This Tết, you’re invited to my grandma’s house for a true-blue Tết meal of Hoa Vietnamese, comprising char siu, khâu nhục (braised pork belly), cured duck meat, etc. Then, you can think of the best we...
Uyên Đỗ in Snack Attack
Instant noodles are more or less a religion. They have widely spread to many lands, where they are adapted to suit the culture and people there. Most importantly, they offer us salvation in some of th...
In Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, when the protagonist tastes a piece of tea-dipped madeleine, the flavor combination immediately transports him back to the childhood memories he’s buried dee...
Bánh cam, or sesame doughnuts, has been my beloved snack since childhood.
I pride myself on being a child of Hanoi, but only after nearly 20 years, did I realize that trứng vịt lộn is not exactly an authentic topping in Hanoi-style bún riêu.
Thi Nguyễn in Snack Attack
Step inside the kitchen of any household in Saigon and chances are that you will find one or two ready-made curry powder packets in a cupboard waiting for the family's next weekend treat of cà ri gà (...
Khôi Phạm in Food Culture
Originally from Cambodia, made popular by Chinese vendors and enjoyed by local diners, hủ tiếu Nam Vang captures the essence of Vietnamese history in one hearty bowl of noodles.
Hometown treats encapsulate within them the flavors of memories, reminding us of a land we haven’t visited for a long time. I open the jar of coconut candies from my mother and my hometown, and immedi...
Uyên Đỗ in Dishcovery
Some simple delights can capture the flavor of an entire region.
Thi Nguyễn in Snack Attack
You know a dish is special when it can spark conversation with a stranger on a bus. Halfway through the scrumptious bánh củ cải (radish cake) from our last-minute trip to the market, I shared the othe...
When the word phá lấu is mentioned, two genres of dishes will appear in the mind of Vietnamese. One is a small bowl of orange broth that sings of coconut milk, another is slices of caramelized offal a...
Văn Tân in Snack Attack
As the cicadas begin to sing in the tamarind canopies along Pasteur Street after the first monsoon rain, vivid scenes from my formative years flash by in my mind. My cheeks became flushed and my eyes ...
Xuân Phương in Snack Attack
There’s a kind of sweet, sour, and slightly tannic fruit that never fails to make our mouths water every summer.
Khôi Phạm in Culture
Nature has numerous ways to make itself known: male peacocks fan out their glorious tail made up of iridescent eye-patterned feathers to attract peafowls; blue-ringed octopuses don’t need to invent an...
I first knew dried fruit as a category of munchy snacks that had my parents’ approval.
Thi Nguyễn in Snack Attack
Although both durian and mangosteen are native to Southeast Asia, their reputation — especially from a western point of view — leads two very contrasting fates: the latter is considered a luscious del...
Bánh Mì Phượng, Hội An’s most famous bánh mì eatery, recently made national headlines again, but for unfortunate reasons.
Growing up in Saigon before the surge of foreign dessert trends like milk tea, cheese tarts, and bingsu, the humble and affordable Milo powder found in almost every grocery store and street vendor was...
Uyên Đỗ in Snack Attack
Sometimes, when I hear the distant sound of a tinkling bell, fond memories of summer days from my wonder years come flooding back to me.
Khôi Phạm in Snack Attack
In Saigon, trà đá vendors don’t exist, simply because every single eatery is in itself a trà đá vendor.
A beautiful coastline, stunning rolling mountainscapes, and multiple historic vestiges are not the only merits of Quy Nhơn City.
Đồng Thanh Thủy in Hanoi Ngõ Nooks
“Is there any food we can eat for breakfast, afternoon snack and supper?”
Bình Thạnh’s Ward 19 is snuggled between Xô Viết Nghệ Tĩnh and Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, creating a surprisingly quiet area just across from District 1. As a neighborhood, it offers an eclectic mix of local an...
How lovely to have taste buds and to have tasty things to eat.
Linh Phạm in Hanoi Ngõ Nooks
If there is a restaurant in Hanoi that embodies the proverb “good wine needs no bush,” it’s Ốc cô Nhung. Though in this case, instead of wine, it is snails.
Khoi Pham in Saigon Hẻm Gems
“He was a bold man that first ate an oyster,” satirist Jonathan Swift wrote in the 1700s. Famously fearful of the now-prized bivalves, Swift eventually grew to appreciate their briny, ocean-forward es...
While Tết is filled with many traditions, perhaps nothing is more central to the holiday than the food that families prepare and share together.
Paul Christiansen in Snack Attack
A quirky legend surrounds the invention of the potato chip, and its identity has only gotten odder over the years.
Khoi Pham in Saigon Hẻm Gems
Has your luck taken a turn for the worse lately? Perhaps it’s high-time for a hột vịt lộn (or three) to reverse your fortune.
Paul Christiansen in Snack Attack
If I were ever to believe in a generous god, the existence of durian would be the first piece of evidence I cite.
Happy Monday!
Thi Nguyen in Saigon Hẻm Gems
The first role I ever took in my home kitchen was to prepare sweet fish sauce with chili and garlic to pour over rice and noodles. As simple as this may sound, I still can’t master the art after years...
Although stories, photographs and artifacts may allow a child to visualize their parents’ childhood, these couriers of memory distinctively belong to the former generation and remain locked in the pas...
Hanoi’s summer days are unforgiving. On the most intense days, a bullish sun forms thick layers of heat between cement roads and tall, oppressive buildings. Yet here I was, standing in the epicenter o...
Bột chiên is a familiar comfort food for many Vietnamese people.
If you live in Vietnam, then you’ll already know how vital rice is here, and the role it plays in almost every meal we eat.
It’s Tet time next week, and you know what that means: heaps of candied fruits, seeds and even vegetables in various shapes and colors.
Bánh mì is without a doubt a Vietnamese staple. Versatile, convenient and affordable, the sandwich has gotten so popular in recent years in Vietnam and elsewhere that phở shouldn’t be complacent, as i...
Khôi Phạm in Snack Attack
In the back of my mind lives a chorus of street calls: the staccato pauses in a recorded advertisement "bánh mì Sài Gòn, một ngàn một ổ" (hot Saigon bánh mì, only thousand [dong] per loaf), the clink-...
