April 3rd, 2024.
It’s just a river of bikes. A constant stream of scooters passing by. There’s no red light to stop them, not on this crossing. A small lady passes the road, as if she was one with the stream. I look at her, she looks at me, stuck on the other side. We both laugh. I need to learn to cross the streets of Ho Chi Minh. I start shadowing people on crossings. Old ladies, students, anyone more in tune with the language between motorcycles and people.
What I do have learn though, is stopping for drinks in the streets of the city. With the intense heat, the coffee shops and street stands on each block of the city become a potential pit stop against the heat. For my first stop, I try the Bạc Xỉu coffee from a minimal street café, just a motorbike with a wooden cart and a small cooler. Bạc Xỉu is similar to Cà Phê Sữa, coffee and condensed milk, but less coffee.
The coffee never last as much as I want to here. I drink it so fast. Can’t avoid it. So good. So sweet. To be fair, I’ve seen how they prepare it, putting only half a glass of liquid and the rest, ice. More pit stops for me, I guess.
For my second drink break, I stop at a street drink stand. Office workers come and go. Two kind ladies keep making drinks. Orange juices, coffee with condensed milk. They froth, they ice, they squeeze, they pour.
My mission for the day: Walk and try heaps of food, as much as I can. First stop, Quan 94, famous for their crab spring rolls. The rolls are pricey, and I have lots of planned stops for today. But… I stay? Yes. They are good, with plenty of crab meat.
Next, I visit a place I’ve been, but forgot: Bánh Xèo 46A. I see the seating area and get instant flashbacks of my visit, 6 years ago. It wouldn’t be the last flashback of the day. Bánh Xèo, also known as Vietnamese crêpe, to the dismay of some French. A crispy rice pancake filled with shrimps, pork, onion, and bean sprouts.
I had to see locals eating Bánh Xèo to remember the procedure. This place had plenty of them. Here is how to navigate the dish: Take a piece of pancake and wrap it in an abundant roll of side greens. A crispy, savory, umami cigar. Dip it in sweet sauce (with optional spicy) and enjoy. The greens help balance the umami flavor. This Bánh Xèo was mega crispy. No other legal way to have it. Even the shrimp inside is crispy, maybe cooked with its shell, somehow? There’s a delicious oil carrying the flavor of the onions, the pork, and the shrimp. Later I see how they pour a broth on top of the pancake mixture when making it, only removing the excess after a minute or two.
