10 Best Ho Chi Minh City Dishes Top Must-Try Foods in Saigon
Top Must-Try Foods in Saigon
The best Ho Chi Minh City dishes are well regarded as nutritious, savoury, and hearty delights that can be enjoyed at any time of the day. Some of the defining traits in Vietnamese cuisine include rice, noodles, seafood, pork and beef, as well as various fresh herbs and spices, all of which result in robust flavours and unique interpretations. Although the city is evolving into a cosmopolitan landscape with sprawling shopping malls, fine-dining restaurants and luxury hotels, you can still find plenty of roadside eateries, vibrant street market, and street food carts to satisfy your appetite for authentic Vietnamese delicacies. Dining in Ho Chi Minh is not just limited to Vietnamese pho and coffee, as you can also enjoy fresh seafood, noodles, rice, spring rolls, and meats prepared with an array of cooking methods. Also great for travellers on a tight budget, some of these top must-try foods in Ho Chi Minh City are not only hearty and filling, but also cost less than VND 40,000 per dish. This is what to eat in Ho Chi Minh for a real taste of the city and Vietnam.
1 BÁNH MÌ (Bread)
Top Must-Try Foods in Saigon
The best Ho Chi Minh City dishes are well regarded as nutritious, savoury, and hearty delights that can be enjoyed at any time of the day. Some of the defining traits in Vietnamese cuisine include rice, noodles, seafood, pork and beef, as well as various fresh herbs and spices, all of which result in robust flavours and unique interpretations. Although the city is evolving into a cosmopolitan landscape with sprawling shopping malls, fine-dining restaurants and luxury hotels, you can still find plenty of roadside eateries, vibrant street market, and street food carts to satisfy your appetite for authentic Vietnamese delicacies. Dining in Ho Chi Minh is not just limited to Vietnamese pho and coffee, as you can also enjoy fresh seafood, noodles, rice, spring rolls, and meats prepared with an array of cooking methods. Also great for travellers on a tight budget, some of these top must-try foods in Ho Chi Minh City are not only hearty and filling, but also cost less than VND 40,000 per dish. This is what to eat in Ho Chi Minh for a real taste of the city and Vietnam.
1 BÁNH MÌ (Bread)
Available
almost everywhere in Ho Chi Minh City, banh mi is a quintessential Vietnamese
dish that you should never miss out on. This baguette sandwich is priced
between VND 10,000 and VND 15,000, with pickled vegetables, pate, butter, soy
sauce, cilantro, chilies, and hot peppers. Quick and tasty, you can also choose
from a variety of meat fillings for your banh mi, including heo quay (roasted
pork belly), cha ca (fried fish with turmeric and dill), cha lua (boiled
sausages), xiu mai (meatballs), thit ga (boiled chicken), trung op la (fried
egg), thit nuong (grilled pork loin), and xa xiu (Chinese barbecued pork).
2 PHỞ ( Noodles )
Pho
is rice noodle that’s served in a flavourful soup with beef, bean sprouts, lime
wedges, and greens such as basil, mint, cilantro, and onions with a side of
chilli sauce for added spice. A basic bowl contains tai (beef slices), bo vien
(beef meatballs) or nam (beef flank), but diners can also opt for more exotic
ingredients such as gan (beef tendon), sach (thinly-sliced pig stomach), and ve
don (flank with cartilage). This popular breakfast option is priced between VND
20,000 and VND 30,000 at any local restaurant or street market in Ho Chi Minh
City.
3 ỐC ( Vietnamese Shellfish )
Best
enjoyed with cold beers, oc refers to platters of Vietnamese shellfish that are
prepared in varying methods. Due to its popularity, there are plenty of
roadside stalls and inexpensive restaurants with raw snails, blood cockles,
clams, shrimps, and crabs displayed out front. After selecting those that
strike your fancy, you can enjoy them grilled, sautéed, curried, or steamed.
Priced at VND 20,000 onwards, we highly recommend grilled mussels with scallion
oil and peanuts (chem chep nuong), blood cockles sautéed in tamarind sauce (so
huyet ran me), and clams steamed with lemongrass.
4 CƠM TẤM ( Broken Rice )
Cơm
tấm is actually ‘broken rice’ in Vietnamese, usually served with fried egg,
diced green onions, and a variety of meats such as suon nuong (barbecued pork
chop), bi (shredded pork skin), and cha trung (steamed pork and egg patty).
Diners can also enjoy this dish with a side of pickled vegetables, cucumber
slices, and nuoc cham Vietnamese dipping sauce. Com tam can be enjoyed any time
of the day as it is relatively inexpensive, with street markets and roadside
food stalls selling for about VND 20,000 per bowl.
5 GỎI CUỐN ( Vietnamese Spring Rolls )
Gỏi
cuốn or Vietnamese spring rolls comprise vermicelli noodles, pork slices,
shrimp, basil, and lettuce tightly wrapped in translucent banh trang (rice
papers). Due to its very subtle flavour, you can dip it in a mix of freshly
ground chilli and hoisin-based dipping sauce topped with crushed peanuts. This
traditional appetiser is a healthier alternative to cha gio, which is a
deep-fried egg roll made with a combination of mung bean noodles, minced pork,
and various spices.
6 BÁNH XÈO ( Crispy Pancake )
Bánh
xèo is a savoury pancake that’s made of rice flour, coconut milk, and turmeric,
stuffed with ingredients such as pork slices, shrimps, sliced onions, bean
sprouts, and button mushrooms. Unlike the ones you find in Nha Trang and Hanoi,
ban xeo in Ho Chi Minh City is much smaller in portion as it is usually eaten
as a snack or appetiser. The best way to enjoy ban xeo is by wrapping it in
mustard leaf, lettuce leaves or rice wrappers, together with mint leaves,
basil, herbs, and sweet fermented peanut butter sauce. Lastly, dip it in a
sweet and sour fish sauce.
7 HỦ TÍU ( Rice Noodles )
Hu
tieu is a subtler version of pho noodles, featuring a clear pork-based broth,
flat rice noodles, and an assortment of pork toppings. There are also countless
variations available in Ho Chi Minh City, though the most popular one is hu
tieu xuong, which is topped with pork ribs. Alternatively, you can enjoy hu
tieu with shrimp, squid, or fish if you’re not a fan of pork. A bowl of hu tieu
is usually priced at VND 18,000 at street stalls and VND 25,000 onwards if
you’re dining at more established restaurants.
8 CÁ KHO TỘ ( Caramelised Fish in Clay Pot )
Served
in numerous Vietnamese restaurants within Ho Chi Minh City, ca kho to refers to
catfish braised in a clay pot. This dish is prepared by cutting a whole catfish
into fillets before it’s braised in a thick gravy made with a combination of
soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, shallots, garlic, and various spices and
seasonings. Due to its intense sweet-salty flavour, ca kho to is always served
with a plate of white rice.
9 BÁNH CUỐN ( Rolled Cake )
Loosely
wrapped in a steamed fermented rice sheet, banh cuon contains a mix of ground
pork, minced wood ear mushroom, onions, Vietnamese ham (cha lua), steamed
beansprouts, and cucumbers. You can easily spot vendors selling banh cuon in
prominent marketplaces such as Cholon and Ben Thanh Market as well as local
restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. This traditional Vietnamese dish is sometimes
topped with shrimp floss, coriander, and herbs, with a sweet-sour dipping sauce
made with fish extract, lime, and chilli.
10 BÚN THỊT NƯỚNG ( Vermicelli Noodles with Grilled Pork )
A hearty
dish in Ho Chi Minh City, Bún Thịt Nướng features vermicelli rice noodles with
freshly chopped lettuce, sliced cucumber, bean sprouts, pickled daikon and
carrot, basil, chopped peanuts, and mint, topped with grilled yet tender pork
shoulder. Diners can also opt for Bún Thịt Nướng cha gio (deep-fried eggrolls),
which comes with crunchy slices of cha gio (deep-fried eggrolls). As with most
Vietnamese dishes, you also get a side of nuoc cham sauce to mix into the bun
thit nuong for a flavourful ensemble.
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