In April, 2020, when German television presents Eating Saigon! enjoying a delicious Vietnamese lunch around a table at Hai’s restaurant, will the audio be in Vietnamese, subtitled in German, as Hai speaks (for a German television viewing audience?) Or in English, subtitled in German (during Joe’s interview)? Or will Vietnamese audio be subtitled to English for the international YouTube audience? Exactly how will the show present “pass the fish sauce”? “Pass die “Fischsoße”? Or, “Chuyền nước mắm”?
Luckily, that’s not our problem. All Hai and I were asked to do was spend the day with a fun and talented television film crew from Grenzenlos, a German TV travel show. We were to introduce them to great Saigon street food eateries around the city, while consuming large quantities of excellent Vietnamese street food en route. Once again, duty calls upon Eating Saigon!
This was our first prime time international television debut!! Yes, of course, we’ve done the New York Times, but German television!! We were stoked!! It was to be an exhilerating, exhausting, and belly-filling day! What fun!
Chợ Bà Chiểu
We started the morning at 7:00 am, heading to our favorite Saigon street market, Chợ Bà Chiểu. There, we met up with the television show’s producer, Ralf; his wife and production assistant, Deanna; and our young energetic cameraman, Toby – all ignoring their jet lag and the corona-virus scare and readying to spend the next 15 hours filming our marathon Eating Saigon! street food adventure!
The first challenge, that I hadn’t anticipated, was how to discreetly film Saigon morning’s street market activities carrying a 30-pound camera and a large fuzzy microphone hanging on the end of an six-foot boom stick – all accompanied by three Westerners – in the midst of an all-Vietnamese neighborhood wet market!? Do you think we might be noticed?
Yes, of course! But, just avoid being run down by the passing motorbikes; don’t slip on an escaped slithering eel; and most importantly, try not to interfere with the vendors’ marketing their wares to their customers on the chaotic market walkways!
Director – Begin the filming – ACTION!
Hai, point your finger to the fish you want.
Have her carry the fish (flailing) to the chopping block; Again; Put it back in the bucket; Again; Take it out of the bucket; One more time; Got it – Perfect!
Have the vendor cut the head off the fish
TAKE 2 (Wait, there’s only one head on the fish)
Point the fish head in this direction; Move it out of the shade!
One hour later, after drawing a sizable bewildered crowd (and the ire of market motor bikers trying to squeeze past the camera crew) and more than two-dozen “TAKES”, we had our catfish steaks ready to bring to Hai’s restaurant to prepare his now famous – Cá Kho Tộ.
Đông Hoa Xuân
Hai’s restaurant, Đông Hoa Xuân, had been prepped for the filming at 10:00 am – between the breakfast and lunch crowds. Hai, in his very own restaurant kitchen, was to reveal to the world (or at least the German-speaking world) the secrets of his amazing Cá Kho Tộ .
Begin filming … ACTION!
I’m guessing the filming in the kitchen was successful and will show well when the episode airs in Germany in April. But, for now, we can all testify that Hai’s Cá Kho Tộ turned out incredibly delicious!
Bún Thịt Nướng
But, no time to dally. It was time to film Hai & Joe on their motorbike maneuvering through the chaotic Saigon street traffic on their Saigon street food adventure.
Strap the cameras on the front of the motorbike!
Ride tandem side-by-side with the camera crew van.
Look natural. Don’t look at the camera … off we go!
Twenty minutes later, darting through Saigon’s traffic chaos , “looking natural”, we arrived at Saigon’s Bún Thịt Nướng Lady.
Roll the Camera … ACTION!
Ask her what’s special about her food.
Tell the cook to move over here – have the owner become the cook! What?
How long has she been serving her food on this street?
What’s in that spring roll?
Can you cook another batch of pork for the camera!
Cross the street and serve that bowl of noodles, now. Okay, AGAIN … and AGAIN … one more time!
Thank you, Bún Thịt Nướng Lady – you’re a star – or will be once our show airs in Berlin. Not just your excellent food, but for your patience and good humor while accommodating us in the midst of your street food lunch-time rush!
Xôi Bắp Lady
And, once again, time to move on to our next filming stop with the Xôi Bắp Lady.
There was that annoying, blaring music from the trendy apparel store across the street.
Can you have them shut off their storefront music for an hour!” What? Are you serious? Well, okay.
Again, great food, endless “TAKES”, and … success.
Exhausting. Off for an afternoon break & shower. We’ll resume filming at dinnertime.
Vietnamese Pizza in the Alley
Reconvening in the Bac Hai neighborhood, it was time to get the camera crew out of their filming van and into the narrow alleys of Bac Hai.
Again, not surprisingly, a bunch of Westerners carrying a large movie camera and a fuzzy microphone on the end of an eight-foot boom, were “noticed” as we strolled through the dimly lighted alleys of Saigon’s Bac Hai neighborhood.
As Toby, the cameraman stooped to get his camera within inches of the tiny charcoal grill, Hương, the cook squatted inches away from the same grill piling chilis, pork slices, and green onions onto the pancake-sized rice cracker – tonight’s dinner “starter.”
But, it was now time to try our “Vietnamese pizza” – AKA, bánh tráng nướng.
Folk from all three continents agreed, this little food item in a dark alley in Saigon’s Bac Hai neighborhood was simply excellent!
Cơm Tâm 390
If ever there was a test as to whether Eating Saigon! would feel it had eaten too much Saigon street food, tonight would be the telling night … off to another street food vendor – Cơm Tâm 390.
One of Hai and my all-time favorites, Cơm Tâm 390 has some of the best broken rice in Saigon. The crew filmed our “arrival”, the preparation of the cơm tâm gà chà (broken rice with grilled chicken and Vietnamese “quiche”), and the table serving sequence (again, several times). But, even this delicious was getting to be too much food to be consumed.
But wait! There’s more … onto our final stop – a Saigon street food snail shop.
SNAIL STREET – ỐC LOAN
But, at this late hour, our plans for our last street food eatery on our film tour began to disintegrate. We arrived to find our intended snail eatery running out of snails just as we arrived! BUT, the show must go on!
A friend of Hai’s had recommended a snail eatery that we hadn’t yet tried. She assured us it was excellent. One problem – the address she had given us led to nowhere!
Searching hopelessly, lost somewhere in the alleys of Saigon’s District X, What were we to do? And with a German film crew in tow?
But then, cruising around a corner in the dark alleys – BEHOLD! A snail eatery, crowded and bustling with locals – ỐC LOAN!
And that’s exactly how Eating Saigon! finds amazing new street food vendors! (of course, usually not with international cameras rolling)
But, it was to be our lucky night. ỐC LOAN displayed an excellent selection of fresh seafoods – large and small snails of every shape from local rivers; crab legs and more shell fish from the sea. A friendly owner who was delighted to accommodate our film crew in every regard. For sure, we’ll investigate ỐC LOAN in the future and share our finding in a future Eating Saigon! blog.
Delicious Saigon street food – the perfect way to end our marathon expose on Saigon street food and share Eating Saigon! with the world!
Thank you Ralf! Thank you Toby! Thank you Deanna! It was a truly wonderful and memorable experience.
We’ll be anxiously awaiting word of the show’s scheduled broadcast in April, 2020. We’ll update this post as soon as we have details about the shows airing on German television and on YouTube!
BREAKING NEWS! WE’RE ON THE AIR AS OF APRIL 25, 2020.
Hi there!
I saw you guys on german TV “SAT 1” good job!!!
I will check your recommands on your site for food trends!
Best regards from Österreich
Great! We just saw the show this morning ourselves! Happy eating! 🙂
Oh wait…no Banh Xeo??
We only had 1 day … so sorry!