Sonny Side from the US, who has 10.7 million followers, is passionate about discovering the culture and cuisine of many countries, including Vietnam.

Sonny said he enjoys many specialties in HCM City and is always ready to try different dishes, from the basic to the luxurious.

Recently, he and a friend visited two well-known shops in HCM City. 

The first specializes in vegetarian food on Ngo Gia Tu street in district 10. The eatery has been operating for more than four years and sells 450 bowls every hour at the surprisingly low price of just VND5,000 per bowl. In addition to rice, the shop also serves vermicelli and noodles.

According to netizens, the bestseller of the restaurant is bun thit nuong (grilled pork and vermicelli) (this is the traditional name of the dish, but this one is vegetarian).

Sonny and his friend sampled two servings of bun thit nuong. Though the shop was crowded with diners, the service was good and they were served within several minutes.

Sonny said he has had sampled dishes prepared with vermicelli many times, including bun thit nuong, but the dish there was special.

Just like local diners, the two foreign men sprinkled sweet and sour sauce, and mixed the ingredients in a bowl of vermicelli. Sonny noted that the dish had a blend of flavors, and was so delicious that no one would think it was vegetarian.

The grilled "meat" was soft with strong flavor, the spring rolls were as crispy as if they were made from real pork, and the sauce was delicious and fragrant which made the dish wonderful, according to the American.

Sonny’s friend also agreed that it was the most delicious vermicelli dish he had ever tasted in Vietnam. And to their surprise, the two servings just cost VND10,000.

In addition to bun thit nuong, the shop serves other vegetarian dishes, such as grilled "pork", spring rolls, grilled "ribs" and tofu.

Vuong Kim Long, the owner of the vegetarian food eatery, said it is well known to both domestic and foreign diners as well.

The eatery opened in February 2020. There are now two affiliates of the brand in HCMC, after the third affiliate shut down recently. The shop is called ‘Tuy Tam’, which means that diners can pay as much as they want.

“At the shop, there was a board hung over the entrance door which showed the prices of VND2,000 and VND5,000. But these are just quoted prices, and customers can pay as much as they want,” she added.

“There is always a box at the shop and customers can put bank notes in it. However, it doesn’t matter if customers don’t pay for their servings,” she explained.

The menu of the shop has a wide range of dishes so that diners can have different choices for different days of the week. It opens from 11am to 6.30pm, Monday to Saturday.

The next destination for Sonny and his friend was a banh canh (Vietnamese thick noodle soup) eatery on Pham Van Chi street in district 6. The restaurant is famous because of customers' complaints about extremely expensive dishes.

Netizens call the banh canh there "street banh canh with 5-star prices", because the most expensive banh canh is priced at VND350,000.

Sonny and his friend described their dish as a "seafood buffet party", as the bowls of vermicelli were full of expensive seafood, from fish to shrimp to crabs, displayed well.

“We finally understand why the banh canh here is expensive,” Sonny said.

Nguyen Thi Loan, 62, the restaurant owner, said that her restaurant has been operating for 36 years and banh canh sells out just after 3-4 hours of sale. Asked about the know-how, Loan said the recipe is created by herself after many times of adjustments to suit diners’ tastes.

Phan Dau