Saigon street food’s variety and richness in particular and Vietnam altogether fascinate domestic tourists and left a deep impression in most foreign tourists and overseas Vietnamese in their homeland visit. However, the limited time-budget often pulls visitors away from their chances of trying the most typical Saigon street dishes. Therefore, why don’t you once “visit” the famous street food areas rooted in Saigon’s winding alleys that only the locals know about?
Hồ Thị Kỷ flower market
Does this place give you a little surprise? Previously, the scene of this bustle small lane amid Saigon’s center with specialized fresh flower shops of a full variety of kinds and colours has been a part of Saigonese’s daily life. Till now, running parallel to the lane selling flower, the Hồ Thị Kỷ market has a street food lane serving Saigon’s most special street foods. The variety of foods includes snails and clams, rice paper salad, Vietnamese pancakes, braised offal or offal stew, beef hot pot, grilled foods, etc. But among them, two of the most outstanding dishes in this emerging food lane are Chaudoc fish noodle soup that always has lots of customers in the afternoons and the typical Cambodia sweet soup. Being an affordable food court, you can enjoy most of the delicacies at this famous market with the cost of only 200,000 VND – 300,000 VND (equivalent to 11.53 CAD – 17.29 CAD).

Vạn Kiếp Food Street
Despite the length of nearly 1 km, the Vạn Kiếp street in Bình Thạnh district is considered a dining paradise for those who have “fallen in love” with Saigon street’s cuisine. The served foods are somewhat richer and more diverse than the food lane of Hồ Thị Kỷ flower market. For example, there are dumplings, meatball, shrimp noodle soup, thick crab soup, pig brain soup served with century eggs, Vietnamese popiah, etc., and popular beverages and desserts such as smoothies, flan cakes, yogurt, etc. Compared to the food lane of Hồ Thị Kỷ flower market, the cost to “sweep” the whole Vạn Kiếp food street is a bit higher though still a reasonable price, from 300,000 VND – 400,000 VND (equivalent to 17.29 CAD – 23.05 CAD).

Xóm Chiếu church’s food area
Nestling deep in the winding alleys in District 4, the food area near Xóm Chiếu church is known as the place to “eat without checking the price.” It is most famous for its unique snails-and-basket-clams-noodle with a spicy broth of chili and satay served with different kinds of noodles or vermicelli. Besides, this food area also has other specialties such as fatty chicken rice, offal stew, thick noodle soup, crab paste vermicelli soup, etc. And only with 200,000 VND – 300,000 VND (equivalent to 11.53 CAD – 17.23 CAD), you can experience most of the dishes in this food area.

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