Max McFarlin (from Arkansas, USA) is a famous blogger in the world travel community and owns a Youtube channel with nearly 600,000 followers. Max has been in Vietnam for several years and currently lives and works mainly in Ho Chi Minh City.
On his personal channel, the American blogger regularly shares videos about street food in provinces and tourist destinations across Vietnam that he has had the opportunity to visit.
Not only enjoying specialties or expensive dishes, Max also spent time experiencing popular restaurants that serve students and workers,... to see what's special.
Most recently, Max visited a traditional restaurant on Vo Van Tan Street, District 3. The Western customer revealed that this is his "favorite" restaurant that he has visited many times after learning about the restaurant on Google with many positive reviews. This restaurant is also a familiar dining address for office workers, laborers, and local residents.
This restaurant is over 40 years old and only opens for 3-4 hours a day, from 10am to 2pm. The restaurant specializes in serving traditional Vietnamese buffet dishes with a diverse menu of about 30-40 different dishes.
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The restaurant sells dozens of traditional dishes, making foreign guests overwhelmed by the diverse menu from color to flavor and preparation method (Screenshot)
Max revealed that he really likes braised fish sauce, so as soon as he saw the diverse and eye-catching food counter, he chose this dish. In addition, under the suggestion of the restaurant owner, he also ordered other dishes, a little of each to enjoy many typical flavors of food such as braised pork belly with bamboo shoots, braised shrimp, bean curd with tomato sauce, stir-fried squid, etc.
The first dish this blogger tried was braised shrimp. He admitted that he really likes braised and sauteed dishes because the sauce is rich, thick, and goes well with rice. With the braised shrimp dish, the Western guest commented that the shrimp were big, fresh, soft, sweet, and had a fragrant aroma similar to shrimp in butter sauce.
Next, the American man tried braised pork belly with bamboo shoots. He revealed that pork and bamboo shoots are both his favorite ingredients, but he didn’t think they could be combined into such a delicious dish.
"There's nothing to complain about. The bamboo shoots are crispy and sweet, and the braised meat in the traditional Vietnamese style is delicious," Max commented.
In addition to braised shrimp and braised pork belly with bamboo shoots, Max also consistently expressed satisfaction with other dishes such as stir-fried squid and tofu with tomato sauce. These dishes, although simple, are very “rice-eating” and are loved by many Vietnamese people.
As for the braised fish sauce dish, he humorously said: "This is my favorite dish so I saved it for last."
At this restaurant, the fish sauce is stewed until tender, always placed on a small stove to ensure it is hot when served to diners. The dish is made from main ingredients such as snakehead fish, roast pork, eggplant, bitter melon, stewed with lemongrass and fish sauce.
When ordering, Max was served a large bowl filled with all the ingredients and fragrant broth by the owner. The Western guest also showed that he was no less of a gourmet than the Vietnamese when he put the raw vegetables into the hot fish sauce bowl, waiting for a while for the vegetables to be cooked and soft before enjoying.
"The eggplant is soft and tender. The snakehead fish is fatty, the meat melts in your mouth, rich in flavor. I can drink the whole bowl of broth," Max humorously commented.
The American guy also revealed that he often enjoys braised fish sauce 2-3 times a week because he is so impressed with the flavor of this dish.
At the end of the meal, Max had bananas for dessert, which were already prepared on the table and served to diners for free. The total cost of this meal with 4-5 delicious dishes for this young man was 370,000 VND. He seemed satisfied and kept praising "so delicious" even when saying goodbye to the owner and staff to leave.
Phan Dau
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