Street food Saigon-Style

2/24/2008: After awaking a little late this morning, we grabbed a coffee and headed out in the hot and humid south Vietnamese city. Google had me thinking that Bank of America had a branch in downtown Saigon just a mile or two from where we're staying. Conveniently, several landmarks were on the way: reunification palace, notre dame cathedral, random irish pub (...okay, the last one isn't in any of the guide books.) However, when we got to the BofA address we didn't find any ATM's, but rather AK47s! No bank in site, and he didn't exactly look like he wanted to exchange any travelers checks with us. Well - we thought - lets find some lunch.

Late Lunch: Vietnam House, Saigon. Cha Gio, Bo La Lat, Nem Nuong, Cha Ca.

BDM - Fried spring rolls (Cha Gio) were very tasty, stuffed to the gills with shrimp-n-pork goodness. I also liked the beef rolled in la lot leaves. There's just something about bite sized morsels of juicy meat and seafood that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The 'mystery meatball' (Nem Nuong) was...well better than a swedish meatball. I didn't really care for the fried shrimp cake - tasted like a fried serving of tough tofu...bleh.

JM - A mostly unremarkable meal turned into a true pleasure when two old friends appeared on the sidewalk right outside the window of the restaurant. I hadn't seen Beth and Thai (the folks I lived and worked with in Saigon in 1997) in at least 10 years and had completely lost touch with them, so imagine my surprise when I saw them staring at me through the window!! I was so happy to see them that it pretty much wiped out any opinion, good or bad, that I had about our meal.

Dinner: Quan An Ngon, Saigon. Banh Xeo, lotus root salad with shrimp and pork, crab sauteed in tamarind sauce (Cua Rang Me).

JM - This joint is known as the place to go to sample traditional street foods and other well-known Vietnamese dishes in Saigon. The scene was hectic to say the least with crowds of people spilling out onto the street all vying for a table. We managed to squeeze our way through the crowd and, after agreeing to share a table with another couple, we were seated pretty quickly. We started off the meal with ice cold Saigon Special beer, served Vietnamese-style with a big mug of ice. This meal was a fingers-only affair from start to finish. Banh Xeo, is a thin crepe-like dish stuffed with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts. You tear off a piece, wrap it up with some lettuce and herbs, dunk it into some nuoc cham sauce and devour. So good.

We ordered the green papaya salad with pork and shrimp, but had to switch to the lotus root salad when we were told they were out of the papaya salad. The salad was shredded lotus roots, carrots, onions, herbs, shrimp and pork topped with roasted peanuts and served with shrimp chips. You pile the salad onto the shrimp chip (which resemble a light rice cracker) and then cram it into your mouth. yum, yum, yum.

The finale of the meal was the crab. A sticky, messy affair that had us thanking the fact that we'd put the travel pack of handi-wipes in our backpack. All in all, a really great meal and for $15 dollars, a definite steal!

BDM - I'd like to note two things here. First, it's never OK to drink your beer in a mug with ice. I've heard the saying 'when in rome...' but tonight it was straight out of the bottle for me, and with a little luck, it was already cold. Secondly, eating crab out of the shell with chopsticks is just plain hard. As messy a dinner as a BBQ rib joint, but you get more napkins at the BBQ. The meal, however, was delicious and well worth the mess.