Best Vietnamese Food to Try in Summer

Travel to Vietnam in summer is good opportunity to enjoy a lot of special Vietnamese food and specialties. Here are some of the best Vietnamese summer dishes you should try when coming to Vietnam in summer!

1. Douhua

Douhua is a popular dish made from soy milk. There are also many other variations of this dish which are a more complex and interesting, such as soy milk coffee, soy milk chocolate, or soy milk with some toppings as black jelly, etc. This is always among the best Vietnamese summer dishes that people should try when coming to Vietnam.

Best places to try douhua:

• Mixed Douhua – Vua Tao Pho, 192 Hang Bong Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
• Matcha Douhua – 112K2, Lane 48, Ta Quang Buu Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi
• Canthium Horridum Blume Douhua – No.10, Nguyen An Ninh Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi
• Matcha Soy Milk Douhua – Soya Garden, 150B O Cho Dua Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi

2. Coconut Ice-cream

This fragrant, cool ice-cream is put in a big coconut with copra and fresh coconut with dried fruits sprinkled on top. This delicious, unique ice-cream is not very cheap. However, you can make this at home due to its simple receipt.

Best places to try coconut ice-cream:

In Hanoi:

• Dong Thap Coconut Ice-cream – No. 36, Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
• Super tasty Caramel Coconut Ice-cream – TTGDTX, No. 16 Hang Than Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi

In Ho Chi Minh City:

• Ca Rem – No. 191, Cach Mang Thang 8 Street, District 3, HCMC
• Ap Bac Coconut Ice-cream – No. 11, Ap Bac Street, Tan Binh District, HCMC
• Siam Coconut Ice-cream – No. 637, Hoang Sa Street, District 3, HCMC
• Coco Kem – 145A Tran Dinh Xu Street, District 1, HCMC

3. Yogurt With Fermented Purple Sticky Rice

This one-of-a-kind will make you remember as long as you taste it once. Yogurt mixed with fermented purple sticky rice, coming with some cool crushed ice will help to “cool down” hot summer days easily.

Best places to try yogurt with fermented purple sticky rice:

In Hanoi:

• Kem Xoi Thu Nga – No. 8, Hai Ba Trung Street, Hanoi
• Quan Kem Xoi – No. 117, Kim Ma Street, Hanoi

In Ho Chi Minh City:

• Kem Xoi Kut Kit – 266/12 To Hien Thanh Street, District 10, HCMC
• Kem Xoi Dua – No. 1, Vu Tong Phan Street, District 2, HCMC

4. Vietnamese Sour Sweet Salad With Beef Jerky

This dish is called Vietnamese salad with dried beef with simple additional ingredient –green papaya and carrot. Beef will be dipped in spices (sugar, chili powder), and then baked until it becomes brown-red, and then will be teared into thin fibers. Making this salad is very simple as this is a street dish which is very popular in Vietnamese meals.

Best places to try this beef salad:

In Hanoi:

• Nom Long Vi Dung – No. 23, Hoan Kiem Lake, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
• Nom Lim – No. 55 Hang Bun Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
• Nom Bo Gia – No. 1 Nguyen Trung Truc Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi

In Ho Chi Minh City:

• Goi bo kho cong vien Le Van Tam – 253 Hai Ba Trung Street, District 3, HCMC
• Mr. Nam store – 76 Nguyen Van Thu Street, District 1, HCMC
• Huong Lien beef salad – 12 Nguyen Huy Tu Street, District 1, HCMC
• Goi kho bo – Alley 38, Dinh Tien Hoang Street, District 1, HCMC

5. Smoothies

Vietnam is the heaven of fruits, especially tropical ones, such as banana, lychee, rambutan, etc. For this reason, there are several ways that you can enjoy fruits in summer. Beside the traditional smoothies, there is another dish which can be served as dessert, called ‘hoa qua dam’ or ‘sinh to dam’ (smashing fruits dessert or smashing fruits smoothie). It is simple to make this Vietnamese food: add condensed milk, or milk, or yogurt or even sugar depending on each one’s taste in a mixture of different kinds of fruits . Then, the mixture will be smashed well manually. This dish is the best to serve when cool, suitable for hot summer days.

Best places to try smoothies:

In Hanoi:

• Hoa Beo Smoothies – 17 To Tich Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
• Nhung Khoat Smoothies – 211 Chua Lang Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi
• Khoe – 55 Chua Lang Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi
• Chip Map – 39B Ly Quoc Su Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi

In Ho Chi Minh City:

• 142 Smoothies – Ly Chinh Thang Street, District 3, HCMC
• Banana’s Juice Shop – 102 Le Thi Rieng Street, District 1, HCMC
• Anh Phan Smoothies – 60 Nguyen Thai Binh Street, District 1, HCMC
• Five Boys Number 1 Smoothies – 84 Bui Vien Street, District 1, HCMC

6. Sweet Soup – Culinary Characteristics of From Northern to Southern Vietnam

Summer is the time that various kinds of sweet corn soup “throne”. Here are the best delicious and cool Vietnamese sweet soup that you cannot miss on your trip to Vietnam:

• Green rice sweet soup
• Vietnamese sweet corn soup
• Ginseng sweet soup
• Taro sweet soup
• Red beans sweet soup
• Black turtle beans sweet soup
• Banana sweet soup
• Young coconut sticky rice leaves sweet soup

Let’s find out more about the culinary highlights of Vietnamese 3 regions with these 3 best kinds of sweet soup:

Northern Vietnam – Green Rice Sweet Soup, Flavor of Hanoi Autumn

Green rice (Vietnamese name as Com) is a popular food in Vietnam. However, nowhere is Com famous and delicious as in Hanoi. Com is usually processed into many different dishes, including sweet soup. With ingredients including tapioca flour, rock sugar and green rice, this soup becomes a dispensable part of Hanoi people.

Com has its moderate comparability and eye-catching colors. In the bowl, you will see the yellow color of beans, the green color of rice nuggets and opaque of coconut milk and peanuts. This is a must-try dish on your Northern Vietnam discovery.

Central Vietnam – Vietnamese Sweet Corn Soup, Highlight of Hoi An Ancient Town

On your trip to Central Vietnam, you will find this sweet soup in every corner. Refreshing and delicious, rich in flavors of coconut sauce, the gelatin of tapioca pearls mixed with the sweet corn, the aroma of fresh pandan leaves are all of the things that make Vietnamese corn pudding nearly impossible to resist.

You can sit on the banks of the romantic Hoai River in Hoi An ancient town, enjoy a bowl of this Vietnamese food and feel all the elegant, delicious and cool flavor.

Southern Vietnam – Banana With Semolina Sweet Soup

When you discover a land, you explore not only its architecture and long-lasting history but also its culture and cuisine. Then, on your journey to Southern Vietnam, you cannot miss the banana sweet soup. This Vietnamese food is a typical dish of the Southern people. Ingredients used to cook this soup include bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes and fragrant cassava roots. This dish is the greasy combination of the juice, the tough starchy semolina flour with alluring colors, and the attractive and fragrant of bananas.

Best places to try sweet soup:

In Hanoi:

• Mrs. Thuy store – 117 Doi Can Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
• Che Ngon – 93 Nguyen Huu Huan Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
• Che Da Nang – 49A Ngo Quyen Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi

In Ho Chi Minh City:

• Ha Ky Chinese sweet soup dessert – 138 Chau Van Liem Street, District 5, HCMC
• Hien Khanh store – 718 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, District 3, HCMC
• Y Phuong store – 380 Nguyen Tri Phuong Street, District 10, HCMC