Food tour by metro line 1, have you tried it yet?

Since the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro line officially opened, distance is no longer a barrier for food lovers in Ho Chi Minh City.

Many people in Ho Chi Minh City have experienced the metro train in recent days - Photo: QUANG DINH

Many young people think that they will no longer have to travel for hours to Thu Duc, the university village, to hang out at cafes because the metro can take them there in less than 30 minutes.

During the metro ride across Ho Chi Minh City, visitors can stop at many surrounding restaurants to enjoy the cuisine.

Ben Thanh Station

Metro Line 1 starts at Ben Thanh Station. A few hundred meters from the station entrance is Ben Thanh Market, a long-standing symbol of Saigon culture.

Inside the market, there are many shops selling a variety of dishes. The most prominent are the long-standing shops, such as the Hue Banh Beo shop that has existed for nearly 30 years in Ben Thanh Market. The shop is located at the West Gate and is always crowded and bustling. People who come to eat sit around, using chairs as tables.

Hue Banh Beo restaurant is always crowded with customers in Ben Thanh market - Photo: HO LAM

A plate of Hue banh beo includes: banh beo, banh it tran, Hue sausage, banh bot loc, coriander..., especially decorated with pork rinds.

Enjoying Ben Thanh market banh beo with meat and mung bean filling, diners can feel the softness of rice flour, the crunchiness of shrimp filling and the moderate salty-sweet taste of fish sauce.

A normal plate of cake costs 30,000 VND, which is not considered too expensive when the restaurant is located in the center of Saigon - Photo: HO LAM

A few steps away from the Hue Banh Beo shop is the Be Che shop, which has been present at Ben Thanh market for more than half a century. The shop mainly serves southern sweet soups such as: mung bean sweet soup, water chestnut sweet soup, corn sweet soup, Thung sweet soup, Thai sweet soup... Each sweet soup here has its own attractive flavor.

Besides sweet soup, diners can try rustic cakes such as: steamed banana cake, flan cake...

Outside the market, you can also stop by Number One chicken sticky rice restaurant, nominated by Michelin in 2024;

Mother In's Kitchen, a Vietnamese restaurant, is listed in Michelin's Bib Gourmand in 2023; Oc Dao is listed in Michelin Selected in 2023...

On the way from Ben Thanh market to the metro station, Tat Thanh (23 years old), a senior student at FPT University, confided to Tuoi Tre Online:

“I have lived in Ho Chi Minh City for four years now but have never been to Ben Thanh market because my house is too far away and I am hesitant to go.

Thanks to the metro, I can easily come here to visit. Before, if I wanted to eat in the center, I had to go home early because the dormitory was far away and had a curfew. Now, if I take the metro, I can go home faster, so I don't have to worry anymore."

Be Che Restaurant was established in 1968 - Photo: TO CUONG

Thao Dien Station

Near Thao Dien station, diners can find countless delicious dishes from balut, Vietnamese pho to typical dishes of cuisines around the world such as taco, ramen, udon...

Stepping out of the station, we can cross the pedestrian bridge to the other side of the street to go to Thanh Hung Phu Quoc Bun Quay restaurant, which is also one of the most famous Phu Quoc Bun Quay restaurants that has appeared in Ho Chi Minh City in the past few years.

When eating bun quay, every customer has to stir the dipping sauce - Photo: TO CUONG

Bun Quay is special thanks to its ingredients. The noodles are made at the restaurant, the shrimp, fish cakes and squid must be kept fresh to ensure the dish's flavor.

The soul of the dish is the dipping sauce, which includes ingredients such as sugar, ground chili... and a little lime juice, creating a very spicy and sour taste that awakens all the senses.

The scene of diners stirring the dipping sauce to blend the spices together is also the origin of the unique name of this dish.

If you come to Thao Dien, you should also eat Kim Thao balut eggs, famous for having consistent egg quality, each egg is not too old, not too young, both delicious and rich.

Each duck egg costs about 12,000 VND, quite expensive compared to usual, but many diners still regularly come back - Photo: TO CUONG

The lemon pepper dipping sauce mixed according to a family recipe is also the perfect catalyst, making diners eat one egg after another without getting bored. The owner revealed that he has only been in business for over 10 years, but the restaurant is always full of customers thanks to the secret of choosing eggs and mixing the family-made dipping sauce.

In addition, vegetarians can go to Chay Garden, about 1km from Thao Dien metro station. This is also a restaurant awarded the Bib Gourmand award by Michelin and is considered a "vegetarian paradise" in the heart of the city.

Thu Duc Station

Coming to Thu Duc metro station, diners will be "dizzy" with a variety of delicious restaurants from all three regions of the country such as: Tay Son rice rolls, Linh Dong braised offal, Em Toi snakehead fish noodle soup...

Notable among them is Giao Toan beef hotpot, a famous garden restaurant in Thu Duc for decades. Many people in Ho Chi Minh City still share memories of driving dozens of kilometers to Thu Duc on weekends just to have a pot of hotpot with their family.

Giao Toan beef hotpot has an airy space, suitable for eating on hot afternoons - Photo: HO LAM

The restaurant is about 4km from Thu Duc metro station. Visitors can take an electric bus and get to the restaurant in 10 minutes.

Giao Toan beef hotpot restaurant has become a legend in the hearts of many people in Ho Chi Minh City because the restaurant space is likened to a miniature garden, both spacious and cool with shade trees.

At the same time, the hot pots full of meat are also one of the trademarks here, the smallest portion costs 250,000 VND and can feed 3 to 4 people.

Family groups can choose the 500,000 VND portion, which is also the restaurant's full beef hotpot portion.

Giao Toan beef hotpot is full of meat, the smallest portion is enough for 3 or 4 people - Photo: TO CUONG

National University Station

This is the final station on the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro route.

About 4km from the metro station is the popular food court Luong Dinh Cua, with many shops selling rustic dishes such as: grilled spring rolls, fish cake noodle soup, vermicelli with tofu and shrimp paste...

Among them, the number of vegetarian hot pot restaurants is the largest such as: Huu Duyen, Hoang Dat...

Luong Dinh Cua popular food court is bustling with vegetarian hotpot - Photo: HO LAM

Many students believe that if they come to the University Village (the affectionate name of the National University area), they must definitely go eat vegetarian hotpot. In the memories of many people who studied in the village, vegetarian hotpot is like a "specialty" and is also the reason for rustic dates of students.

At Huu Duyen vegetarian hotpot, there are a variety of types such as: Thai hotpot, fish sauce hotpot, Sichuan hotpot... Served with a large plate of vegetables including: enoki mushrooms, Malabar spinach, water spinach, mustard greens... Many people especially love the chao dipping sauce here because it has a fragrant smell, sweet and fatty taste, and is not watery.

Huu Duyen vegetarian hotpot has a variety of vegetables, but the broth is still salty - Photo: HO LAM

Ho Thi Nhuong, a fourth-year student at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, told Tuoi Tre Online that since her first year, she had heard a lot about vegetarian hot pot and was determined to try this dish first when she arrived in the village:

"Because I like eating vegetables, I can eat two vegetarian hot pot meals a day. On weekends, hot pot restaurants are super crowded. Huu Duyen vegetarian hot pot is my favorite place because the hot pot here tastes delicious, the vegetables are quite fresh. The price is reasonable, only 35,000 VND for a portion."

In addition to vegetarian hotpot, diners can also stop by Binh Dinh restaurant, which specializes in selling famous specialties of Binh Dinh such as: Tay Son rice rolls, fish cake noodles, grilled pork noodles...; fish hotpot 44; Ngo Quyen broken rice .

These are all recommended dining places to experience if you have the opportunity to visit the village and are not too far from the metro station.

A plate of Ngo Quyen broken rice in the University Village covered in sauce - Photo: HO LAM

Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien) consists of 14 stations, stretching 19.7km with an estimated travel time from the first station to the last station of nearly 30 minutes. Ho Chi Minh City is currently supporting 100% of the ticket price for people to experience the metro line until January 20, 2025.

Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/food-tour-bang-metro-so-1-ban-da-thu-chua-2024123113334044.htm#content-11