Vietnam, a friendly destination for foreigners, has long had a great reputation for the unique cuisine that is the harmony of Eastern and Western styles. In the recent year, more and more people from Muslim countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Middle East coming to Vietnam for touring and working; and as a result, the field of halal food has been developing to adapt the high demand of Muslim community there. Beside the Muslim meals that can be found in some restaurants and hotels, you can enjoy a very typical kind of food – halal street food in Vietnam.

1. An Overview of Halal Street Food in Vietnam

Halal Vietnam street food is quite diverse with thousands of specialties that contain the specific features of different regions all over the country. In some major cities of Vietnam like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, it is quite easy to find a street food stall that serves typical dishes of Vietnam. These are some of the best selections for halal street food in Vietnam:

• Pho: The first and foremost dish when concerning Vietnamese cuisine is pho. This democratic but meticulous specialty includes beef pho and chicken pho. Although the recipe and garnishes of pho are different in each region, the broth of all is made from beef or chicken bones stewed with a lot of spices to take the most sweetness. Halal pho is not much dissimilar to pho in general, it still reserves the full traditional taste of this specialty.

• Banh mi: Banh mi is a type of bread that comprises all the scrupulousness of the caterer. The French brought their baguette to Vietnam during their colonial period, and the Vietnamese now acquire the method and make it on their own ways. Banh mi does not have any certain recipe, it depends on the available ingredients of every region, with pâté, fried eggs, dried beef, pickled vegetable, cilantro, sausage and chili sauce. Muslim tourists can have their halal banh mi in any bakery by ordering fried-egg, dried-beef or beef-pâté banh mi.

• Steamed glutinous rice: In Vietnamese, it is called “xoi”. This popular dish is the favourite breakfast of most Vietnamese due to the high nutrition it contains. Beside the main ingredient – sticky rice, the toppings of this dish is quite diverse, which include green beans, fried onions, peanuts, eggs and stewed meat. Muslim travellers cannot eat meat, so you can ask the caterer to remove meat from your dish.

• Mixed rice paper: Mixed rice paper, or “banh trang tron” is a dish that you can find on most streets in Vietnam, and it is an ideal choice for your halal Vietnam street food tour. The ingredients of mixed rice paper are rice paper, mango, dried spicy beef, Vietnamese coriander, quail egg and sauce. All the components are put in a bag, and the diner will toss them on their own when eating.

• Egg coffee: Vietnamese coffee is one of the most delicious coffee in the world, and egg coffee there will give you another wonderful experience. The creamy soft egg foam floating on the dense coffee of Vietnam will immediately make you lick your spoon with delight. Enjoying a cup of egg coffee and seeing the bustling streets outside are the experiences that you should not miss for your halal food.

In addition to these above specialties, you can have a variety of selections for halal Vietnam street food such as vegan dishes, sweet desserts and many kinds of noodles.

2. Halal Street Food in Hanoi

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is one of most ideal places to enjoy street food in general and halal street food in particular. In Hanoi, you can have plentiful choices for typical dishes of halal Vietnam street food such as pho, banh mi, steamed sticky rice, egg coffee, mixed rice paper, rolled pho and a lot of other dishes.

There are some recommended places for you to try Hanoi halal street food:

• The Old Quarter
  • Location: Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
  • Recommended dishes: pho, banh mi, egg coffee. What is more thrilling than enjoying Vietnamese food and seeing the bustling daily life of locals in the place known as the soul of Hanoi?
• Dong Xuan Market
  • Location: 15 Cau Dong, Dong Xuan, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
  • Recommended dishes: pho, banh mi, mixed rice paper, sweet desserts. This is the biggest and also the most famous market in Hanoi, where you can go shopping and try various kinds of food with pocket-friendly prices.
• Hoan Kiem Lake:
  • Location: Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
  • Recommended dishes: Trang Tien ice-cream, ice lemon tea, egg coffee. In the lake as the heart of Hanoi, you will have a chance to share your weal and woe with other tourists from all over the world.

3. Halal Street Food in Ho Chi Minh City

In Ho Chi Minh City, the most crowded city of Vietnam, halal street food is quite plentiful. In this city, you will get a good opportunity to communicate with friendly people and enjoy mouth-watering dishes; especially, in Ho Chi Minh City, there are some Muslim mosques for you to pray, and in the nearby areas are Ho Chi Minh halal street food stalls where you will be served a Muslim meal.

Ho Chi Minh City attracts a lot of foreign visitors from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, India, China and other countries from Middle East, many of them worship Muslim and bring to Vietnam the specific features of their customs. Due to that reason, halal street food in Ho Chi Minh City is more various than in Hanoi, with the specialties of Vietnam as well as the Muslim nations.

In the center of Ho Chi Minh City, you will find a small street named Nguyen An Ninh opposite the West gate of Ben Thanh Market, the symbol of Ho Chi Minh City. This street has long been the Muslim street in Ho Chi Minh City, with many restaurants that offers the menu of halal food such as The Daun, Halal Food Aisyah, Kedai Muslim Halal Al-Amin, Halal Osman, Basiroh Restaurant and Satra – Vietnamese Restaurant. This Muslim street in Ho Chi Minh City is also called Saigon Halal Street, which is a great rendezvous of many Muslim visitors.

There are some suggestions for you to try Ho Chi Minh City halal street food:

• Nguyen An Ninh Muslim Street
  • Location: Nguyen An Ninh Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
  • Recommended dishes: beef noodles, pho, banh xeo and other Vietnamese, Malaysian, Singaporean and Western halal dishes. If you are a Muslim tourist, this is the first place in Ho Chi Minh City that you ought to think of in order to have an ideal halal meal.
• Pho Muslim
  • Location: 25/18 Tran Hung Dao Street, Cau Kho, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
  • Recommended dishes: pho, nasi goreng seafood, nasi lemak, roti ayam, ayam goreng. The owners of this food stall is local Muslim, so the dishes there is the combination of Vietnamese cuisine and halal street food.
• Halal Banh Mi
  • Location: 553 Alley, Tran Hung Dao Street, Cau Kho, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
  • Recommended dishes: halal banh mi with chicken, beef or vegetables, chicken sticky rice. Having a halal banh mi there and a cup of coffee in the nearby café is a wise choice for an energetic day.
• Ben Thanh Market
  • Location: Le Loi Street, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
  • Recommended dishes: pho, hu tieu, banh mi, beef noodles, mixed rice paper, seafood, fried rice and sweet desserts. In this symbolic market of Ho Chi Minh City, you can get an overview of local residents, their customs, the cultural diversity of Ho Chi Minh City as well as Ho Chi Minh City halal street food.

We hope that our above suggestions will help you with bearing an ideal halal food tour in Vietnam. Halal street food in Vietnam is the harmony of typical Vietnamese cuisine and certain halal processing methods. And, what are you waiting for? Let’s have a halal trip to Vietnam to discover our halal street food. If you have any questions, be free to ask in your comment and we will help you as soon as we can.