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!

Street Food V: The Fry-nal Frontier

TGI Fryday (AKA Tuesdays and Thursdays, specifically). And nope, haven't gotten tired of it yet! And yes, moderate moderation is practiced. These are dangerous waters for an overweight guy in his 30's! But this is science, people. All for science, and the edification of myself and gentlestrangers like you.

Frying has been around at least since the Romans, and very likely was a technique imported from ancient Egypt. Virtually every culture has some version of 'fried wholly or partly in oil/fat' - it helps prolong shelf life for meats and vegetables and satisfies natural cravings in our brain for salt and fat, things that were historically scarce in our diet. It's not very healthy, but also, if done properly, not an oil-soaked horror show (in the case of deep frying, the natural water content being superheated and expanding out of a piece of food repels oil naturally).

I've got my favorite stands around HCMC, and today... we're going on a little fried journey.

Street Food IV: The Voyage Home, and What I Didn't Find There

Pork Sticky Rice (Xoi Man). Mandatory? No, not really. But pretty good.

Wow, it's been quite a while since I posted about my street food adventures, huh? Let's rectify that!

In between/during my Autumn posts, I got to visit my homes in North America, and I really appreciated for the first time what kind of environments I was bouncing between. The rapid changes threw their differences into sharp relief. It highlighted the good in each and reminded me that even the negatives sometimes serve a purpose.

One thing that really made me blink, however, was Chicago's lack of street-level activity. I'd never really noticed it before, but the streets are pretty dead here in America. Relatively speaking, of course. Now, I'm not generally a guy for crowds, but I really enjoy the vital atmosphere typical of virtually any Vietnamese street, and there's a LOT to be said for convenience, price, and quality.

Ok. True story: the weeks I was in the midwest were unseasonably cold (and then unseasonably warm... thanks Denver!) and Chicago's true character is naturally more visible in the warmer months of April-September, so there's that. Even then, however, Chicago doesn't have much of a street food scene to speak of.

To me, this has some clear benefits and losses.

Eating My Way Out of a Vietnamese Bakery

Don't call them hot dogs! They are better than hot dogs!

French influence has percolated just under the surface of Vietnamese culture since the days of French Indochina. The fallout has been largely beneficial in the modern era, with the best of France rubbing off on Vietnam in the form of food and architecture.

This goes double for the world of baked goods!

These breads and pastries I've sampled from around Ho Chi Minh City are always surprising and almost always delicious, with few exceptions!

Take a look at this photographic diary of some of the most interesting pieces of breaded bliss I discovered over the past few weeks!

Above: a braid of sweet bread cradles a halved piece of pork and garlic sausage, with chili paste, spring onions, and a hardboiled quail egg. There's a sticky sweetness to the pastry although it's decidedly savory overall. A small lunch!

A small aside - I'm sorry in advance that I don't have the various Vietnamese names. These are often simply lined up in a glass case, with no placard to define them. I've done my best to transport you there via my photos and words. If you can help me name these, please let me know in the comments or email me from the sidebar!

Feast your eyes...

App Review: Foody.vn (iOS, Android, Web)

Today let's look at Foody, an app/website that strives to be the 'Vietnamese Yelp' and is helping organize this city's wild and ever-changing mix of food and drink offerings.

First of all, let's note that I did not use the word 'restaurant' above. Holy schmoly, yes, people, this is an app that catalogues food stands! The future is here! And not only street food... as you'll see, the app lets you delve deep and get specific in describing your particular craving.

I have been using Foody daily for three weeks now and it's been an interesting, and informative, ride.

The app is packed with functionality, but, in general, it doesn't get in the way of the main tasks: discovering new places to eat and drink, documenting your visit there, and rating them.

Click through for screenshots and a tour, and see how I find new places to eat... or simply identify what's a restaurant, and what's someone's kitchen/living room (this can be tricky, seriously)!

Banh Mi Ha Noi: The Art of the Local Deli

HEY YOU.

C’mere kid, I’ve got something for you.

You like crispy, fresh-baked baguette? …Yeahhhh you do.

Fatty, crispy pork? …Drool, baby. You know you want it.

Sautéed onions and peppers? A couple slices of white cheese? A bit of lettuce? All topped off with chili sauce and some kind of sweet-soy-whatever (it's hoisin, I'm an idiot) sauce?

Come around the corner with me, and let’s get some Banh mi thit nuong, or BBQ Pork Sandwich!

This is the most delicious, craveable piece of food art in my neighborhood, and a dangerous distraction after a long day at work - it’s all I can do to stick to only ordering one most days.

Feast your eyes on this specimen...

Street Food III: The Search for Shock

My street food has been entering a bit of a rut lately. There's a storm a'coming, folks - time to shake it up.

Hopefully my next installment will tackle some more diverse dishes, including more substantial meals (almost everything I've gotten on the street so far has been 'eat on my bike' food as I zip between jobs and home) - there are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of specific, common dishes that I haven't tried. They seem to appear out of the woodwork the longer I'm here, and it's always a surprise. Why is it a surprise??

This edition brings 2 new drinks, 2 vegetarian dishes, cylindrical rice things (2, of course), and a whole passel of exotic fruits made into the best smoothies in town... minus the durian. Always minus the durian.

Here's my third round-up of treats from the streets. Enjoy!

Iced Sugar Cane Juice
Average Cost: $.25 USD
Mandatoryness Level: WOAH
Best Attributes:

PROS:
-DO YOU GUYS HEAR THAT GUY'S HEART? I CAN TOTALLY HEAR HIS HEART. WOW THIS IS GOOD. HOW IS IT GONE ALREADY? DO YOU THINK I HAVE TIME TO GET ANOTHER? WOULD THE KIDS LOOK AT ME FUNNY IF I CAME IN WITH TWO? HOW COME YOU'RE NOT DRINKING ANY? DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS? I JUST REALIZED YOU CAN GET THIS ON MY BLOCK, OH MY GOD. WHAT TIME DID YOU SAY? OOO PUT YOUR HAND HERE, IT'S LIKE I'M A HUMMINGBIRD, I WONDER IF VIETNAM HAS HUMMINGBIRDS. WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY WOULD LOOK LIKE. I FEEL LIKE THEY WOULD PROBABLY ENJOY THIS DRINK. WE SHOULD GET SOME MORE. I MISS HUMMINGBIRDS. DID I TELL YOU I CAN HEAR THAT GUYS HEART??

CONS:
-It's not that guy's heart, it's yours.

-Early onset diabetes

-Propensity to think/talk in all caps

-A truly unbelievable sugar crash

ON THE OTHER HAND:
-The best preparations give it a twist of lime, which is just outstanding.

Buckaroo Ben in the Street Food Dimension, Part Deux

I've been told by many locals that street food is the way to get the real Vietnamese experience - restaurants are fine and all, but if you want to eat like a Viet, you eat on the street.

This edition brings another dessert cup, a whole bunch of fried things, rice in all forms, and even a surprise cream puff. Did not expect the cream puff.

Here's my second round-up of treats from the streets. Enjoy!

Sticky Corn with Sweet Coconut Sauce
Average Cost: $.25 USD
Mandatoryness Level: Skip it
Best Attributes:

-It's traditional, but that doesn't make it acceptable to my western palette, even one that's been saturated in Vietnamese tastes for 7 months. Instant regret. Not even a rumbly tummy kept me from throwing this one away.

-The texture and taste of what is essentially creamed sweet corn with coconut sauce is just not my cup of tea.

Adventures in Street Food

Have I seriously gone 5 and a half months without talking much about the fun food and drink you can get on the side of the road?! Let's rectify that!

Here you see a coconut - yes, a whole coconut. It's been fashioned into a cup, and then when you drive up, the salesperson whacks the top off with a machete sticks a straw in it, throws it in a little bag, and you're on your way!

Fresh Coconut
Average Cost: $.25-.50 USD
Mandatoryness Level: Totally Mandatory
Best Attributes: Quenches your thirst in a way no other liquid can.

Drive on for a cornucopia of food I bought on the street!

School Lunch

So, if I'm as busy as I say I am, then where do I find the time to grab food? The only sane answer is street food. Total time to walk up, indicate quantity, and leave with food is usually less than a minute. Best of all, each of these is 15,000 VND - less than $0.75.

Some of these are typical, and one is harder to find - all are tasty and fresh. I've showed you a couple before, but since I've been eating these for breakfast and brunch regularly for the last month, I thought I'd share a portion of my daily diet with you!

Vietnam and the Cost of Living

Some of you have asked me about personal costs and money living in Ho Chi Minh City. Here's a little more info for you, with some personal experience details. All denominations are in USD for the sake of easy comparison to you followers back home. The column on the left is always Chicago.

Note: All statistics come from numbeo.com (I don't know how well-reputed this site is, but the figures given largely fit with what I've seen, so I'm going to run with them and just post commentary) along with supporting anecdotal information from the sources listed at the bottom, combined with my personal experiences.

HealthNews: Ridiculous Foot Pain Not Infection

Centre Medical International - Where I now have a GP.

Well, this diagnosis was completely unexpected. I thought I had an infection. WRONG.

Let me explain. As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I have been experiencing some serious problems with my left foot. Let me recap a full 9 days with the following representative dialogues:

Day 3: "Hey Ben! Want to go to the supermarket?"  "Sure, but I can't go far or fast."

Day 5: "Hey Ben! Want to go out tonight?"  "I can barely make it to the kitchen on the 2nd floor and you want me to walk to a restaurant 30 minutes away with healthy, drunk 21 year olds?"

Day 8: "Hey Ben! How's your foot?"  "Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod"

By Day 8 it was swollen, red, shaking, and completely unable to support weight. I couldn't move or wiggle any of my toes. I was in major pain. I'd roll over in the middle of the night, touch it to the bed frame, and wake up gasping and sweating (the sweating is normal, but the gasping in pain? not so much). I could barely go anywhere, let alone get off my bed, without leaning heavily on something. I was getting really scared.

And After the Alley It's the Hotel Lobby

Behind me is a busy main street. Start Here...

I live in an alley. Well... sort of. I sort of live in an alley.

I guess technically I live off a series of alleys, in a guesthouse. In fact, most of the population of Ho Chi Minh lives on the insides of these giant gridded blocks, where you enter through an alley or tiny-looking sidestreet (often with banners flying above them, but just as often completely non-descript - like my entrance to the left) and all of a sudden it's like you're in an asian Neil Gaiman's mind - they're full of twists and turns, neon lights advertising bun cha or banh mi, tiny stores selling necessities, fried food, and newspapers, and small, hidden temples where the local faithful maintain shrines full of incense.

Slowly, the unbelievable noise of the streets of HCMC fades away and is replaced with the sounds of a community. The roosters you already know about (I sleep with earplugs in now, no joke), and they're not going away. In fact... I've come to like them a little bit! Stockholm syndrom much? Maybe. It's nice to get up so early and start my day. And in that respect, I'm just about on my host-people's timetable. People are up and going before 6am every day of the week, trying to beat the coming showers, humidity, and heat.

And, oh, the people... lots and lots of people!

An Expert's Guide to Getting Lost in Saigon

As you can see, I didn't get too lost on the way
there, except at the end. Still, not bad.

Seriously, this is how you do it. Take notes.

Thank god my birthday is right around the corner, because I'm going to give myself the best present ever: a phone with maps. ELECTRONIC MAPS, PEOPLE. GPS. HOW DID WE LIVE WITHOUT THEM. I DON'T KNOW.

Let me tell you the story about the time I went to meet a new friend and ended up walking around Ho Chi Minh City for 3.5 hours trying to get home, including not one, not two, but three separate xe om (motorbike taxi) rides.

How did this travesty happen? I'm supposed to be the one that's good with directions, for gods sake!

I went to meet this new friend at a bar called the Spotted Cow in District 1. It was fun. I had caramel flan and a beer (bad combo). The owner, Mike, gave us 10% off cards for chatting with him. 

Nightlife!

(We also had a really interesting discussion about ladyboys and ladyboy culture, which became hugely, personally relevant about 4.5 hours later. Unfortunately. No, shut up, let me tell it.)

As an aside, I also got lost on the way there, but not as badly as I originally thought. This is the route I took - it was about 3 miles. No biggie. I only got lost at the end and was 30 minutes late, got there on a taxi bike (XE OM RIDE #1). My friend was ordering spring rolls and I think was a little mad, but I've only been here two weeks, give a boy a break!

Food Adventures So Far

Rambutan

Hello everyone!

Sorry about the absence - I've had a packed week here exploring, making new friends, getting a job (!), getting lost (and found, and lost again) and trying so many new things I hardly know which way is up. I'll be more regular about posting now that I've adjusted somewhat, I promise!

And, of course, many of those new things were eaten, because I particularly love food. Most were even enjoyed, and all but one was kept down. So, as I listen to the f-ing roosters this morning, I will take you on a mini food tour of what I've eaten this week.