Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.
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Eat banh mi
A crackling baguette with pâté, meat, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, coriander and chilli. French bread with a Vietnamese filling, now the national sandwich.
The Vietnamese baguette uses some rice flour, hence the thin crust and light crumb. Ask for less chilli if unsure; it goes in fresh.
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Eat com tam
Broken rice with a charcoal-grilled marinated pork chop, a steamed egg cake, shredded pork skin and fish sauce. Saigon's leading lunch and breakfast.
The rice is deliberately broken; it began as milling waste and became a speciality. The nuoc mam is poured over all the rice rather than used for dipping.
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Try Saigon-style pho
Beef broth with rice noodles, served with a plate of basil, bean sprouts, lime and chilli. The southern broth is sweeter than the north's, and hoisin goes in.
You add the herbs to the broth yourself, in batches rather than all at once. Hoisin and sriracha belong here, unlike in Hanoi.
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Try bun thit nuong
Cold rice vermicelli with charcoal-grilled pork, herbs, cucumber, peanuts and fried shallots, dressed with diluted fish sauce.
The sauce is poured over and everything is tossed in the bowl. With a fried spring roll added it becomes bun thit nuong cha gio.
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Try goi cuon fresh rolls
Rice paper rolled around prawn, pork, vermicelli and herbs, never fried. Served with a thick peanut and hoisin sauce.
The sauce here is peanut rather than fish-based; that is the southern version. They are rolled to order, and fresh ones are noticeably more pliable.
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Try hu tieu
A clear pork broth with thin noodles, prawns, pork and herbs, or the same noodles served dry with the broth on the side. A Khmer and Chinese legacy of the south.
The dry version is hu tieu kho, with the broth in a separate bowl. The broth here is sweeter than northern pho.
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Eat banh xeo
A crisp turmeric rice crepe with prawn, pork and bean sprouts, wrapped in a lettuce leaf with herbs and dipped in sauce.
Eaten by hand: tear off a piece, wrap it in lettuce and dip. The name comes from the sizzle the batter makes in the pan.
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Try a com binh dan rice plate
Rice with a few dishes chosen from a display: braised pork, caramelised fish, vegetables, with soup thrown in. The neighbourhood lunch canteen.
You point at the display and pay by what you took. Soup almost always comes free with the rice.
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Try ca kho to
Fish braised in a clay pot with caramelised sugar, fish sauce and pepper until dark. A southern home dish, sweet and salty at once.
The caramel is not a dessert one: the sugar is burnt to bitterness and balances the fish sauce. It is eaten with plenty of plain rice.
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Try hot vit lon
A duck egg with a partly formed embryo, boiled and eaten with salt, pepper, lime and rau ram herb. Street food that divides people.
It is eaten with a spoon straight from the shell, starting with the broth inside. The rau ram is not a garnish; its bitterness is the counterweight.
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Try che Desserts and pastries
A cold dessert soup of beans, tapioca, jellies, fruit and coconut milk over ice. There are dozens of versions and each shop makes its own.
Point at the components and the glass is assembled. Banana che in coconut milk is served warm rather than cold.
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Try banh flan and coconut ice cream Desserts and pastries
A French-style caramel flan served over ice with coffee poured on top, and ice cream served in a coconut half.
Coffee over the flan is the local serving rather than a mistake: the bitterness balances the caramel. Coconut ice cream comes with peanuts and jelly.
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Try rice paper snacks Desserts and pastries
Rice paper grilled over coals with egg and toppings, or shredded and tossed with dried beef, herbs and sauce. Evening street food.
The grilled version is sometimes called Vietnamese pizza, for the shape rather than the taste. It is sold from carts after dark.
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Drink ca phe sua da Non-alcoholic drinks
Strong robusta dripping through a phin filter into a glass of condensed milk, then poured over ice. Waiting for the drip is part of the ritual.
Robusta carries about twice the caffeine of arabica, which is why the servings are small. Coconut coffee and salt-foam coffee are local variants worth trying.
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Drink sugarcane juice Non-alcoholic drinks
Juice pressed through rollers in front of you, with lime and ice. Sold from carts across the city and drunk immediately.
It darkens within ten minutes, so buy where it is pressed in front of you. The lime is there to cut the sweetness.
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Drink local beer over ice Local alcohol
A pale lager drunk over ice because of the heat, in places with plastic stools on the pavement. A bucket of ice arrives automatically.
The toast mot hai ba, yo is shouted together before each round. The city has grown dozens of craft breweries in recent years.
