The Best Street Food in Tan Dinh, District 1, HCMC

So you're in Tan Dinh ward and you're hungry... You want street food? You want fast food? I've got some great options for you today.

Welcome to my last food entry exploring all the restaurants and foods of Tan Dinh ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City!

This final post is all about the best fast, street-level food you can get around these parts. Tan Dinh is a smorgasbord of fantastic food options, and the quick food is some of the best you can get when your tummy is angry and you need some calories STAT. 

Today I've got the best banh mi in the area, some Vietnamese pizza, some crazy chicken sticky rice, a very unique bowl of thick crab noodles, and the second biggest meatball you'll find in HCMC. All are craveable, all are cheap, and all are ready to fill your belly within a few minutes of ordering. 

Sometimes, faster is better. With these, you don't have to sacrifice quality in the name of quickness.

Click through to see the street food I recommend in Tan Dinh!

Phuong Hoang III

102 Trần Khắc Chân, Tân Định, Quận 1

There is a time and a place for this banh mi, and it is roughly every few days, at any time of the day. These are much better than Nhu Lan around the corner, which is waaaaay more famous, but the bread there is thicker and chewier. Not so here, my friends.

I swear, this is the best banh mi I have ever had. The bread is baked fresh constantly throughout the day in the store, so the chances you'll get a crusty, flaky, light baguette are very high - I think I've only had a chewy loaf here once or twice, and I have probably eaten 150+ sandwiches here, easily, in the year that I've lived in this neighborhood.

The other major draw, besides that heavenly bread, is that this shop *always* has heo quay, roasted pork belly, ready to go. Lots of banh mi shops run out of heo quay early in the day, but whoever supplies this place is a god-tier supplier. They also offer xiu mai (pork meatballs), which are equally good, but those are relatively easier to find. My standard order for a meal is one of each (ok, you can judge me a little bit... but my god, they are addictive).

Normalize eating two banh mi for a meal!

Container Kafe 2

118/12 Trần Khắc Chân, Tân Định, Quận 1

These are some of the best bánh tráng nướng you can find in Saigon, and definitely in one of the best locations, situated on the canal in an area with excellent nightlife and lots of people-watching potential.

Bánh tráng nướng is slightly analogous to a pizza (and is commonly described as 'Vietnamese pizza' for foreigners), in that it is a circle of rice paper loaded up with ingredients and baked on a grill over a fire. Toppings range from egg to beef, tuna to sausage, chicken to onions, and a ton more. The 'pies' here come out fast and furious, and come with both chili sauce and tamarind sauce (the tamarind is my favorite for this dish). These are slightly more adventurous than some other restaurants around town, and a bit more loaded, which only makes them better in my opinion.

Xôi Gà 315

315 Hai Bà Trưng, Tân Định, Quận 3

If you like chicken and/or you're a fan of sticky rice, you owe it to yourself to try this at least once. It is some *wild* stuff.

This is an evening place opening at 6:30pm, and while it is technically in District 3, it's functionally in this ward so I'll throw it in this list. Located just opposite the market, you'll often see a small crowd of motorbikes and pedestrians lined up here for takeaway. At 25k, it's a steal: the sticky rice is painted with pate, and loaded up with your choice of chicken products - every kind of chicken, from fried to shredded to egg to even the young yolks pulled from deceased birds, and more, this is a delight for the palate. You'd be hard pressed to find a better sticky rice in the area.

Bánh Canh Cua 87

87 Trần Khắc Chân, Tân Định, Quận 1

I'm a big fan of Bánh Canh noodles. In fact, they're in my top three Vietnamese noodle types (if you asked me 7 years ago if I would have a noodle ranking I would have been very confused, but here we are and I am passionate about it). 

This is a fantastically unique noodle bowl. It's stuffed with crab - crab meat, crab sausage, crab broth - and the soup is rich and complex. I'm adding it here because, although it's nominally in a storefront, they have a bowl ready to go in less than a minute and they serve only this dish. This is a low-key famous destination and there's always a crowd, with tables spilling out onto the sidewalk and a near-constant stream of delivery drivers picking up orders. 

Bánh Canh Bò Viên

29 Đ. Nguyễn Văn Nguyễn, Tân Định, Quận 1

My last recommendation for Tan Dinh street food is yet another dish featuring bánh canh noodles. 

These are also homemade, and tend to be a little thicker and softer than the ones at Bánh Canh Cua 87, and they are exquisite, but the main draw is the almost comically large beef meatball served in the center of the bowl. The whole thing is covered in fried onions and served with dipping sauces (it's common in Vietnam to take meat out of your soup and dip it in sauces, such as chili or black bean sauce). The soup is not the star here, although it is certainly tasty. This particular dish has been cooked and served here for a loooooong time, and they've perfected it. The plastic tables and stools aren't elegant, and you're eating next to a construction site, but do not let that stop you from experiencing one of the more unique dishes in the District!

And that's it for the best foods in Tan Dinh ward, District 1! I hope you've enjoyed it, and that you've found a few places to put on your 'to try' list. This is my home ward, and I love love love it very much for its astounding variety, vibrancy, and quality.

For review, here's a rundown of all my food posts for this district, for handy reference:

• The best vegan food in Tan Dinh
• The best cafes in Tan Dinh
• The best restaurants in Tan Dinh

Meanwhile, there are a number of new places that have opened up since I started these posts. I've tried most of them, and perhaps I'll do a post on the best of the newest at some point.

Thank you for reading, and happy eating! As always, if you know about something I've missed in Tan Dinh, for the love of god, let me know...!