Max McFarlin (from Arkansas, USA) is a famous blogger in the world travel community and owns a Youtube channel with nearly 600,000 followers.
On his personal channel, Max regularly shares videos about his travel experiences, especially enjoying street food in many countries he has had the opportunity to visit.
In Asia, the American guy has visited Korea, India, Thailand, Laos, ... in which Vietnam is his favorite destination and left the most impression. This male blogger admitted that Vietnamese cuisine is very diverse, there are many delicious dishes that he has never enjoyed anywhere else.
Most recently, on a trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, Max invited Chris Lewis, his familiar companion, to experience the Bun Dau Met restaurant on Cat Linh Street. He revealed that he had visited this restaurant many times and considered it a familiar address.
In Vietnam, especially in Hanoi, vermicelli with fermented shrimp paste has become a familiar dish, appearing in many restaurants or street vendors,... From two main ingredients, vermicelli and crispy fried tofu, this rustic specialty is also varied to suit the taste of diners when served with green rice sausage, pork leg or thinly sliced boiled tongue, fried intestines...
Most importantly, the shrimp paste is mixed to taste with a little hot cooking oil, squeezed with lime or lemon, sugar, chili and then beaten until foamy, which is the "soul" of the dish.
At the vermicelli and bean curd restaurant, following the owner's recommendation, Max and Chris chose the special meal, which included all the ingredients such as vermicelli, tofu, green rice sausage, fried sausage, boiled pig tongue and intestines. While Max seemed to enjoy the shrimp paste, Chris could only enjoy the vermicelli and bean curd with fish sauce.
Max even showed that he was quite knowledgeable about Vietnamese cuisine when he introduced Chris to the strange Vietnamese shrimp paste dish that he had eaten many times. Because for many foreign tourists, shrimp paste has an "unpleasant" taste and is not easy to enjoy.
In addition, the American guy also showed his skill and "gourmet" like the Vietnamese when he showed off his talent of mixing his own bowl of shrimp paste. "When squeezing kumquat into the shrimp paste, remember to stir it well like beating eggs. The shrimp paste is so delicious that even though Westerners don't like it at first, they love it after eating it," Max happily described.
While eating, the young blogger kept exclaiming "wow", "very delicious" because the fried tofu was crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and the shrimp paste was flavorful. He also revealed that the restaurant owner used shrimp paste from Thanh Hoa, so it had a more distinctive flavor.
"Eating vermicelli with fried tofu must be accompanied with perilla leaves and a little fish sauce, which is the standard Hanoian way of eating. And the fried tofu of this restaurant is really great, soft and fatty," Max emphasized.
The American blogger showed off his expertise when instructing his friend on how to eat shrimp paste the right way in Hanoi. He also recited the names of the dish’s ingredients fluently, such as vermicelli, shrimp paste, perilla leaves, intestines, etc.
Seeing Max constantly praising him, even though he couldn't eat shrimp paste, Chris couldn't help but order another bowl to try. This guy even mixed his own bowl of shrimp paste with the enthusiastic guidance of his friend sitting next to him.
Chis commented that shrimp paste no longer has the same unpleasant smell as before and joked that he felt "outdated" because now he realized that "shrimp paste is very delicious".
Because they were so fascinated by the taste of shrimp paste and vermicelli with fried tofu here, Max and Chris ordered 3 full meals for 210,000 VND, plus 280,000 VND for extras and drinks, for a total of 500,000 VND.
"I feel full after this meal. The food is filling and delicious," said Max.
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