Street food - The unique dishes in Saigon - Vietnam

Published: 18/02/2019

Street food in Ho Chi Minh city is delicious, varied and plentiful

Street food in Ho Chi Minh city is delicious, varied and plentiful. Because the local people's taste is sweet, almost the dishes and dipping sauces use coconut milk or sugar. In any place, from early morning to late night, you are able to find delicious food for yourself. There are a large number of famous dishes can be listed below:

Bánh mỳ - Bread

Bread is a familiar dish of so many generations in this country. As a popular fast food, Saigon bread can be eaten everywhere and often for breakfast, students eat it in their classroom, workers in a construction site, clerical officers munch in their offices, some young people also eat it while walking on the street. Therefore, bread is very hard to change with the new pace of life. The delicious bread omelette or the pate bread with many other ingredients become a unique feature that makes people eat once and remember forever. Bread here is special because of its creativity, reasonable use of spices to create a unique flavour. Saigon Bread is a food that has been voted as delicious street food by many tourists.

 

Cơm tấm - Broken rice

There is no doubt that broken rice is one of the specialities in Ho Chi Minh City. Although it usually used as a breakfast, now com tam is available at lunch, dinner. The dish uses broken rice and often served with other dishes like barbecue, fried egg, diced green onions. Diners can also enjoy this dish with a side of pickled vegetables, cucumber slices, and Vietnamese dipping sauce.

 

Gỏi cuốn - Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Spring rolls is a very favourite snack in Saigon. In 2011, spring rolls were ranked "50 most delicious dishes in the world" by travel page of CNN news agency. 
Goi cuon or Vietnamese spring rolls comprise vermicelli noodles, pork slices, shrimp, basil, and lettuce tightly wrapped in translucent banh trang (rice papers). Due to its very subtle flavour, you can dip it in a mix of freshly ground chilli and hoisin-based dipping sauce topped with crushed peanuts.

 

Bánh xèo - Crispy Pancake

Crispy Pancake is a popular crepe made in Vietnam. Pancake is one of the charming dishes in the Southern region. Banh xeo made from rice flour and coconut milk coloured with turmeric and packed with a standard filling of mung bean paste, shell-on prawns, bean sprouts, and slices of boiled pork. The batter gets evenly spread across a large piping hot wok with a generous amount of oil, creating a crispy exterior that is folded in half when fully cooked. The result is a thin and savoury pancake.
The best way to enjoy ban xeo is by wrapping it in mustard leaf, lettuce leaves or rice wrappers, together with mint leaves, basil, herbs, and sweet fermented peanut butter sauce. Lastly, dip it in a sweet and sour fish sauce.
Now, It has become a familiar dish for local people and must-eat dish for visitors.