Tina Yong is a beauty and fashion content creator who lives in South Korea with her husband and young daughter Lyla. On her personal YouTube channel with over 3.7 million followers, Tina often posts videos about her travel and culinary experiences in some of the countries she has had the opportunity to visit.
Recently, Tina and her husband and children had a short trip in Vietnam. In addition to exploring Hoi An (Quang Nam) and Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa), they also chose to stop in Ho Chi Minh City to explore the unique street food. Among the dishes they ate, Tina was most impressed with the banh cuon with minced meat.
To enjoy this dish, she went to a restaurant on 3/2 Street, District 10. The restaurant has been open for nearly 40 years, specializing in banh cuon and banh uot. This is also a familiar dining address for many locals and foreign tourists when coming to Ho Chi Minh City.
Tina said that what impressed her most when coming here was being able to directly observe the process of making banh cuon from the open kitchen area.
“I like watching them make rice rolls. They do it very quickly and professionally. One person is in charge of steaming the rolls, the other person takes care of other tasks such as adding raw vegetables and side dishes to complete the dish and serve it to customers,” she said.
At the restaurant, Tina ordered two special rice rolls, priced at 71,000 VND each. Each serving was served with 3 egg rice rolls, 2 slices of pork roll, 2 slices of cinnamon sausage and shredded pork, served with bean sprouts to reduce the richness.
The filling is made from minced meat, stir-fried with wood ear mushrooms (also known as black fungus) and shredded radish, seasoned with rich spices.
When the customer orders, the owner just starts making the pancake so the dish is still hot and has an attractive aroma.
To fully enjoy the taste of the rice rolls, Tina decided to take a big bite. She picked up a piece of rice rolls, added all the ingredients such as pork floss, bean sprouts, fried onions and then put it in her mouth to enjoy.
“The filling is perfectly seasoned, and I also sprinkled fish sauce on top, so the flavor melted in my mouth. The rice rolls are soft and smooth on the outside, full of filling and very flavorful on the inside,” commented a Korean female tourist.
She also praised the two dishes of pork roll and cinnamon sausage, and commented that the accompanying ingredients all had harmonious flavors, combined with the rice rolls very attractively.
The female YouTuber’s husband also appreciated the hot rice rolls, praising “this is the best rice rolls I have ever eaten”. He said he had eaten Vietnamese rice rolls before but had never tried this dish with eggs. This was also the first time the Korean man had seen rice rolls made so big and round.
The two guests even let their little daughter try the familiar Vietnamese breakfast dish. Seeing her daughter enjoy the meal, Tina became even more convinced that the rice rolls were truly delicious and of high quality.
“The restaurant’s banh cuon dish has received enthusiastic responses from Lyla, so this is definitely a popular place and worth enjoying. If you have never had banh cuon, you should definitely add this dish to the list of dishes to try when traveling to Ho Chi Minh City,” she said.
In addition to banh cuon, Tina and her husband and their little daughter also enjoyed many other delicious dishes during their trip to Ho Chi Minh City such as: Hong Hoa bread, Binh Dinh pancakes... and drank coffee.
Tina revealed that the above dishes were all suggested by her friends and acquaintances who are "gourmets" in Vietnam and she was very satisfied with the delicious flavors of the street foods here.
“Sitting and eating crispy bread while watching the cars passing by added to our enjoyable experience here. And of course, the combination that makes the bread more perfect is Vietnamese iced milk coffee,” Tina shared.
Photo: Tina Yong
Although the appearance is not very attractive and the way to eat it is a bit time-consuming, this specialty is very popular in Hai Phong because the meat is soft and sweet, and the legs are crispy. All are mixed in a hot, thick sauce.
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