I’ve written a lot about my love for banh mi and indeed num pang, two variations of the French baguette/sandwich! Basically its tip-top fusion cuisine.
Xoi Man though is a further variation on this dish, except that they use sticky rice!!! Sounds weird right? OK keep with me on this one…
Banh mi and xoi man is everywhere
OK, so in Saigon anyway you will see banh mi on almost every street corner, it is after all the main street food of Vietnam (perhaps along with pho), but you will also see xoi man.
What initially drew me to the dish was that it seemed to have almost exactly the same ingredients as a good old banh mi, well almost….
What is xoi man?
So they get a foam container and then the lovely puts one sticky rice in the she then spreads into a base for the xoi man…..
Next, and much like with banh mi they spread on the liver paste! After that spring onions and array of chopped up sausages were thrown in for good measure as well as a quail egg and that nasty pork floss you often see on brad in Asia (what even is it).
How do you eat it?
This is not a chop stick dish and thankful you are handed a spoon, from where you mix it all up and then eat up a storm!
How does xoi man taste?
Well I am not a huge fan of rice, pork floss, or cheap sausages! But, actually overall it mixes quite well and whilst it is an absolute starch sensation! I will add that this is not the kind of food I would eat everyday, but as breakfasts go it made a decent change from other Vietnamese fare.
Xoi Man? An overall Street Food Guy thumbs up!