Ben Thanh Market: Legendary Ho Chi Minh City Swap Meet

Market Ho Chi Minh City

In the back of Ben Thanh Market, a legendary Ho Chi Minh City swap meet that dates to 1912, replacing a business called Les Halles Centrales that the French built in 1870, you’ll find food stalls featuring a wide variety of South Vietnamese specialties.


Market Ho Chi Minh City
Since so many of the foods were new to me, I ignored the pleading of hawkers and made a full tour of the offerings before landing a direct hit: Tri Tam Banh Vot Nong. Banh Vot Nong are pan-fried rice cakes, cut in half, filled with ground pork and wood-ear mushrooms and slathered with a pink sauce. It was the kind of thing you’d find under a dollop of spicy tuna at almost any sushi bar in Los Angeles, only crispier, chewier, better tasting, and a whole lot cheaper (3 for 3000 Dong, about 15 cents U.S.).

All three dishes I ordered from O Be were disappointing. The salad roll filled with lettuce, onions and BBQ pork (2500 Dong) was fine until I dipped it in an oily peanut sauce. A little pork pattie topped with an orange-red chili sauce (1000 Dong) was cold and mushy. There was also a glutinous rice pancake with shell-on shrimp, not good.

Market Ho Chi Minh City
At the Nuoc Mia booth, I ordered my sugar cane juice “Khong Da,” without ice. Ordering the juice without ice costs 2000 Dong extra.

Juice Ho Chi Minh City
The mug of sweet green nectar was delicious.

Market Ho Chi Minh City
I finished my blitz at Bun Mama Bun Beu Cua-Oc for the R.W. Apple, Jr.-recommended dish, Bun Thit Nuong. In recommending the dish; Apple neglected to say where in the market he and wife Betsey ate it. Regardless, after a few bites, it was clear I selected a good stall.

Vietnamese Food Ho Chi Minh City
Bun Thit Nuong turned out to be a bowl of rice vermicelli, sprouts, shredded lettuce, marinated, crinkle-cut green papaya and carrots, ground peanuts, scallions, and scissor-cuts of caramelized, BBQ pork. It was delicious, and only 10000 Dong.

I wish I had more time to explore the market’s aisles. Another trip.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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