Food Tours · Tour

Seven Dishes and the Train Street, Eight People Only

Eight people maximum, three and a half hours, and a list of dishes longer than most tours at this length manage. The guide starts with a briefing on what is coming and why, then takes the group to the places locals use rather than the ones with English menus in the window. Bun cha, grilled pork patties with noodles. Pho bo, the beef soup. Bun rieu, the crab noodle soup that visitors rarely find on their own. Pork porridge. Banh xeo, the savoury pancake. Banh mi. And a Vietnamese salad to cut through the rest. Then the train street. The entrance is included, which matters because access is controlled, and so is a drink at one of the cafés between the rails, egg coffee if you want it. You wait, the train comes, everybody stands up and moves back, and it passes close enough that the photographs do not need explaining. Afterwards the guide walks you back to the meeting point or to your hotel. In English, with all the food, drinks and entrance fees included. Not recommended with a spinal injury.