Pink, white, and blue. I love you.
[STREET] FOOD JUNKIES
I think it's safe to say our favorite country to have street food has been Vietnam. The dishes are so varied that we never got tired of any particular one and everywhere we turned there was a vendor ready to satiate our appetite.
When traveling, my preference is usually never to eat at the same place twice - so many options, so little time. What if this spot is good or that one is better? How would we know if we didn't try?
That all changed in Saigon when we made it our home for 4 weeks. We ventured out and tried some different places, but the ones that hit the spot were the ones where you could find us for breakfast, lunch, or dinner a few times a week.
Our regular stops - where the locals eat - in District 1:
Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang Quỳnh @ A65 Nguyễn Trãi
->hủ tiếu xương (rice noodle soup with pork) - cousin of the more popular phở (rice noodle soup with beef)
->72,000 vnđ / bowl
->open 24 hours daily
Bánh Mì Huỳnh Hoa @ 26 Lê Thị Riêng
->Vietnamese sandwiches with all the fixings
->32,000 vnđ / sandwich
->open daily from 15h00-23h00
Chè Ngọc Nhi @ Ngã 3 Hai Bà Trưng (Chợ Tân Định next to Cơm Tấm Tứ Quý)
->Sương sao hặt lựu (sweet soup)
->15,000 vnđ / glass
->open daily - not sure about opening hours
Cơm Tấm Tứ Quý @ Ngã 3 Hai Bà Trưng (Chợ Tân Định)
->cơm tấm sườn bì chả ốp la (broken rice with grilled pork chops, shredded pork, steamed egg, and fried egg)
->55,000 vnđ / plate
->open daily - not sure about opening hours, but you could be sure they're open from 9h00-21h00
Quán Cơm Bình Dân Số 7 @ 3 Nguyễn Văn Tráng
->variety of local dishes just like mom makes. You'll rarely find a foreigner here. Just point and choose!
->20,000 vnđ per serving
->open daily from 9h00 until 20h00, but they start running out of dishes towards early evening
Phở Hùng @ 241 Nguyễn Trãi (not to be confused with Phở Ông Hùng, which is all over the place and not nearly as good in my opinon)
->variety of phở (rice noodle soup with beef)
->50,000-70,000 vnđ / bowl
->open daily from 6h00-3h00
"Mango Lady" (any lady pushing carts or carrying baskets of mangoes)
->xoài chua muới ớt (sour [green/unripe] mangoes with chili salt)
->10,000-20,000 vnđ / mango
"Smoothie Lady" (no cart name to our knowledge) @ Hẻm 241 on Phạm Ngũ Lão across from Quán Ăn Anh Mập ̣(which is pretty tasty too, but more tourist-y)
->variety of blended fresh fruit smoothies - our favorite hands-down is coconut
->20,000-30,000 vnđ
->open daily - not sure about opening hours, but pretty sure she's there from 11h00-22h00
->disclaimer: not a local eat
STREET INSPO: SAIGON
We're stationed in Saigon for 4 weeks, which explains the focus of the last few posts, including this one. The longer we're here, the more we notice the details lurking beneath the surface. There's a lot of beauty in the mundane and it seems silly to passersby that we stop to appreciate them, but we do it anyway. And the result is this: inspiration behind bars, down alleyways, under our feet, above our heads, and right in front of our faces.
