Max McFarlin from Arkansas is a well known blogger in the world’s backpacking tourism community. He has a YouTube channel with 630,000 followers. On his channel, the American blogger regularly shares videos about street food in provinces and tourist destinations throughout Vietnam.

Most recently, Max decided to take up a challenge to spend no more than VND50,000 on three meals. Also, ‘no buffet, no vegetarian food’ was the principle he set for the day, because these dishes cost more.

With the experience of living in Vietnam for four years, he believed that the earlier he went out, the more opportunities he would have to choose delicious dishes at affordable prices. He got up at 6 am and went out looking for food for the first meal.

The first destination was a broken rice eatery on Doan Van Bo street in district 4. This is a small stall, where trays of food are displayed on a table.

Believing that he was among the first clients, he was surprised when seeing a long queue of people. The eatery did not serve on site, so Max had to buy a take-away. It opens only from 5am to 6am daily and the American YouTuber was the last client who bought the broken rice dish before the eatery closed.

Max bought a serving at VND25,000. To find a place where he could eat the dish, Max decided to enter a café nearby. He believed that VND25,000 was a very low price for a serving of white rice, grilled pork skin, spring rice rolls, ribs, carrots and salted grated radish.

He was satisfied with the serving. The pork skin was good, not too dry. As the dish was cheap, he did not have high expectations, but he said it was really good.

After having breakfast, the American man moved to district 8 to a pavement shop. He chose banh canh My Tho (rice spaghetti, cooked with shrimp, crab or meat) which was just VND10,000 per serving.

Max lists it among his must-try dishes. Banh canh there is prepared in the style of the Mekong Delta. Diners can order more toppings – pork ribs, shrimp and fresh cuttlefish if they want, but have to pay for additional food.

When enjoying banh canh, Max heaped praise on the dish, saying that the broth was very good, with the fragrance of fried garlic and onions.

Each serving of banh canh costs VND10,000 VND, including pork, pig bones, pork skin and duck blood. In addition to the broth, Max enjoyed boiled pork skin, which was flexible and chewy. 

The plus points of the banh canh were the fresh materials selected carefully. Of the toppings, duck blood curds were the most delicious, he said.

Max said the most delicious and cheap dishes in Vietnam must include banh my (bread). He chose banh my for his last meal: a loaf of bread with pate and fatty butter, with cucumber and fennel cost VND7,000.

For the day, Max paid a total of VND48,000 for three meals.

Phan Dau