Luke Nguyen's Vietnam Food Tour: Day 8

Sadly, we had to leave Hoi An. (What did I expect? We're on a tour of Vietnam, so pack your bags.) We took a short flight to the ever-vibrant, never-sleeping, wild-and-crazy Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon and now referred to as HCMC). This city is on fire!

The first thing we did, since it was past lunchtime, was get dropped off at a Phở restaurant, where, as newly minted soup connoisseurs, we could compare Hanoi Phở and HCMC Phở. Was it great? Yes. Was it better than Hanoi? Who cares, it was Phở, and we were hungry.

We checked into the storied Rex Hotel (Yes, there's some fascinating history that clings to the hallways) right in the middle of the city.

The Rex was initially built as a French garage in the early 20th century. In 1959, it was expanded into a 6-floor trading center and leased to the American Cultural Center in 1960.

During the Vietnam War, the American Information Service set up its base at the hotel, which soon became the favorite haunt of U.S. officers and the scene of daily press briefings for foreign correspondents, known as the “five o'clock follies.” 

Well, Hanoi traffic may seem wild when you get there, but Saigon traffic is more like traffic on steroids. Check out this typical street scene and try crossing the street here. Don't bother to look for a Walk/Don't Walk sign. If you find one, it's only a suggestion for motorbike drivers.

And in the evening, we were going to be part of that chaos. We were going on a wild ride around the city on vintage Vespas to visit some of the greatest street food emporia (perhaps overstated) in the city.

I was actually too excited to take notes on the places we went; it could have been that my adrenaline levels were too high, or I was high from an overdose of exhaust fumes. It all went by in a blur, but I’ll try to recount the highlights.

First stop, a restaurant that only makes one thing: shrimp wrapped in a thin rice paper skin. I don’t know how they make such simple ingredients so delicious, but I could have called it quits at that point and eaten these all night with the local beer. 

But there was more, so we hopped back on the bikes and zoomed to our next stop, where they made grilled pork wrapped in wild betel leaves topped with fried garlic chips.

These were a combination of savory, seasoned meat, slightly minty, with the earthy flavor of the betel leaf, which becomes smoky when grilled. It's a variety of textures from the meat, crisp vegetables, and soft noodles.

Just like the locals, we took over the sidewalk.

Then it was time to step outside our comfort zone. We stopped at a restaurant in a small courtyard, surrounded by apartment buildings. Lots of kids were playing soccer as the evening set in. A long table was spread out in front of the restaurant.

While we waited for the food, Luke stopped a street vendor and bought a bag of everything she sold for us to try. I'm pretty sure the vendor thought this was hilarious, all these geeky tourists looking curiously at the small plastic bags of small nibbles and snacks.

And then the main event: snails prepared four ways. I always figured people like escargot because it's some chewy matter doused in butter. But these were amazing, and the second dish was very spicy. No butter here.

Amazingly, considering the traffic chaos, we made it back to the hotel in one piece. Thank you to the expert drivers.

A few in our group needed to work off some of the adrenaline from the Vespa tour, so they hit the rooftop bar in the Rex to have some fun.