Have you just ever woken up and wished you had something scrumptious to eat? Vietnam is food paradise that way. Walk out of your hotel and you see umpteen carts and restaurants serving coffee, noodle soups, fried rice and Banh mi. Banh Mi must win the cheapest and best sandwich award hands down. The crunch of the baguette with the creamy pate, crunchy spring onion, cilantro and cured meats is unbeatable.

We usually look for and stay in places that have a small kitchen so that when Arjun gets his odd time hankering for french toast with chocolate sauce we can whip one up. The two weeks we had in Thailand we had a full kitchen(with oven!) in a nice villa. Thai food in local restaurants is wonderful, but sometimes it’s nice to cook our own meals especially when the fresh ingredients available are so enticing.

In Vietnam we couldn’t beat the temptation to eat everything around us and we are glad we did. Everything was extremely delicious , fresh and healthy. After a month, we actually felt like we were a bit lighter on our feet. In India, we are wary of eating street food. In Vietnam, we ate all kinds of things from the street and never had an upset stomach.

Here’s a good way to eat you way through a day in Vietnam. After you morning espresso or cafe den da, you can choose between a Banh mi or Mi Quang. All food is accompanied by fresh fragrant herbs and bean sprouts. Lemon wedges and bottles of soy sauce and hot sauce are common everywhere.

Then you walk around a bit and stop by at the local market just in time for lunch. It’s time now for the wonderfully delicious Banh flan, caramel pudding . The flan is not overly sweet and comes with caramel sauce that pours over like coffee and is topped with crushed ice. In the sweltering heat of Saigon this feels like a sweet trip to Alsace. One is never enough. Eat several with abandon.For lunch, you can stick to the traditional pho or go fancy and try something french.

Both Saigon and Dalat have excellent fine dining.

Then it’s time for the afternoon espresso and if your felling hot, maybe an iced lotus tea.

As you wander around, in the afternoon, you see the banh can lady setting up her stall and stop by for a crunchy plate of banh can.

In Hoi An, along the Ang Ban beach, you can pick your food from the tank. Groupers swim around and crabs and snails scurry around in trays.