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I know that I shouldn't say that here, but the food is the reason I'm going 😀, not photos:angel:. I've been avid reader of noodlepie for a looong time... If you have any tips? Share!!!
Best regards,
Hiu Tieu (a pork noodle soup) for breakfast is common in the south. Pho is the central (and I am told the north as well) counterpart. Pho is beef and has a thicker noodle. What is served in the US as Pho is closer to the Hiu Tieu noodle of the south.
You can often find people baking bread along side roads. It is usually very tasty. Some roadside vendors used to make interesting spam sandwiches when I was there. Coconut juice is very tasty. Their coconut is not the hard shell variety common in the USA. I used to drink it with ice often, but only you know if you want to chance that. I would be careful.
Thit bo bay mon is beef cooked seven different ways. Any of them will be tasty. One, where thinly sliced beef is dipped in boiling vinegar, placed on lettuce with rice and some vegetable is tasty.
I never saw it in the north, but south of Saigon, some places used to serve cooked blood. It tastes like liver. Ca lop is a fish soup. The fish I think was a kind of carp. It was very bony. You take your time to eat as you will be picking and spitting a lot of bones. But it tastes good and is something of a special food.
Don't be too afraid of nuoc mam (fish sauch) if you haven't yet tried it. There are varieties from no real smell to cheaper, that are quite smelly. In my experience, the more smelly, the better tasting. You just have to convince yourself that it is OK to put something with that odor into your mouth; then you should be fine. The more you eat it, the easier it gets to use it, and the more enjoyable it gets. Sometimes it will be a side dish to dip food into, sometimes it will be cooked with your food. If you try it, you will probably come to like it.
Don't be too afraid of local eateries. My experience in Vietnam and Korea was that local eateries and roadside vendors had some of the best food available. YMMV.
There are a lot of good fruits in Vietnam. In the south, there is one called Trai Vu something (roughly translates Virgins Milk). Anti-typically, it has a white pulp and juice. It is VERY sweet. Other fruits abound and are often made in to drinks.
Regardless of what I or anyone else says, you are on your own about what will be healthy and what will put you in bed for days. Hopefully some who have been there more recently than I (left in 1972) can comment on eating and drinking in Vietnam.
Still, I never got sick from eating on the economy, but got ptomaine in the PX, and mess hall, and spent much time contemplating my sins in the outhouse from mess hall food. YMMV.
EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention the Vietnamese coffee. Personally, I love it. If you aren't familiar with it, you should try it at least once. It should be made in a cup or glass, then they should give you sugar and sweetened condensed milk. VERY tasty to me when there (except I must use aritificial sweetener now, and no milk or cream).
If you want to drink it iced, make as above first, then pour it over ice (remembering what I said about water). Again, I personally never got sick on the economy, but know some who did. I think some people just get sick easier.
Don't be surprised by regional differences. Hiu Tieu in the south and Pho in the north for example. Or, when I was in Can Tho, there was no cold beer. It was served with a glass of ice. When I got back to Saigon, the beer tasted funny for a few days.
😀
