Vietnamese-Australian chef and restauranteur Jerry Mai knows a thing or two about Vietnamese food. (She’s the powerhouse behind Melbourne restaurant Annam, where she showcases her mother’s recipes). Now, she’s author of Street Food Vietnam, set for release on 1 May 2019. Here, Jerry share’s her tips for eating your way around the streets of her mother country.

Vietnam’s must-try foods

Pho is the most common and most recognised dish in Vietnam – it’s a must-try for any visitor, and something I think represents Vietnam on a plate. You can’t go past a banh mi from a street vendor. Traditionally the working persons’ lunch, this baguette stuffed with all the good things is too tasty not to try at least once.

Seek out banh xeo (crispy turmeric pancakes) and bun cha if you are in Hanoi. It’s a dish made from charred meats and fresh herbs with soft noodles that is popular in the North.

If you can find somewhere where rice paper rolls are made with fresh rice paper. make sure you try these – they’re rice paper rolls but not as you know them!

Vietnam’s must-visit stalls and restaurants

There are so many options now. Always try a street food vendor, if they are busy with locals it’s a sign that they are good to go! You know that the food will always be fresh, as the vendors only make enough to last for a few hours and the stalls change their offerings throughout the day. My list for Saigon is :

Banh Mi Huynh Hoa is very popular with locals and tourists; rolls are generous and the pate and butter are bang on. I prefer Banh Mi Bui Thi Xuan – the ingredients are nice and the pate is so good!

Com Nieu or Secret Garden Restaurant serves up traditional food, but in a nice environment and with good service. They have dishes like ca kho (caramelised fish claypot), canh chua (fish sour soup), thien ly flowers (stir-fried crab roe and amaranth soup), sticky pork caramel with steamed veg to dip. Com Nieu does a special dish of rice cooked in a claypot until it’s crispy, and served with spring onion oil. The dish is served very theatrically where the claypot is smashed at the table and flung across the room to your table and served with spring onion in oil and sesame seeds

The best comfort foods

My mum’s home cooking is the ultimate comfort food – thit kho is my go-to dish, but anything she makes that is in a typical family meal style of meat, soup and some veggies is great. I also like two-minute noodles as a guilty pleasure – so easy and so tasty.

Culturally significant foods

Thit kho and bitter melon soup are both on our ancestry table each Lunar New Year. An ancestry table is where you put offerings of food on New Years Eve to welcome back your ancestors. Bitter melon soup allows you to eat away the bitterness of the last year allowing space for prosperity and good luck for the new year.

Tips for navigating Vietnam

When crossing the street in the cities, look straight ahead and just walk. It can be scary but the motorbikes will avoid you rather than you avoiding them.

Be adventurous and try something new – and taste it before you say that you don’t like it!