Knowing about the must-try street food in Saigon with their interesting features will help your journey to Vietnam more excellent and memorable. Actually, Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh city) is the paradise for all foodies as they may easily discover the most amazing and impressive kinds of street food.
Com Tam (Broken Rice)
Nobody knows when Com Tam appeared, but this kind of street food is probably seen as a traditional Vietnamese dish. Here is a recipe which is not too hard to prepare and savor; it includes broken rice grains on a plate and topped with pork (there are many cooked forms of pork), vegetables (a few slices of cucumber, tomato, and salad), and at times a fried egg. Especially, a small bowl of soup in some sort and a glass of ice green tea will make the complete lunch menu Com Tam. Normally, it just costs 20,000VND (about 1USD).
Read more: Ho Chi Minh city tours (half day) price from $12
Bot Chien (Vietnamese Fried Rice Flour Cake)
Vietnamese Fried Rice Flour Cake is in more detail Fried Rice Cake with Egg, which is possibly seen as one of the must-try street food in Sai Gon. Pictures of this street food will catch your eyes, but its taste is more wonderful; it’s well worth tasting. It’s served in a plate and comprises pieces of fried rice cake made of rice flour and combined with egg. Contemplating the chef preparing the food, you will realize he puts doughy squares on the hot skillet with a sufficient amount of oil, and later these pieces gradually turn golden and crispy. The soy sauce going with Bot Chien gives the extra flavor to this dish.
Banh Trang Tron (Rice Paper Salad)
In Ho Chi Minh city tour full day, it’s recommended that you should not lose out on some interesting street foods; one of them is Banh Trang Tron, which means Rice Paper Salad. It’s possible to say that here has been a very popular dish in Vietnam in recent years, which has won hearts of thousands of Vietnamese teenagers and children. How to make it is quite simple; ingredients basically have strips of rice paper, quail egg, shredded beef jerky, julienned green mango, cut Vietnamese coriander, roasted peanuts, and some spices. Just mix those ingredients until they are evenly distributed. There is nothing which can make you resist its taste; it’s great to find the explosion of flavor from the top of your tongue.
Banh Mi
For many tourists who have ever visited Vietnam, Banh Mi is quite similar. This is a special kind of street food and also the ultimate version of sandwich. Normally, Vietnamese prefer having it for their breakfast before starting a new day. As for its ingredients, opening it and looking inside, you will easily see it contains fried pork belly (there are other genres of meat like grilled chicken, pork meat balls, or sardines), head cheese, liver pate, ham, vegetable and some spices.
Pha Lau
Found in the list of the must-try street food in Saigon, Pha Lau is also supposed to be a specialty you should taste when coming to Ho Chi Minh city. Carrying the unique flavor harmoniously mixed by tamarind fish sauces, coconut syrup, chili, and some herbs, Pha Lau will make you addicted. These spices are used to enhance the taste of the food’s main ingredients, consisting of stomach, heart, small intestine, lung, etc. from pigs or cows. It’s not hard to find food stalls with Pha Lau anywhere along streets in Vietnam.
Goi Kho Bo (Green Papaya Salad with Beef Jerky)
Goi Kho Bo is one of the surprising Vietnamese Salad recipes, and the mixture of papaya cut into strips, vegetables, grains, herbs and beef jerky. You will dip yourself into the excellent taste of this street food.
Sup Cua (Vietnamese Crab Soup)
When it comes to the Vietnamese street food, foreign tourists will be excited by Sup Cua (Vietnamese Crab Soup). Why? It’s because it’s far different from many kinds of soup in the Western area; bedsides common ingredients like corn seeds, crab, green bean, and quail eggs, we realize that it’s mixed with tapioca at the final step of the process.
Read more: Ho Chi Minh city tours (full day) price from $24
Xien Que (Grilled Pork Skewer)
Surely, while going for a walk along streets where there are food stalls selling this street food, you will quickly fall in love with its special and fantastic taste. Especially when you go with the wind, the taste will become more awesome. With skewers full of pork and some colored vegetables, it’s taken into account as the eye-catching street food.
Goi Cuon (Spring Rolls)
Goi Cuon is also among dozens of traditional Vietnamese dishes and found along many streets in Saigon. The dish is depicted as a mixture of lean meat, shrimp, and veggie, all of which are wrapped by the rice paper (bánh tráng). It’s served with a kind of tasting sauce.
Snail
In recent years, the street food with Oc (Snail) in many different recipes has become more and more popular for teenagers or workers in Saigon. These recipes with diverse kinds of taste definitely blow the mind of numerous foodies from other countries to Vietnam. Some of them include stir-fried snails with lemongrass and chili, sea snails in coconut milk, Vietnamese ham with periwinkle snails, and others.
Now, get full experience of Ho Chi Minh city tour full day with those must-try street food in Saigon.
