Our grandparents taught us that good food is remembered for a long time, so many people are “addicted” to eating out. Staying at home all the time, people crave eating out, craving a bowl of pho, a bowl of noodles, a piece of bread… and not wanting to eat. The street food of ladies and aunts is the long-remembered delicious food that we are constantly searching for.
Street food always makes diners' hearts flutter.
The recipes for creating the extremely attractive aroma of broth and sauce are not delicacies, just everyday spices, meat and vegetables, skillfully seasoned to make diners "addicted" and still come back no matter where they are.
Street food stalls, initially the livelihood of ordinary workers. Over the years, many have become street artists with a circle of diners willing to sit and wait to enjoy the culinary essence.
Bun Ganh Restaurant, Ly Thai To, Hai Chau, Da Nang
The noodle shop on the roadside, no name, no sign but is affectionately called Bun Ganh shop by customers. The shop is simple with only a pair of shoulder poles with a pot of broth stewed with beef bones, with steaming fragrant sausage and blood sausage floating on top. The plastic chairs are always full of people, customers can see the shop from afar. The signboard is redundant.
Hot bowl of noodles, imbued with the flavors of Central Vietnam.
The shop has been passed down from mother to daughter-in-law, opening from 6pm to midnight every day. Each bowl of noodles is priced at only 15,000 VND, suitable for the working class. As soon as customers pick up the bowl of noodles, they can smell the aroma of lemongrass and the typical spiciness of satay in the bowl of beef noodles. Add lemon, chili, fish sauce, satay, herbs for decoration, and use spoons and chopsticks to combine all of those flavors, making the bowl of noodles just right for their taste, making them delicious to eat.
Diners take a sip of the broth with a piece of noodles that has absorbed the aroma of the spices, and enjoy the fresh beef, crunchy beef tendons, beef hooves, pork leg… which look tough on the outside, but when bitten into, they find it soft and creamy. Including crab cakes and spring rolls, which are typical flavors of the sunny and windy central region. After finishing the bowl of noodles, they secretly think, the seller is a man of few words but cooks deliciously, not knowing that the delicious dishes have already made many passing diners fall in love.
Madam Khanh Bread, Tran Cao Van, Minh An, Hoi An, Quang Nam
Starting their bread business, the husband cooked and the wife sold on an anonymous cart. But from the very beginning, the couple had in mind that the whole world sells bread, but they would create their own style, a very Hoi An, very Vietnamese cuisine. It was not until Hoi An tourism developed and diners lovingly named the name Madam Khanh that they rushed to make a sign. Everyone called her Madam Khanh, but Khanh is his name, and her name is Loc. The bread shop has been passed down from generation to generation to daughter, and now to granddaughter, for three generations. The taste of the spongy, crispy, soft, fatty, salty, sour, fragrant, spicy bread has been harmoniously delicious and has not changed over the past 30 years.
These sandwiches satisfy even the most demanding customers.
Diners bite into a sandwich and find behind the crispy crust that bursts into pieces in their mouths, a soft, cotton-like crumb that blends with the pate and secret sauce that brings a unique, homemade flavor. The flavor options are also extremely unique, with soft char siu, ham, mixed cold cuts... All of these dishes are made with Madam Khanh's secret recipe. Besides the meat, there are also vegetables, papaya, carrots, creating a light, crispy, sweet and sour taste, and fresh cucumbers, accompanied by the aroma of Vietnamese coriander and the slight spiciness of onion slices. Diners who have been walking all day are tired, but eating a piece of sandwich will make them feel refreshed, because the chili is slightly spicy and fragrant. But be careful to remind her to make the sandwich just right for your taste because the chili used in sandwiches is usually the spiciest kind, the central chili.
Com tam Co Thanh, Vu Tung, Ward 2, Binh Thanh, Ho Chi Minh City
The author is not a fan of broken rice, but every day passing by Vu Tung street, he saw a small restaurant, which had just opened about a year ago. At first, the restaurant was empty, with not many customers. Gradually, the restaurant quickly became crowded, so the author was curious to try it. The broken rice here is really delicious, with the Saigon broken rice flavor that people often say. Customers are often wrong, they eat for the quality, but the restaurant and Ms. Thanh, the owner, are both rustic, the right kind of rice for workers.
Broken rice dish is a companion for everyone from workers to luxury diners.
The broken rice here only serves grilled ribs, pork skin, sausage, Chinese sausage, and fried egg in the traditional Saigon style. The broken rice dish has puffed broken rice with a little scallion oil, grilled ribs that are slightly golden brown and soaked in sweet and sour flavor, thinly sliced pork skin covered with fragrant roasted rice powder, egg sausage with wood ear mushrooms and soft vermicelli. Before eating, you pour a little fish sauce on the rice, mix well and then leisurely enjoy it with ribs, pork skin, sausage, pickles, cucumbers, and tomatoes. The slightly thick fish sauce of Co Thanh's restaurant is also a big plus for the broken rice dish.
After a difficult first year, there were days when the restaurant thought it would have to close, but now the quality has spoken. Wishing Ms. Thanh's broken rice restaurant business more and more favorable.
Street food is fast, convenient, and reasonably priced, so it is always an attractive choice for even the pickiest eaters. Sidewalk dishes have harmonious flavors, are cooked just right, and are nutritious, most dishes contain green vegetables, so Vietnamese people are often slim. Many famous chefs come to Vietnam and eat delicious food on plastic chairs, so they create many dishes with the breath of Vietnamese street food to bring back to the country to share. There is also a chef who chooses to stay in Vietnam, not opening a Western restaurant, but only making street food, which is delicious to both Vietnamese people and tourists.
If you have time today, enjoy some delicious street food with your friends.
Author information:
Ngoc Tran, a creative and passionate about street food. The author has lived and worked in many cities in Vietnam. The old streets, the lives of the people living there, the food... are an endless source of inspiration for her to write many works. Most recently, after living and working in Hanoi, to express her gratitude to the capital city and the people of the capital during her time here, Ngoc Tran wrote the book Hanoi The Lifestyle & The Food, a gift for those who have, are, and will choose Hanoi to visit.
