10 FOODS YOU SHOULDN’T MISS WHEN VISIT VIETNAM

By: Ny

Start with the first place,Asia's street food would like to introduce Vietnamse Street food for reader.
Vietnamese cuisine is one of the charming features that attract foreign traveler when they come to this beautiful country.  With a rich history and cultural diversity, Viet Nam cuisines also carry the color characteristics of each region across the country.

Especially, one of those that attract travelers is firstly, street cuisine with the delicious great foods and absolutely unlike anyplace all over the world. Besides enjoying the taste and color of the food, tourists will feel interested with the animation of the stores and the streets around that. Throughout that, the travelers can experience the life, culture and many the other interesting things about our country.

If you are one of the travelers when you come to Ho Chi Minh City, it will be a serious loss unless you try the special street foods that come from South of Viet Nam.

1)      “Bánh mì” ( Bread):

“Bánh mì” is chosen as 1 of 11 delicious street foods all over the world by National Geographic. “Banh mi” is the product of exchanging cuisine of many countries such as the bread and pa-te have origin from France while the ingredients inside include pork which is cooked with the Chinese style. Additional, the vegetables and seasoning is typically of Southeast Viet Nam.

“Bánh mì” is sold everywhere from the luxury restaurants until the small stores on the street but you shouldn’t eat “bánh mì” in the restaurant ^_^ and every time from the morning until night.

 

2)      “Bánh xèo”: ( Vietnamese crepe)

“Bánh xèo” is the rural food that has been born since a very long time ago and become a kind of specific cake of Vietnam, especially in the South provinces of Viet Nam. “Bánh xèo” is not only famous inside Viet Nam but also overseas for Vietnamese all over the world.

The name “Bánh xèo” starts from the sound when we fry the cake “xeo…Xeo…xeo….”^_^. The size of the cake “big or small” and the ingredients inside such as: pork, chicken, shrimp or octopus, manioc, bamboo sprouts or beansprouts are different among the regions. Beside the crispy cake, they will attach some kinds of raw vegetables and the specific sauce that increase the aromatic flavor of the cake.

Once you bite the piece of crepe, you can feel the crispiness of the crust, the sweet aroma of meat, shrimp blended with the flavor of vegetables, salty taste and aroma of fish sauce . Hmm… can you imagine how delicious it is??? ^_^

3)      “Sea foods”:

“Sea food” stores are almost appearing on all the streets and it has become one of the pleasures of people in each evening. Many kinds of seafood are cooked with different ways and this is to increase the flavor of the each kind of seafood, the guest at a meal can feel the specific taste of each kind of seafood.

4)      “Bún riêu”( crab vermicelli):

“Bún riêu” is known as the most famous street food in Ho Chi Minh City. You can easily enjoy it from the big streets to the small alleys in HCM city.

There are several varieties of crab vermicelli: crab vermicelli, fish crab vermicelli, snail crab vermicelli. Beside the main ingredients, there are the others ingredients to enhance the flavor of food such as: fried tofu, kinds of rice vinegar, Garcinia multiflora Champ, annatto seeds to redden the broth, split water spinach stems, shredded banana flower, Elsholtzia ciliate, spearmint, perilla, bean sprouts and vertarian sausage.

Crab vermicelli is served with Tomato broth and topped with crab or shrimp paste.

5)      “Chè” ( sweet soup):

Vietnam is the tropical country, that’s why ice sweet soup became a familiar food with Vietnamese people. We can easily find the sweet soup store everywhere.

There are many kinds of sweet soup that are made from different kind of ingredients such as: green bean, black bean, red bean, white bean, lotus seed, longan, peanut, durian, banana, jackfruit, jelly and coconut.

If Ho Chi Minh City is the place that gathers all the specific culture of South provinces, Ha Noi Capital will be the place to gather the particular culture of North of Vietnam.

Let’s figure out the North culture through their street foods.

1. “Xôi” ( Sticky rice):

“Xôi” is considered as the character of Vietnam in general and Hanoi in particular. So,    “Xôi” always is the choice of the travelers when they come to the Capital of Vietnam.

There are many kinds of “Xôi” but the main ingredient is always “Sticky rice”. Depend on what kind of “Xôi”, we will have different ingredients such as:

To make “Xôi Đậu Đen”- we need black bean, coconut,etc

.

To make “Xôi Gà” (chicken sticky rice)- we need chicken, egg, onion,etc

To make “Xôi Bắp” (corn sticky rice)- we need corn, green bean, onion, etc.

2. “Bánh Giò” ( Vietnamese pyramidal rice dumpling):

“Bánh Giò” is a cake that is made from rice flour and tapioca flour. Stuffing of rice dumpling is included: minced pork, cat’s ear, field mushroom and onion. The Shape of “Bánh giò” is similar with the Pyramid and is covered by the banana leaf outside." Bánh Giò" is also sold all the roads of Ha Noi.

3) " Phở" ( Vietnamese rice noodle):

Ha Noi has been famous for its delicious dishes; including “Phở” is one of the delicious traditional foods. “Phở” is mostly commonly eaten for breakfast, although many other people would have it for their lunch and dinner.

“ Phở” is composed of a thin white rice noodle, in a clear beef broth, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket), tendon, tripe, meatballs, or other ingredients such as green onions, white onions, cilantro, basil leaves, lemon or lime, bean sprouts or chilies.

Phở Gà (Vietnamese chicken rice noodle)

Phở Bò (Vietnamese beef rice noodle)

4) " Bún Chả" ( noodles and grilled meat):

Like “Phở”, “Bún Chả” is present throughout the mile of the city, markets, even in the narrow alleys.

“Bún Chả” is served with plate of white rice noodle, grilled fatty pork, and herbs in a steamy broth of fish sauce.

5) “Bánh bèo”( steamed rice cake):

" Bánh Bèo" is a variety of small steamed rice cake or rice pancake in Vietnamese cuisine. It has a white color of rice flour and typically features a dimple in the center which is filled with savory ingredients including chopped dried of fresh shrimp, scallions, mung bean paste, crispy fried shallots, fish sauce,  rice vinegar and oil.

We can easily find it on all roads of Ha Noi.