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Adventurous Foodie Geographer's Diary with 70 million+ reads ๐Ÿ“ง johorkaki@gmail.com

I Ate Ox Eyeballs in Vietnam & it was Eye Popping Awesome ๐Ÿ‘€


My favourite part of a cow has long been the tail ๐Ÿ˜‹ Now, it is my second most favourite part ๐Ÿ˜…

That honour now belongs to ox eyes ๐Ÿ‘️ ๐Ÿคญ

I spent a week in the family home of my Vietnamese friends in Hau Giang, about 4 hours southwest by car from Ho Chi Minh City.

So grateful to my gracious Vietnamese friends for hosting me ๐Ÿ™

One morning, we went to the local butcher to buy ox tail and ox eyes.

Sold by weight, we bought five ๐Ÿคญ The eyes came to about S$1 each.

We got a couple of ox tails from the friendly young butcher too ๐Ÿ˜ 


The ox tails and ox eyes were slow simmered in soup with spice, aromatics and vegetables.

Wood fire is used for hours of slow caressing heat.

French pot au feu style slow cooking tenderises the meat and facilitates a soulful deep exchange of flavours between the meat and soup.

The boiled ox eyes fished out and served on a plate.

We had the ox eyes as an ingredient in steamboat / hotpot.

My first time have this.

Oh my, the ox eye was eye watering delicious ๐Ÿ˜‹

The eye was full of soft spongy jelly-like tissue and soft tender juicy meat.

The soft tissues tasted naturally sweet beefy with additional gentle aromatic sweetness infused from the vegetable and spice soup.

Literally, the bullseye itself (on a spoon). It's the size of a small black marble.

Inside the pupil itself, it was dense like packed powder and firm but not hard. Gives in to our bite easily. Subtly sweet but not much flavour.

The best part was still the soft tissues and flesh from around the pupil.

Eat it again?

Definitely.

I am looking forward to seeing you again soon ๐Ÿ˜‰ 

When will I see you again?


My dear friends, thanks for the eye opening experience.

Read more ๐Ÿ‘‰


Vietnam


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Written by Tony Boey on 26 Jun 2025

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