Max McFarlin (from Arkansas, USA) is a famous blogger in the world travel community and owns a Youtube channel with nearly 600,000 followers.
On his personal channel, Max regularly shares videos about street food in many countries he has visited, including Vietnam.
In Vietnam, Max mainly lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City. Not only enjoying specialties or expensive dishes, Max also spends a lot of time exploring even the smallest corners throughout the city to experience popular restaurants.
Most recently, the American blogger traveled to District 8 and stopped by a snail restaurant located deep in a small alley with seats arranged right on the sidewalk. Although he arrived quite early, he was surprised to see that there were already many customers sitting there.
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The snail shop is located deep in a small alley but is always crowded with customers, selling dozens of different types of snails (Screenshot)
This snail restaurant has been in operation for a long time and is a familiar dining address for many locals and tourists. The restaurant sells and serves 20 different types of snails, including 14 boiled dishes made from snails such as len snails, spoon snails, jumping snails, ca na snails, gai snails, hammer snails, fragrant snails, etc. The rest are grilled dishes made from other types of seafood such as razor clams, scallops, clams, oysters, star fruit snails and garlic snails.
Boiled dishes cost 10,000 VND/plate, while grilled dishes are more expensive, 20,000 VND/plate.
The owner revealed that the reason snails here are sold at cheap prices is because they are mainly cooked into grilled and boiled dishes, without requiring elaborate preparation or seasoning like stir-fried dishes, salt-roasted dishes, etc.
Snail dishes are diverse, attractive but affordable, so they are loved by many diners (Screenshot)
In addition, the dishes are also served in moderate portions so that diners have the opportunity to choose to taste different dishes and experience many flavors. This price is also suitable for most diners, so everyone can buy and enjoy, from students to workers and tourists from all over.
“The price of 10,000 VND is also affordable. With only 100,000 VND, you can enjoy up to 10 snail dishes,” the restaurant owner happily shared information with the foreign guest.
At the restaurant, following the owner's suggestion about some of the most popular snails, Max boldly ordered one dish of each type, such as stir-fried snails with coconut, spoon snails, boiled jumping snails, horse snails, grilled garlic snails, etc., to enjoy the flavors of different snail dishes.
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The American blogger ordered 10 plates of various snails, served with a number of different dipping sauces (Screenshot)
Snails here are dipped in a special recipe of salt mixed with sugar or a thick garlic and chili fish sauce, which diners can choose according to their personal taste.
The first dish that Max was excited to enjoy was stir-fried snails with coconut. He commented that this was a very popular snail dish, loved by many diners. After tasting a few pieces, he was very satisfied with the taste of this snail dish.
“I like eating snails because the meat is not too slimy. The snail meat is very fatty and rich, the sauce and coconut are also fragrant and thick. If only there was a piece of bread to dip with it, I could eat several snails at once,” the Western customer humorously said.
Next, Max enjoyed grilled cockles with scallion oil. He rated this as one of the best dishes in Vietnam that he has ever eaten because “it is fatty and sweet”.
“The snails have a sweet taste, soft meat, a little richness from peanuts and are delicious when dipped in fish sauce, garlic and chili.”
The American man was impressed with the horse snail dish because it was quite small and difficult to eat. Max had previously eaten horse snails in the West and was surprised that the locals really liked this type of snail.
From the original plan of only eating 5-6 dishes, Max ordered 10 plates of various snails because he really liked the taste of the food here. Although the snails are prepared simply, not too elaborately, they are guaranteed to be fresh, delicious and attractive.
In addition to the taste of the snail dishes, Max was also impressed by the affordable prices, only 10,000 VND/plate for boiled dishes and 20,000 VND/plate for grilled dishes, and each plate was full, making him "full".
“People often think that with such cheap prices, the food will not be of good quality, but the snails here are actually cooked properly, fresh, and all the flavors are delicious,” Max commented.
He revealed that he had enjoyed snails at many restaurants throughout Ho Chi Minh City, but this popular snail restaurant impressed and satisfied him the most. Among them, his favorite dish is hammer snail.
“I thought the snails would have grit and not be very big, but that was not the case. I was really surprised and couldn’t believe that all the snails here were fat, had crispy and delicious meat,” the blogger added.
At the end of the meal, Max paid 130,000 VND for 10 plates of various types of snails. He commented that this price was very cheap, all diners could enjoy it without worrying about the price.
Phan Dau
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