Eating local food is a huge part of our travels. Luckily Vietnam is a food paradise. Who doesn’t like a good pho? And believe me, there are so many other great soups out there.
But how about our kids? Do they like the food? Yes!
Ok, Manny wants to try everything but only eats a few bites. For us, Pixie was the big question, whether or not she would like Vietnamese food. And we were lucky, or I think she was. Her favourite meal was breakfast! Why? For kids Vietnamese breakfast is heaven! They served pancakes in almost every hotel. She was so happy! Banana pancakes with chocolate!
The only place where they didn’t have it, they served omelettes which were perfect for Pixie. Wherever I could I opted for the local option, Pho or Cau Lau in Hoi An. Yes, it might be different than what we usually eat but how could I pass on an opportunity to eat something local!
Whenever we knew that we wouldn’t have time to sit down for lunch or we would be somewhere where it could be hard to find something to eat we bought a few Bhan Mi, local sandwiches, and took it with us. I think they mastered the sandwich making to perfection in Vietnam. It’s very cheap and their stands open very early in the morning so it was easy for us the buy them before starting our day. They pack it for you nicely, so it’s easy to take it with you.
Even when they didn’t speak English we managed to show them that we want one for Pixie, just the bread and meat, no spicy sauce or any hot ingredients. A nice kid-friendly sandwich! And they were always so happy to make one for her!
We try to avoid places where dining would take long, Pixie would just get bored and would start to get like a typical toddler ☺
So street food is much better for us. You get the food in a few minutes, in Vietnam you sit on those teeny tiny chairs which Pixie adores, and you can finish your meal in a few minutes.
When communications were hard, almost always ☺, we just ordered two random dishes for us and when we got them we just showed them what bits we want for Pixie. For example, just the noodles from the soup and the meat from the other dish. They and we pointed to Pixie so they always got that we want something for a kid and gave us always child-friendly options. It seemed difficult at the beginning but actually, it wasn’t.
We managed to eat out, have fun as a family and nobody stayed hungry. It was great!