Dining out - Phan Thiết's specialities in Sài gòn!

I wouldn't say what I'm sharing with you is our street food, but it's 100% surely not from fancy dining spot, it's just a very down-to-earth eating place, where you can spend good time with friends, having very good food and it doesn't damage your wallet very much at the end!

My first "dining out" post is "Specialities from Phan homeland!"(Đặc sản Đất Phan). Phan here means Phan Thiết, 200km away from Sài gòn, a center of many well-known resorts by South China Sea or locally we call East Sea, a very hot spot for many tourist in Vietnam and overseas, a week-end relaxing place for families. In next several years, hopefully, Phan Thiết could become one of the most competitive destinations for tourists in South East Asia along with Phuket or Bali!

We arrived to "Đất Phan" around 7:00PM, while waiting for another friends, we have "fish cake roll" as starters. It's a rice paper roll filled with fish cake (of course!), boiled duck egg, very crispy deep-fried rice paper, a lot of veggies and dipping peanut sauce! When I bite this roll, I love the sound from crispy deep fried rice paper inside! Amazing!  

Chả cuốn (Fish cake roll) and peanut fish sauce

Quick look what's inside after a bite! (clockwise: boiled duck egg, fish cake, deep fried very crispy rice paper, veggies) 

Street snacks - Cake with leaves wrap - Part Two

The image of Viet street foods is accompanied by some unique sound from the hawkers. Especially those traditional snacks wrapped in leaves, I suddenly remember the hawker's voice "bánh giò đây, bánh giò nóng đây!" (literally means "I'm selling  pork steamed cake, hot pork steamed cake")  in my neighbourhood every night, late at night.
Many thoughts about hawker's destiny, feelings behind that sound, each sound seems to carry untouchable life stories.

Unattended street food tradition ...

I'm talking about "bánh giò" as an unique street food! "Bánh giò' originally from the North, a pyramid shape cake wrapped in banana leaves and filled with fried minced pork, wood ear mushroom, shallot...and the dough itself made of rice and tapioca flour.
We steam it in big steamer! It's good to eat hot, that's why the hawkers always keep it warm in their special container on their bike! I love the taste of steamed dough: soft, chewy, tasty, a bit oily...and the hot flavor  from the filling and banana leaves - all mixed together! Indescribable!

"Bánh giò" steamed rice cake with minced pork, wood ear mushroom...

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! 

Street snacks (quà vặt) Part One

If you ask me how many street snacks we have ...
I may not have a correct answer for that question!

Vietnam is developing, our food culture is also facing challenges and opportunities at the same time!
We are in process to gain something new but also to lose something old & traditional!
Some of street foods have been sweep by new trends, new items from overseas.
And at the same time, it could be a good time to promote the old, the traditional... in new form, as an extreme make-over to survive in Saigon - a big hub of food culture!

I'm really curious to collect, as much as I could, unique street snacks that we still see today but it could disappear someday!

Bánh tai yến (swift's nest cake!) 

Bánh tai yến (literally swift's nest cake!) originally from Mekong Delta, a mixture of rice powder, tapioca starch, coconut milk, sugar. Deep fried cake!
The name "tai yến" probably comes from the cake's form which reminds a nest of swifts! Special taste but a bit oily! There is one street vendor in Lý Tự Trọng street, in front of City's library, she's always there from morning till afternoon! 5000 VN đồng for one piece, and it's quite big! 

Sour noodles from Lạng Sơn (phở chua Lạng Sơn)

I never heard about this food until yesterday! The shop located in small and quiet alley in dist. 3. We went there around 4:00 PM, few customers behind the stall! But the waiter told us - school children, student love it - sour noodles!
Ok, let's try and we ordered three bowls.

Sour noodles with chicken from far land in the North Lạng Sơn! 

Sticky rice - savory taste! (xôi mặn) - Part Two

Our tour with sticky rice dishes continues, this time - savory taste! To be honest I have no idea when savory sticky rice dishes have been created, but I remember when I was kid I did try two dishes: sticky rice with dry shrimp at my school (I can't remember - Chinese sausage was added at that time or not!) and another one - with char xiu (Chinese flavor barbecue pork - xá xíu)  and its special sauce.

Sticky rice with char xiu (mostly in China town)

Jelly (rau câu) - a quick flashback to the old times

Any Saigonese, over 30 or 40, probably still remember jelly seller with simple cart, they push their  cart in small alleys of Saigon, sell very colourful jelly in small glasses, or coconut jelly in tiny bowl...To keep jelly cold, they put a big ice block and jelly on it.

I wonder how long they can keep the ice in there, under the summer heat!

We can see thru the glass display to select.
I love coconut jelly with white coconut milk sauce on the top (nowadays we have luxury jelly-coconut fruit (rau câu trái dừa)!

This sweet snack is the best to have after the afternoon nap, in order to get a cold freshness or sweet taste to save the energy for the rest of the day!

Today jelly is more delicate in colour, shape and flavor 

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!

Sticky rice - sweet taste (xôi ngọt) - Part One

Along with well-known breakfast-dishes as beef noodle, broken rice, bread...sticky rice is considered as one of most affordable breakfasts for many different-income level people in Vietnam. They could be school children, students, white & blue collar workers, housewives...everyone! 

Vietnam is a country with rice and fish sauce culture, that's why dishes made of rice, sticky rice are part of our life, very diversified! We have sweet and savory sticky rice dishes. I would suggest to try some good sweet sticky rice first! My favorite are corn-sticky rice (xôi bắp) in Northern style, pandan leaves sticky rice (xôi lá dứa) with coconut sauce!

Corn sticky rice in Northern style 

Corn sticky rice (xôi bắp)is speciality from the North. It's a mixture between corn and sticky rice, corn should be well-cooked, but not too soft, it's served with green bean, crispy fried shallot, a little bit of oil, sugar...at some place, people localize for Southern taste, they add fresh grated coconut meat (dừa nạo). Talking about this, I remember a woman selling this corn sticky rice near to my house , I bought it from her mother when I was kid,  and now from her, but since early this year I didn't see her old stall anymore at usual corner, maybe family business already finished when many new spots appear nearby, means more competition!   

Rolled rice cake (bánh cuốn)

Few days ago, I check online news and found Vietnam together with other 20 (or maybe more) countries are most famous for street foods! In South East Asia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore...are among the best! Proud of it!

Today, for your food tour, I take you to small stall (Thiên Hương - 155 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai street, dist.1) to taste another special street food called "bánh cuốn" (rolled rice cake).

Steamed rolled rice cake with egg (new recipe!) at Thiên Hương

Noodle from Quảng Nôm (Mỳ Quảng)

I was born in Sài gòn, but my mother originally from Quảng Ngãi (Central of Vietnam), she was the first family member moved to Sàigòn in her early 20s, after how many decades surviving in Sàigòn, she still keeps a habit to put traditional rice crackers (bánh tráng) into certain dish with soup wherever she has this chance! And I inherited that habit from her. Yes, in Central of Vietnam, esp.  my mother hometown, Đà Nẵng, people over there love to have rice cracker during meal time! And now you have a chance to try rice crackers with famous noodle: Mỳ Quảng - noodle from Quảng Nam (or Quảng Nôm by Central accent!)

Mỳ Quảng with shrimp

Saigon's baguette (bánh mỳ Sài gòn)

Vietnamese love bread, especially baguette! It probably comes from our history when French culture, cuisine have influence on our lifestyle! I'm not an exception! I used love baking bread!

If beef noodle, broken rice are our favorite breakfast, bread or as we say "bánh mỳ" is on the top, because it' mobile, easy to take away! We love our bánh mỳ and we can have it around the clock!

Before we have bread only with Vietnamese pork ham (chả lụa), pâté, chicken floss, sunny side up egg...but now more choices!

From canned fish with tomato sauce, traditional pork skin (bánh mỳ bì) with fish sauce, meat ball (bánh mỳ xíu mại), fish cake (bánh mỳ chả cá), roasted pork (bánh mỳ thịt quay),  stew intestine (bánh mỳ phá lấu), grilled pork (bánh mỳ thịt nướng) with sweet black soy sauce, chili sauce. The other day I saw a stall selling bread with stew beef liver (khô bò đen) which usually goes with famous papaya salad! Worth to try!
 
By the way, just got a news that our bánh mỳ has been considered as one of the world's best street food by Lonely Planet after long survey across the globe! Sounds nice!

Bread with favorite sunny side up egg (bánh mỳ ốp la)

But whatever we have now, I and many others are still loyal to the tradition, that's why many bread stalls  in Sàigòn are famous for their bread with fantastic pâté, ham, pork or chicken...If you take a walk around some quarters in Saigon, you may find several small bread stalls, street vendors! 

                                                                Bread with fish cake! 

Here you go! Right in the heart of Sài gòn, opposite Saigon Center building. On Pasteur street!
Simple street stall of bread with stew intestine (bánh mỳ phá lấu)!
I remember before only one stall but yesterday I found two! Competition!

Stew intestine (phá lấu) is good if the pork intestine is fresh and well marinated with five-spice powder! Then it should be well cooked, not too soft but chewy enough!
Most important is the combination of thick sweet soy sauce and chili sauce! Some shreds of pickled carrot & white radish, fresh cucumber! Very good!

Broken rice (cơm tấm)

Talking about cơm tấm (broken rice), i.e we are talking about our memory in childhood, about the most popular breakfast along with beef noodle. If beef noodle is the King, I can consider "cơm tấm" as Queen!

Broken rice with grilled rib pork at famous "Com tam Cau Doi" in My Tho

I love cơm tấm very much, it reminds my junor high school time, when I get pocket money for breakfast, I go to cơm tấm place near to my school, order a small plate... at that time I eat slowly and wish my cơm tấm never ends on my plate. Nice smell from still hot steamed broken rice mixed with pandan leaves smell  (lá dứa), fish sauce, green onion with fat (mở hành), pork skin (bì)... all these flavors combined creating unforgettable taste until now.

Broken rice with traditional pork skin, steamed egg cake

Papaya salad (gỏi đu đủ)

Papaya salad I'm talking about is not what you can find either in Thai or Viet restaurant - this is different and only on the street!
Since long time, this salad is the most favourite esp. for high school girls, students. Whenever you see a crowd of young people, mostly female, sitting on the street or on very small chairs along the pavement, holding small plastic plate, eating some white green "noodle" or trying to get the last drop of  brown sauce...that's extremely popular "snack" for young Vietnamese!

Papaya salad (or beef salad at some places) 

Banana as King of sweet street food

Quite some time ago I was wondering how many dishes we can make from banana! I asked my friends, and no one could give me a good answer!

Banana to Vietnamese is exactly the same as apple to Westerners, we have banana every day, banana everywhere in the city, every corner, every street: either on simple stall-cart or right on the sidewalk!

Image of banana is so familiar in our food culture and at the same time in our language the word "banana" is used as casual jargon to express some unreasonable character, behavior (!?)

Within this post, I want to share about banana as one of the most popular street foods! I may call banana as "King of sweet street food", because so many good things from this ordinary tropical fruit!

One of the most popular sweet dessert soups with banana (chè chuối chưng) 

Chè chuối chưng, this's a sweet desert with banana, coconut milk, tapioca pearl, cassava...very popular! Similar we have "chuối xào dừa" (cooked unripe banana with coconut milk) that I didn't see for long!

Steamed banana cake served with coconut sauce 

Bánh chuối hấp and chuối nướng always nearby. Bánh chuối hấp is a "steamed" banana cake, "steamed" to differentiate from another famous baked banana cake. Nice taste and chewy with strong banana flavor, served with coconut sauce (nước cốt dừa) and a bit of salted sesame or peanut!

Baked banana cake (my homemade!) 

Cooked semin-ripe banana served with coconut sauce (chuối xào dừa) 

Noodle with vegetarian spring roll

Today is Nguyên Tiêu - the first night of the first month and mid of Jan. by Lunar calendar, Chinese community celebrates this date by going to certain pagodas, to pray for better year, for better prosperity!

I heard that people prefer a Female Pagoda (Chùa Bà) in Bình Dương, they go there even from last night for today celebration! And we still have Male Pagoda (Chùa Ông), but it seems less crowded!

I don't go to Pagoda, but I do pray at home to my ancestors for our family's protection, for better life (!). Many Vietnamese have vegetarian food in the first day (mồng Một) and mid of each month by Lunar calendar, we call these days "ngày rằm"(full moon day), again I'm not vegetarian but today suddenly I like to try at least one. And today's choice is rice noodles with vegetarian spring rolls!

Noodle with vegetarian spring roll (bún chả giò chay) 

Yellow noodles (Mỳ)

I call yellow noodles, because the color of noodles is simply yellow or egg noodles!
In Vietnamese we just say noodles (mỳ) and we all know this is originated from China! Writing this blog, I remember when I was a kid, every night I hear the sound "coc coc, coc coc" from noodle boy, he walk around in the neighborhood with two wooden sticks, makes that sound, we call him, make order, he goes back to the noodles cart, where the owner in waiting for the orders, prepares noodle and the boy brings it to us! Door-to-door service at very cheap price! Nowadays in some area, you may still hear this unique sound, but it's less and less with time!

Noodles with braised duck (Mì vịt tiềm)