Just walking around any street in the City or in District 2, where I live, at any time of the day there are hot braziers filled with food of various descriptions, smells wafting through the air and customers sitting on miniature size chairs on the pavement, all tucking in to their freshly cooked meal. Street food is the way to eat here, it is cheap and the best vendors produce food from fresh ingredients which are equal to some of the best restaurants. There are many delicious dishes from which to choose.
Early in the morning barbequed meat is popular. The thin pork steaks sizzle on top of the open barbeque. Then there is sticky rice, which comes with cooked corn topped with green mung beans and fried shallots with sugar on top. This is the sweet version but there is also a savoury or salty version (xoi man) which is served with dried shrimp, Chinese sausage and green onion and all flavoured with soya sauce.
Pho bo or beef noodle soup seems to be eaten at any time of the day or night. Succulent beef slices lie on top of the noodles (pho) with some fresh vegetables. The intense flavour of the soup comes from the stock which is made from beef bones, to which, my recipe states; ‘one old ginger root’, fish sauce, cloves, star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns, sugar and salt should be added.
For lunch, a favourite is the Saigon baguette (banh my Saigon). The bread is lighter and crispier than a traditional baguette and filled with lots of good things. Tourists rave about them. The fillings vary, but traditionally, the baguette is stuffed with ham, liver paste (pate gan), vegetables, such as cucumber, carrots, green onions and chilli, sliced thinly, pickled shreds of cabbage and radish and then a large dollop of mayonnaise to bind it all together.
Rice noodles (bun) are another popular dish eaten at any time of the day or night and in a variety of ways. The most popular is with grilled pork but they can be served with deep fried spring rolls and also with sour crab soup. Noodles come in various sizes and big noodles (banh canh) served with pork knuckles is traditional in the south and is like a type of soup.
Recipes and traditional foods come from many different regions in Vietnam. The more delicious foods have transcended their original location and are now eaten all over the country but with some regional differences. One example is beef noodles from Hue (bun bo Hue). They are eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The secret recipe that makes it distinctively from Hue is the shrimp paste and the lemon grass.
A very popular breakfast dish is savoury flat rice flour cake (banh cuon). The thin wide sheet of steamed rice batter is filled with seasoned ground pork, minced mushrooms and shallots. Wet cake (ban uot) is a slightly different version which is easy to handle and therefore is often sold on mobile street carts.
The list of street food is very long and whatever your taste there should be something to enjoy.