The Food Tour In Saigon

Date: 06/10/2024

Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, is the largest city in Vietnam, so the culinary culture of this city is also very rich and diverse, from dishes with northern and central flavors to very southern dishes. Just wandering the streets of Saigon in the morning, stopping at any roadside eatery for breakfast, sitting on the sidewalk, ordering a beef noddle soup, waiting for a few minutes for a dish to be prepared, then trying that dish. This is also a way for visitors to experience the local breakfast style in this city.

There are a lot of street foods to try, such as Phở  “beef noodle soup”, Hủ Tiếu “grilled pork noodles”, Banh Mi “Vietnamese sandwitch”, fresh sping roll, Bánh Xèo “Vietnamese pancake” etc. These dishes are popular for breakfast; we recommend you try them for breakfast outside of the hotel at a local eatery instead of getting a buffet breakfast every day at the hotel.

If your hotel is located in District 1, there are some tasty local places to try. To try Phở, you can go to the Phở Phú Vương Restaurant, which is a real Vietnamese Phở. To eat bread, Bánh Mì Huỳnh Hoa brand can be a good choice for you; it has been voted the best bread in Saigon city.

 

 

There is also Bún Bò Huế, which is a kind of spicy beef noodle soup from Huế City that is among the most popular noddles in Saigon. The flavor that makes diners love this noodle dish is the rich taste of the broth that is stewed from beef bones for many hours, then the broth is added with spices such as ginger, lemongrass, dried onion, garlic, chili powder, seasoning powder, sugar, and cashew oil.

This dish will also be combined with raw vegetables when used. Our guide sometimes leads small groups on tours to Bún Bò Huế 31 Restaurant for lunch; it is located behind the US Embassy. Let’s try those dishes for breakfast.

You can walk in the early morning around 7 a.m. through the colonial quarter of Saigon or walk through Tao Đàn Park to join exercise activities with the local people, then have breakfast and morning coffee at a local place. You will immerse yourself in the style of Saigon people, and you will also see that Saigon City is different from the other periods of time – slower, more peaceful, and more fresh air.

 

 

You can find out those names, such as Phở Phú Vương, Bánh Mì Huỳnh Hoa, or Bún Bò Huê, or the other names, on Google; he shows you the route to there. Let creating a self-guided food tour in Ho Chi Minh City in the morning; you will absolutely enjoy it. Vietnam is geographically located along the coast. In the beginning, the culture, cuisine, and history of Vietnam originated in the north, then spread to the central region.

Hue City is an old capital, a city located on the central coast, as well as known as the kitchen room of Vietnam, with many diverse dishes to serve the King. Bún Bò Huế noodle name also began from there too.

Then the King expanded the territory to the south, where the climate is warm and humid and also near the Mekong River and the two Chinese and Khmer communities, so the culinary culture from the north and central Vietnam also changed, suitable to the circumstances and geography here.

 

We have been living in Saigon for a long time; we can find out and enjoy all kinds of North, Central, and Southern cuisine in this city, especially street food. It gets us a starving feeling as soon as we see it, and we love to share this inspiration with visitors during the street food tour in Ho Chi Minh City.

We also show you why street food is so popular in Saigon, what the main flavors of the dishes in the south are, and why the vietnamese food makes all visitors in it like that The first question is Why Saigon’s Street Food is So Popular?

To answer it we may say that the Street food has very affordable prices from street vendors or roadside eateries is also extremely delicious and nutritious. Not only that, they are also processed and cared for extremely carefully, no less than at a 5-star restaurant.

The dishes have extremely diverse main ingredients, including all kinds of meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables, served with rich homemade sauce, bringing flavors from the north, central, and south.

 

 

When you travel to the south and visit a large city like Saigon, you can find a variety of food with different flavors; however, you can experience more of the local flavor in Saigon by trying the food here. In the south, it is rainy and humid, so people eat more vegetables to neutralize the hot weather. To prepare lunch or dinner, they buy a lot of vegetables to cook soup, which serves as a main course for their meal and often has a sweet taste derived from the vegetables.

Just like pho or other types of noodles, the rich flavor comes from the sweetness of vegetables that are be stewed in broth, such as radish, cilantro, ginger, coconut water, herbal ingredients, etc., and the food is always eaten with raw vegetables too. Therefore, it can be said that natural sweet spices from vegetables and fruits create a rich flavor for Southern dishes.

 

 

This flavor is very rich, strong in street food; you can try it on a food tour in Ho Chi Minh City. Another reason why tourists enjoy street food is the atmosphere when eating on the sidewalk or sitting in a restaurant without air conditioning in a cool, airy space. Furthermore, the Saigon people’s generosity and sincerity have created a distinct culture of street food here.

If we talk about street food, we can’t miss the beer enjoyed with snail dishes. After work, people in Saigon like to drink Saigon beer and eat snails on the sidewalk. They also use this time to relax after a busy workday. The snail eatery becomes more bustling on weekends, filled with “do do do” sounds of cheering beer and the fragrant aroma of grilled snails.

In Saigon, snail dishes are considered a popular street snack at night and are very suitable for families, couples, and friends who want to enjoy the cool air on the street. Eating snails, sitting around, drinking beer, and talking to each other.

 

 

This is more than just an outing to eat; it’s an evening of gathering to chat, eat snacks, and drink beer. For those who have lived and worked in Saigon, this is a beautiful aspect of street culture. For those who also enjoy the native taste, snail delicacies highlight the food tour in Ho Chi Minh City.

In District 1, there are some excellent snail eateries.

• Ốc Cúc/ Address: 91 Cô Giang Street
• 9 Ốc/ Address: 23 Nguyễn Văn Giai Street

Aside from snail dishes, street food in Saigon never gets boring with the same one. There are a variety of foods to try with beer, such as grilled goat meat, shaking beef, seafood salad, or the other hotpot.
If you still like an outdoor atmosphere, try a simple food tour in Ho Chi Minh City, I highly recommend Quan An Bac Hien, which is near the Opera House and located on the sidewalk. It has delicious food with a truly local taste, as well as a local price. You can have a beer here; it’s a local spot, not a tourist restaurant. The address is 111 Hai Ba Trung Street. The Bac Hien eatery is open from 5 p.m. until tomorrow morning, so don’t worry about its closing time.

 

 

On a free day, you can enjoy the youthful atmosphere, taste the food, drink beer at a local eatery on the sidewalk. Young people gather in Saigon quite frequently in there; they come from all over Vietnam and move to Saigon to study and work. The majority of street people are young. They sit and drink coffee and beer when they have free time to chat. The story’s topic can be anything.

Young people choose beer to add a catalyst and euphoria to their after-work fun or weekend relaxation due to its gentle alcohol content, smooth taste, coolness, and sweet aftertaste. Beer is considered an enjoyable trend, not only for refreshment but also for style. Some popular brand beers in Saigon are Saigon Beer, Larue Beer, and 333 Beer.

 

The Vietnamese eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner too. While eating rice for every meal might become monotonous, the Vietnamese have made noodle dishes from rice flowers to make their meals more enjoyable. They can cook the noodles into a variety of noodle dishes, including crab noodle soup, beef rice noodles, sliced chicken noodle soup. They can enjoy noodle dishes with raw vegetables, which the southern Vietnamese often consume to cool the tropical heat and maintain a cooler body. Similar to noodles, they can use rice flour to make Banh Xeo, a popular dish in Saigon, or rice paper, the main ingredient in Spring Rolls.

Following the food tour in the Ho Chi Minh City story, I will recommend some other local noodle dishes, sping rolls, and Vietnamese pancakes.

 

 

1. The first one is Gỏi Cuốn “ fresh spring roll”

Goi cuon is a dish rolled with raw vegetables and rice paper, easy to eat, dipped in fish peanut sauce, and very popular in the south. The special feature of spring rolls is that raw vegetables are also attractive topping for spring rolls. The most common raw vegetables are lettuce, fish sauce, herbs, and chives. They are all rolled with pork belly, boiled shrimp, and some fresh noodle.

Deep sauce determines how delicious spring rolls are. Initially, people only ate spring rolls with seasoned fish sauce, later incorporating sweet and sour fish sauce or fish peanut sauce.

Another interesting dish from the rice flower that all the Vietnamese like and are widely known in the world is Vietnamese pancake. If you search for the traditional Vietnamese cake, Bánh Xèo, on Google, you will find a detailed description.

 

 

2. Bánh Xèo (Pancake)

Banh xeo is a familiar rustic dish for Vietnamese people with eye-catching colors and special flavors. The name Banh Xeo originates from the sizzling sound that occurs when people pour the cake batter into the pan to thinly coat it. That’s why Banh Xeo has its name.

Baking ingredients include rice flour, turmeric powder, coconut milk, eggs, sugar, salt, and green onions. The inside pancake includes mushrooms, shrimp, pork, bean sprouts, onions, raw vegetables, and sweet and sour fish sauce. Eat it with raw vegetables, then dip it in sweet and sour fish sauce. It’s popular on the food tour in Ho Chi Minh City, so we can spend a short time tasting it.

 

 

3. Bún Riu (crab noodle soup)

Crab noodle soup is another noodle soup for both breakfast and lunch. This noodle soup is originally from the Mekong Delta. This soup includes rice noodles and crab. The broth is tasty and stewed with dried shrimp and crab, then seasoned with spices such as tomatoes, shrimp paste, fish sauce, salt, and tofu.
You can eat it with toppings like tofu, pork, and raw vegetables. You can season it with shrimp paste, chili, and lemon to enhance its flavor.

If you are planning a trip to Saigon, why not make a short waliking to experience local dishes on the food tour in Ho Chi Minh City? The stories, and origins of local dishes will help you understand the culture and history of saigon city. You will also gain an in-depth and comprehensive view of the people, customs, practices, as well as values of Vietnam.