Discovering The Tasty Vietnamese Street Food

Vietnamese street food is praised by tourists and mentioned by prestigious newspapers in the world as one of the best street foods in the world. So the street food in Vietnam is very impressive.

Vietnam is a foodie paradise, with restaurants and street vendors serving up fresh, locally sourced dishes. With each region of Vietnam so distinct in culture and climate, this list will guide you to the best local specialties in each region of the country.

That cuisine itself has made it so famous that it is considered a typical symbol of Vietnam by tourists? Now we will find out together why Vietnamese street food is so popular with international friends.

Below will explain the reasons and suggest some of the best Vietnamese street food if you intend to try Vietnamese street food during your trip or excursion while in Vietnam.

I. Why is street food popular in Vietnam?

Vietnam is one of the best street food destinations in the world with diverse and flavorful dishes. Visitors can discover the vibrant scene of Vietnamese cuisine in any street or alley without having to step foot in the luxurious restaurants.

Street culture is popular in countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. Multi-generational families often live in small houses close together, especially in big cities like Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. People often do not have enough space to gather with friends to eat and drink and sidewalk eateries were born from that.

1. Diverse cuisine

Vietnamese food may be broadly categorized into three types. Vietnamese cuisine from the north, the center, and the south.

The temperature, topography, and cultural influences all have an impact on the food of northern Vietnam. Stews like pho are well-liked and the tastes are frequently sour and salty.

The emphasis on fullness and pleasure after eating is a hallmark of southern cuisine, which tends toward plenty and variety. The tastes are often spicier and sweeter.

Due to its proximity to the sea, central Vietnam's cuisine is varied and includes seafood and a number of sauces produced from fish, shrimp, and other shellfish.

While the quantities in the south are enormous, we could easily eat two or three in the center.

You'll like learning about the subtleties of your favorite street food meals while seeing the nation, as we did.

In addition, diversity is also considered as the reason for the formation of street food in Vietnam. Large cities are often the convergence of people from all over the country to study and work. They can only live in rented houses with minimal living conditions with tourist gas stoves to prepare fast food. Therefore, most Vietnamese people love street restaurants because they can easily immerse themselves in the bustling atmosphere outside. The street food in Vietnam is very diverse, in Ho Chi Minh City, the specialties of the regions in Vietnam are converged and sold on the alleys here.

2. Quality

While the street food of many other countries around the world is more about snacks or fast food, the most sophisticated dishes can also be found on the streets and alleys of Vietnam. Most of the dishes that many tourists think can only be eaten in restaurants are easily found on Vietnamese streets.

A lot of Vietnamese dishes with very cheap prices but extremely delicious and nutritious. Not only that, they are also processed and cared for very carefully like a luxury restaurant.

3. Cheap

In addition, street food in Vietnam is very cheap, with only an amount equivalent to 1 to 3 US dollars, diners can have a delicious and filling dish right on the sidewalk with pho, vermicelli, bread or rice paper, etc.

4. Culinary flavors attract from different ingredients

The factor that makes foreign tourists love Vietnamese cuisine is the special taste they bring. Dishes have extremely diverse main ingredients with all kinds of meat, fish, eggs, etc., eating with flavored dipped sauces and are varied into many different types.

This seems to be a common feature of the street food of Asian countries, but the interference between Chinese culture and the Khmer ethnic group has created a very unique taste that you will not be able to find in other Asian countries. 

5. Vietnamese fully eat with their senses

Vietnamese food is generally stunning to look at, with a remarkable coherence in the dishes used, the colors on the plate, and the sauces. 

Using all five senses, food is prepared according to the "completely eating" approach. The food must be aesthetically pleasing, as well as how it is presented on the table.

Eating "with the nose" entails smelling the scrumptious aromas of the employed sauces and broth.

Additionally, chewing allows us to "touch" food with our teeth and experience a variety of sensations, from crunchy to soft to chewy.

Last but not least, the sounds generated by crunching crackers, peanuts, and more are what the Vietnamese refer to as "eating with their ears".

This idea came to life for us while eating grilled scallops in Vietnam. Our fondness for scallops was further fueled by the enticing scents of perfectly plated, grilled scallops with crunchy peanuts.

II. Popular street food in Vietnam

Some famous local foods in Vietnam are listed below. 

• 1. Bánh tráng trộn

Banh Trang Tron (mixed rice paper) is simply rice flour paper cut into bite-sized pieces, mixed with beef sauce, coriander, shredded mango, roasted peanuts, dried beef or dried chicken. This is a dish that is loved by many young people because of its harmonious sour and spicy taste.

You can easily find mixed rice paper in most provinces and cities in Vietnam, concentrated in schools, offices, etc. The price of a piece of mixed rice paper is quite cheap, only from 10,000 VND to 50,000 VND.

Walking along the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, it is not difficult to see women and girls carrying on their shoulders the ingredients for making rice paper. Even this dish can be considered as a feature of Saigon street food culture.

• 2. Bánh tráng nướng

No one knows when Banh Trang Nuong (grilled rice paper) was available in Vietnam. Only in the last 10 years, grilled rice paper is a familiar street food of people in Saigon, Da Lat, Da Nang and more. Over the years, the version of grilled rice paper in each region has also changed a lot. If Saigon's grilled rice paper is simple with quail eggs, onion fat and shrimp paste, Da Lat's grilled rice paper will have more sausages and meatballs.

• 3. Chè

Chè is a dessert that appears a lot on the streets of Vietnam, and is an extremely cool and healthy dish. This is an extremely easy dish to cook, made from beans, glutinous rice, coconut milk, etc., depending on the creativity of the chef in each region. On hot summer days, the best way to cool off is to enjoy a cup of Chè on the street.

Some popular traditional teas in Vietnam are Chè Bà Ba (Sweet gruel of sweet potato, taro, and cassava), Chè đậu đen ( black beans sweet gruel), Chè đậu xanh (green beans sweet gruel), Chè bánh lọt, Chè đậu phộng (peanut),  Chè trôi nước (Rice Ball Sweet Soup with ginger), Chè hạt sen (Sweet Lotus Seed gruel), Chè đậu trắng (white cowpea sweet gruel), Chè bắp (Corn Pudding), etc. 

• 4. Bắp xào
  

Bắp xào (Stir-fried Corn) is a dish often seen in carts on the streets of Vietnam. De-seeded corn sauteed with butter, dried shrimp, and scallions. In addition, another version of this dish is "Bắp nướng mỡ hành" - grilled corn with onion fat.

• 5. Bò Bía

In Vietnam, Bò Bía Mặn (Salted Bo Bia) is made from ingredients including sausages, fried eggs, carrots, lettuce, cassava root or kohlrabi, dried shrimp, herbs, etc., all cut into long strips, thin and rolled with rice paper rolls. The accompanying dipping sauce is chili sauce mixed with crushed roasted peanuts and fried in cooking oil with dried onions.

For sweet custard-apple beef, the ingredients are simpler, including a single malt candy bar or substitute sugar rolls with grated coconut.

• 6. Bột Chiên
  

A popular street food in the South of Vietnam, Bot Chien (fried dough) is made from rice flour, after steaming, it will be shaped like a lead and then fried with eggs, adding a little green onion, shredded papaya and ketchup.

• 7. Súp cua (Crab Soup)

It is one of the popular breakfast dishes that many people love in Saigon. With the main ingredients being crab, straw mushrooms, quail eggs and tapioca starch, plus spices such as cilantro, powdered pepper, etc., first-time eaters are likely to have a strange feeling because of the taste of the soup, but after that will quickly "addict" to this nutritious dish. After every rainy afternoon in Saigon, the crab soup eateries in all the alleys are crowded with people.

• 8. Gỏi khô bò (Mixed Fried-beef)

Many foreign tourists mistake Vietnamese Gỏi Khô Bò for Thai Som Tam salad. Although made with the same ingredients as grated green papaya, roasted peanuts, coriander, dried black beef, etc., the taste of these two specialties is completely different. Beef dry salad is a harmonious combination of three flavors sweet - salty - spicy, eaten with crispy shrimp crackers is even more perfect.

• 9. Snail

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Snails are a very popular snack with many different ways of processing, giving an unmistakable taste. And Saigon snail dish has a special taste of Southern people.

Processed from many types of snails into many different dishes such as boiled snails, spicy fried snails with tamarind, fried snails with lemongrass and chili, grilled snails ... for users to freely choose. Combined with the characteristic sweet sauce, spicy chili and salted figs, it creates a dish with the dusty style of Saigon people.

You can easily find and enjoy snail dishes all over the streets of Saigon. In particular, try this dish in winter, the characteristic hot and spicy flavor will give you a feeling of relaxation in the cold winter days.

You can refer to the lowest price of 30,000 VND/ dish depending on each processing method and type of snail.

• 10. Cà phê trứng (egg-coffee)

Egg coffee is the dish mentioned by CNN with constant praise. Although it is a drink, you can completely use egg coffee as a dessert.

This is a dish that foreign tourists suggest to each other when coming to Vietnam, especially Hanoi. The egg whites are whipped smooth, covered with a rich coffee with typical Vietnamese flavor. Although only found in small alleys in Hanoi, egg coffee shops are always extremely crowded. The fragrant aroma of egg yolks, the strong aroma of coffee, all create an irresistible passionate duo.

• 11. Fried banana cake, fried sweet-potato cake

Passing by the shop of banana cakes, sweet-potato cakes, looking at the crispy cakes being stacked on the shelves, anyone can't help but feel craving.

The ingredients of banana cake, potato cake are nothing special, only flour, a few banana slices or sweet-potato slices and then fry them until golden brown. Simple as that, but the taste of this dish is forever attached. Banana cake has a mild sour and sweet taste; Sweet-potato cake is both greasy and fragrant, with the simple, rustic taste of sweet potatoes. This is a particularly popular dish in Vietnam.

• 12. Tào phớ (Tofu Pudding)

This is one of the most popular summer cooling dishes in the North. Nowadays, young people also create extremely attractive mixed tofu instead of just eating tofu as usual. A bowl of mixed Tao Pho costs from 6,000 - 10,000 VND with a unique combination of the cool sweetness of sugar, the slightly nutty flavor of fresh coconut and the chewy, crunchy texture of buffalo legs.

• 13. Phá lấu 

For a long time, Pha Lau has been a delicious and rustic snack of Saigon people. From small children to the elderly, anyone “crushes” this dish. Pha Lau is a dish made from the organs of animals. There are many types of Pha Lau: Pork, Chicken, Duck, Beef, etc. But Pha Lau Bo (Beef Pha Lau) is the dish that people like to eat the most.

• 14. Cá viên chiên (Fried fish ball)

Perhaps there is no snack that is sold as much in the streets of Saigon as fried fish balls. Almost anywhere, in any corner of Saigon, from small alleys to downtown areas, you can see the shadow of trolleys selling fried fish balls. Fish are strung four or five pieces on a skewer. When there are customers, the owner takes the skewers and puts them in the hot oil pan. After 5 minutes, the customers have delicious hot fried strings served with delicious chili sauce.

• 15. Trứng vịt lộn (Balut)

Trung Vit Lon (Balut) is a special dish that can only be found in some Eastern countries such as Vietnam and China. In Vietnam, balut is a street food that is loved by many people because it is very delicious and rich in nutrients.

Boiled duck eggs in about 15-20 minutes can serve guests. 

III. Is It Safe to Eat Street Food in Vietnam?

It is frequently necessary to adapt when eating street food in Vietnam. Many people, especially those from western countries, demand higher standards than are often met.

Popular street booths are packed, and some people may find the little plastic stools unpleasant.

Garbage on the floor is both noticeable and prevalent. It is traditional to discard napkins or the inedible ends of fresh plants on the floor. This is derived from an old habit of displaying the riches and quantity of the feast.

At some stalls, there is also a mechanism in place for the employees to keep track of how much food has been devoured. Nonetheless, debris on the floor does not always indicate a filthy restaurant.

You may choose the booths that look and smell excellent because the kitchen is on the streets where you can observe the preparation.

Pick booths where there are many residents present. A bustling stand suggests that there is a big volume of food being sold, which is positive.

To reduce the spread of germs, order hot noodle soups and meals if you're not sure what else to have.

We hardly ever got sick when we were traveling in Vietnam. We used to seek a sizable local audience as a sign of good, fresh street cuisine. Please see our post below for further advice.

So, it can be seen that street food is not only a very special traditional value for Vietnamese people, but also a unique cultural feature that international tourists always want to explore and experience. Therefore, preserving and promoting street food is a must to contribute to the elevation and positioning of Vietnamese culture on the world map.