Sonny Side (from the US) currently owns a YouTube channel with more than 10.7 million followers. He is passionate about exploring cultures and cuisines around the world, including Vietnam.

In Ho Chi Minh City, Sonny enjoyed many local specialties and did not hesitate to try dishes from popular to luxurious in the S-shaped land.

Most recently, Sonny and a friend experienced two street foods in Ho Chi Minh City, including one with a cheap price of only 5,000 VND and one expensive dish, priced at 350,000 VND, to give honest comments on the taste.

The first place the two guests visited was a restaurant specializing in vegetarian dishes on Ngo Gia Tu Street (Ward 9, District 10, HCMC). Sonny revealed that the restaurant has been open for more than 4 years and can sell out 450 bowls per hour at a super cheap price, only 5,000 VND/bowl (for customers eating on the spot).

In addition to vegetarian rice, the restaurant also serves vegetarian noodles and pho, of which the most popular is grilled pork noodles.

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Sonny and his close friend did not hesitate to sit on the sidewalk, enjoying vegetarian noodles at a super cheap price (Photo cut from clip).

Sonny said he had enjoyed many noodle dishes in Vietnam, including grilled pork noodle. However, this restaurant's grilled pork noodle is more unique in that the ingredients are all vegan, from grilled meat, spring rolls, spring rolls, etc. to vegetarian ribs, fried tofu with lemongrass, etc.

At the restaurant, Sonny and his companion ordered two servings of grilled pork noodles. Although the restaurant was crowded, the customers did not have to wait long, and within a few minutes they were served a full meal on the spot.

Showing the expertise of a local, the two guests slowly poured the sweet and sour fish sauce over the noodles, mixed the ingredients in the bowl of noodles, and enjoyed. Sonny commented that the dish had a harmonious flavor, so delicious that it was hard to know that these were only vegetarian ingredients.

“The grilled meat is soft, chewy and flavorful, the spring rolls are crispy as if they were made from pork, and the sauce is also delicious and fragrant. This noodle dish is really delicious,” said an American customer.

Agreeing, Sonny's friend also commented that "this is one of the best noodle dishes I've ever had in Vietnam."

The vegetarian grilled pork vermicelli dish made the American customer continuously exclaim because it was delicious, the flavor was much better than the price (Screenshot).

In addition to the taste, both were surprised by the price of the vegetarian grilled pork vermicelli dish, only 5,000 VND/serving. Despite the super cheap price, they felt the taste of the dish was very delicious, beyond imagination.

Sharing with VietNamNet reporter, Ms. Vuong Kim Long - owner of the vegetarian restaurant that Sonny visited said she was very happy that the restaurant's dishes were known and loved by many people, including foreign tourists.

Ms. Long said that the restaurant opened in February 2020 and currently has two locations in Ho Chi Minh City after the third location closed not long ago. The restaurant is named "Tuy Tam" because customers can pay as they wish.

“The restaurant opens with the purpose of serving lunch to everyone in need, regardless of gender, occupation, or age. At each location, the restaurant lists the price of a meal at 2,000 VND and 5,000 VND, but this number is only symbolic because customers can pay as they wish after finishing their meal.

The shop has prepared boxes, customers can leave as much or as little as they want, or not pay at all, that's fine too," said the shop owner.

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The restaurant specializes in serving vegetarian dishes, customers can pay as they wish (Photo cut from clip).

For take-out customers, the price is 25,000 VND/portion. This amount helps the restaurant have more money to pay for the premises, electricity, water and labor.

According to Ms. Long, the restaurant's menu is diverse and serves different dishes every day so that customers have many choices, such as: mixed rice, vegetarian duck and bamboo shoot vermicelli, congee, tapioca flour noodle soup, beef stew bread, Hue beef noodle soup, grilled pork vermicelli, vegetarian pho, vegetarian broken rice.

The restaurant is open from 11am to 6:30pm, Monday to Saturday. On average, the restaurant serves more than 600 vegetarian meals per day.

The next place that Sonny and his companions went to experience was a sidewalk noodle shop located on Pham Van Chi Street, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City. The shop once caused controversy on social networks and was nicknamed “rip-off” crab noodle soup, “5-star sidewalk crab noodle soup” because the most expensive bowl of noodle soup was up to 350,000 VND.

Sonny said he had eaten crab noodle soup that cost only 25,000 - 30,000 VND/bowl in Ho Chi Minh City, but this was the first time he had enjoyed crab noodle soup that was 10 times more expensive.

An American guest commented that although the restaurant's noodle soup is considered expensive, it still attracts a lot of diners.

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Two guests enjoy expensive crab noodle soup in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo cut from clip).

At the restaurant, Sonny and his friend ordered two bowls of the most expensive crab noodle soup and described the meal as “like a seafood buffet”, filled with toppings such as blood, pork, fish balls, floating rice cakes, fresh shrimp, shredded crab meat, small crab legs, large crab legs, etc.

They enjoyed tasting the soft, juicy blood that melted in their mouths and rated the flavor as very delicious.

“The fresh noodles are soft, soaked in spices and the broth is thick. This is one of my favorite noodle dishes,” Sonny’s companion described.

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A full bowl of crab noodle soup, including many different types of meat, seafood and thick broth (Photo cut from clip).

Chung commented, Sonny also had many compliments for the thick noodle soup, fragrant with crab meat and served very generously.

“The crab meat is peeled beautifully, the meat is also very fragrant, filling your mouth. The broth is thick. The more I pick up, the more crab meat I see underneath. I understand why they sell this dish for such a high price,” said the American customer.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan (62 years old) - owner of the above noodle shop said that the shop has been in operation for 36 years, selling out after about 3-4 hours.

According to Ms. Loan, the recipe for making banh canh is self-taught. All the ingredients for the dish are carefully selected by her to create quality bowls of banh canh, commensurate with the amount of money that customers spend.

“I don’t care what people say, I only care about what I’m doing. I want customers to remember crab noodle soup and me after they finish eating and leave this place,” Ms. Loan said.

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Despite the high price, the restaurant's special crab noodle soup is still loved and sought after by many people (Screenshot).

To make delicious crab noodle soup, Ms. Loan has to meticulously prepare each ingredient and step. The broth is made from chicken bones, pork legs, fish, shrimp, meat and crab roe. The shrimp are always large, firm, and boiled using a secret recipe so they don't smell fishy. The crab is used entirely, from the meat, claws to the crab roe.

Currently, the restaurant offers a wide range of prices for customers to choose from, ranging from 50,000 VND to 350,000 VND, depending on the portion of food. The cheapest bowl has pork, floating cake, full blood, and a broth with crab fat.

Phan Dau