This page will introduce you to the dishes and drinks we enjoyed in Vietnam. In case of local specialties, we indicate where to find them. We also give you an indication of the price we usually pay for these dishes.
It’s also a way for us to try improving our food pictures, as we suck at them 🙁
Dishes
xôi
We usually have this dish for breakfast. It’s made of glutinous rice, with shredded coconut and some sugar added on top. It may also contain red beans.
Cost : around VND 10 000
bánh mì
This famous Vietnamese sandwich can be found everywhere. The small stalls selling them will display the available ingredients.
These commonly include paté, Vietnamese sausage, grilled pork… Cucumber slices and carrots provide some freshness, along with cilantro. Finally, some mayonnaise and spicy sauce prevents the sandwich from being dry.
Another variation is banh mi with fried egg (Bánh mì ốp la).
Bánh mì is our usual lunch, and they seldom disappoint us.
Our Parisian readers may enjoy them at Coupi bar or TJ Asian Fusion. Add a bubble tea and you have a perfect picnic ingredient !
Cost : VND 10 000
bánh xèo
These are crunchy pancakes filled with shrimps, pork and bean sprouts. They’re served folded in two; rice paper and many greens and herbs are provided on a separate plate. Eating them requires some dexterity, and you’ll likely end up with very greasy hands 🙂 Unfold the bánh xèo, put it over the rice paper, add greens and herbs and finally roll the rice paper. Dip them in the sauce before eating and you’re done !
Cost : 5 000VND/piece
cao lầu
It’s a very popular dish in Hoi An. It includes noodles produced locally, pork, salad and crackers. Here the pork was replaced by quail eggs to accommodate my vegetarian diet.
Cost : 15 000 or 20 000VND
nộm bò khô đu đủ
This is a salad made of papaya and filaments of dried beef. It’s mostly served during the afternoon.
Cost : 15 000 VND
cơm gà
This dish is made of rice (cơm) and chicken filaments (gà), served with vegetables sliced very thinly and a bowl of broth. Once again the chicken is absent from the picture due to my vegetarian diet !
The chili paste visible here is very typical from Hoi An and absolutely delicious. If you love chili, I strongly encourage you to taste it !
Cost : 30 000 VND
tàu hủ nước đường
It’s more of a desert or sweet snack. It’s made of slices of silken tofu inside a sweet ginger syrup. Mix it well before eating as the sugar tends to stay at the bottom ! You can also request some lime juice.
Cost : 10 000 VND
Cháo
I sometimes had rice porridge for breakfast while in China and never enjoyed it. Here in Vietnam it’s available for dinner and has much more taste, thanks to a lot of pepper.
Cost : 15 000 VND
bánh đập dập
This one is hard to describe. It’s rice paper sandwiched between two crisp wafers reminding me of India’s papadum. Dipped in the provided soy sauce, they make a very basic but tasty meal !
Cost : 20 000 VND
ốp la
That’s simply fried eggs, usually served up with bread (banh mi). Spread a generous dose of soy sauce over them and enjoy ! The name comes from the French term for fried eggs, which is “œufs au plat”.
Cost : 20 000 VND (which is rather expensive for two eggs !)
bún bò Huế chay
A vegetarian version of the classical bún bò Huế. The dish on the picture was made with several kinds of mushrooms, and was incredibly tasty.
Cost : 15 000 VND
bánh căn
These rice flour and quail egg cakes can be served plain, like on the picture; or you can choose among many toppings such as pork, beef, shrimp…
They’re served with mango salad and some sauce to dip them in.
Cost : their price varies greatly depending on the topping and where you eat them. In Nha Trang, 6 bánh căn topped with shrimps cost as much as 150 000 VND !
bánh canh
This noodle soup contains thick tapioca flour noodles. Eating the noodles without dropping them in the broth will require some serious chopstick training 🙂
Cost : 15 000 VND
Drinks
Cold drinks are probably my favorite thing in Vietnam ! As a result this section will list many of them.
cà phê đen
This is simply a black coffee. However it’s probably different from what you’re used to ! Indeed, expresso is very uncommon here. Instead, virtually all cafés offer drip coffee.
Cost : 12 000 VND to 15 000 VND
cà phê sūa đá
My #1 drink in Vietnam ! This ice coffee is made of coffee, condensed milk and crushed ice. It never tastes the same from one place to another ! In this picture, the coffee drops fall in the condensed milk at the bottom of the glass. That’s what you get if you order a cà phê sūa đá.
However my favorite kind of ice coffee is a variant called cà phê sūa đá Sài Gòn. It tastes the same but is much larger !
Note that anywhere South of Da Lat, there’s no regular cà phê sūa đá; requesting it will invariably result in a cà phê sūa đá Sài Gòn. Also it’s much, much weaker and sweeter there; in the Mekong delta, it was so sweet that it was nearly disgusting.
Cost : 15 000 VND
sinh tố
Smoothies are available in most cafés, and in street stalls. The one pictured above was ordered in a coffee and I suspect it didn’t contain much fruit. Smoothies from street stalls are usually more traditional, and you can check the fruits’ freshness before ordering.
Cost : between 20 000 and 30 000 VND
sữa chua uống đá
Ice yogurt is very fresh, with a slightly bitter taste. One word of caution though : both yogurt and ice can be source of digestive troubles in places where hygiene leaves to be desired. Don’t hesitate to take a pass when in doubt; there’s always another café a few meters away !
Cost : 15 000 VND
Bạc sỉu
This is a different version of cà phê sūa; it contains more milk and less coffee.
Cost : VND 15 000
Nước ép trái cây
Often shortened as nước ép, this is fresh fruit juice. It’s often extremely tasty, as was the passion fruit juice pictured above.
Cost : VND 20 000
Nước mía
This sugar cane juice is pressed in front of you. It’s extremely refreshing, in spite of the rather large amount of sugar !
Cost : VND 15 000
Nước chanh đá / nóng
Lemon juice will most of the time be made from fruits pressed in front of you. While the cold (đá) one is the obvious choice in most of Vietnam’s climate, we also enjoyed it hot (nóng) when we were in central highland’s mountains !
Cost : VND 10 000
Last updated : February 3rd, 2018
