Eating as local people, the best Vietnamese food is usually the cheapest, served on the folding tables, low plastic chairs in bustling markets.
Looking at the overall Vietnamese cuisine, visitors on food walking tour will be amazed by the sophistication and variety of such a small country. Every town, even every village, has its own unique local flavors. If you want to enjoy the most delicious Vietnamese food with the cheapest price, the ideal place to go is the traditional market – where the food is made from the skillful hands of the woman with the sophisticated skills passed to generations in the family, from mother to daughter.
Ignore the dishes that are too familiar with travelers in the world such as pho, banh mi, and spring rolls, let’s take a look at 10 other dishes which are also very popular, but with the price less than 1 US dollars.
Sweet gruel
Being a sweet dessert and a Hanoi traditional food, there are so many kinds of sweet gruel that even if you can try all kinds of gruel, you will not have space in the stomach to eat the main meal. This dessert can be eaten when it is hot or cold. Common ingredients include beans, sticky rice, fruit, tapioca, lotus root … and even mushrooms.
Visitors on Hanoi street food tour should enjoy these types of sweet gruel in Hue and Hanoi.
Xeo cake
Xeo cake (Vietnamese pancakes) is a thin cake coated in a large saucepan, beneath a bright red charcoal stove. Ingredients include rice flour diluted with water, shrimp, pork or squid, and mushrooms.
In Saigon, giant pancakes are broken down and rolled in lettuce leaves. In Da Lat, small cakes are rolled in rice paper with vegetables. Also in Phan Thiet, the cake is dipped in sauce with very fragrant and special mint leaves.
Bot chien
This is the most popular and favorite dish of students after school. The dish is made from flour or taro flour steamed and deep fried in a large pan and shallow, with chicken eggs, a little green onion, served with pickled carrots or pickled papaya (Kimchi of Vietnamese). The sauce is made from diluted soy sauce and other common spices.
This item is sold very much in Saigon.
Hoi cake
Hoi Cake made from the white powder fibers braided together into a very subtle block. Hoi Cakes are often served with roasted pork or served with other meats and other organs of the pig. The sauce is made from sweet fish sauce mixed with lemon and chili.
This is a famous dish in Qui Nhon City.
Canh cake
Canh cake means the cake is put into the soup with the idea of ancients. Cake made from rice flour and flour is put into a bowl with many other ingredients such as pork, fish pies, crabmeat, quail eggs, mushrooms and other cakes. This cake is also known as Vietnamese Udon noodles.
This dish is best when you eat in the coastal city of Phan Thiet.
Roasted beef
As one of most favorite dishes, roasted beef is made from the beef, the curry powder dedicated to cows and carrot. This is one of the few dishes still retain the traditional look without much variation from the old days. The roasted beef is best when eaten in the cold and cool air in the Central Highlands – Vietnam.
Vermicelli with grilled meat
Vermicelli is another kind of hoi cake that is almost like a cake, but the vermicelli is made thicker, served with soup or just a little sauce. Grilled pork is usually grilled pork on a charcoal stove. Both combine with each other and eat with salad vegetables, cucumber, and aromatic sweet basil. The sauce is made locally with water, garlic, chili, lemon or with peanut, tomato, lemon, and chili.
Squid egg cake
Squid egg cake is made from squid eggs served with peanuts, mint leaves and the sauce is made from fish sauce, lemon, and chili. Eggs are white in color, pressed into pastries and fries cake. The cake has a bit taste like fried eggs with the sea flavor.
Can cake
Much smaller than the xeo cake (Vietnamese pancakes), it is made from small spoonfuls of rice flour on a nice little clay oven, served with barbecued pork, shrimp, green beans, chives and mint leaves, and then dipped in the sauce made of fish sauce, lemon and chili.
Rice with chicken and sticky rice with duck
Chicken or duck boiled or baked with white rice or sticky rice is a very popular dish in Vietnam. This dish is used in combination with sweet fish sauce, on the top is greasy aromatic fried onion.
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