Apiwich Ektarawong from Thailand is a well known YouTuber with a personal channel attracting 500,000 followers. He has a passion for travel and has been to many countries, including South Korea, Japan, India, Italy, France, the UK, and Vietnam.

Several days ago, Apiwich arrived in HCM City to discover Vietnamese cuisine.

“I came because this is the destination favored by many Thai travelers,” he explained.

Apiwich said street food in HCM City is tasty and that he really likes banh xeo, a Vietnamese rice crepe folded in half, filled with shrimp, meat and soybean sprouts.

The young man ate at an eatery located on a small alley on Dinh Cong Trang street in district 1, near the Tan Dinh Cathedral. This is a familiar destination for local diners and foreign travelers when they are in HCM City.

Apiwich learned about the place after consulting acquaintances who had traveled to HCM City.

He ordered a special serving of banh xeo, the best seller there, as well as cha gio (spring roll) and goi cuon (summer rolls).

While waiting for banh xeo to be served, Apiwich visited the kitchen and saw experienced workers making banh xeo.

The Thai YouTuber was surprised as his crepe was large, enough for 2-3 diners.

The banh xeo was eye catching with a yellow crust. ‘When you touch it, you can hear the sound from the crispy crust,” he said.

The fillings were pork, big shrimp, eggs and soybean sprouts, served with sweet and sour dipping sauce, rice paper rolls and fennel.

“The dough was skillfully coated to create a thin crispy crust. The fillings were fried reasonably, and were fragrant,” he said. 

Apriwich liked the dipping sauce which was both sweet and sour, saying that the dipping sauce was an important factor in its flavor.

He said the vegetables and fennel make the banh xeo less oily.

Travelers can choose either the most common banh xeo, priced at VND110,000, or vegetarian banh xeo, at VND90,000.

In addition to banh xeo, Apiwich enjoyed other dishes. He said that street food in Vietnam is attractive, cheap, and delicious. Black bean sweet soup, for example, is VND5,000 per serving.

Thao Trinh