Vietnamese youngsters like hanging out with friends like anyone in their teen years would do, yet eating street food is among the list of what they particularly love to do the most together!
Vietnamese Rice Paper Salad
Photo: FB Lien Nguyen.
Vietnamese rice paper salad (aka bánh tráng trộn in Vietnamese) is a huge variety mix of food ingredients that include rice paper, dried shrimp, beef jerky, chili oil, dried fried onion and garlic, moor hen’s egg, flagrant knotweed, unripe mango, and kumquat. Adding the magical touch of the chef, it gets itself served as a perfect rice paper salad to everyone’s liking.
A disclaimer to note: Depending on the individual food stalls or regional preferences, the use of ingredients may vary, apart from the staple ones like the rice paper, dried shrimp and chili oil.
Photo: foody.vn
Milk Tea
As more and more milk tea brands are popping out in major cities in Vietnam namely Gong Cha, KOI, Bobapop, Royal Tea, Ding Tea, The Alley and more, one may wonder how about those who desire this well-loved beverage in the smaller, rural provinces? Well, fret not. Entrepreneurial spirit has been rising in this lower-middle income country as aspiring business-minded individuals have noted the trend and seize opportunity to come up with their own blend of recipes that are surprisingly comparative to the mainstream brands – all with an additional plus point that the prices in general are much cheaper too.
Photo: foody.vn
It is a common sight for Vietnamese students to hang out in any milk tea shop after school days or weekends, enjoying their favorite beverage while chatting together as a form of relaxation after the study stress, homework deadlines and exams!
photo: Foody.vn
My Cay
My Cay in Vietnam originated from South Korea, which is called as Jjamppong (Korean Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup), notably with 7 spicy levels to challenge your tolerance.
Young Vietnamese, especially the teenager girls who are fond of K-pop, K-drama and Korean’s cuisine, surely rank My Cay as one of the Korean dishes that they would die for.
Che (Sweet Soup or dessert)
It is extremely easy to look for Che in Vietnam, be it city or countryside. As part of local cuisine, Vietnamese people would normally eat dessert right after meal. There are many kinds of ches to consider, such as mung bean sweet soup, black bean sweet soup, rice ball sweet soup, and so on.
Like every other dessert in the world, che is sweet, with each having its unique taste largely due to the ingredients being used to make it.
The price of street che is, by the way, easily affordable in Vietnam, ranging from 10,000 VND to 50,000 VND.
Fried Snacks
If you are living in Vietnam, by now you would have probably noticed those mobile food carts selling fried snacks, which are readily stationed around the school zone. Without doubt, such street snacks are targeted primarily to students due to their affordable prices and satisfying tastes.
Talking about the various kinds of of fried snacks, the list is going to be long and non-exhaustive, but the most common ones are fried banana cake, fried corn cake, fried sweet potato cake, fried sausage, fried fish ball, and many others.
