Eat & Drink like the locals, Ho Chi Minh City

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It is slightly sweet, not overtly sour unlike middle easteran and meditteranean yogurts. it is made by Vinamilk and it costs 20,000 VND a cup if you buy it at the supermarkets or at grocery stores but it's free if you are eating in a breakfast buffett if you are staying in a 3 star hotel and up.

Favorite Dish: this kind of yogurt which is not that sour with a tinge of sweetnes is like a heaven sent when eating breakfast of just plain on snacking hehehe.

you can add the fresh fruits that are part of the buffett in it to make your yogurt experience truly amazing.

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Assorted Vietnamese Dessert and Drinks are mostly delicious and refreshing, prices range from 8000 VND to 20,000 VND. Available in street stalls, markets like benh thanh and food courts at strip malls all around saigon and it makes for a soothing energy booster moreso after walking in the humid heat.

Favorite Dish: Che Coconut drink with coconut milk and sticky rice plus other assorted vietnamese drinks which are available everywhere so if you have time, try to taste one or two of these wonderful and delightful drinks.

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Again this is Another Brand type of Vietnamese Coffee, this variety is a pure Robusta (hence twice the caffeine) and has a stronger taste than coffee using arabica beans. All vietnamese coffee include an aluminum made viet style coffee press to filter the coarse grinded coffee. This one sells for 35,000 VND for a 250 gram pack and is available everywhere and you can buy this at the benh thanh markets or at the Tax Department store in district one.

Favorite Dish: you can buy either instant coffee(no coffee filter) or the coarse grinded coffee beans with the vietnamese coffee filter included and they have an endless varieties grown in vietnam since it is the third largest coffee grower in the world. I will do a separate tips for the instant coffees.

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a chimæroid fish (Callorhynchus antarcticus), with a proboscis-like projection of the snout. Elephant Ear Fish is a specialty of the Mekong Delta. there are vast fish tanks where fishermen keeps the Elephant Ear fish. The fish are the size of a large platter. They are gutted and fried whole then served standing propped up on a plate between a couple of chopsticks. To eat them you first take a piece of rice paper and dampen it, break off some fish, add cucumber slices, mint and basil leaves and some rice noodles then roll it all up and dip it in a spicy chilli sauce. Finger food at its best.

Favorite Dish: when touring the mekong delta and having lunch included in your package, they will serve you will this elephant ear fish which is a local mekong delta specialty. it is also available in some restaurants in Saigon.

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100 grams of this coffee costs 40-60,000 VND depending on your haggling skills but this is even more expensive than the chon (weasel coffee) here! But the taste is fabulous, it's got more flavor than kona coffee or mocha sanani!

Favorite Dish: you can buy assorted vietnamese coffee blends at the assorted markets in saigon and also at the benh thanh market and at the supermarkets. Vietnam is the third largest coffee producer in the world after brazil and indonesia and their coffee is grown mostly in the central highlands area and at buon ma tout.

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Egg Rolls are Generic in Asia, Almost every Nation has it's version, The vietnamese version is very sweet and since the packaging is good, does not easily crumble unlike the ones in the philippines where the egg rolls are called barquillos and are easily cushed due to the poor packaging.

Favorite Dish: the vietnamese egg rolls can be bought everywhere, at the benh thanh or binh thay markets and even at the convenience stores or at the tax supermarket beside the rex hotel. again the egg rolls are very good and the price varies from 30,000 VND to 60,000 VND, depending on the size.

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If you are on a tour of the cu chi tunnels, you would see that the main souvenir store in the center of the tunnels sells many things and one of the things that aroused my curiosity is the cobra toxin cream!

Snake venom could ease the debilitating pain from arthritis, say scientists. About 99 percent of the venom is non-toxic according to the vietnamese seller which I took with a grain of salt. It costs 100,000-150,000 VND a pack!

Favorite Dish: i thing this must be put to my local customs pages since this is not edible.

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Name: Bird’s Nest Drink

Ingredients: Water, jelly, granulated sugar, bird’s nest flavoring, ginseng flavoring, genuine bird’s
nest.

Birds nest… you can drink them? Birds Nest drink is a non carbonated slightly yellow drink with a slightly spicy aroma. It has a sweet but bland taste and I can detect a bit of ginseng in it. Not too bad, but I don’t think I’d recommend it to less adventurous drinkers.

cost 18,000 VND a 330 ml Can.

Favorite Dish: this is one of the oddities that i've encountered in saigon and since I am here, I have to try the bird's nest drink too.

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Flan is a Spanish Invention but the french also has their version called flambe and since vietnam became a colony of france in the 1800's, these is one of their influence on vietnamese cuisine. Leche Flan is philipine inspired spanish style flan. Maybe this Vietnamese Style is a combination of Spanish and French Styles but is strikingly similar in texture and taste to Philippine Leche Flan. It costs 18,000 VND a cup and is available everywhere.

Favorite Dish: this flan is from the french influence and is really popular in vietnam as a dessert and you can buy them everywhere even at supermarkets and convenience stores and even at sidewalk eateries.

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you can buy vietnamese sweet chili sauce at any supermarkets or groceries in Saigon and they are a perfect accompaniment and also dipping sauce to fried dishes (including spring rolls). they cost 12,000 VND a Small Botle and 20,000 VND for a big (500 ml) bottle but be sure to ask the supermarket assistant as some of these sauces can be really spicy and has no english letters at the bottle markings.

Favorite Dish: there are many dipping suace varieties so better ask a vietnamese friend with knowledgeable english skills on the particular dipping sauce for each kind of spring roll.