My first time in Vietnam I explored a few cities from the north to central Vietnam of May 2015. I did not blog back then but hopefully I will find some time to write about that trip so you can get an understanding of how the entire country is. My trip to Vietnam this year I briefly explored from central to south Vietnam. Big change in culture and tone which will be discussed later.
We initially booked two nights in Saigon but had to change it one night. We made a mistake with the day change when arriving in Saigon. Traveling all the time you’d think we’d remember but it just slipped us this time!
Hotels in Saigon are more expensive than other cities but for $70 a night, Alcove Hotel is still a great deal. It’s such a cute hotel with a library theme. We didn’t have much time in Saigon so we have to think about what do we want to do that’s most important to us. We know for sure we wanted to see Cu Chi Tunnels (yes, Cu Chi sounds like what you think it sounds like LOL) for it’s history and eat at two lunch spots. We HAD to go to The Lunch Lady (Quán ăn Lunch Lady) and Waterfall Chicken (Cơm Gà Xối Mỡ Su Su).
Before the Cu Chi tour we went to The Lunch Lady because we were hungry. Getting around by cab was fairly cheap. Everything is pretty far apart so cab was the best way. Getting around was about $1-$3 each way. Alcove Hotel is so helpful. Every time they call us a cab they made sure to give us a card telling us which reliable cab to take and they even write down the address of our destination to show the cab driver. I am so use to saying “cab” but it Vietnam they only understand “taxi.” The tax drivers in Saigon are nice! They’re very helpful and aren’t aggressive. Even when they can’t find the exact place they try to help us out. When they don’t have exact change they give us more back! I know, really this is unbelievable for taxis anywhere let alone Vietnam.
The Lunch Lady was tucked away from the busy streets between other small vendors. The star of the noodle shop is Nguyen Thi Thanh (in Vietnam they out last name first). It was a pretty cool feeling for me finally seeing The Lunch Lady in person after seeing her on social media and through watching Anthony Bourdain No Reservations. We were there on a Monday so the special that day was Thai Noodles (bun thai). Along with the dish there were sides of shrimp fritters, fried egg rolls, and spring rolls. I didn’t care for the small dishes too much they weren’t anything special but her noodle soup was good! It was a light lemon grass broth with the right proportion of noodles, veggies, meat, and shrimps. The meat and seafood were very soft and sweet. I was pretty surprised how generous they were with the toppings. One thing to note was that they didn’t really provide a menu nor was the price visible. We sat down and they just started laying out with sides then asked how many bowls of soup. I guess you could deny the sides and say no but I don’t like to draw attention in a foreign country unless it’s totally outrageous that I have to speak up. I didn’t like this at first but because this isn’t the first place to do that in Vietnam I did not let it bother me. I know some people on Trip Advisors commented about this but here is how I look at it. It’s still fairly cheap so I am not going to make a scene, many street food in Vietnam don’t have many items so they already know what will be ordered, I am in a foreign country I am not going to fight or argue over $10, and lastly I get the luxury to travel leisurely while they work almost everyday just to make ends meet. It was my first time there but based on my research prices have increased over the years due to rising cost in Saigon and of course her fame after Anthony Bourdain. Don’t be fool by the “more fame, more money” because she’s still not rich. The income from the noodle shop is to support the entire family, who seemed to help her out at the shop.
Name: The Lunch Lady (Quan An Lunch Lady)
Address: Phường Đa Kao, District 1 (Quan 1), Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam
Hours: 9 am – 3 pm, it’s best to eat here for lunch.
Prices: $10 for our entire meal (Shrimp fritters, spring rolls, fried egg rolls, two bowls of soup).
We booked the Cu Chi Tunnel through the hotel so I do not recall what the name of the tour company was. It was $25 a person for a four hour tour. It was pretty far out, maybe an hour and a half to the tunnels one way and about an hour touring at the tunnels. It’s always cheaper to book a tour than get a cab to drive you all the way there. Plus, the tour guide always educate on what your touring. I did noticed in Saigon they are more receptive to foreigners. If they work in Tourism they even have American names! Our tour guide’s name is Nick! He’s so funny and made our tour so much more fun. He was also very good at explaining the history and even had photos to show us! Best part that made history not so dry is his humor! On the way to Cu Chi Tunnels Nick was hungry so he made a quick stop to get banh mi! We didn’t get any because we weren’t hungry but look at that, fresh breeeaaad!
The Cu Chi Tunnels were used by Viet Cong during the war as hiding spots during combat. It also served as a communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The tunnel system played a critical role to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces. What Nick taught us was that “Viet Cong” is a term people in the South called fighters that are from the North fighting in the South. Interesting because I have always though Viet Cong was a term we all called Northern fighters regardless of where they are stationed.
The tour was very cleaned and well kept. The tunnels were expanded a bit to accommodate tourists. During the tour we keep hearing gun shots. We thought they were sound effects but they is a gun range at the end of the tour.
After the tour we asked the tour guide to drop us off at Saigon’s night market and they were happy to do so. Ben Thank Market closed already but there’s a night market near by. The market there seemed to have international food. It was very touristy because of the food options but I didn’t come to Vietnam to have pizza and a burger. We settled for Saigon-style rice plate and noodle bowl. It was delicious but common with Southern Vietnamese’s cuisine, it was too sweet. Just a little background info that Northern Vietnamese food is typically on the salty side, Southern Vietnamese food is typically sweet and Central Vietnamese food is more bold and balanced (sometimes spicy).
Chicken eggs, dried shrimps, chinese sausage, and pickled veggies over sticky rice. Pork and fried egg rolls vermicelli noodle bowl.Nick (tour guide to Cu Chi) warned us that the night market isn’t anything special. It’s good to look around but don’t buy anything because they’re useless crap. LOL. Really appreciated all the advices Nick gave; he was very friendly and candid with everything. And he was right! It was just for browsing and nothing special because literally every other vendor had the same boring products.
We didn’t have much time the next day so we HAD to go to Waterfall Chicken (Cơm Gà Xối Mỡ Su Su). We got up early to make the most of our time since out flight to Dalat was at 4pm. The restaurant didn’t open until 11am so we went to Trung Nguyen Legend Cafe to try some coffee. Their drinks were just mediocre. I didn’t think it was anything special, just like Starbucks. See it this way…….Trung Nguyen is the Starbucks of Vietnam. Just like Starbucks they do not have the best coffee or drinks but they have the market plus visibility. It’s common in Asian to have smoke-friendly cafes and this cafe we had to go to the third floor for nonsmoking. It looked cute but the idea of sand inside a cafe made me feel dirty.
Name: Trung Nguyen Legend Cafe
Address: 349 Hai Ba Trung, Ward 8, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City 70000, Vietnam
Hours: 8 am – ??
Prices: $10 for our entire meal (Shrimp fritters, spring rolls, fried egg rolls, two bowls of soup).
Outside entrance of first floor. Vietnamese books displayed inside the first floor entrance. As we entered the third floor. View from out table. Green tea latte with jelly and cafe sua da.After coffee we walked around to look and stumbled upon a stand that sells rice paper rolled with qual eggs, dried shrimps, herbs, and topped with scallions, garlic, papaya, and some sort of mayo. There are so many rice paper options in Vietnam, most like this you don’t even have to dip in water, they are thin but don’t break easily and get soft once they put sauce on it. This was surprisingly so good! Got a nice mix of crunch and flavor. The sauce was a bit excessive and sweet (of course). And as you can tell fairly cheap, we paid 20,000 VND for one order plus all the toppings (1 USD is about 22,746 VND). When you walk out of Trung Nguyen Cafe, make a right and it’s half way down the block.
Processed with VSCO with a4 presetAfter the snack we took a cab to Waterfall Chicken (Cơm Gà Xối Mỡ Su Su). This spot we learned through Mark Wiens. However, the address on his blog/vlog is old and they have moved since. They’ve moved a few times actually. The taxi driver took us to three different spots before arriving at the right address on the third try. The tax driver was super nice, helpful, and patient with us. They had just opened for the day so we were the first customers. Perfect, no wait just us. The chicken is slightly precooked then fried under a waterfall of hot oil. The rice is also precooked but pan fried once you order. You can watch both here and here. The chicken was crispy on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside. The dipping sauce tasted like a thick hoisen, oyster sauce, and garlic with a sweet profile. The fried rice had a nice simple flavor, not sure what the seasoning is but the taste isn’t reflective of the color. The rice is a bit too hard for me. It is made of sticky rice that didn’t tasted fully cooked.
Name: Cơm Gà Xối Mỡ Su Su
Address: 1067-1069 Hoang Sa F11 Q3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Hours: 10:30 am – 9:30 pm
Prices: 44,000 VND per plate.
Two orders. Frying the chickens. Close up. Packaging the sauce. Making the rice.We went back to the hotel after lunch to catch a break then walk around before our flight. When we got back to the hotel it was pouring rain up until we left to the airport so we just hung out at the hotel lobby. Well at least we dodged the rain. Although we didn’t get much time in Saigon, I was happy we got to see the “must see” spots. The only thing we wished we could’ve done given more time is checking out Mekong Delta.
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