7 street foods under 10,000 VND that you should try in Saigon

Saigon, the largest city of Vietnam, is famous for a unique and rich Vietnamese food culture so there is nowhere better than this place to absorb in awesome flavors of Saigon cuisine. Visiting this place, your soul will definitely be captivated by the sights, sounds and tastes of the city with wonderful sceneries, tasty food and friendly and high cultured people. It cannot be denied that Saigon cuisine is one of the Asian people’s culinary secret in the way of preparing and processing as well as unique ingredients to create a perfect combination and thus offering fantastic fragrance in each dish.

If you want to spend a day walking around Saigon streets and exploring the diversity of Saigon food with your tight budget, you can consult the below list of seven fabulous dishes that are under 10,000 VND.

Grilled banana in green banana leaves

Grilled banana in green banana leaves is one of the most popular street foods in Saigon that are liked by both local and overseas visitors. The grilled bananas are wrapped by layers of green bananas to create the great smells and flavors. The banana inside the leave is sweet and tender with great taste while the outside is crispy. Moreover, the thing that helps the grilled banana satisfy the palate of eaters is the combination of crispy grilled banana and sweet aroma of coconut milk. There is nothing quite like grabbing a delicious grilled banana in green banana leaves in the winter days with your friends and watching the crowded streets with daily exchanged activities of local people.

Saigon sweet soup

Saigon sweet soup is one of the most famous street snacks that you can find everywhere from the street vendors, local market, budget stalls to high-end restaurants. However, in order to try Saigon sweet soup like a real local people, you should enjoy it in some street vendors to feel the taste and get the view of a lively Saigon.

Saigon sweet soup is made from different types of ingredients including beans, cereals, fruits, coconut milk, etc. Nowadays, eating sweet soup is becoming a beautiful culture of Vietnamese people and the more important thing is that it is introduced to the international friends via mass medium as an indispensable part of Vietnamese cuisine.

What is more, Saigon sweet soup attracts a variety of people because it is cheap with the prices ranging from 6,000 to 8,000 VND per glass. In these cold days, it is better for you to be served with hot sweet soup to keep your body warm.

Iced cream bread

It can be said that iced cream bread is the most children’s favorite snake and it is reminiscent of the childhood of many people. When eating, you can easily feel the coolness and sweetness of milky iced cream, the crispiness of peanuts together with the strange aroma of bread. Being totally different from other expensive dishes, iced cream bread is simple and rustic but extremely delicious.

One bonus point for iced cream bread is that the price is quite cheap with around 6,000 VND

Tai Yen Cake

Tai Yen Cake is a familiar cake to most Saigon people. In Ho Chi Minh City, it is not hard to find a street stall selling Tai Yen Cake. It is called Tai Yen because it external appearance is similar to the bird nests. Originating from the West, Tai Yen Cake is a yellow cake with simple way of making with the main ingredients such as sugar, rice flour and coconut. Furthermore, people often eat Tai Yen Cake when it is hot to fully enjoy the sweetness of its crispiness. To feel the best taste of the cake, you are recommended to have a cup of hot tea when eating the cake.

Tai Yen Cake is available in every street vendors of Saigon and it is becoming more popular because of its exotic taste and reasonable prices ranging with approximately 5,000 VND for a cake.

Fried corn

In fact, Hanoi people prefer boiled corn, but Saigon people like eating fried corn and for that reason fried corn has appealed to both local and foreign visitors traveling to Saigon. Characterized by the harmony of sweetness and saltiness, fried cake is always provoking the curiosity of overseas tourists for its strange taste. Fried corn is at its best when it is added with some additional dried shrimp paste as well as spicy paprika, which makes you find hard to resist this awesome dish.

It is a good choice to have a portion of fried corn in a rainy or cool day with your friends. With the prices around 5,000 VND to 8,000 VND, you can have a full plate of a portion of fried corn.

Fresh spring roll

Vietnamese fresh spring roll, as its name indicates, is a refreshing appetizer for an Asian-inspired meal with fresh ingredients encompassing rice noodle, shrimp, pork meat, herbs and other necessary vegetables. An authentic fresh spring roll must be served with thin rice papers, fresh vegetables.

Dipping sauce is very important to have a great taste when enjoying fresh spring roll. Following five elementary tastes of Vietnamese cuisine, dipping sauce of fresh spring roll includes sugar, vinegar, chopped garlic, pepper and a little fresh fish sauce. Spring roll will be flavorless without this kind of sauce.

Grilled skewered meat

There are myriad types of skewered meat from fish, shrimp, and beef and so on. All the skewers are marinated with light spicy and sweet aroma. To ensure the delicious taste, the grilled skewered meat is always placed on the flaming brazier and when eating, it is usually served with hot sauce or sweet and sour sauce. It is hard to resist the awesome fragrance of fried lemongrass and chilli combined with the sweetness and tenderness of each skewered meat.

The price for a skewered meat is just 5,000 VND and you are allowed to choose what you like from these skewers. To enjoy these super cheap but tasty skewers, you should pay a visit to Panda BBQ at Road 85, District 7 in Ho Chi Minh City.