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Top 10 Specialty Foods in Ho Chi Minh City
On Saigon streets, you can stop anywhere to eat anything you want from noodles to barbecue, from savory foods and sweet foods, from main dishes to snacks. Saigon is a paradise of foods with hundreds of delicious foods from different regions in Vietnam. Just come to Saigon, you can enjoy flavorful Hue foods or delicious specialties of Hanoi. Over many years, Saigon cuisine becomes richer and richer with foods from other regions, countries and new foods. It seems to Saigon people that they don’t need to know what are Saigon specialty foods which originated in Saigon. I’ve collected all information of Saigon foods and listed Top 10 Specialty Foods in Ho Chi Minh City.
1. Stir-fried Fertilized Duck Egg with Tamarind Sauce
Although Western people are afraid of eating fertilized duck egg, this food is very popular in South East Asia, including Vietnam. We don’t only boil the fertilized egg but also create many amazing receipts to make the fertilized duck egg tastier. The most favorite receipt is Stir-fried Fertilized Duck Egg with Tamarind Sauce. The sour taste comes from tamarind sauce is the highlight of this food. Stir-fried Fertilized Duck Egg with Tamarind Sauce is not only sour but also sweet which are the favorite taste of Saigon people. This food is more delicious if it’s served with Rau Ram – a spicy herb in Vietnam. Just try, I beg you’ll love it.
2. Noodles with Organs
Noodle with Organs is one of foods fear factors in the world on Western magazines. However, it is one of the most popular Saigon specialty foods. Saigon people have fallen in love with pig and beef’s liver, gut, stomach… The organs must be stewed with many ingredients for many hours before being served with noodles because they’re very tough. The taste may be strange to Western but it’s really delicious.
3. Cu Chi Beef
Cu Chi region in Ho Chi Minh City is famous for Cu Chi tunnels – a great evidence of Vietnam’s heroic and heart-
4. Bo Bia
Bo Bia is similar to Fresh Spring Roll which is well-known by many visitors to Vietnam. If you have a local friend or join a food tour in Saigon, you may have a chance to enjoy a hidden food from foreigners – Bo Bia. Boiled jicama, Vietnamese sausage, dried shrimp and salad are wrapped in rice paper into a small roll. The sauce is made from black bean paste, chili, pickles, peanuts, and deep-fried onion. The wonderful taste and cheap price are the reasons which make this food popular among students. Bo Bia is usually sold at small food stalls on the streets so that it’s easy to stop and buy it on a motorbike.
5. Goat Curry
Goat meat, sweet potato are cooked until being tender in a flavorful sauce with curry, coconut cream, coconut water, sweet potato, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and pepper. We love to eat Goat Curry with bread or rice noodle. It’s totally different from other curry dishes you’ve ever tasted.
6. Com Chay Cha Bong
Com Chay Cha Bong one of Top 10 Specialty Foods in Ho Chi Minh City. Com Chay Cha Bong is deep-fried steamed rice, topped with pork jerky, dried shrimp and chopped green onion. It’s one of the most popular snacks in South Vietnam. It’s easy to buy this food in the city because it’s sold in convenient stores, markets, supermarkets… The crispy deep-fried steamed rice and delicious pork jerky and dried shrimp will win your heart and make you keep eating it.
7. Mixed Rice Paper
Rice paper, cut into strips, is the main ingredient of this food. The simple receipt is rice paper strips mixed with special salt from Tay Ninh and kumquat juice. Rice paper strips, beef jerky, mango strips, boiled quail egg, dried shrimp and special sauce are used to make a wonderful snack. Each portion is served in a plastic bag, dinners can mix the ingredients themselves or the sellers will help them to do that. In Saigon, Nguyen Thuong Hien street is famous for many Mixed Rice Paper stalls next to each other.
8. Quail Egg Cake
Quail Egg Cake (or Banh Trung Cut) has just appeared in Saigon but it has become a favorite snack but it couldn’t be missed in the list of Top 10 Specialty Foods in Ho Chi Minh City. Banh Trung Cut is fried on a special small pan before being topped with chopped green onion, dried tiny shrimp, pork jerky, chili sauce, tomato paste, and mayonnaise. It will leave a big memory on your trip to Ho Chi Minh City to see how they cook a Quail Egg Cake and eat it right on the street.
9. Sweet Soup with Tea and Egg
Have you ever eaten a sweet egg or eat an egg with tea? It’s weird but Saigon people love to eat like that. We have a very funny receipt – Sweet Soup with Tea and Egg. The boiled egg is cooked in tea for about 2 hours and sugar is added later. I beg that you couldn’t imagine how it tastes and I couldn’t describe the flavor for you. The only way to try this exotic food is to travel to Saigon.
10. Longan Ice Cream
Ice cream is a favorite dessert of many people around the world so that many tourists think that they will not eat ice cream in Vietnam. But Longan Icecream is worth a try. Longan meat is ground and used to make ice cream with creme, milk, coconut cream. The ice cream is served with shredded long meat and peanut topped on it.
Warmest Greetings To All from Tracy Do! If you have any questions about Vietnam including Vietnam tours, do not hesitate to contact me.
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Tracy’s team is proud to provide excellent Ho Chi Minh City Day Trips including Ho Chi Minh Motorbike Tour, Ho Chi Minh Food Tour, Mekong Delta Tour, Cu Chi Tunnel Tour, Ho Chi Minh Transfer Service and Shore Excursion to thousands of guests for nearly 10 years. Let us have a chance to show you South Vietnam to the fullest.