79
SAIGON STREET EATS
THE BREAKFAST
PLATE
To slowly ease into
Vietnamese cooking,
head on down to Saigon’s
best-known market, Ben
Thanh, a cavernous hive
of locals wheeling, dealing
and haggling amid a sea of
merchandise. Try to avoid
being drawn into the maze
of 5,000-plus shops and
stalls — you can do that
after you’ve eaten — and
instead make a beeline for
the cluster of food hawkers
occupying the northern half
of the building.
Here’s where you can find
a good intro to southern
Vietnamese fare, from
simple
com chien
fried-rice
dishes to the standard
pho
noodles and
goi cuon
spring
rolls. From the nearest food
stall, order a serving of
banh
beo
— tender rice-flour cakes
smothered in tangy
nuoc
cham
sauce, and sprinkled
with chopped dried shrimp
and scallions. The basic
banh beo is tasty enough
with its delicate flavor and
gelatin-like texture, but
try the
dac biet
(special)
version, which has
banh bot
loc
shrimp dumplings and
thick slices of
cha
sausage.
Wash it down with syrupy-
sweet
ca phe sua
coffee and
your food adventure is off to
a fine start.
You can spend your time
between meals roaming the
streets of District 1. This
is Saigon’s most storied
neighborhood, and it hosts
such grand French
colonial-era jewels as
the Romanesque Notre
Dame Basilica, and the
century-old People’s
Committee Hall with
its Soviet-style statue
of Ho Chi Minh. If you
come across a vendor
grilling rice papers by
the roadside, do stop
for a bite: chances are
he’s selling
banh trang
nuong (
also known as
Vietnamese tacos),
a snack made by
slathering an egg on a
sheet of wafer-thin rice
paper. Ground meat,
spring onions, chilli
sauce and pork floss are
then added before this
messy patty is grilled
over hot coals. The
whole process takes only
seconds, but the taste
will linger a whole lot
longer. Try not to eat too
much, though, because
your next meal is soon to
arrive.
Clockwise from above left: Ben
Thanh Market is a maze of 5,000-
plus shops and food stalls; the
friendly neighborhood
banh trang
nuong
vendor; a
banh beo
stall at the
market; (opposite page) the
dac biet
version of the banh beo boasts thick
slices of
cha
sausages; sweet, syrupy
Vietnamese
ca phe
