Bến Thành market - Water fern cake (bánh bèo)

Last week I tried "noodle with coconut worm" at Bến Thành market, so this Sunday I probably go for something less exotic ? After my first discovery about beef noodle "Pho Minh" in small alley at right-in-the-heart-of-Saigon Pasteur street, with my friend we were heading to Bến Thành market for my second discovery in the day, and also second time at this historical market!

Water fern cake ! Sounds nice! In Vietnamese we call a tiny, tiny and thin steamed rice cake "bánh bèo", and "bèo" in our language symbolizes something cheap, that's why we have an expression "rẻ (như) bèo"(cheap as water fern)! In fact "bánh bèo" is really cheap, a dozen costs you less than 1 USD, at street place, but in the restaurant, another thing!

Plate of bánh bèo at Bến Thành market, not only bánh bèo , two others are bánh bột lọc (steamed tapioca cake filled with shrimp and pork) and bánh ít trần (steamed glutinous rice cake filled with mung bean) served with sweet fish sauce at 14,000 VND! Is it cheap as water fern?  

For to go!

Bến Thành market - Coconut worm rice noodle

Being Vietnamese, living in Sài gòn, but I rarely visit Bến Thành market, this place is more for tourist not locals.  The price here is really expensive, if you know - just one square meter (1m2) in this market could cost a real fortune - hundred thousand USD! And you may not believe it costs more than the same area in Ginza - Tokyo! Easy to understand because of two facts: best location and the brand name "Bến Thành market" as a big tourist symbol in Sài gòn! 

But I'm here to talk about the traditional food court inside this nearly hundred-year-old market (1914)! Before I didn't pay much attention, but this morning when I go there, I found almost all typical traditional dishes are here! I can't make a list but everything comes from everywhere: North, Central, Mekong Delta! 

I really want to do a small food tour for myself within this market, so I decide once a week I will try some dish, then write a review and post it here! 

Coconut worm rice noodle (bún suông) - the orange "worm" on the left-hand side!