Traveling to Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Shanghai!

I will be going on quite the trip in about a week to Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

Any recommendations for things to do and more importantly things or places to eat? I used to live in Singapore and Hong Kong when I was a child, but have not been back in 18 years. I am extra excited because I mostly cook SE Asian food and look forward to learning and trying a bunch of new things.

I will only be in HCMC (Saigon) when in Vietnam, and don't really plan on going very far out of the city. Thanks for your suggestions in advance.

what are looking forward to eating in HK.. I can recommend you places to try if you can tell me what you want to eat

I guess you've got to do Dim Sum in HK. Other than that, I'd like to eat mostly local fare (i.e. not looking for French or Italian).

Thanks a lot.

It may sound ridiculous, but my favorite meal I had in Vietnamese as a street Banh Mi. (I'm Vietnamese if that counts for anything)

I would also suggest eating as much street food as you can (if your stomach can handle it).

Couple of my other favorites:
Banh Beo ('cake' with dried shrimp and mung bean)
Bun Bo Hue (spicy beef noodle stew)
Banh Bo Loc (tapioca dumpling with bbq pork and shrimp)
Banh Uot (rice sheets with pork cake/sausage and veggies)

I plan on eating in Vietnam until I explode. Viet cuisine is some of my favorite to eat and cook. Luckily I will be staying with my old roommate who lives in HCMC. I will ask his recommendation on his favorite places to find these dishes. Thanks.

Oh, and banh mi is one the most delicious foods on earth. It's not like you went to Japan and said the best thing you ate was a pokki stick.

mise_en_place said:

Oh, and banh mi is one the most delicious foods on earth. It's not like you went to Japan and said the best thing you ate was a pokki stick.

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hahha it is really great in Vietnam because it is basically "Chipotle" style in that you can ask for whatever ingredients/toppings you want. I would suggest ordering double meat as Vietnam is quite skimpy on the meat.

what's your budget for yum cha cause there's fancy one or cheap ones.

for fancy ones, some are pricy and even jeans are not allowed. but for good cheap eats, go tim ho wan, they have many branches but only go to the Sham shui po branch, the rest isnt as good.

local fare, would you be interested in cha chan tang or wanton noodle/ beef brisket noodles or street food? you know where you are staying so i direct to what's good nearby

mise_en_place said:

I guess you've got to do Dim Sum in HK. Other than that, I'd like to eat mostly local fare (i.e. not looking for French or Italian).

Thanks a lot.

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Ynot, I will be staying in Kowloon.

I'm not interested in super fancy yum cha.

Thank you for your advice so far.

I'm assuming you are staying near Nathan road (mongkok, Jordan yau Ma tai, tsim tsa tsui)?

or are you staying elsewhere

ynot1985 said:

I'm assuming you are staying near Nathan road (mongkok, Jordan yau Ma tai, tsim tsa tsui)?

or are you staying elsewhere

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You are correct.

Don't know if you know much about Shanghaiese food, my wife is from Shanghai.
They specialise in dumplings.
There's a dumpling place at some old touristy building (was a while ago - you should be able to find it) that the wife took me to.
Also ate at some cheapo dumpling places, very nice, very cheap.
Not sure if this constitutes any meaningful advice
Have fun.

Look for Yuyuan Gardens, there'a a dumpling place in there somewhere.

I've spent lots of time around Nathan Rd, but can't really give any recs. One of the last times I was there I just asked in the hotel for a dim sum place 'that you would love to go to' and it worked out very well.

Thanks again to everybody for the recommendations. I returned from my trip and had a ton of great food.

-Mike: I ate everything you listed and a whole hell of a lot more. Vietnam had the best food out of anywhere I went.

-Ynot: I really enjoyed the Tim Ho Wan Sham Shui Po branch. While Hong Kong was my least favorite of the places I visited, the food was still great.

If anyone is traveling to these places please feel free to PM me questions and I can give recommendations as well.

mise_en_place said:

Thanks again to everybody for the recommendations. I returned from my trip and had a ton of great food.

-Mike: I ate everything you listed and a whole hell of a lot more. Vietnam had the best food out of anywhere I went.

-Ynot: I really enjoyed the Tim Ho Wan Sham Shui Po branch. While Hong Kong was my least favorite of the places I visited, the food was still great.

If anyone is traveling to these places please feel free to PM me questions and I can give recommendations as well.

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Sounds like you had a great trip! I'm quite jealous and definitely need to plan another trip out to Vietnam.

... Ah, so what were your impressions of Shanghai? HK is great to visit, but food-wise better usually in Sing and Viet for sure. Never been to Shanghai