Eating where the locals eat in Ho Chi Minh City 🇻🇳 (MUST-TRY Street Food)

Hello friends, welcome back to another day on the vlog. You guys, today we're doing one of my favorite things in the world. We're doing a food tour and I feel like now that I'm in Ho Chi Minh City, I have to do another one so I can really get, you know, the best of the southern Vietnamese cuisine. I know you guys have been really trying to put me on, give me some recommendations and I definitely still want to try all of those but I just feel like a food tour is a really good way to get like a comprehensive introduction, you know what I'm saying? So the tour I booked today is really interesting because it's actually women-led, like it's a motorbike tour and they're going to take us to different areas as well but all the drivers are going to be women today so I thought that was really interesting and it's going to be like three or four hours. My driver is going to come pick me up at my hostel right now and so I'll keep you guys updated and let you know how everything goes. Hi everyone! I'm here with Kelly, she's going to be my driver today. I'm really excited. I was in Hanoi and then this is my third day in Ho Chi Minh City. Yes, but not in this city so I'm kind of scared and I have a helmet, right? Hopefully my head fits in there. Okay, oh my goodness. Are you sure? Well, maybe a little bit. Okay, thank you. Yeah, here we go. It's rush hour right now so that's why there's so many motorbikes outside. Y'all, I have never experienced anything like driving in Ho Chi Minh City. It's crazy. I don't think I'll ever get used to it. It's very much a get in where you fit in type of model and even if you don't fit, make some room. It's just crazy. It's like there's no, they're not following any lines on the floor. It's really just free for all. Everybody is just, it's crazy. Absolutely crazy. But Kelly is a pro and she's navigating these streets like a boss. Thank you, Kelly. Sorry. Okay, thank you. Wow, that was crazy. Oh, hello. Okay, just made it to our first stop. Okay, hi. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Oh, you too. Yes. What are your names? Bo. Bo? Yes. Boris? Morris. Morris. Salute. Yes. No, from California. Yes. Where are you from? I'm from the Netherlands. Oh, okay. Nice to meet you. More people? Okay. But here, here we will try the beef noodle soup, right? Yes, that's right. Okay. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, they brought a welcome drink. Let's see. It's just tea. Ignore me if I'm talking to myself, please. Okay, did you guys hear that? She said, Bun Bo Hue means beef noodle soup from Hue, which is a city in the, in central Vietnam. So that's what we're going to try here. This one is similar but different from Pho. So what is different? With Pho, the noodles are flat. But this one, the noodles are round. And the broth is more flavorful and richer because it's made of cow bones, pineapple, and green paste. And they cook for four to five hours. And also, this is used to be served for royal family, for kings and queens. So today, you guys are my kings and my queens. Okay, so wait a minute. I will order the food for you. Okay, okay. Okay, our beef noodle soup just came out. She said it's very similar to Pho. It used to be almost the same. The broth is more flavorful. Churches, squares, you can go to Paris, Madrid, Barcelona. Thank you. It looks so good. Kind of like udon noodles. It's a little thicker. No. No. That's really flavorful. Okay, final verdict on Bun Bo Huey. That was so flavorful. Like actually way more flavorful than any Pho that I've had. But you have to be careful with that pepper that they have on the table. Like that thing is spicy. Burning my tongue. But so flavorful. The noodles were like thick like udon. And then they had like sausage. And what else was in the Bun Bo Huey? Well, it was sausage and then beef and okay. There was one other thing. It was really good. But now, we're gonna do a little exercise. They said we're gonna do eating exercise, eating exercise just to break it up a little bit, which I can appreciate. So now, we're walking through the neighborhood and getting to know this area a little bit better. And this is District 3, right? We're still, okay. Okay. Yeah, we're in District 3 right now. In the past, this area is the slum area. So this apartment is free. The government built it after the Vietnam War for homeless people. Hi. And it's free for them. That's amazing. Okay, okay. Okay, cool. Yeah. She was saying sometimes they take motorcycles upstairs and we were like, how? But they use these ramps here. Cool. All right. We're done with the tour of the apartment and on to the next location. Geneva Convention. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that is the convention we signed when we won the French in 1954. At that time, Vietnam was simply divided into two parts, the north and the south. The north was supported by China and Soviet Union and the south was supported by the US. And the president of the south at that time was Catholic. So he wanted the national religion to be Catholic too. So he destroyed many pagodas in the central and the south of Vietnam. And also, he didn't allow Buddhists to hang on Buddhist flags on special occasions. And in April 1963, that is Buddha's birthday. And when people were listening to the speech of Buddhist Association, the president sent many police officers to attack the ground and caused eight people died. All of them were women and children. So after the event, this monk wanted to do something for the right of Buddhism. So he wrote many letters sending to the Buddhist Association to ask for permission to burn him. Oh my goodness. Finally, he was given approval. And in June 1963, he drove a car to the intersection right there. Yeah, right there. In the middle. And he asked the younger monk to pour all over his body. And then he lit a match to burn himself alive. And you know, the petrol he used for the burning was not the normal one, but the one used for jet lane or the jet fuel. So do you know why is that? No, no, no, no. To make the burning slower. And during 15 minutes, he didn't move. He just stumbled from the pain and the heat of the flame. And after that, he passed away. But even after that, the government, the president didn't change anything. There were more monks burning themselves alive. That's crazy. Did y'all hear all that? Oh my goodness. You hear stories like that and it's just so crazy. I can't even wrap my head around it. They said that because we just heard a sad story, we're gonna go and eat something happy. So our next stop is Banh Mi. And I've heard a lot from you guys that Banh Mi is very different between the North and the South. And here in the South, it's probably similar to what I expect in the US. So I'm really excited to try Banh Mi down here as well. This is our spot for the night. Banh Mi 24 bakery. So we're gonna try a baguette. And this is all the ingredients of baguette. This one is paté. Because paté is made from pork liver. And this one is totally homemade. So it's fresh. Fresh, everyday. And inside there is butter. This one is pork sausage. This one is sardine. Cucumber and pickles including radish and carrots. This one is coriander. Pork belly. Chicken and meatball. And I will order for you the best seller here. Pork baguette. Yes, thank you. Yum. This is pretty good. I think what makes the difference is the cilantro. It really adds that like kind of spice kick. But the paté and the pork are really good. Pork, okay. Pretty good. Okay, we finished at the Banh Mi spot. If you guys want my honest, raw, unfiltered opinion, I low-key like the Banh Mi from the north a little better. Just because it is hot. Like the one I had up there was warm. It had an egg. Like everything just like kind of melted together, you know. The flavors were definitely here in the Banh Mi that we just had. But like the one up in the north, it kind of just melted a little bit more in my mouth. But maybe I didn't go to, maybe we didn't go to the right place. You let me know, all right. But right now we just came to the flower market and we're gonna walk through here. Super pretty. I don't know if it's Women's Day. I heard one of the other drivers say Happy Women's Day, but I don't know. I could be wrong. I'll keep you guys updated. Oh wow, these bouquets are stunning. Look how pretty those are. In the district here, you see one of the districts for the local people living here. And now we are in Vo Thi Ky, the flower market. Vo Thi Ky, this is the name of this flower market. And in the past, this was a bus station. And the bus station, yes. But when their flowers come here, they buy them a lot. So the government decided to establish this market. Yeah, and the flowers here come from two places in Vietnam. The first place is from the Mekong Delta. The second place is from the Dalat city. Dalat city is near the center of Vietnam, in the highland city. And over there, the weather is cooler, so it's the best place we are going. And around this market here, we open 24 hours. Really? Yeah. Oh wow, 24 hours. The reason we open 24 hours, because you can go to the main street over there, you never see the big street, like the long bicycle, like the bicycle has a container, right? Yeah. Yeah, and here we have after the 10 p.m. until the 4 a.m. I really love this combination of colors right here, especially like next to the green. I think that's so pretty. So she said this market is open 24 hours because the big trucks that come and deliver all the flowers are only allowed to come on the street between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. So they stay open so that the flowers can deliver late at night. Oh wow, I've never seen anything like that. Hi. These are pretty. She's so sweet. She's fanning me, probably because she sees me so sweaty. Thank you so much. It's hot, what can I say, and I'm a sweater. Wow, this is huge. I feel like I would come here every week to get my weekly supply of flowers. Okay, yeah, it's 10 U.S. dollars. Wow, and how many are, like, it's like 30 in there? 30 to 35 roses for about 10 dollars. That's great, depending on the color. Okay, oh, sunflowers. Okay, we've made our way to a street market of some sort. Is this the seafood market? Street food, okay. Cool, I wonder if our next tasting is going to be from here, assuming so. Are we going to have something here? Yes. Hello. What is that? Intestine. Oh wow. What's this? This one? Quail egg. Oh wow. Oyster and quail egg. Oh wow. The seafood looks fresh. I'm not the biggest seafood person, but it looks fresh. Wow. When you got cars, when you got people and motorbikes in one skinny alleyway, it's just kind of crazy. Oh my gosh, what's this? Oh my gosh, that looks delicious. Oh wow, I want some of that. Oh, okay. Oh, thank you. Is it sweet? Not too sweet. Not too sweet? I'll do passion fruit. Yes. Oh, okay. Oh my gosh. 30 years. And sticky rice, really soft. This one used to be nominated by CNN as one of the most delicious desserts in the world. For real. Let's find out. The banana is not overpowering. Very delicate flavors. I love the rice. Honestly, sticky rice with anything is amazing. So this one we usually have for dessert. Yeah. But actually, in Vietnam, we eat things without any rules. We eat anything at any time. But especially for the things with coconut milk like this, we don't have for breakfast. When the stomach is empty, we shouldn't have this one. Yeah, like when you have like the beef noodle soup first, and then you have this one. It's perfect. Is there a reason? Why? Because the coconut milk, you shouldn't have when your stomach is empty. It will make it not good. Yeah. Coconut, yeah. We had it for breakfast. Oh really? Are you okay? We're fine. You're fine? Wow, you have a strong stomach. Betel. Betel. Betel. Betel. Yeah, betel. Okay. B-E-T-E-L. Yeah, betel leaf. Oh, okay, okay. In here, the old generation used to usually chew the betel leaf to have red lips. Yeah, red lips. Oh, beaks. No, no, no, no. Betel leaf. Betel leaf. Oh, okay, okay. Okay, so with this one, you roll it like this. This is some pickles. Pickles including carrots and water spinach. And you dip in the barbecue sauce. Spicy? A little bit. Not really spicy. It depends if it's a little bit very spicy. Okay, for you, for the food reviewer first. Thank you. Okay, the whole thing. Yeah. Okay, so it's pork inside. No, beef. Beef. Okay. Grilled beef. Yeah, you dip in the barbecue sauce. You try it. Grilled beef inside a betel leaf with water spinach inside the barbecue sauce. That's pretty good. A little bit. Okay, for you. And comfort food. Comfort food. Okay, passion fruit. Passion fruit and comforting. Passion fruit and comforting. Okay, passion fruit for you. Yo means cheers. So, please try to make it louder and stronger. Okay, don't do like this. So boring. Okay, so now we practice. Very sweet. Yeah, would you like me to ask her to put more comfort? To balance. That's perfect. So refreshing. Yes, correct. Yeah, that's really good. Try more. This is balloon egg. Actually, it's a baby duck egg. You can imagine that when the baby duck is about to say hello to the world and then you eat them. Oh my gosh. Okay, like this. It's quite weird to you because when you eat them, you may feel like there is hair and bones in your mouth. But actually, it tastes like duck meat. Yeah, and you can eat like with this one. You put on a small cup and then you break the shell from on top. Yeah, from top. And then you have a spoon, small spoon. You cook from the top to the bottom. And you have all together. I dip in the salt and pepper. This. But to Vietnamese people, it's really good. Do you like it? Yes, of course, of course. And this one, we are quite superstitious about this food. Because when we eat in odd numbers, when we are having bad luck, it will change from bad luck to good luck. With like three, five, seven eggs. And when we are having good luck, we will eat in even number. Like two, four, six. It will keep it continuing. This one is really good. Oh wow, we got more coming out. Another dessert. Another dessert. Okay, this is crème brûlée. We also call it flan. And on top is salty cream with chocolate powder. That looks delicious. Oh my gosh. Okay, let's see. Vietnamese flan. In Germany, we are small. The cream on top is salty. So. Oh, my name is T-H-I. Yeah, T-H-I. So what's the cream on top? Is it coconut or? Salty cream. Whipping cream. Oh, just salted whipping cream. And then the flan is made of what? Egg. Egg. So it's like egg coffee, but minus coffee. Yes, but here we have another version. Because from France, they use caramel. Here we use salty cream. And we also have this one. This is like a snack. Cracker. We have two flavors. This one is banana cracker. Made from banana, coconut milk, and rice flour. And this one is ginger. Made from ginger, coconut milk, and rice flour. And this one goes well with the salty cream. Okay, so that's I will help you to crack it, and then we try them together. And then banana. Does it taste like ginger to you? Oh, it's like an aftertaste. I get an aftertaste of ginger. It's pretty good. Very nice. Banana. All right, we're wrapping up our food tour with an amazing crew. Bye!