Hey everyone!
I just wanted to pop on before the video starts and say that this was filmed over like 4,
5 months ago.
This was filmed in November of 2019.
So I'm home, self-quarantining, I literally haven't let the house in like, 3 or 4 weeks.
So yeah I just wanted to hop on and say I hope you guys are doing okay.
I know it's a really stressful time right now, and I'm gonna be uploading one video
per week, so I hope that helps you take your mind off things a little bit.
Definitely let me know in the comments below if you have anything you wanna see from me,
and don't forget to like and subscribe, as usual.
And yeah, roll the clip!
Hi everyone!
We are here in San Francisco and we are doing a full-blown Vietnamese food tour all around
the city.
And to join me I have some special guests -- John and Malie!
They're visiting from Australia so I knew I had to show them all the best Vietnamese
food spots in town.
So they're gonna come help us eat!
Let's head to the first stop!
Let's go!
Okay so, we are at Ly's Vietnamese Cuisine here in the Marina, and this place is known
to have some of the best bun rieu -- did I say that right?
Bun rieu, that was very close actually They're known to have one of the best in the
city, so if you don't know what bun rieu is, it's basically a crab paste noodle soup, and
it's tomato based.
And we also have some - it's kinda like Vietnamese ham?
Yeah, so this ham here, we call it cha lua, which is like a Vietnamese cold cut ham.
I can also see some fried tofu here And we also have these thin vermicelli-like
noodles.
It looks really good, really hearty.
Should we just dig in?
Let's do it!
The noodles are like silky, but they still
have a chew.
And it soaks up the really strong flavor of the broth
Mmm, that's a really good bun rieu broth So what makes a good bun rieu?
Definitely the broth.
This broth here is pretty good, there's that thin layer of oil on top.
And also of course, it has to have that crab paste
Yeah These ones here, it's like a big chunky crab
meatball pretty much I'm really excited to try this, it looks really
good Wow, it's very flavorful
Yeah forsure Oh my gosh, love that strong crab flavor
Generally with the bun rieu, I like to have it with bean sprouts, but uhh, Alyssa here
doesn't like it with bean sprouts Don't like bean sprouts
But it's good without the bean sprouts I think It tastes really good.
Oh my goodness It's really amazing.
I'm gonna try some of this broth Mmm, wow it's very flavorful, and very comforting.
It has that same kind of comforting elephant -- elephant [laughs]
It has that same comforting element as like normal beef pho
Yeah, the bun rieu, it looks red, so you might think that it's spicy.
It's actually not spicy at all It's more from like the tomato base right?
Yeah that's right Bun rieu is super underrated.
Everyone knows about Vietnamese pho, but if you haven't had bun rieu, for sure try it
out.
It's really good Yeah
Okay so, here we have the pho, and we got the combination which is called... dac -- dac
biet?
Yeah that's right So it looks like they have steak, as well
as beef balls, tendon, do they have tripe in here?
And tripe as well Okay yeah.
We have to add some of the fixings So I like to put basil in mine
Definitely adds a freshness.
You have to eat it with basil, I think Add some acidity with the lime.
And how I like to eat my pho is I usually put some Sriracha in the spoon
That's a lot of Sriracha!
Oh, is that too much?
This is how much I usually put.
I mean, I like spicy food, so I feel like it adds flavor.
So I like to have a lot of it So interesting
Yeah so I'll have some noodles and then I'll dip some of it in the Sriracha
Ohhhh okay And then I'll eat it
I thought you literally put that whole spoon in your mouth
Okay that makes sense Heaps of noodles in this bowl actually
Yeah there's a lot of noodles Big bowl
They're nice and silky.
It's been sitting a little bit, so it soaked up some of the broth so it's not as chewy
as it was when it first arrived, but still pretty good
We actually mix the hoisin sauce and the Sriracha.
So we put the two sauces in the little dish, and we mix it up
So it's kinda like a sweet and spicy sauce And we normally just use this dipping sauce
for the meat So not for the noodle
Not for the noodle Mmm.
Ooh, that's pretty good So we also had to get this Vietnamese coffee,
which is like coffee and then the condensed milk
Yeah it's normally made with condensed milk which is sweeter than normal milk
Yeah, I like my coffee sweet so I really like Vietnamese coffee in general
It's pretty sweet, but it has that strong coffee flavor still
Vietnamese coffee's always strong so if it's not strong, I don't think it's good
And that condensed milk definitely adds a lot of sweetness.
Definitely see those layers at first, and then you mix it all up
Okay, let me try it Mmm.
Oh yeah, that's really strong.
That's actually really good.
Similar to what we tried in Vietnam Really?
Yeah that's pretty good Wow, thumbs up!
Okay so we just stopped by DragonEats which is a banh mi place, but they also have vermicelli
bowls, rice bowls, etc.
But they're definitely known for their banh mi.
And they have three locations in the city, so we're at the Haight Street one.
And this place is a little bit more pricey than your typical banh mi.
If you want a cheap, really good banh mi, go to Saigon Sandwich, but I already featured
that in my Cheap Eats video, so go check that out.
So I thought I would take you guys to a different place.
Let's open this up.
This is the roast pork banh mi.
Wow, look at.
Filled with jalapeno, cilantro, pickled carrots and radish and cucumber.
And then of course you got the beautiful roast pork in there.
And the bread feels kind of crispy on the outside but not too crispy.
And it has a nice, fluffy inside This banh mi is jam-packed!
Cheers!
Woo!
That jalapeno just kicked me in the face.
Woo!
At first, it's kinda hard to get your whole mouth around it because it's quite big.
And then the crust from the bread, it's really crunchy.
But once you get your mouth around it and take a bite, it's actually really really good,
with all those fresh veggies packed in there.
You got the tender roast pork.
And they just complement each other so well Really like the carrot there, nicely pickled.
From my reaction just then, that jalapeno is quite spicy.
But it's good.
You gotta have some jalapeno in your banh mi, for sure.
The pork is so flavorful.
Very very juicy and tender Each bite has a layer of everything, and you
can really taste all the flavors together and they work so well together
The only thing I'd like to say about this banh mi is probably, I don't see too much
of that homemade mayo on there, and also a lack of pate.
Normally with banh mi, I love it with pate, like load it up for me, please.
But this one here kinda lacks that.
But otherwise, that roast pork does make it up in flavor
Okay so our final stop is Bac Lieu Restaurant, and we have two dishes here.
So we have the banh khot?
Yep, that's right!
So this is the mini savory pancake And it has some shrimp in there, it normally
has some mung bean on top, and I can also see like, shallots or--
Shallot?
You guys call it shallot?
Yeah We say shallot.
That's so funny Our Aussie accents are coming through
Yeah usually when I see this at other restaurants, it's kinda yellow, but this one is more of
a white, translucent-ish color I think that is to do with the tumeric powder.
So it looks like here they don't actually add that yellow coloring in there
So we grab the lettuce, and then we grab the pancake.
And see it's like kinda fried on the bottom, so it has that crispy, brown texture
It's actually pretty round.
It kinda looks like half a takoyaki Oh my God, it kinda does!
Yeah you're right And then we add some veggies
So we're gonna add some cucumber, and some carrot as well
Add the herbs too, right?
That's right.
We call it herbs Herbs!
And either you can sprinkle some of the nuoc mam or the fish sauce, or you can dip it in.
I think we just dip it in Yeah dip it in.
Wooo Alright, cheers!
Mmm!
Wow!
Nice and crispy Mhm, and the inside has this kinda chewy,
soft texture.
And I get a hint of like, coconut oil, do you get that?
That's right, yeah.
The flavor of the coconut milk definitely shines through this
So the batter, is it made out of rice flour?
That's right, yeah.
Rice flour and coconut milk Mmm
The shrimp is actually, pretty big chunk of shrimp in there
Mhm, and I like the savoriness of the fish sauce
Really good!
And then we also got this fresh coconut, which I always really like to get if they offer
it.
And it's filled to the top with the fresh coconut juice.
It just looks really really really good, so I'm gonna just try some
Mmm That's the best way to have coconut juice,
in the coconut So sweet, and it's iced so it's very refreshing.
It's so good Ooh, refreshing
Yeah, very refreshing.
I love it The next dish that we have, this one here's
called banh hoi chao tom.
So what banh hoi is, it's pretty much a rice noodle that looks like it's been woven.
So you can see really fine strands of noodles and it's like in a sheet.
And the chao tom, it's fried shrimp, on a sugarcane.
It's like shrimp paste And topped with the crunchy peanuts on top
And also, the fried shallots.
Or, shallots I like how their vegetables are presented
so pretty, like look at the way their display all the cucumbers and looks like a work of
art on its own For sure
So to eat this banh hoi chao tom, what we wanna do is we wanna grab a lettuce leaf,
we wanna grab some of that intricately-woven noodles.
Yep, so this is the banh hoi It's like a noodle nest
Yeah To top that off, we've gotta add some of that
fried shrimp paste Mmm.
And I like how they present it on that sugarcane skewer.
That's really cool We've gotta add some cucumber, which is gonna
give it a lovely crunch.
Some of this pickled radish and carrots, and of course some herbs.
So normally we'd be able to wrap this lettuce around, but we've halved it.
Looks good huh?
Looks so good, mmm.
And then we're gonna dip it into that nuoc mam or that fish sauce.
And we added some chili paste to this one so it's spicy
Here we go, cheers!
Mmm!
Mmm, so good!
That prawn paste is delicious Mhm, so flavorful!
There's a little bit of sweetness to it as well, it comes from that sugarcane
Mmm!
And that banh hoi just soaks up all of that nuoc mam, even more flavor, oh my goodness.
It's like a carb sponge for the sauce Yeah, pretty much
And it's super fresh, you've got that lettuce, you've got a crunch from that cucumber.
Oh my God this is a flavor bomb.
Mhm, so good I hope -- I think, it's pretty healthy, cuz
you're eating so many vegetables!
Yeah, that's right!
So once you're done with that, what I normally like to do, is I grab this sugarcane, and
I gnaw on it Really?
Oh okay, I gotta follow suit then Mmm!
Yeah, see you still get that sweetness from the sugarcane
Wow!
So you can do it right at the end of the meal, or after each roll
It's like dessert!
But seriously, this is an awesome Vietnamese dish
Highly recommend Yeah, for sure.
Really really good So many textures going on, a lot of different
flavors, and super fresh!
Mhm, love it!
Okay so that's it for this Vietnamese food tour of San Francisco.
Thank you to my special guests for joining us.
Their YouTube channel is John and Malie.
I'll put their link in the description box down below.
And yeah I hope you guys enjoyed this video, if you liked it make sure you hit that thumbs
up.
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And yeah, I'll see you guys in the next one.
Byeeee!