American tourists are surprised when they try both super cheap and super expensive street food in Ho Chi Minh City.

Sonny Side (from the US) currently owns a YouTube channel with over 10.7 million subscribers. He is passionate about exploring cultures and cuisines around the world , including Vietnam.

In Ho Chi Minh City, Sonny enjoyed many local specialties and wasn't afraid to try dishes ranging from casual to upscale across Vietnam.

Most recently, Sonny and a friend tried two street food dishes in Ho Chi Minh City, one costing only 5,000 VND and the other an expensive one priced at 350,000 VND, to give their honest opinions on the taste.

The first place the two guests visited was a vegetarian restaurant on Ngo Gia Tu Street (Ward 9, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City). Sonny revealed that the restaurant has been open for over 4 years and can sell 450 bowls per hour at a super cheap price of only 5,000 VND per bowl (for dine-in customers).

Besides vegetarian rice dishes, the restaurant also serves vegetarian vermicelli and pho, with the most popular dish being the grilled pork vermicelli.

Sonny and his close friend didn't mind sitting on the sidewalk, enjoying a super cheap bowl of vegetarian noodle soup (Image taken from a video clip).

Sonny said he had enjoyed many noodle dishes in Vietnam, including grilled pork vermicelli. However, the grilled pork vermicelli at this restaurant is unique because all the ingredients are vegan, from the grilled pork, spring rolls, and fried nem (Vietnamese sausage) to the vegetarian ribs and lemongrass fried tofu.

At the restaurant, Sonny and his companion ordered two servings of grilled pork vermicelli. Although the restaurant was crowded, customers didn't have to wait long; it only took a few minutes to be served a hearty meal.

Acting like locals, the two guests slowly poured sweet and sour fish sauce over the ingredients in their bowl of vermicelli, mixed them well, and enjoyed. Sonny commented that the dish had a harmonious blend of flavors, so delicious that it was hard to believe it was made with vegetarian ingredients.

"The grilled meat is tender, chewy, and flavorful, the spring rolls are crispy as if made from pork, and the sauce is also delicious and aromatic. This noodle dish is really good," said the American customer.

Sharing the same opinion, Sonny's friend also commented, "This is one of the best noodle dishes I've ever eaten in Vietnam."

The vegetarian grilled pork noodle dish left the American customer constantly exclaiming in delight, saying it was much tastier than its price suggested (Screenshot).

Besides the taste, both were surprised by the price of the vegetarian grilled pork noodle dish, only 5,000 VND per serving. Despite the incredibly low price, they found the dish to be delicious, exceeding their expectations.

Speaking to VietNamNet reporters, Ms. Vuong Kim Long – the owner of the vegetarian restaurant that Sonny visited – said she was very happy that her restaurant's dishes were well-known and loved by many people, including foreign tourists.

Ms. Long said that the restaurant opened in February 2020 and currently has two branches operating in Ho Chi Minh City after the third branch closed not long ago. The restaurant is named "Tuy Tam" (meaning "Pay as you please") because customers can pay whatever they like when dining there.

“The restaurant is open with the purpose of serving lunch to everyone who needs it, regardless of gender, occupation, or age. At each location, the price for a meal to be eaten on-site is listed as 2,000 VND and 5,000 VND, however, this figure is only symbolic as customers can pay whatever they want after finishing their meal.”

"The shop has a donation box ready; customers can put in as much or as little as they want, or even not pay at all," the owner said.

This restaurant specializes in vegetarian dishes, and customers can pay whatever they want (Image taken from a video clip).

For takeout customers, the price is 25,000 VND per serving. This money helps the restaurant cover rent, utilities, and labor costs.

According to Ms. Long, the restaurant's menu is diverse and serves different dishes daily to give customers many choices, such as: mixed rice, vegetarian duck noodle soup with bamboo shoots, offal porridge, tapioca noodle soup, beef stew sandwich, Hue-style beef noodle soup, grilled pork noodle soup, vegetarian pho, and vegetarian broken rice.

The restaurant is open from 11:00 AM to 6:30 PM, Monday to Saturday. On average, it serves over 600 vegetarian meals daily.

The next place Sonny and his companion visited was a street food stall selling crab noodle soup on Pham Van Chi Street, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City. This stall had previously sparked controversy on social media and earned the nicknames "ripped-off crab noodle soup" and "5-star street food crab noodle soup" because its most expensive bowl cost up to 350,000 VND.

Sonny said he had previously eaten crab noodle soup costing only 25,000-30,000 VND per bowl in Ho Chi Minh City, but this was the first time he had tasted crab noodle soup that cost ten times as much.

The American customer commented that, despite the restaurant's noodle soup being considered expensive, it was still very crowded with diners.

Two customers enjoy an expensive bowl of crab noodle soup in Ho Chi Minh City (Image taken from a video clip).

At the restaurant, Sonny and his friend ordered two of the most expensive bowls of crab noodle soup and described the meal as "like a seafood buffet," overflowing with toppings such as blood pudding, pork, fish balls, floating rice cakes, fresh shrimp, shredded crab meat, small crab claws, large crab claws, etc.

They enjoyed tasting the soft, juicy blood pudding that melted in their mouths and rated the flavor as very delicious.

“The fresh rice noodles are soft and tender, soaked in flavorful spices and a rich, thick broth. This is one of my favorite noodle dishes,” Sonny’s companion described.

A hearty bowl of crab noodle soup, containing various types of meat and seafood, and a thick, rich broth (Image taken from a video clip).

In a similar vein, Sonny also praised the thick, flavorful crab noodle soup, which was served in generous portions.

"The crab meat was beautifully peeled, very fragrant, and satisfyingly succulent. The broth was thick and rich. The more I picked, the more crab meat I found underneath. Now I understand why they sell this dish at such a high price," said the American customer.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan (62 years old), the owner of the noodle soup stall, said that the stall has been operating for 36 years and sells out within about 3-4 hours of opening.

According to Ms. Loan, she learned the recipe for banh canh (Vietnamese rice noodle soup) herself. She carefully selects only the best ingredients to create high-quality bowls of banh canh that are worth the price customers pay.

"I don't care what people say; I only care about what I'm doing. I want customers, after finishing their meal and leaving this place, to remember the crab noodle soup and remember me," Ms. Loan expressed.

Despite the high price, the restaurant's special crab noodle soup is still loved by many and attracts a large number of customers (Screenshot).

To make delicious crab noodle soup, Mrs. Loan meticulously prepares each ingredient and step of the process. The broth is simmered from chicken bones, pork trotters, fish, shrimp, meat, and crab roe. She always selects large, firm shrimp and boils them using a special recipe to prevent any fishy smell. All parts of the crab are used, from the meat and claws to the roe.

Currently, the restaurant offers a variety of price options for customers to choose from, ranging from 50,000 VND to 350,000 VND, depending on the portion size. The cheapest bowl includes pork, floating rice cakes, generous portions of blood pudding, and a rich broth with crab roe.

Phan Dau

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/khach-my-bat-ngo-khi-thu-mon-via-he-sieu-re-va-sieu-dat-o-tphcm-2280260.html