vietnam, we will supplement the article with new names, descriptions and photos of food in Vietnam, prices for dishes, and, if possible, note regional differences in dishes. UPD: we did just that, read our comparison in different cities of the country.
Let's make a reservation that we eat exclusively in small street eateries in order to feel the spirit of the simple Vietnamese people and save money. It usually happens like this: the lower you sit, the tastier and cheaper you eat. Even white-collar workers - serious business men - do not disdain to sit down on a low plastic chair of a street eatery and have a bite to eat.
Remark from Alyosha : During our stay in Vietnam, there has not yet been a single case that we ate in some eatery, sitting side by side with a "white man", our desk neighbors are always local residents. A European sits on a plastic high chair of street food very rarely, but in vain, because it is this way of eating while traveling that is the guarantee that, and the prices are minimal.
Exchange Rates at the time of this writing: 1,000 Vietnamese dong = 2.76 rubles, and $1 = 21,400 dong. Roughly speaking, to convert the price of a Vietnamese dish into rubles, cut off three zeros from the cost in dong and multiply by 3 - you get the ruble equivalent.
Food prices in Vietnam are not too high, but given the fall of the ruble, they have become about the same as in Russia.
Food in Vietnam: how much, description of dishes and their spelling in Vietnamese
- Nem cuốn, bánh tráng cuốn or gỏi cuốn and chả gio(respectively in North, Central and South Vietnam) - nam pancakes, or rolls. They are stuffed rolls wrapped in the finest rice paper. The filling consists of rice noodles, shrimp, bacon, herbs and other ingredients - at the discretion of the cook. Rolls are served chilled or room temperature. The price is from 6 thousand dong apiece.
- Chả nem or nem ran(respectively, in the south and in the north) - also rolls with filling, but small and fried. The filling consists of minced meat, mushrooms, vegetables and herbs, it may vary. The price is from 3.5 thousand dong apiece.
- Soup Phở (pho)- the national dish of Vietnam, it is a must try. This is a very tasty savory beef broth with rice noodles, where either thin slices of beef are added ( pho bo - phở bò), or chicken pieces ( pho ga - phở gà) or fish ( phở ca). The soup is served with local herbs such as mint and mung bean sprouts, dipping sauces and lime wedges for squeezing. In general, there are a lot of varieties of soups in Vietnam - they can differ in types of noodles or meat, vegetables. Price: in Ho Chi Minh City, we found pho bo for 20 thousand dong, but on average it costs 25-30 thousand dong. In Can Tho, it costs 18,000 dong.
Phở bò - beef soup
- Bún chả (Bún thịt nướng in the south)- fried pork with rice noodles. Served with fresh herbs and vegetables, as well as sauces. Price: from 25 thousand dong.
- goi bo- salad of beef, vegetables and herbs. Price: from 17 thousand dong.
- Bunca — fish soup with noodles. Price: in Can Tho - from 15 thousand dong.
- (or Bún riêu) - soup with noodles, tomatoes, snails, beef, chicken, boiled pork blood and herbs. Price: from 28 thousand VND.
Bún ốc - soup with vermicelli, meat and snails
- Banh canh- noodles soup. There are many varieties: cua- with crab tom- with shrimp and so on. Price: from 25 thousand dong.
- is a very common street food in Vietnam. Delicious fresh baguette with "combined" filling at the seller's discretion: vegetables, pork/beef/sausage, herbs, pate, chili (usually sellers ask if pepper should be put in), sauce. All this is wrapped in paper and placed in a bag. Very convenient: a Vietnamese drove up on a bike, in 2 minutes they prepared a sandwich for him, and he drove on. You can find mobile "framing" almost everywhere (with the exception of the center - there are practically none there). Cost: from 10 thousand dong apiece - red price. In more tourist areas, we met for 15 and 20 thousand (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hue, Halong). A variant of a baguette with fried pork costs from 15,000 dong.
Bánh mì. Photo © cherrylet / flickr.com
- Banh bao (ban bao, dumpling pies)- this is a pie yeast dough steamed. Toppings (may vary): pork/chicken, quail egg, onion, mushrooms, vermicelli. There is a vegetarian version of bánh bao. Price: from 10 thousand dong. Sometimes the price depends on the weight (seen in Hanoi).
- - another street food. You could say it's bread pudding. In general, this is a fried banana pie, a bit like pudding in texture. Ingredients can vary in many ways, but it is usually made from bananas, bread, coconut milk, etc. Very tasty and satisfying. Carts with bánh chuối are mobile and can be identified by the characteristic sweet smell of waffles. By the way, waffles themselves are often also sold. Often just such a banana mass with mung can be found in the form of fried waffles. Cost: in Ho Chi Minh they sold us for 12 thousand dong apiece, which, of course, is expensive. In Da Nang they sold us the same one for 5,000.
Banh chuối. Photo © noodlepie / flickr.com
- Che chuối- among ourselves we called it "banana pudding". In my opinion, one of the most delicious dishes in Vietnam. These are fried (sometimes fresh) bananas filled with hot coconut milk and pulp, as well as sprinkled roasted peanuts. Very tasty and satisfying! Served in plastic cups with a spoon. Best eaten hot, but cold is delicious too. In Hoi An, we bought for 10 thousand dong, although in fact they sell it cheaper to the locals (about 7 thousand).
- — a rice dish with fresh vegetables and the most tender grilled marinated pork (you can also take grilled chicken instead). As an additive comes hot sauce and broth with herbs. This is one of the varieties of street food in Vietnam, you can ask cơm tấm to take with you, and the dish will be put in a special container. Price: from 25 thousand dong in Ho Chi Minh City, in Can Tho we ate cơm tấm for 15 thousand dong.
Cơm tấm - rice with pork
- Banh chưng- a traditional Vietnamese dessert - a mass of gluten rice, mung bean, pork and other ingredients, wrapped in banana leaves. Price in the supermarket: from 30 - 35 thousand dong.
- Vietnamese street food. Satisfying and tasty dish, is prepared very simply: pieces of rice dough are fried together with an egg and green onions. All this is topped with the famous nước mắm fish sauce. Price: from 22 thousand dong.
Bột chien. Photo © phswien / flickr.com
- - also cheap street food in Vietnam. It is deep-fried pasta with scrambled eggs and herbs. Fresh vegetables are often served as well. Price: from 22 thousand dong.
- Nước mắm- fish sauce. Obtained during the fermentation of anchovy. It is used instead of salt, you can dip pieces of food into it, or you can pour it over a dish - depending on the variety, of which there are many. Also added during cooking. Served free.
Our journey is just beginning, so the article will be gradually filled with new information: we will continue to tell you about all the types of food we try in Vietnam, as well as the prices for these Vietnamese dishes. To be continued…
Intro image source: Khánh Hmoong / flickr.com.
