Ho Chi Minh City doesn't really do restaurants in the European sense; it does eating, everywhere, at all hours. Breakfast is a steaming bowl on a plastic stool at 6am. Lunch is a baguette handed through a cloud of chili and cilantro. The city's eight million motorbikes seem to exist mostly to carry people between meals. Here's what to order, dish by dish.
Key facts
- Currency: Vietnamese dong (VND); street dishes typically cost the equivalent of a few dollars
- When to eat: many soup stalls are morning affairs and sell out; street food peaks again after dark
- Etiquette: low stools, shared tables, and self-serve herb plates are all part of the deal
Pho: start at dawn
Southern pho is sweeter and more garnished than Hanoi's austere original — expect a thicket of herbs, bean sprouts, lime, and sauces on the side. Pho Hoa Pasteur, one of the city's most storied pho houses, has been ladling beef noodle soup for decades and remains the classic first stop. Order pho tai (rare beef) and doctor it slowly; locals taste the broth before touching the condiments.
Banh mi: the world's best sandwich, arguably
The French left baguettes; Saigon perfected them. A proper banh mi layers pate, cold cuts or grilled pork, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, chili, and cilantro into shattering-crisp bread. Banh Mi Huynh Hoa, the city's most famous stall, is notorious for both its queue and its almost absurdly generous filling — worth every minute of the wait.
Com tam: broken rice, charcoal smoke
Follow the smell of caramelizing pork through District 1 or 3 in the evening and you'll find com tam — "broken rice" topped with a grilled pork chop, shredded pork skin, a steamed egg cake, and fish-sauce dressing. It's the city's great working-class supper, best eaten wherever the charcoal smoke is thickest.
