Vietnamese Phrases: Eating and Drinking

Ordering at a restaurant or street stall

Vietnamese food is fresh, varied and cheap, and the best meals are often in small places with no English menu. A handful of phrases lets you order, ask for what you want left out, and pay. The menu is thực đơn, and a restaurant is a nhà hàng, though most people eat at a quán (a casual eatery or stall).

This chapter is part of the free phrasebook. If you’re out for the evening, our guide to the night markets in Saigon says where to try these phrases.

Dzô is the southern toast, usually shouted after counting “one, two, three”. In the north you may hear một, hai, ba, vào or trăm phần trăm (a hundred per cent, meaning bottoms up).

How it’s cooked

Chiên is the southern word for fried and rán the northern one. Kho is the slow braise you’ll see on menus as cá kho (braised fish) or thịt kho (braised pork), cooked with fish sauce, sugar and pepper, often in a clay pot.

Meat, fish and seafood

Phở, bún and hủ tiếu are different noodles, and the last is a southern favourite you’ll see on every Saigon street corner. For a drink with food, order water as nước and ice as đá, and add cho tôi một ly rượu vang đỏ (a glass of red wine) or rượu vang trắng (white wine) at a restaurant that has a list.

Drinks, juices and fruit

In the south, cà phê sữa đá (iced coffee with condensed milk) is the famous one. At a quán cà phê you can pick the drink and the sweetness: ít đường is less sugar, không đường none. Nước mía (sugar-cane juice) and sinh tố bơ (avocado smoothie) are everywhere and worth trying.

Vegetables and herbs

Bowls of phở and bún come with a plate of herbs, bean sprouts and lime (rau thơm, giá and chanh) that you tear into the bowl yourself. Say không ngò if you don’t like coriander.

Where to next

The next chapter is getting around. Come back to the phrasebook hub for the full list, or learn the numbers before you pay.