Eating Your Way Through Sai Gon Nights

There best thing about Ho Chi Minh City is the sheer number of hidden restaurants. Some of my fondest memories of the city involve wandering down inconspicuous alleyways and happening upon my next favorite food stall. Opening for a few hours each evening, these places serve only a handful of dishes. Sometimes, these is only one dish on offer. My favorite places were usually furnished with plastic lawn chairs and cheap folding tables. The decor isn't the point, though. It is all about the food. Imagine a cook who has had the opportunity to perfect one dish over the course of his or her career. The results of this kind of practice can be quite amazing.


Take banh xeo, for example. This specialty dish is sometimes referred to as a Vietnamese pancake. The "pancake" is made of a batter containing coconut milk, rice flower, and curry spices. The batter is used to make a crispy "pancake". The sweet coconut milk creates a nice contrast with the spices, giving the dish a heartiness. The pancake is then stuffed with pork, shrimp, mung bean sprouts, and onions. To eat, diners are expected to roll the whole thing in a leaf of lettuce and dip it in sweetened fish sauce. The lettuce adds a fresh and crisp element to the dish and also serves to keep the oil from the pancake off your fingers. I've had several variations to the traditional stuffing, including a vegetarian version with bean sprouts and thin strips of deep fried tofu.

Judging by how packed these back alley cafes were every night, these dishes were quite popular with everyone in Sai Gon.

For something soupy, there are numerous places serving a soup/stew which is cooked on a small gas grill right on your table top. Called lau in Vietnamese, the ingredients for the soup are often placed on your table raw. You are expected to put them into the boiling broth as you eat. I usually opt for the seafood version (Lau Bien). The soup is then filled with shrimp, fish, squid, and shellfish. Because freshness is highly prized in Vietnamese cuisine, I've seen, on several occasion, a waiter scooping a net full of live shrimp and sardines from a bucket and dropping them directly into the boiling broth on the table. Though the momentary jumping of the "freshest" of seafood gave a bit of a tug at my conscience, the freshness definitely was noticeable in the taste.

Despite their unlikely locations, word of mouth advertising seems to be all that's needed to get people to try that which is on offer at these specialty cafes. A spot with quality grub will earn an untold number of recommendations from satisfied diners. What is sometimes little more than a section of alley can turn into one of the most happening places in the city.

There are many other types of back alley specialty fare. I will attempt to further scratch the surface in later posts.