I recently discovered a little stall that sells hot dogs and they are about as good as hot dogs are going to get in this town. It is just a small stall outside of a minimart with a few chairs and that's all. I support them as much as I can because I like when people try to do something that isn't just the same crap as everyone else repackaged.
I told the guy this time that I wanted only mustard and man did I ever get some mustard. There is one thing that it seems that Vietnamese people as well as any other nation over on this side of the world seem to really enjoy and that is overuse of condiments. No worries though because I really like mustard. I did struggle to keep my hands not yellow though. The guy doesn't speak English well enough to understand me wanting sauce just inside the bun and if he did do that, it would probably still be swimming in the stuff. It's ok though and I am not going to complain since this dog was $1.
I don't know how he is sourcing his sausages because that is what makes this really special. Bread is very common in this part of the world due to the popularity of sandwiches called Ban Mi that are available everywhere but mostly that bread is quite crisp. I think this guy must use those same rolls but steam them or something because they are soft and spongy like a westerner expects hot dog buns to be, and this is a good thing.
I did notice next door that there was a place that advertised "handmade souveniers" and popped in to have a look.
When I saw the mug I thought to myself that I am going to have to call BS on this. That mug looks just like every other mug I have seen for sale in any supermarket, it was just a bit more expensive. I didn't pick it up but honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if IKEA had been scratched off the bottom of it.
I also don't believe for a second that this was handmade. How? IT's too perfect and uniform. This has the look for something that is mass-produced in some sort of Chinese cement factory.
This was the only thing in the shop that I noticed that I would say is definitely hand-made but it also has the look of something that was made by a child. Something that someone would put on their fridge to make their kid feel like they had done something special for a while.
Beware of handicrafts in Vietnam, there are a lot of lies in advertisements here and zero laws preventing people from doing that. But I suppose if you are the kind of person that would buy this sort of crap while traveling go ahead and go for it. Just don't be surprised when you are in someone else's house one day and they also have your one-of-a-kind handicraft that you though was special!
But do go get the hot dogs at HKT if you are around and want a hot dog. I would really like it if they could manage to stay in business.
