TOKIDOKI (NOMAD)

“A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eighty years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the Fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and independent.” – Ho Chi Minh Art Deco–style façade at 16–18–20 Thủ Khoa Huân Street.
This façade strongly suggests it was built in the late French colonial per...

These men work brutal hours in brutal heat for money that would make a Westerner cry. But the sleep itself is not sad. The sleep is the one moment in the day that belongs to them. Nobody is paying for it. Nobody is timing it. Nobody is asking them to deliver something or drive somewhere or fix something. For ten minutes or an hour, the man and the motorbike are still, and the ci...

Homemade Salted Butter Banh Mi – So thick, it looks like cheese!

Bánh Mì Huỳnh Hoa. The most famous banh mi in Saigon. Possibly in all of Vietnam.

26 Le Thi Rieng, District 1.

I got one with the homemade salted butter. I’m not a fan of the paté, so I got a really basic one. But, it was still delicious. The one that everyone stands in line for i...

Everything in Saigon happens on a red plastic chair or stool.
In Vietnam red means luck and happiness and also “sit here, the pho is ready.”

I’ve eaten the best meals of my life on red plastic chairs. Com tam suon, hunched over broken rice and grilled pork, green onion oil dripping off the spoon, my knees pressed against a table.

Ca phe sua...

Back in Vietnam after almost two weeks in Cambodia, and the first thing I want is a cup in my hand and a chair in the shade. So here it is: a week in coffee, one cup at a time.

Cà Phê Trứng 3T — 10 Sương Nguyệt Ánh
I had been wanting to try this place for months, and I finally walked in. Pleasantly surprised is putting it mildly, because the coffee turned out...