Food Tour - Chau Doc, Vietnam

Oh Châu Đốc, my dad’s hometown. Aside from the few hours we stayed there after getting picked up from the airport and the giant wholly roasted pig we took to a temple (see picture below), we spent about two days in that city. Our food mainly came from one restaurant across the street from our hotel that was considered one of the better places to eat, at least by my cousins’ word. What I remember most is the very cheap bánh mì we got at less than 50 cents per; these would be baguettes stuffed with pâté, giò lụa, and other slices of meat products. 

Something interesting is that nighttime food that is available. My mom said that Châu Đốc had some pretty good thit bo vien, or meatballs, and so we went off to get some that was apparently only available at night. So we braved the mosquito infested areas of the night time and settled on a cart that was by a temple (though there were plenty of carts that were in dark alleyways). Partnered with the meatball cart was a sugar cane juice cart, or nước mía, so we had some freshly made sugar cane juice. I love that stuff because it’s just so naturally sugary and refreshing. The next afternoon, we went to a coffee place that my cousin had said was pretty good and cheap (he went there the whole time we were there). I recall that an iced coffee with Bailey’s was barely $1.25 and pretty tasty. Unfortunately, I had ordered the coffee with rum and when I got the shotglass of rum, it was pretty sketchy smelling. I eventually tasted some because I didn’t want to mix something unknown into my coffee, and it was a definite no.