Ho Chi Minh City food guide
The southern table is sweeter, herbier, and built around rice plates as much as noodle soups. Com tam is the lunch. Banh xeo is the shared snack.
District 1 will feed you at any hour. The memorable plates are often a few streets away from Ben Thanh, in rooms that close after lunch.
Order com tam with a pork chop, a banh xeo to share, and a southern pho if you want to compare it with Hanoi’s.
Specialties
Com tam Cơm tấm Com tam is broken rice, a Saigon everyday plate, usually with grilled pork, a pork skin cake, egg, and fish sauce. It is a full lunch, not a side. Order suon (the chop) if you want the standard plate. Banh xeo Bánh xèo Banh xeo is a crisp turmeric rice-flour crepe filled with pork and shrimp, eaten wrapped in herbs and lettuce with a dipping sauce. Central and southern versions differ in size. Break a piece, wrap it in a leaf with herbs, and dip. Do not eat it with a fork as a pancake. Pho Phở Pho is a beef or chicken noodle soup in a clear broth. Northern bowls are plainer. Southern bowls come with a sweeter broth and a pile of herbs and lime. Eat it at breakfast or lunch. Taste the broth before you add anything. Banh mi Bánh mì Banh mi is a light baguette with pâté, mayonnaise, pickles, herbs, and usually a protein. The bread should crackle. The filling should not be only meat. Eat it the morning it is baked. Point at the fillings if the stall has several. Vietnamese coffee Cà phê Vietnamese coffee is usually robusta, brewed in a small metal phin filter. Ca phe sua da is iced coffee with condensed milk. Egg coffee, ca phe trung, is a Hanoi whipped-egg cup. Wait for the phin to finish dripping. Stir the condensed milk up from the bottom.