The famous food streets in Saigon

VietNamNet Bridge - Saigon has long been known as a city that never sleeps, with cafes, restaurants, and bars that are never closed.

Anytime, just stepping down the road, you can find for yourself a delicious dish. Whether it is a specialty of the central highlands or a rustic dish of the remote area in the central region, you can find them in Saigon.

Saigon also has many streets that are the home to restaurants which are known by not only locals but tourists.

1. Nguyen Tri Phuong Street - District 10

This road is known for delicious Che Thai (fruit cocktail). There are at least five restaurants selling this dish on this street, which are always crowded both day and night.

Che Thai is very attractive by the variety of colors and flavors of fruits, from durian to jackfruit, sapodilla, custard-apple, longan to coconut milk, gracilaria, etc.

From rush hours until the next morning, the restaurants on Nguyen Tri Phuong Street are always packed with customers. The sidewalks are also used. Photo: VNE

In addition to Che Thai, this road also attracts customers with many different delicious dishes. You can count not less than 10 noodle shops with many famous brands in Saigon here. Besides, there are restaurants selling hu tieu Nam Vang (Phnom Penh noodles soup), banh canh (crab soup), com tam (broken rice) and lau (broth with seafood, all kinds of meat, vegetable, noodle, etc).

2. Nguyen Huu Cau - District 1

Located at the side of the Tan Dinh Market, Nguyen Huu Cau Road is small but from early morning to late night, it is always packed with diners.

The most famous dishes here are the food from the ancient capital city of Hue. There are all famous dishes of Hue such as banh beo, banh loc (rice cakes with shrimp), Nam Pho rice cake, nem nuong (baked rolls), beef noodle...

You can also enjoy Thai food at relatively cheap prices here.

3. Hong Ha Street - Tan Binh District

This is the road for dishes of the northern region. In addition to pho (noodle), you could name more than 10 cuisines of the northern region sold at restaurants along this road, such as nem tai (pig’s ear spring rolls), vermicelli with fried soya curd and shrimp paste sauce, vermicelli with fried anabas, bun cha, chao suon (rice soup with pork ribs), crab rice cakes, snail noodles...

According to many diners, dishes offered at the restaurants here still maintain the special flavors of the North.

4. Phan Xich Long - Phu Nhuan District

Not only dubbed as “the road of coffee shops,” Phan Xich Long road is also home to many restaurants selling food of the North, the South and the Central Region.

Here, you can easily enjoy a bowl of bun bo (vermicelli with beef) of Hue or a bowl of bun ca (vermicelli with fish) of Da Nang, bun dau mam tom (vermicelli with soya curd and shrimp paste sauce) of the north.

After the afternoon rains or in the cool evening, boiled corn or roasted sweet potatoes sold by vendors are the choices of many people. 

You also cannot ignore the restaurants selling snails, seafood or roasted chicken legs, which are always busy at night.

In addition to the above typical streets, Saigon has many other places for you to choose, for instance Tan Ky Tan Quy in Tan Phu District - the street for grilled snakehead, Tran Khac Chan in District 1 - the street for banh canh (crab soup), Tran Mai Ninh in Tan Binh District – the street for cuisines of the central region or Pham Van Hai in Tan Binh District – the street for northern food.

Pha Le