More street food
I’ve wanted to try cơm tấm for a few days, and found it at a street food stall today. Overall, a very savory and cheap dish!
Cơm tấm: in English, it’s called Broken Rice. In bad rice seasons in Vietnam, farmers didn’t have enough whole rice to sell, so they instead sold the pieces of it, broken rice. It’s commonly served with some other kind of meat - in my case, grilled pork. It also came with some vegetables and a very light pho broth, and the seller also reccomended adding oil to it.
I had my breakfast with the required daily coffee.
I saw a bakery, asked the seller what their favorite dish was, and got it. This is an egg pastry that came with ham and cheese inside of it.
I’m not really a huge fan of egg in pastries - especially when that’s the only flavoring - but with the ham and cheese it was pretty tasty!
Follow the Smoke
Every time I see smoke, I like to check out the street food stall that it’s coming from. In this case, this is the best bahn mi I’ve had so far, and I’ve come back to this specific seller 4-5 times.
My street food tips: Look for tiny chairs, run-down restaurants, or smoke from cooking something on the street. These restaurants often have the most savory food!
Along with my bahn mi, I got this chinese apple tea drink that tastes like a lighter apple juice.
Boat tour
I’d wanted to take a boat tour yesterday, but forgot to book it, so I did it today! It had a great guide and was pretty enjoyable for only ₫350k (~$13). We were taken up the Saigon River for 10 minutes, back for 30, and then back to the port for another 20.
On the boat, I talked to a few people but only about surface-level things like why they were visiting and how long they were staying. It still felt fun to socialize though! Also, I tried the Saigon Green Beer, but still prefer San Miguel Apple!
More street food
After going on the boat, I walked around the Nguyen Hue Walking Street and didn’t find anything tasty. I decided to take a bike over to my original area in District 1 to find some street food - and that I did.
On the walking street, there was a cart selling sausages and “gold coin cakes.” I’d never heard of it, but got one for only ₫40k ($1.50). It was essentially a pancake with a little bit of cheese on the inside - a pretty tasty snack!
For dinner, I got some kind of noodle dish that came with chili sauce, veggies, and eggs. I also went to a coffee restaurant and got kumquat juice - it was very sweet and paired well with my dinner!
