2 Must-Try Saigon Street Foods You Can’t Miss in Ho Chi Minh City

Good morning from here in Saigon. I'm headed to a spot for some steak and eggs today. So guys, come with me into this local spot for some Vietnamese steak and eggs. Bon A is a popular Vietnamese sizzling steak and eggs dish served on a blazing hot cast iron skillet with marinated beef, eggs, and pate. Originating right here in the south in Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, it's inspired by the French steak and eggs dishes introduced during the Vietnamese cooks turned it into a street-friendly affordable Vietnamese steak breakfast and it became a popular item in Saigon from the 1960s on. Alright guys, I just got my order of Bon A here and as you can see it's still sizzling hot. It literally took less than a minute for them to cook this and bring it to the table and it looks delicious so I can't wait to eat it. Alright guys, so I'm excited to have my first Bon A here in Vietnam and this is a classic southern dish here in Saigon and literally, as I mentioned in the close-up, it took them seconds to cook it. So here you can see the runny egg. The meat cooks instantaneously on that grill. Here you can see the pate. So it's a real simple dish, just a little bit of steak, a little bit, one egg and of course a bánh mì or a baguette. So it comes deconstructed. You can see all the different vegetables they provide. So if you want to make like a little deconstructed sandwich, you can do so. I'm watching the locals. This is a strictly local spot. I don't see one tourist in this place eating the Bon A. So if you guys want to eat what the locals eat, this is definitely the place to come to. You know, I forget the name of it so as soon as I step outside, I'll give you guys the name. So I'm going to add some of this steak here. Let me give you guys a close-up of the steak. Here's some of that runny egg and I'm going to put a little bit of the pate and before I put any of the vegetables on to add that freshness or the crunch from the vegetables, I'm going to take a bite of the baguette along with the steak and eggs and pate. Another thing great about this dish is how you can sop up all the steak juice along with the pate and the egg. This is an awesome breakfast. So how I would describe this breakfast is, of course, you know how steak tastes. It has that real flavorful, meaty flavor which is so good and then the pate has like this creaminess and a little bit of like a richness to the meal. So it's rich and meaty along with the eggy yolk. It's just a great combination of flavors. So let me go ahead and now add a little bit of vegetables since they gave it and this baguette is nice and flaky on the outside. As you can see here, soft on the inside. You can tell they got some fresh bread and I was watching some of the locals and they actually just throw some of these vegetables right into the pate itself and eat it like that. But I'm going to go ahead and make this like a little sandwich. I guess there's no real right or wrong way to eat this. You just kind of eat it how you like. So I'm going to put a little bit of a steak and it's almost like a banh mi with the pate. A little bit of egg here and look at this nice little sandwich right here. Okay, so you know the vegetables make it like a real sandwich. You get the crispiness with the lettuce. The tomato is actually a very firm tomato. So they have very firm tomatoes. I don't know what this dipping sauce is. I mean let me take a bite of the dipping sauce. See what this is. So that's soy sauce. Super salty. How that comes into play in the bohnet, I'm not sure. Actually it's very tasty without it but very good. Very good. What a delicious, meaty, rich way to start my day. So it just shows you that you know Vietnam isn't just about pho but you get really delicious combinations of flavors whether you want steak or soup, sandwiches. They got everything here in Vietnam. Noodles. So I'm gonna go ahead and can continue to work on this delicious bohnet and I want to hit one more spot of a must try here in Saigon before I head out of Saigon. So I'm gonna finish this up and let's head to the next spot. I'm leaving the bohnet spot right now. So this is the name of the place. It's called Tan Tuyen. You guys could let me know how bad I butchered that name but you can see he's just constantly making more and more bohnet and it was absolutely delicious item. It costs like a little bit more than two dollars so what a great deal for some steak and eggs right. So let's head to the next spot for another must try in Saigon. Bohn Tet originated in southern Vietnam particularly in Saigon. Emerging as a popular street food showcasing fresh herbs, the grilled meat like you can see here in the picture and the signature tangy fish sauce. Becoming a beloved refreshing meal across the country with regional variations. Its roots are firmly in the south known for its abundant fresh ingredients and vibrant flavors. It became a staple in street food reflecting the resourcefulness of vendors in creating affordable nutritious meals. Here you can see her preparing the fish sauce. The dish combines cold rice vermicelli, marinated grilled pork, fresh lettuce, herbs like mint and basil, bean sprouts, pickled carrots, roasted peanuts, all tossed together. It offers a balance of textures, soft noodles, crisp veggies, crunchy peanuts and savory tangy and fresh. Hey guys here's a close-up of my Bohn Tet here in Saigon. A classic southern dish here and it includes many different flavors and textures. As you can see the egg roll, the pickled vegetables which include the carrots and daikon, peanuts, grilled pork, room temp noodles and some fish sauce. So I can't wait to try this delicious looking dish here in Ho Chi Minh City. Alright guys so I'm here on the street. This is absolutely the definition of street food here in Ho Chi Minh City. I'm in this tiny little stool about to eat a classic southern dish and Bohn Tet. And as you saw in the close-up and while they made it, it just has such a different variety of flavors and textures. And so how you do it is very similar to like Com Tom where you mix all the items together. So right now I'm going to mix the items. You can see on the bottom as well they put a bunch of cucumber and lettuce underneath the noodles. So it's important and that's why they give you a spoon to really integrate all the different flavors within this dish. So with each bite you're going to get all those fresh herbs involved as well as the egg roll, the delicious grilled pork that you saw her cooking and of course that fish sauce that you saw the other lady preparing. So I'm gonna pour that fish sauce on. I think I mixed everything well together and let me show you guys what it looks like when you mix everything together. So you can see all the lettuce, the herbs, the carrots, the daikon, the egg roll, the grilled pork, peanuts, you name it, it's in this dish. So that's why if you come to Saigon this is a must try when you come because it's an absolute classic delicious dish. So here's it up close. Let me get a big bite up close guys. First bite. It's just a burst of flavors with that fish sauce. It's really potent, adds a sweetness to it and also a slight vinegary taste and then all the savory flavors, the crunch of the and the marinated meat. The thing that's great about this dish is that you know in this hot weather here in Ho Chi Minh in the south sometimes you just don't want a hot bowl of pho or anything that's warm because it's just you're just already hot. So having a nice coffee or having a dish like which is a room temperature dish it really hits the spot and you know when I put that a fish sauce on it almost makes the egg roll almost like candied in flavor like it's a candied egg roll. Very good dish and even though this place does open early most people probably wouldn't consider this a breakfast food. This is probably more of a lunch food or a dinner food but what's great about this dish it doesn't really matter what time of day you have it whether it's a morning noon or night this is a anytime dish here in Vietnam. And you know as I continue to eat this dish there's just so many different flavor profiles within this. It's so complex in a certain way in that you just got so many textures and flavors going on each bite is a burst of flavors and just pure joy while I eat this. And it's so cute you know across the street you know it's a very loud street here there's construction going on there's motorbikes running through and all the ladies that work together to make this particular dish here are just screaming at each other just having conversation because it's just so loud here they don't have a choice but to talk to each other like that. I find that hilarious. So you know what I'm gonna continue to work on this dish. This is a must when you come to the south to Saigon Ho Chi Minh City and I just wanted to show you guys a couple. There's just so many dishes wonderful dishes here in Vietnam. I hope to be able to try as many as I can but here's just a couple in this video. So I want to thank you guys for watching this video. Please comment like and subscribe. I'm gonna finish this up and I'll see you guys in the next video.