What to try in Vietnam. Scroll several times

We talk about what we eat in Vietnam (how much it costs and what it looks like). This is our big overview of Vietnamese food, names of dishes and prices.

We will be there for a month and a half, so the need arose to somehow understand the food - what is what in Vietnamese cuisine. Having purchased a special notebook, we began to write down the names of dishes and their translations, as well as everything that might be useful when communicating (more precisely, when trying to explain ourselves) with employees of local street eateries. The situation is complicated: the menu, if there is one at all, is only in Vietnamese, and among the catering workers, almost no one knows English, and if anyone knows even a little, they speak with such an accent that we can no longer understand anything. So you have to explain yourself mainly through sign language.

Advice: To correctly translate from Vietnamese, use the Tieng viet TCVN 6064 virtual keyboard in Google Translator - there you will find all the necessary characters.

Entering the names of dishes in Vietnamese into a notepad has become easier - you can simply show the cook the inscription and he will say whether such a dish is available, or twirl the “flashlights”, which means “no” in Vietnam.

We started our journey from Ho Chi Minh City, and as we move towards the north of Vietnam we will supplement the article with new names, descriptions and photos of food in Vietnam, prices for dishes, and also, if possible, note regional differences in dishes. UPD: we did just that, read our comparison in different cities of the country.

Let’s make a reservation that we eat exclusively in small street eateries in order to imbue the spirit of the ordinary Vietnamese people and save money. It usually happens like this: the lower you sit, the tastier and cheaper you eat. Even white-collar workers - serious business men - do not hesitate to sit on a low plastic chair at a street eatery and have a snack.

Remark from Alyosha : During our stay in Vietnam, there was not a single case where we ate in some eatery, sitting side by side with a “white man”; our desk neighbors were always local residents. It is very rare for a European to sit on a plastic chair at street eateries, but in vain, because this is the way to eat when traveling that guarantees that the prices are minimal.

Exchange Rates at the time of writing: 1000 Vietnamese dong = 2.76 rubles, and $1 = 21,400 dong. Roughly speaking, to convert the price of a particular Vietnamese dish into rubles, cut off three zeros from the price in dong and multiply by 3 - you get the ruble equivalent.

Food prices in Vietnam are not too high, but given the fall of the ruble, they have become approximately the same as in Russia.

Food in Vietnam: what it costs, descriptions of dishes and their writing in Vietnamese

• Nem cuốn, bánh tráng cuốn or gỏi cuốn And chả giò(in Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam, respectively) - nem pancakes, or rolls. They are rolls with filling, wrapped in the thinnest rice paper. The filling consists of rice noodles, shrimp, bacon, herbs and other ingredients - at the discretion of the cook. Rolls are served chilled or room temperature. Price - from 6 thousand dong per piece.

• Chả nem or nem ran(in the south and north, respectively) - also rolls with filling, but small and fried. The filling consists of minced meat, mushrooms, vegetables and herbs; it may vary. Price - from 3.5 thousand dong per piece.
• Phở soup (pho) is the national dish of Vietnam and is a must try. It's very tasty and rich beef broth With rice noodles, where either thin slices of beef are added ( pho bo - phở bò), or chicken pieces ( fo ga - phở gà) or fish ( phởca). The soup is served with local herbs like mint and mung bean sprouts, dipping sauces and lime slices for squeezing. In general, there are a lot of varieties of soups in Vietnam - they can differ in types of noodles or meat and vegetables. Price: in Ho Chi Minh City we found pho bo for 20 thousand dong, but on average it costs 25 - 30 thousand dong. In Can Tho it costs 18 thousand dong.

Phở bò - beef soup

• Bún chả (Bún thịt nướng in the south)— fried pork with rice noodles. Served with fresh herbs and vegetables, as well as sauces. Price: from 25 thousand dong.
• Goi bo- salad of beef, vegetables and herbs. Price: from 17 thousand dong.
• Bún ca — fish soup with noodles. Price: in Can Tho - from 15 thousand dong.
• (or Bún riêu) - soup with noodles, tomatoes, snails, beef, chicken, boiled pig blood and greens. Price: from 28 thousand dong.

Bún ốc - soup with noodles, meat and snails

• Banh canh- noodles soup. There are many varieties: cua- with crab, tom- with shrimp and so on. Price: from 25 thousand dong.
• is a very common street food in Vietnam. A very tasty fresh baguette with a “combined” filling at the seller’s discretion: vegetables, pork/beef/sausage, herbs, pate, chili (usually sellers ask whether pepper should be added), sauce. All this is wrapped in paper and placed in a bag. Very convenient: a Vietnamese guy arrived on a bike, they prepared a sandwich for him in 2 minutes, and he rode off. You can find mobile baguette shops almost everywhere (with the exception of the center - there are practically none there). Cost: from 10 thousand dong per piece - red price. In more tourist areas we met for 15 and 20 thousand (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hue, Halong). A baguette option with fried pork costs from 15 thousand VND.

Banh mì. Photo © cherrylet / flickr.com

• Banh bao (ban bao, dumpling pies)- this is a pie from yeast dough, steamed. Filling (may vary): pork/chicken, quail egg, onions, mushrooms, vermicelli. There is a vegetarian version of bánh bao. Price: from 10 thousand dong. Sometimes the price depends on the weight (seen in Hanoi).
• - another street food. You could say this is bread pudding. Basically, it's a fried banana cake that's a bit like pudding in consistency. The ingredients can vary greatly, but it is usually made from bananas, bread, coconut milk, etc. Very tasty and filling. Bánh chuối carts are mobile and can be identified by the characteristic sweet smell of waffles. By the way, the waffles themselves are often sold too. Often just such a banana mass with mung bean can be found in the form of fried waffles. Cost: in Ho Chi Minh City they sold it to us for 12 thousand VND per piece, which, of course, is expensive. In Da Nang they sold us the same one for 5 thousand.

Bánh chuối. Photo © noodlepie / flickr.com

• Chè chuối- among ourselves we called him “ banana pudding" In my opinion, one of the most delicious dishes in Vietnam. These are fried (sometimes fresh) bananas filled with hot coconut milk and pulp, as well as sprinkled roasted peanuts. Very tasty and filling! Served in plastic cups with a spoon. It's best eaten hot, but it's also delicious cold. In Hoi An we bought for 10 thousand dong, although in fact they sell it cheaper to locals (about 7 thousand).
• - a rice dish with fresh vegetables and tender marinated grilled pork (you can also take grilled chicken instead). As a supplement it goes spicy sauce and broth with herbs. This is one of the varieties street food in Vietnam, you can ask for cơm tấm to take with you, and the dish will be placed in a special container. Price: from 25 thousand dong in Ho Chi Minh City, in Can Tho we ate cơm tấm for 15 thousand dong.

Cơm tấm - rice with pork

• Banh chưng- a traditional Vietnamese dessert - a mass of gluten rice, mung bean, pork and other ingredients, wrapped in banana leaves. Price in the supermarket: from 30 - 35 thousand dong.
• — Vietnamese street food. Nourishing and tasty dish, very easy to prepare: pieces rice dough fried with egg and green onions. All this is topped with the famous nước mắm fish sauce. Price: from 22 thousand dong.

Bột chiên. Photo © phswien / flickr.com

• - also cheap street food in Vietnam. It is deep-fried pasta with scrambled eggs and herbs. Often served fresh vegetables. Price: from 22 thousand dong.

• Nước mắm — fish sauce. It is obtained through the fermentation process of anchovy. Used instead of salt, you can dip pieces of food in it, or you can pour it over a dish - depending on the variety, of which there are many. Also added during cooking. Served free of charge.

Our journey is just beginning, so the article will gradually be filled with new information: we will continue to tell you about all the types of food that we try in Vietnam, as well as the prices for these Vietnamese dishes. To be continued…

Introductory image source: Khánh Hmoong / flickr.com.

My friend Katya Zubkova continues the story about Vietnam: coffee and exotic dishes :-)

Have you ever tried crocodile, ostrich and turtle soup? :-)

But more on that a little later, but now about Vietnamese coffee.

Vietnamese coffee

You can write about him endlessly (but in my opinion, people undoubtedly have different tastes). This year, Vietnam took first place in the world in coffee exports, overtaking - yes, yes - Brazil.

What's special about this drink? :-) Let's remember that Vietnam was a French colony, and the French brought coffee to this country. There are many varieties - Arabica, Robusta, Mocha, the famous Luwak. The Vietnamese mix the same coffee that they offer you in cafes and restaurants from several varieties. This scent cannot be confused with anything else. And the aftertaste... I was surprised when, after drinking a cup of this divine drink, felt extraordinary freshness and coolness in my mouth.

Coffee is prepared using a Vietnamese filter (remember the French - it seems to me that the French press originated from this interesting device :-)). A metal filter is placed on a cup, 3-4 spoons are poured into it ground coffee, then pressed with a press and poured boiling water. Coffee fills the glass drop by drop, 3-5 minutes - and aromatic drink ready.

There is one more feature. The Vietnamese have a big sweet tooth and love the so-called “white” coffee - coffee with condensed milk. Moreover, condensed milk makes up 1/3 of the drink. In small cafes they will pour condensed milk into the bottom of a transparent glass and put a filter of coffee on top. And you will see the whole process with your own eyes :-)

After this, you will probably want to take a few kilograms with you. Prices vary depending on your preference. You can find from 110,000 dong per kilogram of ground coffee (that’s about 335 rubles). In this case, I recommend taking it from the Madame Dean restaurant. Have dinner there too :-)

Pho soup

The next dish that started every morning for me in Vietnam is the famous Pho soup. It is prepared in three versions - with meat, chicken and fish (Pho Bo, Pho Ga, Pho Ka).

By the way, it is prepared in a unique way: first, the rich broth is boiled for 4-5 hours and in the morning it is poured into bowls, into which rice noodles, spices, bean sprouts, pieces of meat or fish, herbs, lime are added - everyone chooses what to fill the soup with. and becomes a bit of a cook :-)

The day on the coast begins early, the sun rises around 6 am, and if you met the dawn, swam a little in the waves of the morning sea and walked just a little, then you will have an excellent appetite - Pho soup, fruit and coffee - wonderful “Vietnamese” choice.

Lifehack. The sun is very active, and as a doctor, I advise you to sunbathe under an umbrella and be sure to use +50 protection for the first 3-4 days. Then you can reduce it to +30 and defend for the last 5 days coconut oil, which is also used for tanning and wonderful skin. Don't worry, your tan will be great even if you are in the shade :-)

We left the beach at about 11 am for a siesta. I highly recommend sleeping for three hours; the Vietnamese also sleep during the day. A light snack of fruit and you're ready for further adventures. Those who don't like to sleep during the day can go to spas and get a massage. In hotels it’s a little more expensive, on the street and in local salons it’s cheaper. A good general massage for an hour costs from 150,000 dong - that’s about 450 rubles.

Turtle soup

Evening comes, Mui Ne comes to life, numerous restaurants open and you can wander around the food stalls, each time trying something new.

Let's start with Madame Dean, since we're on the subject. It’s delicious, but usually there are a lot of people, mostly our compatriots (there are also regular visitors). And, if you arrive at 7 pm, there may not be any seats. For my taste, you can go once.

What I advise you to choose is turtle soup (no matter what the “greenies” say, it’s definitely worth trying! :-) For two, we took 1/2 turtle for 240,000 dong - that’s a whole pot of soup, which is prepared in front of you.

As always, broth, a lot of greens are poured into it, turtle meat is already cooked there. Add separately cooked rice noodles to the bowls and pour in the soup. And then - your imagination: soy sauce, fish sauce, lime, seasonings... The turtle tastes like turkey, very soft and tender.

And a bottle of red dry “Dalat Export” (120,000 VND) ...

And freshly squeezed mango juice... :-)

About crocodiles, ostriches and other living creatures

We tried crocodile in different options, starting from roasted on a spit right on the street - pieces are cut off from it right in the process and sold to you right there. We took it at a restaurant, made on the grill. It depends on your luck: in one place they did it amazingly, in another it was hard to chew. I really liked the curried crocodile stew. The taste is somewhat reminiscent of white chicken meat, but everything else depends solely on the skill of the cook.

I didn't like the ostrich. Honestly.

Reminiscent of beef: regular steaks of varying degrees of toughness. Very amateurish. You can try it at lunches during excursions.

Seafood - yes, yes, yes - where else can you fill yourself up with it for future use, if not in a fishing village on the seashore! To fully appreciate the diversity, we pack up and go to Boca. Bokeh is a collection of open-air cafes along the local waterfront.

In the aquariums of each cafe and on the open counters with ice, we choose what we want to try, order and wait. While your delicacies are being prepared for you, you can order snacks, juices, wine and enjoy the light evening breeze.

This time we ordered 6 giant shrimp, 10 mussels, 4 huge scallops, mango juice, green tea, a bottle of white wine and stewed eggplant. For everything - 460,000 dong, only about 1,400 rubles!

And finally:

Restaurant menu with prices

And about where to go from Mui Ne and what to see there, read in:

Spring in fruity Vietnam. Part 3

Vietnamese cuisine very diverse, tasty and, in most cases, healthy. Its basis is the freshest vegetables, fruits, herbs, seafood, fish and meat. Moreover, if you are going to Vietnam, you will be very pleased with the prices for food here - this is one of the cheapest countries in terms of food (and housing) where I have ever been.

Conventionally, all Vietnamese cuisine can be divided into three large sections - soups, street food and main courses (we also include a few desserts).

Soup is the most popular dish in Vietnam. There are a lot of variations of them here, although most of them are based on noodles and meat. I have already talked in detail about Vietnamese soups in.

Now let's talk about the must-try main dishes in Vietnamese restaurants and cafes.

So what do I think must try food in Vietnam :

Com there

Rice is the boss of everything. In Vietnam, and throughout Asia. It is eaten as a separate dish and served with other dishes instead of bread. In Vietnamese, rice is lump. Kom Tam is a dish consisting of rice, fried pork, egg and vegetables. Very tasty and filling! And in most cases - cheap.

Apart from who there is, try fried rice in any of the variations - with seafood, with eggs, with tofu, with vegetables, etc. The dishes are simple, but they know how to cook rice so deliciously that even those who don’t usually eat it like it.

Ban Thich Nuong

This is the name of rice noodles with grilled pork. This and the previous dish can be found not only in cafes, but also as street food, and in the ready meals in large supermarkets (Lottemart, Big C, etc.). In stores they cost about 20-30 thousand dong, they are cheap and convenient to take with you or eat right at the food court.

We also really like noodles with beef or shrimp and vegetables.

Kho To

My favorite dish. It consists of caramelized shrimp, fish or pork in clay pot. In Nha Trang, I liked this dish most at the Lanterns restaurant (however, everything there is delicious).

Beef Onion varnish

Very tasty the most tender beef, stewed in sauce, served with rice and vegetables.

Beef in bamboo

The Vietnamese know how to cook beef, and it turns out delicious in most dishes. But I want to especially highlight the beef in bamboo. If you see it on the menu, take it with confidence))

Salads

Salads you need to try in Vietnam:

• with mango;
• with papaya;
• with a pomelo.

Most often they are cooked with shrimp or other seafood and seasoned with spicy sauces.

Exotic animal meat

In Vietnam, many cafes and restaurants have frog, ostrich, crocodile, turtle or shark fin soup on their menus. Some tourists come here specifically to try dog ​​meat, but it is found much less often in local establishments (fortunately, in my opinion). I know only one such place in Saigon and two in Hanoi, but I won’t give the names and addresses - I love dogs and don’t want to contribute to their eating.

Seafood

You can often see bowls of seafood on the streets of Vietnam. In most cases, they are fresh and still alive. Choose what you like and they will prepare it for you right away. Cost varies by location. In non-tourist places they cost pennies, in tourist places they are significantly more expensive. But still cannot be compared with prices in Russia.

Fish

Stewed in tomato sauce, grilled, baked with lemongrass - delicious in all versions! There are many types of fish, we most often took red snapper, cobia, and tuna (more on that below). Never take basa (aka pangasius, sole). This fish itself is harmless, but in Vietnam it is caught in the Mekong, one of the dirtiest rivers in the world. Therefore, here the quality and safety of this fish leave much to be desired.

Tuna

I’ll make it a separate point, because in Vietnam there are VERY delicious tuna. In Nha Trang, be sure to try the tuna with strawberry sauce at the Story restaurant. I still dream about it at night)) For its sake, I’m even ready to return to Nha Trang)) Although in other establishments the tuna was also delicious, but here it was especially so!

Flan

Flan is a dessert. The most famous and delicious of Vietnamese sweet dishes. It is a caramel pudding similar in taste to crème brûlée.

From drinks You should definitely try Vietnamese coffee with milk, coffee with beaten egg (popular in the north of the country), various variations cold coffee (coconut is my favorite), cane juice, freshly squeezed juices and cocktails.

I will not recommend Vietnamese alcohol. The rum, wine and beer here are of very low quality. Although, to be fair, their price is also not high. Out of curiosity, you can try Dalat wine, Saigon beer and Chavet rum, but I warned you - don’t expect any special taste pleasure. Although many tourists love local rum and even take bottles of it home. Perhaps it’s just me who didn’t appreciate it at all, like other Vietnamese alcoholic drinks))

P.S. More information about our travels and photos in my

Like all Eastern cuisines, Vietnamese gastronomy is balanced and nutritious. Many of its traditions are borrowed from China and India, but are not without their originality. Rice is considered the most revered product. The cereal is consumed in boiled, in the form of noodles, desserts. Particular attention is paid to greenery. Here it is used in the preparation of most dishes.

The Vietnamese are very fond of soups. Most famous traditional soup has a very simple name - Pho. The most unusual delicacy can be called one, which has already formed plumage, beak and cartilage. Before serving, the delicacy is simply boiled.

Let's look at something less exotic...

The length of its borders and coastline has led to Vietnam's historical openness to foreign influence. It seems that almost every aspect of Vietnamese culture has, to one degree or another, absorbed elements of foreign influence. And Vietnamese cuisine is no exception. It represents an original mixture of Chinese, French, Khmer and Thai traditions, while remaining completely unique and original.

The period of Northern Dependence - vassal relations of Vietnam from China (111 BC - 938 AD) lasted for more than a thousand years. And, of course, the influence of Chinese culture
The Vietnamese share the Chinese concept of the “five tastes”: food should have a balance of salty, sweet, sour, bitter and spicy. As in ki Thai cuisine, vegetables and herbs play one of the central roles in Vietnamese cooking. However, the Vietnamese prefer to consume larger quantities of them in fresh. When frying, the Vietnamese use less oil than the Chinese. The main principle and goal of Vietnamese chefs is lightness and freshness. Buddhism, which also came partly from China, introduced vegetarian food into Vietnamese culture.

Following China, Mongolian shepherds came to Vietnam in the 10th century and taught the Vietnamese to eat beef.

More southern nations also contributed to the mosaic of Vietnamese culture. Indianized Cambodia significantly expanded the range of Vietnamese cuisine: thanks to it, Indian spices and seasonings. The Vietnamese accepted them, but adapted them to their taste, using them mainly to add aroma to the dish rather than a fiery taste. From Thailand and Laos, Vietnam borrowed a whole bouquet of aromatic herbs, such as lemongrass, mint, basil, and chili.

The French, coming to Vietnam in the 19th century, brought their food philosophy, an important part of which was attention and respect for the high quality of ingredients and the correct use of them. In addition, they also enriched Vietnamese cuisine both in terms of technique (it was from the French that the Vietnamese learned how to sauté) and in terms of content: asparagus, avocado, corn, tomatoes and wine appeared in Vietnam precisely thanks to the French.

They also brought bread (baguettes), beer, coffee with milk and ice cream. Now on almost any street you will see either elderly women or boys with baskets full of baguettes. And “sandwiches” made from a cut baguette stuffed with pate, lettuce, etc. with chili sauce or traditional Vietnamese fish sauce, are popular throughout the country and are sold at any time of the day.

Vietnamese cuisine has absorbed the influence of many cultures and, apparently, continues to do so. However, it remains unique. The Vietnamese like to compare their country to a house with a window wide open on each of its four walls. Winds can blow from all four directions and even move furniture in the house. But any wind, having flown in, then always flies away, leaving behind the same chairs and table. The Vietnamese love to mix simple ingredients to create new, unusual combinations.

The foundation of Vietnamese cuisine is rice. for Vietnamese is huge. When it comes to food, Vietnam learned from China to use chopsticks, fry vegetables and meat, eat noodles and tofu (bean curd).

The Vietnamese word "cơm" has two meanings: " boiled rice" and "food". A Vietnamese meal is always rice and something else. Rice is more than just food for Vietnam. This is history, culture, cult, identity of the nation. Many legends and myths are associated with this plant. There are dozens and dozens of types of rice in Vietnam, ranging from ordinary (familiar to us) to sticky or completely exotic black or red rice.

The choice of fish and seafood in Vietnam is also huge: shrimp of different sizes and colors, cuttlefish, octopus, etc. and so on. However, the Vietnamese also enjoy eating meat: beef, pork, poultry (chickens, ducks...). There is practically no lamb in Vietnam, and goat meat is sold in special restaurants with a certain specific set of herbs.

There are also restaurants in Vietnam that serve the meat of exotic animals - turtles, forest (wild) deer, roe deer, wild boar, etc. However, for the Vietnamese themselves, this is more exotic than everyday food. Snake restaurants, where you will be asked to choose a snake yourself and a whole performance with its preparation will be performed before your eyes (from one snake - up to 10 dishes, a little of everything: fried snake, boiled snake, etc.), are located in separate blocks. The pleasure is not the cheapest, but it is interesting, exotic and, in general, tasty.

It is worth noting that Vietnamese cuisine, following the climatic and cultural differences between the three parts of the country - North, Center and South, has its own regional differences. For example, it was in the North, where Vietnamese civilization arose, that the most popular dishes(such as pho soup), and northern cuisine is considered more traditional and more strictly adherent original recipe Vietnamese dishes. The cuisine of South Vietnam was significantly influenced by immigrants from China and therefore in the South they prefer to give dishes a more sweet taste, and this cuisine is more exotic and rich in a variety of seasonings from Thai and Khmer cuisine. In the center of Vietnam they prepare the most unusual dishes that differ from the cuisine of the rest of Vietnam, using their own special seasonings and offering a wide variety of appetizers for the main course.

Vietnamese soups are a typical dish national cuisine, different types soup eaten in different time days. For example, phở (read: pho) - in the morning or late at night, bún chả (read: bún cha) - at lunch, other soups - more often in the evening.

Some of the most common soups are crab soup with asparagus and crab soup with maize. And fish soup with pineapple, which, like other soups, is served at the end of the meal, has extraordinary property promote digestion after a large meal as a result of the almost inevitable desire in Vietnam to try all the local delicacies.

Used in Vietnamese cuisine a large number of spices and seasonings. The main ones are lemongrass, basil, ginger, lime, cilantro, coriander, mint, pepper, dill, limnophila, hautunia, etc.

One of the characteristic features of Vietnamese cuisine is fish sauce nước mắm (read: “nyoc mam”) with its specific, at first seeming sharp, unpleasant smell. However, as soon as you try dishes with fish sauce, it will reveal its suitability so well national dishes taste. Fish sauce, which is also used in Thai cuisine and is made from anchovies, is made from shrimp in Vietnam. It replaces salt, like soy sauce in Japan. The largest fish sauce production facilities are located in Muin and on the island. Phu Quoc, and the dark red fish sauce from the island of Phu Quoc is famous high content protein. In addition to fish sauce, Vietnamese prepare shrimp sauce (mắm tôm – read “mam tom”), but due to the pungent smell, not all foreigners dare to try it.

The Vietnamese love to use mushrooms, which they add to soups and main courses.

Tours to Vietnam usually offer only breakfast, since varied and cheap food can be easily and conveniently found on any excursion route.

For breakfast at hotels you will be offered a choice of European breakfast (coffee, omelet, toast, etc.) or traditional Vietnamese. Vietnamese usually eat hot dishes for breakfast: pho soup (phở), sticky rice (with corn or peanuts) (xôi ngô, xôi lạc), steamed rice flour pancakes (filled with fried onions And minced pork) (bánh cuốn), rice flour porridge (with meat or fish, etc.) (cháo thịt, cháo cá...).
From morning until late evening, delicious and inexpensive food can be ordered both in European-style restaurants and cafes and in Vietnamese specialized restaurants (for example, where they prepare only pho soup, or only seafood, or only fish, etc.), or buy on the street. However, it is worth remembering that despite the fact that in many points Catering designed for foreigners, you will be served at any time of the day, the most delicious and fresh dishes will be ready at “breakfast time” - from 7 to 8 am, at “lunch” time - from 12.30 to 13.30, after which most Vietnamese rest until 15 o’clock , and dinner will be ready from 19 to 21 hours.

Buying food on the street is quite safe and convenient, since the Vietnamese monitor cleanliness and take care of the freshness of food in a tropical climate. However, we should not forget about basic hygiene rules (wash your hands before eating, do not buy food in dubious places, etc.). Typically, people buy baguette sandwiches on the street, which are made from small French rolls with the addition of vegetables, sausage, eggs or other ingredients at the buyer’s request.

The freshest and cheapest fruits (pineapples, bananas, etc.) are sold on the streets, and bargaining is an integral part of the purchase.
Particularly noteworthy is the cult ritual “royal” dinner in the city of Hue especially for tourists, during which you are completely immersed in a past era, both in dishes, in ritual ceremonies, in clothing, and in the spirit of the ceremony, surrounded by your retinue. gourmet dishes of ancient Vietnamese cuisine accompanied by the enchanting sounds of folk songs.

If you don’t know how to eat with chopsticks, in Vietnam they always serve a fork along with other utensils. If you want to try eating with chopsticks, you should not stick them vertically into a bowl of rice or other food; this gesture has a mourning connotation. Also, they are usually not separated with chopsticks. big pieces for small ones - there is a spoon or knife for this. Chopsticks are usually held with the hands further from the ends with which food is taken, and one should try to ensure that only the food, and not the chopsticks, touches the mouth.

Rice is usually served in one large bowl, and everyone spoons the rice into their own small bowl. Vietnamese dishes meat, fish, and poultry are placed in large plates in the Chinese style, and everyone also helps himself. You cannot eat straight away from a large plate: first you need to put the pieces in your bowl, and only then put them in your mouth. The soup is served at the end of the meal; it is usually poured from a large bowl into a small bowl from which the rice was eaten. It is permissible to drink soup over the edge of the bowl after pieces of meat and noodles have been caught from the broth with chopsticks.

According to Vietnamese customs, elders or hosts offer and serve dishes to younger ones or invitees, so if you are invited, your host himself will put food in your bowl.

Is Vietnamese cuisine so diverse and what should you absolutely not eat?

When going to Vietnam, you probably read a lot useful information and, naturally, they paid great attention to Vietnamese cuisine, which, according to many, is very exotic. Is it really? Here I will talk about how Vietnamese families really eat, what food in Vietnam popular

and is Vietnamese cuisine really as diverse as it seems to future travelers?

Let's start with the fact that the Vietnamese cannot imagine their food without rice! Food in Vietnam is primarily rice, and only then everything else. Without rice, neither a Vietnamese breakfast, nor lunch, nor dinner is unthinkable. Rice is always on the table! In cafes, they often bring an extra portion of rice for free, because they have rice like we have bread. Vietnamese cuisine cannot imagine a single dish, with the exception of soups, without rice.

Rice in Vietnam is cooked exclusively in rice cookers, which the Vietnamese buy, as a rule, for a long time. One rice cooker can serve a family for several years, being used three times a day.

There are many varieties of rice in Vietnam, but each family chooses which type of rice they like best, and this rice is purchased in huge, twenty-kilogram bags. An ordinary Vietnamese family of four to five people eats twenty kilograms of rice in about a month and a half.

One of the most delicious varieties rice, in our opinion, is sticky rice. It is really sticky, but not spreadable like porridge, and the hard grains of rice seem to be stuck together with glue. Unfortunately, this variety of rice is not sold in Russia. They say you can buy it in Moscow, but we haven't found it yet.

The Vietnamese friends we were visiting told us a secret: they buy Thai rice because it tastes better! Having traveled all over Vietnam, we have no doubt about this, since the Vietnamese cannot do something simply normally. Even the Vietnamese themselves admitted that Thai rice tastes better. Yes, it’s more expensive, but they still prefer it.

For rice, Vietnamese cuisine offers meat, a variety of herbs, fish, broths, sauces, omelettes, mushrooms and so on. Meat - chicken, pork, beef, snake, dog, cat, rat, pigeons, sparrows, ducks, geese, partridges (anything that moves!). Yes, yes, everyone eats this in Vietnam! However, often (even almost always), Vietnamese families still serve rice with pork or beef, stewed and fresh herbs and vegetables, as well as broth. They won’t cook a snake or a rat at home just like that, without a special reason. The Vietnamese families we visited did not eat dogs or cats either.

A Vietnamese table looks like this:

Plates with meat, fish and vegetables are placed in the center, as well as a large bowl of broth, and rice is placed in each bowl. You can pour broth into the rice, put pieces of meat and vegetables on top, or you can immediately put them in your mouth, picking them up from a common plate with chopsticks. The bowls are small, because in Vietnam it is considered indecent to pour too much on yourself, as if you are greedy. This is how our Vietnamese friend explained it to us. You can ask for more rice as much as you like, but the meat runs out very quickly, since it is served only a little (apparently because the Vietnamese eat little).

This is what a typical Vietnamese table looks like. These dishes are for the whole family, which consists of six people! For two weeks after arriving in Vietnam, I cried every day that I wanted to eat, because I couldn’t understand how the Vietnamese could eat so little.

Vietnamese cuisine on city streets.

Now let’s talk about what kind of Vietnamese cuisine you will encounter during your independent travel, what you can eat, and what you should avoid.

First I want to note that the food in Vietnam is always fresh! No cafe will leave food prepared in the morning to sell it at lunchtime or in the evening. Due to the heat, food quickly spoils, and people avoid cafes that serve stale food.

Cafes are divided into morning and evening. The former work from 5-6 am until lunch, the latter from 13-14 pm to 20-21 pm. There are also those who work until 22-23 hours and even until one in the morning (this is mainly in large cities). The food is prepared right there, nothing that can spoil is stored! During our entire two-month stay in Vietnam, we never got poisoned by food in a cafe! If possible, add pepper to your food, which is on the tables, it disinfects.

Traveling on your own, by bus, plane or motorcycle, and not having a large budget to go to a restaurant every day, you will eat in small private cafes, which are everywhere in Vietnam. The food in such cafes does not differ in variety. There are, of course, originals whose soup is not the same as everyone else’s, snails with rice and vegetables that taste unusual, but there are few such cafes.

Mostly you will see signs that say COM (rice) or PHO (soup). It happens that in one cafe they serve both soup and rice, then you can eat to your heart's content! And the first, and the second, and they’ll also give you tea!

COM (Fig)

Rice is served, as a rule, with a piece of meat (mostly pork or chicken), in some places they also put it on top fried egg(or boiled brown, prepared using a special Vietnamese technology), and be sure to serve a small bowl of broth with the rice. We often poured this broth over the rice so that it would not be so dry. But they don’t give broth everywhere! The meat in such cafes is often fatty, so if your body does not tolerate fatty, fried foods, then it is better to see how it is prepared before ordering food. This will not be difficult, since the kitchens are located directly in the room where visitors eat.

Also in some cafes you may be offered a choice of rice various vegetables, and all sorts of intricate Vietnamese twists. Feel free to experiment!

Very tasty fried rice, in Vietnamese it is called Comrank, but it is rare to be found anywhere. Just ask, maybe you'll get lucky.

Almost everywhere, additional portions of rice are served for free (or they ask you to pay about 5 thousand dong).

PHO (Soup)

Soup. Soups are a different story! I loved them very much in Vietnam, another thing is that they are not at all filling and after such a soup, after half an hour you want to eat again, since they are based on rice noodles, which are quickly absorbed by the body.

Soups are mainly based on chicken broth with long rice noodles. Thinly sliced ​​pieces of chicken, beef or pork are placed in the soup. You will definitely be asked what you want! Don't get confused, everywhere they serve soup it says Bo - beef, Ga - chicken, or Lon - pork. Just point your finger, and in 5 minutes they bring you the desired dish.

The soup is always served with greens or bean sprouts. Please note that some Vietnamese mix greens directly into the soup and eat this kind of vinaigrette. I preferred to chew greens separately from the soup; it seemed to me that the greens in the soup interrupted the taste of the main dish.

Soups are eaten as follows: you take chopsticks in your right hand, and a spoon in your left. You fish out the noodles with chopsticks, place them on a spoon and pop them into your mouth. With the spoon in your left hand, you slurp the broth, and with chopsticks in your right hand, you catch pieces of meat in the soup. I understand that it’s not very convenient, but after a few training sessions you will even like this technique of eating soup! No other way. The noodles are long, and it is impossible to eat them using only a spoon; they will slide off.

Food prices in Vietnam.

PHO (soup) street cafes cannot cost more than 50,000 VND. This is already considered very expensive. Typically, the price for a bowl of soup is 20,000 – 30,000 VND. But not more. It costs more only on highways where truckers stop, or in the center of a big city. Although in both Hanoi and Saigon Pho we always ate no more than 25,000 dong.

COM (rice) will cost about the same. By the way, don’t be surprised, but soups are often more expensive. Why, we still don’t understand. The price for a plate of rice with meat and egg will be approximately 25,000 – 35,000 VND.

Food in street cafes simply cannot be more expensive! Sometimes when entering a cafe you need to look around; prices may already be written on the walls, or in the menu on the tables.

As for the prices for fruits and vegetables, they are also low. Dear oranges and apples. But if you go to the Vietnamese market, you can buy exotic fruits at prices ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 dong. There are fruits, for example, lychees, for which they ask for 70,000. Don’t be surprised, the Vietnamese pay the same. Basically, fruits do not cost more expensive than food in a cafe (price per 1 kg).

In some large cities there is a huge BIG C supermarket. There you can buy food at fixed prices without haggling with anyone.

http://www.bigc.vn On this site you can see which cities in Vietnam have BIG C and what assortment is presented there. At BIG C you can buy ready-made food. We loved going to this store in Hanoi, we took ready food, a bottle of whiskey, and had a picnic near the Lake of the Returned Sword in the center of Hanoi.

Alcohol in Vietnam.

Alcohol in Vietnam is the same as here. You can run into a fake if you buy booze even in a normal store.

Beer by taste qualities the same as ours. Normal beer Tiger and Heineken. Good Saigon beer.

Vietnamese whiskey Wall Street deserves special attention. Very good alcohol! It tastes good and doesn’t give you a headache in the morning. A half liter bottle costs about 100,000 VND, which is relatively inexpensive. However, one day, having bought it in a large store, we both woke up in the morning with a terrible headache. This is what I wrote about above. You can run into it everywhere. Better to buy Wall Street in BIG C.

Don’t take some strange bottles from street shops!
There is 30-degree local alcohol, which Vietnamese alcoholics and our tourists drink. In our opinion it is called Zum-Zum (I don’t know why it was called that). Below is a photo of half the label. The husband with crests drank it in Da Nang, he says it’s quite normal, but the Vietnamese shudder at the very sight. It costs 30,000 VND for a 0.5 liter bottle. (Judge for yourself what kind of alcohol can cost 1.5 dollars?).

Traditional drinks of Vietnam.

Cha da. A delicious Vietnamese iced tea called Cha da, pronounced something like “Chaada,” is served in almost every cafe for free. Somewhere they will take a couple of thousand dong for it, somewhere five thousand, but chaada is everywhere. Somewhere you have to ask for it to be brought, somewhere it’s already on the tables in little jugs. This is Vietnamese green tea - very refreshing and thirst quenching. The taste is very light, with a faint hint of green tea.

It will be very tasty if you squeeze lime into the chaada. By the way, lime is very popular in Vietnam and is on the tables in almost all cafes! If there is no lime somewhere, then this is rather an exception, and a sad one at that. The Vietnamese add lime to soup, pour it over rice, and squeeze it into chaada.

Cane juice. Very tasty sweet drink! We always stopped for a drink whenever possible. The cost of one glass of cane juice is from 5,000 to 15,000 thousand dong, depending on the location. On the highway, cane juice will cost no more than 10,000 VND.

Once we met a man in Hanoi who paid 40,000 dong for a glass of cane juice! This is unthinkable! He was deceived by saying the price was three times higher than it actually was. In the same place, we drank this juice for 12,000 dong. Be careful.

Ice. About ice in South-East Asia there are legends. And that they store it in the ground, and cut it on asphalt, etc. Do you think this is really possible in the 21st century?!

The answer is YES! This is still the case! We ourselves were surprised, because we thought that these were just fairy tales, however, when we saw HOW they add ice to drinks, our fantasies about the civilization of the Vietnamese dissipated.

Try not to take drinks with ice! Ice for cafes is bought in briquettes and cut on the ground (it’s the same in Cambodia).

One day we wanted to drink iced tea, but when we saw how they wanted to prepare this tea for us, we quickly pulled the plug.

Here is how it was. We drive up to a cafe and ask them to make us iced tea. A grandmother working in a cafe approached a bathtub standing on the street, covered with a concrete slab on top (maybe not concrete, but very similar), and moved this slab away. There was ice there! It was covered with sand and some grains. She began to shake it all off with her palm, then took a briquette, dipped it in a bucket of water (like, washed off the sand), put it on the table, picked up a file and wanted to cut this piece of ice. Then we realized what was happening and retreated.

Iced coffee is made the same way. Some people chop ice in special bags, but often they simply take a piece of ice in their hand and chop it with the blunt side of a knife. Then they collect the resulting ice fragments from the table with their hands and pour them into your cup.

I hope you don't think anyone is wearing gloves?

Where can I eat?

You can't eat in all places in Vietnam. So, a few rules that will help you avoid trouble in catering places:

1. Always ask how much the food costs before you sit down! If they refuse to tell you the price, or say something incomprehensible, or say, “Sit down, we’ll sort it out later,” under no circumstances should you eat in such a cafe! Leave immediately and do not respond to further persuasion! You can get into a lot of trouble!!!

If you ask how much it costs, in Vietnamese it will be “Bao nu dun?” This phrase is understood everywhere, so if they refuse to answer you or pretend that they don’t understand, turn around and leave such an establishment. Because in the end they may present you with a bill ten times more, citing the fact that you did not immediately find out the cost of the food, and just today it costs as much as 100 bucks.

1. Stop where people are sitting. If there are a lot of people in the cafe, it means that the establishment is proven and popular with the local population because it is tasty and inexpensive. Pay also attention to the transport standing near the cafe. If there are mopeds there, feel free to go in. This means that food there is inexpensive and locals prefer this cafe. If there are mainly cars, then, as a local resident explained to us, food will be expensive, since this is already something like a restaurant.

1. Pay attention to the general environment. Is it clean, bright and there are napkins and saucers of lime on the tables? Local residents are sitting, and the owner of the cafe is trying to explain to you that how much does it cost? Then welcome! But this rule does not always work in street cafes in big cities. It is more suitable for cafes located in small towns or on highways. In big cities, such as Saigon or Hanoi, street cafes may not give a very pleasant impression, but they will be very tasty and at a reasonable price.

1. If there is no one in the cafe, they tell you some exorbitant price, and at the same time you also have the opportunity to see how the food is prepared, it is better to refrain from such a meal. Most likely, it will be tasteless, expensive, and the food may not be entirely fresh (although there is no such thing as “stale food” in Vietnam).

As people who have traveled all over Vietnam on a motorcycle and seen many “Vietnamese wonders,” we will give you our good advice– never, never eat a dog or a cat!

Firstly, from a purely ethical point of view, this, in our opinion, is disgusting to even imagine.

Secondly, look at the kind of dogs they eat!

(poor dogs, sorry).

These dogs were caught on the streets of Vietnamese cities and villages, and now they are being taken to the slaughterhouse. They may have various diseases, including blood diseases, which are not killed by heat treatment. Do you need it?

I have no doubt that the situation is the same with cats. We did not see stray cats and dogs in the northern part of Vietnam. Why do you think?

In the south of Vietnam - from Phu Quoc, Saigon to Da Nang, dogs and cats are not eaten, but in the north of Vietnam, from Da Nang to Sapa, dogs, cats and rats are also eaten. In the south it is considered bad manners to eat a dog. In the north you can eat anything!

You, of course, will not find such food in ordinary street cafes, but only in restaurants.

When you travel all over Vietnam, you will, of course, have your own favorite dishes. You may even think that what is written here is complete nonsense and share your discoveries in the field of Vietnamese cuisine. If so, then I will only be happy with additions and amendments!

Last thing. Always carry hand sanitizer with you and wipe your chopsticks with it! Sometimes the chopsticks fall to the floor, the cafe workers pick them up and put them back in the common basket on the table... Happens. I saw it myself.

Oh, this Vietnamese cuisine! Bon appetit, so to speak!

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