We had about half a day in HCM city this time around so it felt a little like rush hour. Though, surprisingly we did manage to “fit” a lot in.
I felt the food variety was more limited vs the options available throughout North Vietnam. Slightly more costly, but the dishes taste much more flavoursome in the south than it does in the north. Simply due to the amount of added salt/sugar & possibly msg too which obviously enhances flavour by large, but I personally prefer the taste of the dishes from the north.
Ho Chi Minh
1. Cơm Sườn, Bánh Canh
(Pork chop & rice, Vietnamese thick noodle soup)
We were just walking along Bach Dang Street when we stumbled across some pork chop & rice, & Vietnamese thick noodle soup (bánh canh). It was in an alley; corner intersecting street Hem 3 Nguyen Thai Son & I have no idea of their open hours. We visited at a very later hour so there weren’t many people eating at all which made me a little doubtful, but it ended up being a quite satisfying meal.
2. Bún Bò Huế
(Spicy beef noodle soup)
I think our group all agreed on this place being the best one yet for this dish. The portion here is slightly bigger vs your usual street food bowl-size so that’s an instant thumbs up. You may locate this dish at 37 Đỗ Quang Đẩu, District 1.
3. Cơm Phần
(Rice)
We spotted this place whilst on our way to Ben Thanh Market. It looked pretty busy at the time so of course we had to give it a try. We ordered a variety of rice dishes which all came with a side bowl of pumpkin soup. There’s lemon grass fish soup (favourite), fried fish, braised pork & eggs, & some stir fried ipomoea aquatica aka water spinach. Though, I got to mention that the portions were somewhat smaller here. Either that or we were just incredibly hungry at the time, probably both Lol. I can’t even give you the address of this place, but I can say that it was in Quach Thi Trang Park, if that even helps.
4. Bánh Xèo
(Vietnamese savoury crepes)
You saw this dish before in my previous post so I won’t describe it again. This stand was just a few steps across the road from where we had bún bò huế, 37 Đỗ Quang Đẩu, District 1. I believe this one is not available all day as the gentlemen were only just setting up at about 4pm that weekday. I love watching the process of it being cooked, so tiny! You can easily demolish one after another which was exactly what we did. Just 6,000VND for one here!
5. Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang
(Phnom penh noodle soup)
This dish was literally right outside our accommodation doorstep on street Đỗ Quang Đẩu towards Phạm Ngũ Lão, District 1 so why not! Pork stock with phnom penh noodles, shrimp, pork chop slices & to top it off, wait for it.. deep fried pork fat! Oh-yes. Apparently, this dish is quite popular in South Vietnam so it shouldn’t be that difficult to locate a hủ tiếu stand considering they were everywhere at the time we were visiting.
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