Buddy Marcus was raving about this Vietnamese noodle shop. Marcus is an independent foodie, meaning he prefers to seek out his own favourites rather than rely on guidebooks or influencers. He travels widely from America, to Europe and Asia, and has been in Vietnam many times in the last decade.
Hủ tíu mì (rice noodle) shops are common in Ho Chi Minh City but this Hủ Tíu Mì Cật is Marcus' favourite.
Action at the front of the shop was frenetic yet quietly calm and efficient from decades of serving hủ tíu mì at a fast pace.
Inside Hủ Tíu Mì Cật was a typical popular noodle shop in Vietnam. Decor was not a priority, only tasty food matters.
The interior was bright, tables were low like in kindergartens, and stools were even lower. Everyone was seated like semi-squatting but slurping, enjoying their noodles.
It was full house but our orders were delivered quickly. Almost everyone inside was Vietnamese, it seemed (even though Hủ Tíu Mì Cật is in District 1, the heart of old Saigon, within the tourist belt).
Two of us, we got the dry basic bowls.
There were two thin slices of this blanched pork cut like the charsiu in ramen. They relied only on the natural sweetness of fresh pork for flavour. Tender, slightly chewy and moist.
There was also blanched minced pork (like in Singapore's bak chor mee or minced pork noodle).
Thin slices of pork kidney curled up from blanching in pork soup. Tender, soft crunchy to the bite, subtle natural fresh pork taste.
These egg noodles had a surprising light airy spring to the bite. They tasted spicy, tangy, savoury, lardy, delicious and can be further tuned to our individual preference with chili pepper and condiments e.g. soy sauce, fish sauce, provided at the table.
I dumped all the chili and fish sauce into my bowl of noodles.
Don't be fooled by these "demure" gentle looking chili pepper. If you are not careful they can make you swear you have accidentally burnt a hole in your stomach 🥵 Use but with much caution, you have been warned. (I am speaking from personal experience.)
The accompanying soup which often felt like an afterthought in other noodle places, was so tasty at Hủ Tíu Mì Cật. (I mean it doesn't taste like MSG and hot water "soup".)
At Hủ Tíu Mì Cật, it had real pork meat and bone taste as well as the essence from kilograms of pork and kidney slices that went through it throughout the business day.
Forgot to add a few of these lard croutons which would have made the great noodles even better (for lard lovers).
Don't be like Tony.
Another customer's bowl - same basic blanched pork slices, minced pork and pork kidney but with glass noodle in soup. This should be good too because Hủ Tíu Mì Cật's soup is great.
Another version with pork socket bone soup and "dry noodle".
We were here on 2 Mar 2024, Saturday.
A solid bowl of delicious noodles. Everything in the bowl was fresh, good quality and was tasty. If I live near Hủ Tíu Mì Cật, I will consider myself very lucky and will eat this often.
Great recommendation from Marcus 🙏 Noodles in Vietnam doesn't only mean pho 😁
Stall name: Hủ Tíu Mì Cật (signboard says Hủ Tiếu Mì Thập Cẩm)
Address: 62 Trương Định, Phường Bến Thành, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam
Hours: 6am - 12 noon
Written by Tony Boey on 3 Mar 2024
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