Eat and Drink Like the Locals, Ho Chi Minh City

This is a beautiful clothing store, Clothes have many colors, and strange style, but beautiful and impressive.
The shop has a special combination, not only has clothes, but also has a nail corner, and a reading space. The perfect nail services. I love this place :)

Here is a vietnamese version of Dried Squid or rather Squid Jerky. Suprisingly it is not sweet nor very spicy and has that right amount of crunchiness for taste. A 100 gram pack cost 35,000 VND.

You can buy it at the convenience stores or supermarkets and even at the Benh Thanh Market but again you must have good haggling skills when buying it at the market.

Favorite Dish: this roasted squid is really good

like in any country, Vietnam has it's shared of bottle water and like in many countries, people don;t trust the tap water coming from the faucets and hence it is best to buy bottle mineral or spring water when in saigon and the prices of a bottled water here is one of the lowest in South East Asia so don't scrimp on buying bottled water on the convenience stores or supermarkets or at the markets or hotels.

5000 VND for 500 ml and 10,000 VND for 1,000 ml and 16,000 VND for 2 liter of Joy bottled water

Favorite Dish: most 3 star hotels and up give complimentary 2 bottles of water everyday to guests and it that is not enough, then buy at the nearest convenience store or local store.

Cashew nuts are available across asia but each area has a different style to roast and flavor it. here in Vietnam, it is roasted in a very big wok and flavored with caramelized sugar with extra vietnamese flavoring, resulting in a distinct taste. It costs 60,000 VND a Pack at the souvenir shops at the mekong delta and 80,000 VND a pack at the souvenir shops at the thanh so nhat international airport.

Favorite Dish: it is cheaper to buy these assorted roasted cashew nuts goodies at the supermarkets like citimart of the supermarket at tax building since they are cheaper there at only 55,000 VND a pack.

Bee pollen is a natural food. It is not a drug. Honeybee pollen contains every known vitamin, all of the minerals, proteins (amino acids), enzymes and coenzymes, fatty acids, and carbohydrates that our bodies need to sustain life, and all in perfect balance.

Bee pollen is used to retard hardening of the arteries, to strengthen the circulatory system and combat the symptoms of illness and allergies. It is believed to regulate the function of the endocrine system, aid digestion, reduce stress and increase alertness and stamina. Bee pollen has more protein by weight than meat, fish or eggs! Bee pollen is the richest known vegetable source of steroid hormones which improve overall strength, muscle mass, endurance and sexual potency. Pollen is known to accelerate healing, and increase blood and sperm count. How To Begin Eating Pollen

ADULTS: 1 teaspoon daily. Endurance runners and weight lifters can take 4-6 teaspoons a day. If you have allergies take Pollen in the morning and again in the afternoon. Pollen is totally safe to take even much larger doses.

CHILDREN: Start children out on 3 to 4 granules in the morning and build up to 1/2 teaspoon a day.

they sell it at 100,000 VND a pac

Favorite Dish: you can buy the bee polen on a mekong tour ar at some department stores in Saigon

vietnam is not only a coffee growing area, they also have many tea plantations at the central highlands hence they also have many tea varieties and one of the most popular is the jasmine tea variety where they give you free hot jasmine tea at local restaurants (excluding the high end ones like lemongrass or vietnam house).

Favorite Dish: Jasmine tea sells for 40,000-80,000 VND per 100 grams at the markets and it depends on the variety (oolong, green tea, black tea, etc are also available here) and your haggling skills. cheaper in the supermarkets but they are already packed, unlike here in the markets where it is freshly ground and packed before your eyes and you can even smell the sweet aroma!

There are many dried fruit brands in vietnam but the best is VINAMIT!

Vinamit organic dried fruits are simply amazing and thoroughly tickle your tastebuds! wherein they harvest the fruits and dry it in a special secret process then they vacuum packed it.

Vinamit produces, processes and exports fruit and other agricultural products. Vinamit products have been shipped to the US, Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines

Favorite Dish: Everything! the crispy dried jackfuit, mixed fruits, apple, taro, banana chips, etc. they are all crispy and not soggy plus are not that sweet. Prices starts from 18,000 VND for a 100 gram pack, 34,600 VND for a 250 gram pack to 44,000 VND for a 500 gram pack.

It is available everyhwere in Sai Gon but better buy it in supermarkets like citimart or at the Tax Building since it is cheaper there than in the markets like benh thanh.

There is a choice of fatty or skimmed sausages. There are different kinds ranging in those made using fresh pork to those made using pig livers, duck livers and even turkey livers. Usually a livery sausage will be darker in colour than one made without liver. It is called "lop xýởng" or "lạp xýờng".They even have a pig face sausage that is shaped like a salami and is very tasty. These sausages are available in the markets and at the supermarkets and at the buffet tables of the hotels for breakfast.

Favorite Dish: different kinds of vietnamese sausages moreso the pig face sausage

I am a long kong lover since we grow long kong in the philippines and harvest it at september-october. We have a 5 hectare plantation there that I missed to eat lansium fruits. I would be first to admit that the vietnamese longkong and thai longkong variety of the lansium fruit are sweeter than philippine duku variety (called lansones in the philippines).

Lansium or Long kong fruits have orbs around five centimeters in diameter, usually found in clusters of two to thirty fruits. Each round fruit is covered by yellowish, thick, leathery skin. Underneath the skin, the fruit is divided into five or six slices of translucent, juicy flesh. The flesh is slightly acidic in taste, although ripe specimens are sweeter. Green, seeds are present in around half of the segments, usually taking up a small portion of the segment although some seeds take up the entire segment's volume. In contrast with the sweet-sour flavor of the fruit's flesh, the seeds are extremely bitter.

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Favorite Dish: it cost VND 50,000 a kilo of long kong in vietnam.

It is slightly sweet, not overtly sour unlike middle easteran and meditteranean yogurts. it is made by Vinamilk and it costs 20,000 VND a cup if you buy it at the supermarkets or at grocery stores but it's free if you are eating in a breakfast buffett if you are staying in a 3 star hotel and up.

Favorite Dish: this kind of yogurt which is not that sour with a tinge of sweetnes is like a heaven sent when eating breakfast of just plain on snacking hehehe.

you can add the fresh fruits that are part of the buffett in it to make your yogurt experience truly amazing.

Assorted Vietnamese Dessert and Drinks are mostly delicious and refreshing, prices range from 8000 VND to 20,000 VND. Available in street stalls, markets like benh thanh and food courts at strip malls all around saigon and it makes for a soothing energy booster moreso after walking in the humid heat.

Favorite Dish: Che Coconut drink with coconut milk and sticky rice plus other assorted vietnamese drinks which are available everywhere so if you have time, try to taste one or two of these wonderful and delightful drinks.

Again this is Another Brand type of Vietnamese Coffee, this variety is a pure Robusta (hence twice the caffeine) and has a stronger taste than coffee using arabica beans. All vietnamese coffee include an aluminum made viet style coffee press to filter the coarse grinded coffee. This one sells for 35,000 VND for a 250 gram pack and is available everywhere and you can buy this at the benh thanh markets or at the Tax Department store in district one.

Favorite Dish: you can buy either instant coffee(no coffee filter) or the coarse grinded coffee beans with the vietnamese coffee filter included and they have an endless varieties grown in vietnam since it is the third largest coffee grower in the world. I will do a separate tips for the instant coffees.

a chimæroid fish (Callorhynchus antarcticus), with a proboscis-like projection of the snout. Elephant Ear Fish is a specialty of the Mekong Delta. there are vast fish tanks where fishermen keeps the Elephant Ear fish. The fish are the size of a large platter. They are gutted and fried whole then served standing propped up on a plate between a couple of chopsticks. To eat them you first take a piece of rice paper and dampen it, break off some fish, add cucumber slices, mint and basil leaves and some rice noodles then roll it all up and dip it in a spicy chilli sauce. Finger food at its best.

Favorite Dish: when touring the mekong delta and having lunch included in your package, they will serve you will this elephant ear fish which is a local mekong delta specialty. it is also available in some restaurants in Saigon.

100 grams of this coffee costs 40-60,000 VND depending on your haggling skills but this is even more expensive than the chon (weasel coffee) here! But the taste is fabulous, it's got more flavor than kona coffee or mocha sanani!

Favorite Dish: you can buy assorted vietnamese coffee blends at the assorted markets in saigon and also at the benh thanh market and at the supermarkets. Vietnam is the third largest coffee producer in the world after brazil and indonesia and their coffee is grown mostly in the central highlands area and at buon ma tout.

Egg Rolls are Generic in Asia, Almost every Nation has it's version, The vietnamese version is very sweet and since the packaging is good, does not easily crumble unlike the ones in the philippines where the egg rolls are called barquillos and are easily cushed due to the poor packaging.

Favorite Dish: the vietnamese egg rolls can be bought everywhere, at the benh thanh or binh thay markets and even at the convenience stores or at the tax supermarket beside the rex hotel. again the egg rolls are very good and the price varies from 30,000 VND to 60,000 VND, depending on the size.