As a multicultural city, delicious dishes in Saigon are imported from many places such as Chinese sweet soup, Hue beef noodle soup or Western pancakes.
The 10 most interesting delicious dishes in Ho Chi Minh City are in “Ho Chi Minh City – 100 interesting things” announced by the Department of Tourism in early December, is a suggestion for tourists to explore the city’s cuisine. The list is based on more than 104,000 votes for 10 categories including sightseeing programs, attractions, entertainment spots – entertainment programs, shopping spots, tourist accommodation establishments, restaurants – eateries, cafes, check-in points, tourism-cultural-sports events and delicious dishes.
Bread
Bread is one of the familiar, easy-to-eat and convenient dishes. In Ho Chi Minh City, bread has many variations, helping to satisfy the taste buds of diverse diners. You can try shumai sandwiches, pork skin sandwiches, fish cake sandwiches, roasted pork sandwiches, grilled beef sandwiches, and shredded chicken sandwiches.
You can find many famous bakeries in Ho Chi Minh City, existing for more than half a century. Bay Ho Bakery opened in 1930, and after more than 90 years, it still maintains the same recipe as the first day. Hoa Ma Banh Mi is famous for its pan bread, serving for 60 years. There are also many other shops worth trying such as Huynh Hoa bread, Tang bread, Cu Ly bread, and Sau Le bread.
Cake mix
Saigon mixed rice paper is made from pieces of rice paper that have been dried in dew and cut into small pieces. After cutting the cake, it is mixed with shredded green mango, finely chopped laksa leaves, Tay Ninh shrimp salt and kumquat juice squeezed in. Add to the bag of rice paper a little bit of fried onion fat with peanuts and roasted shrimp to enhance the flavor. In addition, this dish will lose its taste without quail eggs and dried beef fibers. Depending on taste, the maker will add more or less satay.
Visitors to Saigon can find mixed rice paper at familiar addresses such as Turtle Lake, Nguyen Thuong Hien Street (District 3), September 23 Park (District 1), Ben Thanh Market area, intersection Nguyen Thai Hoc – Tran Hung Dao (District 1). The price of a bag of mixed rice paper is 25,000-30,000 VND. Diners can order additional quail eggs, beef jerky, and rice paper and the price varies depending on the quantity.
Pancakes
Banh xeo is a must-try dish when visiting Saigon. In a city where many cultures and regional cuisines intersect, banh xeo in Saigon is divided into two main types: Central pancake and Western pancake. Banh xeo in the Central region is small, less than a hand in diameter, filled with green beans, bean sprouts combined with some seafood or pork. Western pancakes are large in size, filled with shrimp, pork belly, bean sprouts and green beans. Some banh xeo shops in the Central region also serve thin crust, without coconut milk and turmeric powder, so the crust is milky white.
Beef rice noodles
Hue beef noodle soup was once recognized by famous chef Anthony Bourdain as one of the most delicious dishes in the world. Attractive vermicelli bowl with rich, spicy broth, inside is beef with pork sausage, fresh vegetables. Beef noodle soup followed the Hue people to Saigon. During the process of introduction, three popular styles were formed. The first type is a bowl of vermicelli with lots of meat and rolls, which looks fuller than in Hue. The broth has a sweet taste of sugar, reducing the strong smell of shrimp paste. Diners can find Kim Long beef noodle shop, Tran Quang Dieu street, district 3.
The second style retains the taste of the original dish in Hue, the broth is rich in lemongrass and fish sauce. Restaurants that cook this type can go to Ngu Binh beef noodle soup, Nguyen Van Troi residence, Phu Nhuan district, Ut Hung restaurant, Tu Xuong street, district 3. There is another type of beef noodle soup that usually does not have or uses a little fish sauce and broth. in. Toppings are sliced pork sausage, beef, and large pieces of pork sausage. Diners who like to eat this way can visit Song Anh beef noodle restaurant, Ban Co street, District 3, Nhan Tri beef noodle restaurant, Le Hong Phong street, district 10.
Types of sticky rice
In Saigon, sticky rice is sold at many times such as noon, afternoon, evening or late at night, early in the morning to satisfy diners. There are many different versions of sticky rice, but it is mainly divided into two types: salty sticky rice and sweet sticky rice.
Sweet sticky rice like sticky rice with beans, durian, corn, and gac. The typical dish always has a layer of soft, hot fragrant sticky rice with a little grated coconut rice and a layer of granulated sugar and roasted peanuts on top. The price ranges from 5,000 VND to 10,000 VND per package. Corn sticky rice is one of the typical sweet sticky rice dishes, made from sticky sticky corn stewed with coconut water to make the seeds soft and bright white. Corn sticky rice is a bit mushy. When eating, add a little grated coconut, sugar, peanuts or sesame salt. It’s both sweet and fatty but not greasy.
Another type of sweet sticky rice in Saigon is cadé sticky rice, sticky rice stuffed into fresh banana leaves, topped with a soft layer of cadé made from coconut milk, eggs, flour, and sugar. The seller cleverly packages it beautifully. The dish is not too common and is often sold in Chinese areas.
Salty sticky rice in Saigon is usually sticky rice cooked with sticky rice served with char siu pork, dried shrimp, sausage, cotton floss, pork rolls, quail eggs, added with fatty onions or golden fried onions, and drizzled with rich sauce. The typical version of salty sticky rice is chicken sticky rice. A box of sticky sticky rice adds marinated chicken thighs, onion fat, pickled mustard greens and a well-cooked sauce. Diners can choose many side dishes such as crispy fried chicken skin, young eggs, shredded chicken, shumai, and boiled gizzard liver. In Chinese areas, there are also other savory sticky rice dishes such as sticky rice with succulent meat served with soft cooked pork belly, colorful sticky rice with bowl of buu cooked with char siu meat, dried shrimp, sausage, shiitake mushrooms, radishes, etc. Fried onions, peanuts.
Sweet Soup
Sweet Soup is a familiar dish for Vietnamese people and in Ho Chi Minh City there are countless types of sweet soup for diners to enjoy. Chinese sweet soup alone has more than 20 flavored sweet soup dishes such as lotus seed sweet soup, green beans, red beans, peanuts, black sesame, longan, ginkgo, water chestnut, ginseng tonic, Quy Linh Cao, and seeds. braised chicken (like flan), black Sweet Soup chicken granules, steamed papaya. Diners can find long-standing Chinese-style tea shops such as the 80-year-old Cot Den Den Sweet Soup shop on Tran Hung Dao street, District 5, and Lam Vinh Mau Sweet Soup cart on Nguyen Thai Binh street, District 1.
Saigon also has a street specializing in selling Thai Sweet Soup, which is the area of Nguyen Tri Phuong Street, District 10. Thai Sweet Soup has a unique flavor with the smell of durian, accompanied by a sweet and fatty milk taste. If you want to enjoy sweet soup with Southern flavors, you can visit the sweet soup shop on Su Van Hanh street. Here, they serve 16-cup trays of flavors such as Ba Ba sweet soup, regular sweet soup, banana sweet soup, corn sweet soup, white bean sweet soup, taro sweet soup, and water sweet soup, accompanied by a jar of coconut jelly, a plate of sticky rice, and a plate of flan cake. Customers eat individually by cup, and pay as much as they eat.
Broken rice
Broken rice is a familiar dish to many generations of people in Saigon. You can eat broken rice for breakfast, lunch or dinner. A delicious plate of broken rice will include a little dry, small grain rice, a few slices of cucumber, pickles and on top are grilled ribs, pork skin, and pork patties. Broken rice in Saigon also has a wide range of prices, this popular dish goes from the sidewalk to luxury restaurants. The soul of this dish is the sweet, candy-like fish sauce. Diners soak the hot rice in fish sauce and eat it with the toppings they ordered. A basic portion of broken rice like egg rib broken rice costs around 40,000-45,000 VND. Depending on the amount of rice, the size of the ribs, and the number of toppings ordered, the price of the rice will vary.
Some delicious broken rice shops that diners can refer to include Tai broken rice on Nguyen An Ninh street, Binh Thanh district, Mai broken rice on Doan Van Bo street, District 4, Ba Ghien broken rice on Dang Van Ngu street, Phu Nhuan district. .
Snail
Unlike Hanoi, Saigon not only has snails, boiled stuffed snails dipped in ginger chili sauce but also has many other types such as snails, snails, snails. Each type of snail also has a variety of ways to prepare snail dishes such as steaming, boiling, stir-frying, frying, roasting, grilling, salted egg sauce, and tamarind sauce.
To Hien Thanh Street, District 10, Nguyen Thuong Hien, District 3, Vinh Khanh Food Street, District 4 are three addresses for snail lovers in Saigon. In addition to snails, there are many other types of seafood for diners to enjoy such as oysters, crabs, crabs, shrimp, and squid.
Noodle soup
The history of pho can be traced back to the early 20th century in the Northern provinces with Hanoi said to be the first place where this dish appeared. Pho was introduced to Saigon, gradually becoming a familiar dish to residents and tourists here. Pho restaurants in Saigon are divided into two schools: Southern pho and Northern pho. Northern pho restaurants have light, clear, light and less sweet broth. Pho Bac focuses on natural flavors, so the quality of fresh beef is the highlight. Nam Pho is usually sweeter and more flavorful. The broth is darker due to the addition of grilled purple onions and many combined spices. Pho Nam is often served with bean sprouts, raw vegetables, sliced onions, garlic and soy sauce.