Street food street food in Phan Thiet style in Saigon

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Baked rice paper shop Nguyen Tri Phuong, District 5, attracts customers because it is a rare place to sell standard Phan Thiet dishes, ingredients taken from home.

If you are familiar with fried corn, mixed rice paper, fried quail with tamarind, octopus tea, and Saigon mango shake, you can try other local snacks to change the taste. Ngo Minh Nghia, 24 years old, from Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan, recommends home-style snacks for diners with grilled rice paper, omelet, grilled spring rolls, and grilled pork rolls at affordable prices.

The snack shop has no name, people often call it Nguyen Tri Phuong grilled rice paper shop, located near the roundabout area, the monument of An Duong Vuong, District 5. The street food stalls are small but crowded, even if you have to wait a long time for their turn. In addition, the shop only sells at night, from 18:30 to 22:30. The most crowded time is from 20h onwards.

The owner is Ms. Tuyen, 34 years old, from Phan Thiet, she moved to Saigon to live and open the shop for 8 years. “My shop sells three dishes: grilled rice paper, spring rolls, grilled rolls and omelette. Sesame rice paper, spring rolls, spring rolls, fish sauce are all sent by relatives from home, the method of making and seasoning has not changed compared to the local market. hometown,” said Ms. Tuyen. Customers often come to the shop and order 3 dishes at a time to enjoy, every night she sells about 100 baked rice paper, every 2-3 days she will get the ingredients.

The food at the restaurant is not ready-made, customers order the new dish, the owner prepares the ingredients to bake gradually. A simple corner with a charcoal oven, a table with ingredients: butter, fish sauce, rice paper, quail eggs, spring rolls and plates, neatly packed. Everything is done by Ms. Tuyen, so sometimes crowded guests have to wait a long time to get ice and water to drink.

Phan Thiet-style omelette cake has a crispy baked shell, the cake has a natural sweetness and aroma from fish sauce, adding eggs, spring rolls, quail eggs, chopped onions.  Photo: Huynh Nhi
Phan Thiet-style omelette cake has a crispy baked shell, the cake has a natural sweetness and aroma from fish sauce, adding eggs, spring rolls, quail eggs, and chopped onions. Photo: Huynh Nhi

According to Minh Nghia, there are not many snack shops selling Phan Thiet food in Saigon, it took him a long time to find a restaurant that suits his taste because Binh Thuan’s food is sweeter than other places. In addition, the snacks will always have Phan Thiet fish sauce, ingredients that create a unique aroma and taste.

With omelet, the cake is large and crispy, hot, topping with spring rolls, quail eggs and fresh eggs are beaten, baked with a fatty taste, fragrant with scallions. When eating, guests use scissors to cut into small pieces, take a bite, you will clearly feel the sweetness, mixed with the aroma through the fish sauce.

Similarly, with spring rolls, grilled rolls are still hot, fragrant with embers. Nem, spring rolls cut into bite-sized pieces, guests will dip it with well-mixed fish sauce, with a mild sweetness that blends with the fatty taste of butter sauce, served with laksa leaves. The piece is chewy, rich in flavor, and the spring rolls are a bit sour, very suitable for enjoying the evening with friends.

Grilled spring rolls cost 30,000 VND.  Photo: Huynh Nhi
Grilled spring rolls cost 30,000 VND. Photo: Huynh Nhi

Khanh Linh in Ho Chi Minh City used to travel to Phan Thiet and was addicted to snacks. When he returned to Saigon, he could not find a place selling this dish until he came here. “The food here is similar to Phan Thiet, especially the sweet sauce and thin rice paper, crispy baked, not bored. Me and my brother can eat 6 dishes at the same time, after eating, we can take it home,” Linh said.

And Minh Nghia commented: “The food here costs from 10,000 to 30,000 VND, the price may be higher and the dish is less than in the countryside but it suits my taste. In addition, the cost of transporting ingredients from the countryside must be taken into account. in, in the business… then I think it’s reasonable to support, having close friends all lead here to eat snacks, introduce local dishes”.

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