12 Vietnamese Dishes You MUST TRY When You Visit SAIGON 🇻🇳

Vietnam is home to some of the best food in the world and in today's video I want to show you 15 must-try dishes for when you visit Vietnam. Let's eat! Big bowl of pho and quay these little donuts let's say Vietnamese donuts it looks unbelievably good just look at the clarity of that broth it's northern style so northern style means you get a clearer more simple broth you've got little shreds of spring onions in there but that meat look at the color of that leg meat it's been deboned and then that yellow yellow skin on top and as I said I've ordered it with the little Vietnamese donuts I cannot tell you guys how much I'd look forward to coming and eating Vietnamese food again it's the only reason I came here look at those noodles flat northern style as I said flat rice noodles wow silky silky rice noodles the flavor already let's try that broth if you can imagine like the best richest chicken broth you can think of maybe you know when you're sick or whatever you've had chicken broth it's that and then you have those subtle flavors of the spices the acidity from the lime that I put in but still the flavor from the chicken is what comes through it's unbelievable and because it's so clear you wouldn't expect it to be so powerful so rich I tell you what great recommendation Max was just saying it's called banh xeo for the sound it makes when it hits the pan a little different parts like you have like the the central style which is very small usually a little bit thicker ah seeing them and then this is like the southern style okay god it's huge two added onion pouring and prawns but everybody does a little bit different okay there's like some people put like bean sprouts some people put coconut it's everybody different look at that lid goes on to I guess steam as well as fried that part of the banh xeo a bit of oil goes around just to get that frying and crisping my favorite all right mung beans all mung beans in the banh xeo oh yeah and the live back in there for a second he'll drain the hole look at that this is drained off the oil and it goes onto a banana leaf onto a banana leaf and where's your lunch that is ridiculous this is the first place I've been where I've seen the side veg side veg outweigh the the main dish so this is like Mekong style so this is usually the Mekong so like if you're in the Mekong like they go in their backyard and pick this I mean you like it spicy so just go ahead throw it in there right what I do is I just go through kind of use both big chopsticks you can cut across nice and crispy nice southern style see how flaky that edge gets on there it's good stuff not as crispy as the other one because like she does have that coconut in there but still good so now we get it ready I usually get a base so it's either the salad or this to the base I always use this I just think this is a little more flavorful and you go through and pick what it is how you want this is the mustard green ah yeah so like you just pretty much go through and make it how you want you can do a little gradia you could do I mean really anything and everything here I just kind of do a little bit of everything I kind of usually like hold it down my thumb and place here and place more slowly build a little you path in my favorites I'm looking for the this right here that's the amber ilia but this actually has like a sour flavor try it out let's try this it's like sour very soft it's very steamy oh I see you hit the stem yeah it's very steamy and very like hard and woody so I just get like a little mint with mine too because it's gonna be so fatty and so heavy you can get actually some like coriander if you like that soapiness as well and then what I do is you just now go for your buns out or the bun cone dip and enjoy now we all know banh mi lots of people eat it for breakfast again I found another little street side store and well you can find them everywhere you don't need to search too hard you can see a big basket full of the banh mi here they look amazing so I think we're going to get one just one please with everything you can see the setup she's got a little frying pan like the grab one of those rolls we have everything we have pork floss we have crispy pork we have cold cuts of the pickles again the coriander and onion mix pate but first off as ever goes in a little bit of that mayo then pate cucumber some of that crispy pork we've ordered it with everything so we're going to get a little bit of everything some of that vietnamese sausage chair saw the egg earlier guys so couldn't resist having an egg never had one with an egg in before straight in some white pepper a little bit of hot sauce oh man then those pickles and that onion and coriander mix very very good the size of it and finally adorned with some pork floss yeah yeah yeah and chili of course chili 25 25 000 I'd say bargain all right now we could eat this here on the roadside but we're in vietnam after all so we'll be vietnamese it's morning we're gonna go grab a coffee and we'll eat it with the coffee of course you can find coffee everywhere in vietnam especially on the street side but every morning i've been coming to this place dolphy cafe house it's a chain there's a few of them let's say but for their vietnamese milk coffee i think they're pretty good you know you're going to get something good anyway so i thought i'd bring you here to eat the banh mi let's go in we're going to have bak chieu which is my favorite 45k for a medium that's my morning order every morning thank you it's arrived as you can see it's a milk coffee but you've got the milk on the bottom the ice in there and then the coffee poured on top and what i'm told you're meant to do is bash it up with the spoon mix it up with the spoon until you get bubbles on top that's the as i say the vietnamese way as i was told that's what we're gonna do get that mixed in really get that ice moving you're meant to hear the clatter of the ice like this rich creamy coffee a little bit sweet a little bit creamy very strong and perfect i would say to go with this banh mi and you do see people coming here it's busy but you see them coming here with their banh mi crush this down and yes you'll say why are you getting so excited for a sandwich but if you've had a banh mi in vietnam maybe you'll understand that coming back to vietnam and eating banh mi is something to get excited about that is a great banh mi flavor texture quality of the ingredients inside i love the richness of the pate i love the cold cuts i love the pickles that crunch in your mouth with that sour hit but the egg the egg is super interesting i wouldn't have thought of having an egg in this type of banh mi with all the cold cuts and the meat as well adds real richness and creaminess now and then that crispy pork the crispy pork is great you get little crunches of the skin because it's cut fine into cubes you get little little pops in there it's it's a great banh mi it's a great breakfast item once again if you're traveling and want to make sure you have mobile internet to find these amazing food experiences i have a great discount for you with salee e-sim and don't forget to use the code joeyp at checkout to get 15 off your first e-sim also if you're looking for a travel card you can grab a free card or a free 500 pound transfer with wise use this qr code to sign up and of course both links and information is in the video's description now let's eat grilled pork on rice noodles and you can see uncle grilling the pork here looks amazing on charcoal just on a little i mean on a little plastic chair you've got the charcoal underneath which i love and then that meat grilling on top smoking you can smell it from around the corner and just a little street store here selling selling banh mi you can see how fatty that pork is and that's exactly what you want because it's cooking over that grill the fat is just going to render down and get that char but also it's going to keep it moist i mean it goes without saying it's going to keep it moist and add a ton of flavor so you can't go wrong it's clearly marinated it in something we'll see when we try it i guess but even on here even on the grill it looks it looks amazing so we're just building the bowl up rice noodles and the bun herbs the salad and now the nuoc mam a little bit of chili fish sauce oh it's actually nuoc mam sauce i know it's chili chili garlic and fish sauce and uncle's just finishing the final touches on the pork once it's cooked perfectly of course and he's caring for them whilst he takes his coffee of course yeah i don't expect him to give up that he's just caring for them turning them making sure they're cooked perfectly and finally the grilled pork goes on come on thank you all right let's take it to the table and this is how it should be in vietnam right sat on the street next to the street cart store everyone starting their day hearing the bikes go past and smelling the smoke from the charcoal grill cooking give that a proper mix up and get all those herbs that cucumber that salad get that all mixed through this is a typical breakfast here in vietnam and you can see why it looks light and i just know it's going to taste light as well exactly what you want at this time of day look at that those white rice noodles now covered in that sauce yes wow you can taste smoky flavor it's sweet and it's salty of course from whatever they've brushed on top of it or marinated it in there but the depth of flavor that comes through from that smoke that smokiness and then all that fattiness that just bursts into your mouth it's super delicious and because he's cooked it slowly over the charcoal and taking care of it turning it turning it it is juicy and it is cooked absolutely perfectly but there's so much savory flavor coming through that but those noodles they look it looks like a light and fresh dish it is a light and fresh dish i can see why people rave about it i can see why i was looking forward to it after hearing that raving about it i've come to a place called kontam ba chi hai it's in a little residential area it's just open so they are grilling the pork on the charcoal grill broken rice yolk and salt okay salted egg yolk in the middle and meat on the outside fried egg yeah we're going unless you have tabasco in right yeah yeah yeah i read about this so i saw in the video this is the jowl what's an amazing cut guys oh my god crispy yes fatty crispy juicy okay that's it and then this is a little bit to the chop this is cut from the rib i think and then one of these oh my look at that look at that and if that wasn't enough guys we have scallion oil or spring onion oil for us british people and then some pickles amazing yeah look at that guys that looks incredible where do we start what i think we should do or what i've seen that you're meant to do is move everything to the side as hard as that is and i should say actually she didn't put the cha on so we now have some of that egg loaf that omelette basically that thick omelette so we've got four eggs now but move everything to the side and then get some of that dipping sauce on its fish sauce i am going to adorn it with some chili because you know i like it spicy this rice is not the full grain of rice it's called broken rice for a reason basically it started off as a very worker's dish it was the rice that couldn't be sold the broken parts of the rice and then the dish was created to make more profit i guess sell every bit of the produce that they have so let me just get a flavor for the rice first oh yeah i wasn't expecting that texture it is much more individual and grainy than i was expecting yes the flavor salty sweet fatty smoky smoky smoky smoky from that grill i am loving this dish guys the triumph of this dish is that individually and i haven't even tried the jowl yet guys but individually this stuff is fantastic quality is amazing but i think when you start to put it together that's when it takes it to the next level look at the gummy runny egg yolk i want to get a bit of that because that egg has been fried to perfection it's almost almost like a thai style egg and i'm gonna stick with because we know the flavor i'm gonna stick with some of that pork chop but a fatty piece of pork chop and of course some more of that rice come on that is unbelievable this might be one of my favorite dishes that i've eaten in vietnam so far this lady is making summer rolls oh look at that i love that so you know in england when we get these we dip them in water but here she's just spraying them yeah she's just spraying them up a little bit of uh lettuce shredded meat holy basil you reckon you could do it like that how easy yeah look at that little spray of water makes it pliable ah and then she lets it rest so it seeps in smart here they are finished products just look at this you can see how translucent they are with that rice paper one of the synonymous foods yes pho yes banh mi but also these soft rice paper summer rolls not spring rolls deep fried although incidentally he has brought us over some of the fried spring rolls to try too but these rice paper summer rolls is really synonymous with vietnam for me into that dipping sauce with peanut fried shallots fresh chili hoisin sorry as we're on this busy road hoisin which will add some sweetness let's try it soft chewy rice paper the also soft rice noodles in the middle which adds a nice texture and you have the crunch of the lettuce freshness of those herbs and then the sweetness a seafood flavor of the shrimp inside because i didn't see them put it in but they're a little shrimp cooked shrimp inside too onto the deep fried spring rolls now i was just going to eat them just like this as they are and you can see actually the tail of the prawn sticking out of it gary tells me actually here in vietnam you're meant to wrap it in the salad make a little parcel didn't even cross my mind so let's do that so we have all sorts of herbs in here we have the thai sweet basil which my dear guest is going to put into that for me jello leaf okay it's really um try a bit on its own it's really citrusy at the okay goes in wraps up thank you so much easier when you have someone making it for you so give that a dip in there and then bring it to the mouth the boldness of the flavors in there the crunch straight away from that deep fried outside of the spring roll look the summer rolls are good but i love that fried crunchy texture inside you have shrimp you have woody mushrooms you have minced pork probably some other herbs and veg in there too a little bit of carrot that is pretty special all right here we go layering up a little bit of and she'll snip in some of that brisket we've ordered the special out comes the vietnamese sausage little bit of herbs and onion look at that she puts the soup in to warm it up and then pours it back out and then the final soup goes in the noodles have hit the table look at that what a bowl i love this place so much i love auntie i love the noodles i love where we're sitting i love the whole like vibe if you will but most of all i love the absolute flavor bomb let me show you what's in this bowl you have right i'm gonna try i did actually just ask gary to film me and say right we're gonna do it we're gonna do it we go what what we're doing what we doing it's that good he forgot we're making a video anyway i've added the condiments i've given it a stir you can see the bits of chili in there let's try it properly so first let's go with the broth just look at the color actually come back down just look at the color on that broth now we've added that chili it's gone quite red and as gary said that satay gives the color into the broth anyway that that broth the depth of flavor in that broth i could see that was going to be the case because she's cooking it with the shank the trotters and different cuts with the bone and the marrow in the depth of flavor is crazy in there but there's also a lightness it's not too rich that you can't eat that much of it it's incredibly moorish it's incredibly savory very very good let's get some of those noodles with some of that brisket what a bowl of noodles i'm not gonna lie there's only so much you can say about one bowl of noodles that's for sure because well we've described the flavor profile but as far as bowls of noodles go we were both saying this it has to be one of the best bowls of noodles i think i've ever eaten tofu it looks as i say amazing and yes tofu a lot of you will say tofu is quite boring i don't really like tofu but one the quality of the tofu has to be good and then two what comes with it and we have the dipping sauce and we have the herbs so it's really going to up the flavor i just want to show you what it's like on the inside i mean i have chopsticks but hands is okay as i said how crispy it is on the outside how crispy and golden biting into it you can see it's remained soft and fluffy oh it's so good even like that it's so good i'm going to dip it in that manton the shrimp paste dip you see how that is oh wow that just freshens everything up because at the end of the day it's fried it's not greasy and actually that's why it is so good for a start because it's not greasy she gets the oil to temperature first and then she drops them in so it doesn't suck up all of that oil so you do just get the flavor of the tofu and then the herb the perilla leaf in this case just lightens it up but i think they have thai basil on there as well genuinely a great dish must be eaten whilst it's hot so as soon as it hits the table pretty much but the quality the quality of that tofu it is so soft it is so delicate on the inside and i think also maybe slightly not fermented but there's a sourness that's coming through just the quality of the tofu is so good and well i came here with a vietnamese person last night and they said it's one of the best that they've tried and they love this dish get it on the order this is it just on the side of the road on the little intersection is literally just a converted motorcycle looks like a honda dream and they've got the street food cart on the back northern style fish noodles just on the back of here how good does that fried fish look maybe with a little turmeric on the outside of it never had these before this is the soup this is what's smelling so good just look at the color of that soup and i love this little genius you've got the soup boiling way here but because of the space of course i mean it is just a little street still noodle into little basket into that cotton water and like i said with a little bit of that veg so quick only seconds in the hot water and then some of that fish cake sliced into the bowl this crispy fried fish how good does that look still with the skin on and finally hot soup and what is interesting a crumb no idea what that is and to the table uh i hit maybe down here not many seats just a few little tables thank you let's give it a stir get it mixed in oh wow that chili has a punch maybe maybe i even put slightly too much in there but flavorful fresh chili a nice kick to it the lamb just really cuts the resultiveness of that broth but you still get that deep rich intense fishy flavor oh wow the flavor it's subtle of fish it's not fishy the texture is nice it's not that rubbery horrible well the reason i don't like it but it's it's light it's fluffy flavor very nice nicely salted but because it's been sat in that broth it's sucked up some of the flavor of that broth and you know what i love sat here on the street literally on the street on tiny plastic chairs plastic tables just eating an amazing bowl of noodles this is exactly what being in southeast asia is all about then i saw another dish on the street side at a little street cart that i haven't seen before so it must only open in the morning and it's bang kwan i haven't had a dish before i haven't seen the cart before as i say so i have to stop and i have to try it of course this is a street cart bang kwan nong delicious bang kwan and uh yeah just on the side of the street again busy i don't have a seat available so watch i make it and hopefully one will become free but you can see this is the batter rice flour batter and it goes on to this muslin not you just this just this it goes on to the muslin yeah water steaming underneath and it will steam with that lid on and make this pancake essentially you can see she's got a big pot of it here and then after a few minutes you can see it's set against that muslin and she'll use the stick just to scrape it off and then she'll fill it with the filling looks like pork and mushroom roll it up and wrap it up and get this a bank on then that'll get chopped up on the plate snipped up how good does that look on top bean sprouts cucumber and some cold cuts again some vietnamese sausage and that's your dish all right we're just on the street side because the tables are taken so i've got a takeaway box instead of the sauce he's just going to pour it on for me come on oh enough enough enough thank you oh he's put a lot of sauce on there i hope it's good that beautiful box on top you have the vietnamese sausage ah and chili sauce yeah yeah thank you come on i love chili so i don't mind it spicy thank you but bean sprouts my favorite if you guys seen the channel before you know not the biggest fan of bean sprouts i must admit but you've got cucumber bean sprouts that chili sauce the nuoc mam that he's put on and then these beautiful beautiful bank on and on the inside yeah it looks like woody mushrooms and pork mints and then you've got fried shallots crispy fried shallots looks like herbs as well maybe vietnamese mint they are friendly super friendly in the end i think at the start they're a bit like what the hell is this guy doing trying to film and then i realized i was friendly so they were friendly too i'm gonna try i'm gonna go straight in just for that street side again guys with the horns and they love blowing the horns here i'm gonna go straight in with that bank on you can see how thin that wrapper is you can see when she was making it on that muslin paper just takes minutes not even a minute to cook and uh yeah let's try wow delicious very yeah very meaty very savory i didn't expect it so but that rice paper or rice flour batter that wrapper let's call it maybe not a pancake wrapper i think is a better way of describing it it's so thin it's so light it just melts in your mouth and then you get that mushroom and porky hit it's a great little dish it is a little how would i say one dimensional on the texture but that's why you have the bean sprouts that's why you have the cucumber the vietnamese sausage great little dish and yeah those bean sprouts do add the crunch so maybe in this case i'll take them i'm gonna come to a place for something i've been thinking about more than any other thing in vietnam put together the best without doubt the best cookie i have had anywhere is right here let's go find them okay here it is you are looking for a place called mad wine bar and then you come into this courtyard it's very beautiful little courtyard actually and the cookie store is down the back hello it's down the back it's stunning looking for any cookie or any cookie store it's on google maps and as i say they are the best let's go in what smells good and this is annie all right to be honest guys i've asked her just to choose for me because she's going to do a better job than me and the thing i love most oh nutella the thing i love most about these cookies other than the taste is the care they go into the oven to be warmed up they get warmed up for you so they're perfect and it's those little touches again with the love that gets put into it of course from annie there's those little touches that make all the difference strawberry shortcake i think this is for strawberry shortcake right gets dressed up and chocolate oh chocolate onto the s'mores and then what is this white chocolate yeah white chocolate onto the strawberry shortcake and here they come my tasting board of cookies oh my water as well thank you so much you're so kind thank you let me give you a quick run through we have the nutella of course with the chocolate we have the strawberry shortcake just look at that with the white chocolate on top and the freeze-dried strawberries we have the s'mores or the marshmallow the chocolate drizzled on i think there's chocolate chips in there as well and then we have the salted caramel with that amazing salted caramel in she's given me instructions that with the marshmallow ones we'll go with that with the s'mores one i have to break it open for you guys on camera you can see the marshmallow oh my god look at that the stretchiness you can just see the texture on the inside this is a new york style one i think so you can see it's gooey and rich and punctuous on the inside look at that let's try it oh my word it's as good as i remember maybe even better than i remember because i've been craving it so much you can see how much chocolate is inside and of course that marshmallow but the best thing about these cookies she takes the sugar right down so they're not sickly sweet you can just eat them and eat them and eat them which is a good thing so we have a lot this one s'mores one it's one of the best sellers for a reason unbelievable straight away as soon as you walk in you can see the smoke wafting over onto the road that was the first thing i noticed when i got here look at the flame as the fat from the pork drips into the coals it's cooking over coals and she's just guarding them watching it and to get even more heat well also probably to blow a bit of the smoke away she's got the fan going here as well but also that will fan the flames and get that well you can see right if i can get close enough in this heat the char on the outside of those pork patties what an entrance so as we come in you got the little stool here oh look some have just come off the grill going on to the hot plate there order the plate there ready to be you got uncle over here making the patties themselves big bowl of mince you can see how fatty that pork mince is you will have salt in there you've got herbs in there a little bit of pepper and then just that huge pile of pork it's not just that strips of pork belly marinated pork belly and the lady here is just layering them again onto these trays which will go on the grill so you got the veg pickles and the veg going in a couple of those well three of those pork patties the slices of pork belly which has also been grilled over here the smells are incredible over here of course we've come to the big bowl everything is here so he was just telling me the raw garlic or the garlic vinegar not raw goes into the bun cha ah and the nam ran thank you i almost forgot about that you can also put the dried chili in there too but look just look what i have here oh thank you look at the service there are two ways to eat this i've seen people in here eating it in this way they take the small bowl that they give you and take a little bit of that meat so take a little bit of that snip it into your small bowl take your white noodles get a little bit of those and slip them off into the bowl too take some of that broth get that in just to loosen it i don't think i like too much i've not had this before but i'm thinking of how i like noodle dishes in general and then just tear in as many of those herbs as you want from the herb mountain just get them in there and then what i've seen them do is literally just get in there mix it up and eat oh yeah time and time again the freshness from those herbs in vietnamese cuisine i've never been a big herb person but since i've come here i've really got the strips of pork belly is well it's soft because it's pork belly and it's been cooked nicely but there's a chew to it because it's been thinly sliced and cooked on the grill it's not been cooked for hours and hours where it just melts in your mouth there's a nice texture and the more you chew the more flavor comes out of it you get that charred flavor from the barbecue but it is quite rich and it is quite fatty but those herbs cut straight through it get a kick from the chili in that broth and then the nice flavor from the garlic i personally love it second way is i think the way i prefer take a little bit of that silky smooth noodle and yes i've washed my hands have to say this because i'll get comments saying have you washed your hands before you're touching your food put it on the spoon and just a little bit you can put it in but i prefer it like this you get a little gas burner and then your hot pot dish goes on top and then the plate you've got squid you've got snails you've got beef you've got pork fatty pork you've got two shrimp large slice of fish and some of those stuffed pork chilies or chilies stuffed with pork incredible little dish also a huge plate of vegetables that we saw downstairs and then a big plate of the rice noodles too it's an absolute feast get that fire turned on we'll get that broth because inside as we saw is the broth you've got the greens in there the herbs yeah we'll bring that to boil there are a few things you can get in there straight away whilst it's coming to temperature i think you want to cook them out a little longer there are some things that you just want to cook very briefly so you drop them in near the end the squid i think we can let cook out a little bit same with the pork it's very fatty so you want it to slow cook a little bit and render that fat out the beef is so lean you can see there's no fat on it at all very very lean meat you want that it's going to take seconds to cook snails too they can go in because they're only going to soften the longer they cook in terms of the vegetables vegetables come the same again you want to cook them just a little bit just a little bit so we'll leave them towards the end anyway lid on and we'll let that cook now it's come to the boil we'll start adding the rest of the ingredients in so top tip obviously i mean it goes without saying separate chopsticks for the raw stuff compared to the ones you're eating with so i'm just going to drop that fish in there i'm going to drop those two beautiful prawns in there and then i'm going to put those chilies in there as well but i'm going to keep the beef until the very last minute all right i've taken the meat and the fish out i'm going to put some of the vegetables in now i'm going to leave the squid the snails and the pork inside because as i say they'll just get better and better but i do want some of those vegetables cooked up and i guess we should get going so we'll dip that in i've already put some broth into those noodles and we'll try that richness from that broth that fishy broth and then you wouldn't think fish broth and beef would go well but that surf and turf i guess i mean the beauty of hot pot other than sharing with friends is you have so many different things to try like that fatty fatty pork belly i mean it's strips of pork belly isn't it you can see that skin on top fat underneath and then layers layers of meat there again dip in that dipping sauce and take some of that some of those rice noodles so good actually the skin on top is still a little bit chewy which is great but underneath that fat just melts in your mouth the meat is good of course the noodles are good the herbs are good but it's all about that broth and i guess with this dish if the broth is not good you're going to be struggling but i just want more and more of it so a few more ladlefuls into the bowl wouldn't be right to have the prawn sat there if i didn't try the prawns right so get that head ripped off juicy juicy inside oh yeah delicious seafood flavor on the inside not that we need more of it with this dish but it's there and just break that shell off and get to that meat and the inside big prawns actually cooked perfectly of course what would you expect what else would you expect this one i'm just going to have as it is in the dipping sauce get it in there oh yeah