Hangry in Asia: Vietnam

If you’re wondering why I disappeared this summer, it’s because I went to Asia! Most of my time was spent in Vietnam eating traditional foods so I decided to make a post of my highlights and some safe eating tips. I visited Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Hoi An, and Danang. I enjoyed a lot of delicious (and super cheap) food. It’s safe to say that I’m a bit sick of Vietnamese food now.

City: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Previously known as Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City is the go-to area if you want to experience Nam’s biggest hustling and bustling city. It’s the city that never sleeps and never gets tired.

Bot Chien Dat Thanh – located at 277 Vo Van Tan, Quan 3

Bot chien: pan fried flour cakes with egg & green onions aka my favorite dish from this country!!! A very simple dish that tastes delicious and is served with soy sauce. I’ve loved eating this ever since I was a child because I was a very picky eater (tbh I still am) and when we went to my family’s favorite Viet restaurant in YEG, this was the only thing I’d eat.

Price: 28,000 VND or $1.56 CAD

Com Tam 114 – located at 114 Vo Thi Sau, Quan 1

This place is well known for their com tam (broken rice dishes) and has been around since my mom was growing up in Vietnam. I also really like their banh mi bo kho (beef brisket stew with baguette) from here. I eat it by dipping the baguette (which is fresh af) into the stew, and eating the brisket separately with just the stew. Their com tam is served with your choice or combination of nem nuong (grilled pork sausage & recommended by me), suon (grilled pork chop), bi (thinly shredded pork), or cha (egg meatloaf). Portions here are small so you’ll most likely need two dishes to fill you up.

Price: 187,000 VND or $10.58 CAD for all 3 dishes in photo. This is a bit pricier than other com tam places.

Ngon Restaurant – located at 160 Pasteur, Quan 1

One of the most popular restaurants in HCMC is Ngon. In Vietnamese, this translates to delicious and the name does deliver. This restaurant is modern and situated outside in a revamped French villa. Their menu is huge, you can choose from a variety of Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, or Thai dishes. Trust me, it was a heavy book to hold. I decided to stick to Vietnamese foods and ordered bun rieu (crab vermicelli noodle soup). Almost as popular as pho, this soup consists of tofu, crab meat, and stewed tomatoes. A must-try if visiting Vietnam and “ngon” indeed!

Pho Hoa Pasteur – located at 260C Pasteur, Quan 3

I had a lot of pho in Vietnam (mainly for breakfast) and this restaurant was one of them. Opened from 6 AM to 12 AM daily, it’s perfect for those who crave pho at random times. I’m sure you are all familiar with pho (noodle soup). It can be found on pretty much every block in Vietnam but if you want to eat it inside an actual restaurant, I recommend coming here. They serve Chinese long doughnut as a side too which surprisingly goes well dipped into the broth.

Price: 73,000 VND or $4.14 CAD

Thanh Binh – located at 140 Le Thanh Ton, Quan 1

Located right across from Ben Thanh Market, this place is perfect for lunch if you want to grab a bite before shopping. I always get mien cua (crab glass noodle soup) when I come here. The soup is boiling hot, crab is fresh, and the broth is light.

Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart – located in Saigon Centre at 65 Le Loi, Quan 1

This chain originated from Malaysia and specializes in Hokkaido baked cheese tarts and soft serve. I decided to try their soft serve which was creamy, light, and oddly tasty. I thought I wouldn’t like it because I’m not the biggest fan of cheesy eats but I loved this! The flavour wasn’t super cheesy and had a bit of sweetness to it. If you like the smelliest fruit in the world aka durian, they have durian cheese tarts and durian cheese soft serve.

Price: 39,000 VND or $2.20 CAD

City: Nha Trang

A coastal city in Vietnam that is well known for its beautiful beaches! The atmosphere is relaxing and free, when compared to the chaotic city of Saigon.

Galangal – located at 1-A Biet Thu

Galangal is hands down my favorite restaurant in Vietnam! They have two menus, one is dedicated to just street food and I could honestly eat any item on it and love it. I ate here 5x in a row and didn’t get sick of it at all. My favorite dishes to order would be their banh xeo (crispy pancake with bean sprouts, shrimp, and pork) and banh khot (mini crispy shrimp pancakes). It’s an outdoor restaurant and the chefs surround the place so you can watch them make your food, like a street food setting. A must go-to place if you are visiting Nha Trang!!

Lang Ngon – located at Hem 75A

Another outdoor restaurant! This one made me feel like I was in a garden and it was attached to a cafe – so many good photo ops for the gram. There was even a treehouse! Anyways about the food, this dish was called 7 mon ngon which means 7 delicious items. I wish I could tell you what these items were but they were a mixture of different rice things to be eaten with fish sauce. Bad description I know, you’ll have to try it out yourself!

Sailing Club – located at 72-74 Tran Phuc

Located right by the beach, Sailing Club definitely catered to tourists. Prices were higher than average and there were a lot of Western items on the menu. It is a great place to grab a drink though, if you want to relax and enjoy the beach without sitting on it and melting. I recommend their passionfruit mojito to sip on. At night, this place turns into a nightclub. Another place that I like for partying is Skylight Nha Trang, the only rooftop beach club in the city. You get a free drink with your entry ticket.

Price: 160,000 VND or $9.07 CAD

Highlands Coffee – various locations

The equivalent of a Starbucks chain in North America. Highlands Coffee is a super popular coffee chain that had originated from Vietnam. There was one under my hotel so I stopped by for breakfast multiple times. It was always busy, even when I went early at 9 AM. The only savoury food that they offered was banh mi (baguette sandwich). For desserts, there were different types of cakes. They had a variety of drink selection including Vietnamese coffee, Freeze (the equivalent of a Frappucino), and tea. My drink highlights were their cookies & cream Freeze and green tea w/ jello Freeze. I think I became addicted to their cookies & cream Freeze after my first sip!

Price: 19,000 VND or $1.08 CAD (banh mi), 49,000 VND or $2.78 CAD (small Freeze drink)

City: Hoi An

A historical city with French, Chinese, and Japanese influences in its ancient architecture. Also well known for the colorful lanterns scattered all over their ancient town.

Mi quang is a very popular noodle soup that came from Central Vietnam. It isn’t served with a lot of soup broth and uses tumeric noodles. Topped with shrimp, rice crackers, herbs, and hard-boiled eggs, it has a very distinguished taste. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name or location of the restaurant I ate at but it’s not hard to find this soup if you are in Hoi An or Danang.

Safe Eating Tips in Vietnam:

It’s easy to get sick in Vietnam from food and water if you aren’t careful. Reason being is that they do not really follow health & food safety procedures half the time – especially street food vendors. I also want to help fellow travellers avoid any hospital visits from food poisoning. Here are some tips unless you want to take the risk!

• Street food: the cheapest and sometimes the best places to experience Viet food.. but it’s also the dirtiest. Stick to vendors that are busy or have lines to ensure that food is fresh and hot. If you’re eating at a vendor with street-side “chairs and tables”, wipe down cutlery before using it (trust me, you don’t want to see how they clean those things). Google & Trip Advisor are your friends too, go to the more popular/highly rated places.
• Water: never drink tap water. Always drink bottled water!
• Ice: some ice may have been made from contaminated water. Drink at your own risk although I don’t think it’s that bad anymore.
• Vegetables: avoid raw vegetables… actually avoid anything raw altogether including raw seafood. Yes, I know that sashimi is super cheap but do you want to save money or save your stomach??
• For those with a sensitive stomach (aka me): stick to boiling hot soups to be safe (pho, bun rieu, congee, etc). I was terrified of food poisoning so I would only eat at places that were popular, or looked kinda clean. Drinkwise, I only had dua tuoi (fresh coconut) or bottled water.

I hope that you got a little taste of Vietnamese cuisine from reading about my trip. If you need any travel advice about Vietnam (doesn’t have to be food related), feel free to ask me!