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!

The pick of the month! (món của tháng!)

What I'm going to share with you - may not be considered as street food in Sài gòn, but it could be found somewhere in Central area, exactly where ? I'm probably not a right person to advise, but I feel a rush to share this special wrap&roll dish with you!

I got from friend, after his comeback from holiday in his hometown, a bunch of big rice paper with sesame. "Ok, what I can do with this one?" I asked him. He said "You dip it into water, when rice paper becomes soft, you wrap with SPRING ROLL, BOILED EGG, COOKED PORK, VEGGIES, then roll and dip into a fish sauce mixed with ground peanut. All sounds quite new to me! I said "OK, will do!"

Special wrap & roll dish with sesame rice paper which becomes soft, chewy after a dip in water!