This one is for the foodies. Vietnam is known for its street food. According to some it has the best of it on the globe. I don’t know if that’s true because Vietnam is the first country I ever visited with a reputation for good food stalls. But I can say it is pretty damn good. My experience is still limited so I will stick to the classics. The classics are the ones you can find in every street. That is really every street. On every street there is food available from little stalls (not to mention the abundance of restaurants and cafe’s) and the following ones are the most widespread.
1. Pho.
You can’t get around pho when you’re in Vietnam. It’s the unofficial national dish. Traditionally served at breakfast but it can be consumed at any point of the day. Pho is Vietnamese for noodle soup. The standard version is served with beef, but many varieties exist: chicken, shrimp, pork, vegetarian, intestines,… All stalls have their own type of broth and it’s the quality of the broth that distinguishes a good pho from the rest. This dish is extremely popular. The Vietnamese eat it incredibly fast and love to add tons of condiments like soy and fish sauce, hot peppers, some lemon, bean sprouts,…
2. Bahn Mi.
Bahn Mi is basically a sandwich. It’s a small baguette with all kinds of toppings. They look pretty similar to Western sandwiches but their flavour is very distinct. This is because of the use of typical Vietnamese herbs and spices such as cilantro (coriander leaves) and daikon. The French influence is notable not only because of the baguette but also the ingredients: paté and la vache qui rit cheese are two of the favourite fillings. Also roasted pork belly or other forms of roasted meat are used. All topped of with a spicy chilly sauce.
3. Ban Xheo
Ban Xheo is maybe not as common as the two above, but for us it is very high on the list because one of our neighbours is selling them on the street every day. It’s an egg based pancake (or floury omelette, whatever your prefer) filled up with a mix of soy bean sprouts, shrimp, pork and spring onion. You don’t just eat it with the usual chopsticks but you use leaves of lettuce to make tiny rolls with pieces of pancake and you dip them in a fermented soy bean sauce (the taste of it is close to that of a very soft and sweet vinegar). (P.)
Delicious!
About the pricing.
As the range of food and places is enormous, prices vary accordingly.
Starting with the simplest street food, you don’t go over 40.000 VND (1.4€). Something more sophisticated, but still the street located will be around 55.000-80.000 VND (2 to 2.7€). And by more sophisticated I mean a dish over which you’d not rather talk much, unless its ‘mmmmm’ followed by the delectable consumption and a well deserved tip. In tiny indoor restaurants of a good quality you will leave around 250.000-300.000 VND (8 to 10 €) for two with drinks included. So far the most fancy place we have tried was the hot pot, where we left around 17€ for both of us, and that was rather a good standard restaurant. Food was tasty, but in my opinion not something that I would die to come back for. Especially with a ‘pancake lady’ just round the corner from our house, who sells the best Ban Xheo ever, gives you a beautifully gentle smile and ask you only for 20.000 VND (0.70€). My favourite!
When it comes to foreign cuisine like ‘western’, ‘Indian’, ‘Mexican’, prices go up to 70.000-150.000 VND (2.5 to 5€) for pasta, around the same you will have to pay for ‘Indian’ and ‘Mexican’ is valued even more. Pizzas are hugely overpriced comparing to the local prices and definitely not something that you wanna treat yourself with.
Food variety here is massive: local markets offering nearly free fruits and veggies, delicious fruit cocktails, smoothies&coconut milk you can find at every corner.
Life is beautiful! (O.)
away-we-go 
mmmmm ;]