Western tourists try sticky rice dish priced at nearly 1 million VND in HCMC, praise it as 'indescribably delicious'

When tasting, the Western guest commented that the sticky rice had a crispy crust, and tasted like fried rice. The sticky rice and meat inside were chewy, rich, and had a combination of flavors from many unique ingredients.

Sonny Side (from the US) is a famous content creator, currently owning a YouTube channel with more than 11.2 million followers. He is passionate about exploring culture and cuisine around the world , including Vietnam.

In Ho Chi Minh City, Sonny enjoyed many local specialties and was not afraid to try dishes from the popular to the high-end. He even boldly tried unique dishes that made Western guests "cry out" in Vietnam.

Sonny Side tries crab sticky rice for nearly 1 million VND in HCMC

Most recently, Sonny visited a restaurant on Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City to experience a unique sticky rice dish priced at 990,000 VND. The sticky rice dish is made from Ca Mau crab meat, skillfully prepared from ingredients to appearance.

The large, healthy crabs are cleaned, steamed, and the meat is separated from the body, legs, and claws. The claw meat must be handled carefully, ensuring that it retains its original shape and is set aside.

The entire crab meat will be stir-fried with Chinese sausage, shiitake mushrooms, dried onions, etc., then mixed with shredded pork and sticky rice to make the filling.

The sticky rice dish has an attractive filling, full of crab meat, making Western guests exclaim with delight.

For the shell, the cooked sticky rice will be pressed evenly around a stainless steel bowl, with moderate thickness, then deep-fried. When the shell is puffed, crispy and separates from the mold, it is done.

Finally, the chef puts the sticky rice and meat mixture into the crispy crust, being careful not to break the crust. Then, the chef turns it upside down to expose the plump crust, and decorates it with crab shells and crab meat around it for a beautiful look.

When the finished crab sticky rice was served, Sonny praised its attractive appearance, looking like a "huge" sized crab.

He immediately tasted the first piece of crab meat and was surprised by the fresh, delicious flavor.

“Normally when you eat crab legs, you will feel the natural sweetness. But here, that sweetness is lost and replaced by a different, unique flavor,” he said.

American YouTuber enjoys crab sticky rice, praises it as indescribably delicious

The American YouTuber continued to enjoy and give comments. He rated the crab sticky rice as very delicious. The filling was fragrant and chewy, in addition to the sweetness of the sausage, it also had the distinctive flavor of crab meat.

“The crust is crispy and tastes like fried rice. The crab sticky rice is really delicious, hard to describe. I don’t know what else to say. I absolutely love this dish,” the Western guest shared his feelings.

Sharing with VietNamNet reporter, Mr. Luong Thanh Hoang - the owner of the restaurant that Sonny visited said that crab sticky rice is one of the most popular dishes.

Close-up of the "popular" crab sticky rice dish in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: The Frog

To make delicious sticky rice, restaurants must carefully select input ingredients.

In particular, the crab used is the meat crab from Nam Can area (Ca Mau), weighing from 600 grams or more, big and strong. This area is considered to have good quality crabs, with firm meat and a naturally sweet and aromatic taste.

Sticky rice dish is made from big, strong, firm crabs from Nam Can, Ca Mau region.

The rice selected is also golden sticky rice to ensure softness and characteristic aroma throughout the processing.

“Each portion of sticky rice is made from the entire meat of a crab. The shell and claws are kept separately, both to decorate the dish and to make it more appealing, and for diners to enjoy,” Mr. Hoang shared.

According to the restaurant owner, the reason why the sticky rice here is quite expensive is because the price of Ca Mau crab is high. At peak times, the price of live crab can reach up to 550,000 - 600,000 VND/kg, not including the cost of premises, labor and processing spices...

“This dish also requires a sophisticated preparation process, taking a lot of time and effort, especially when steaming the crab, removing the shell, separating the meat, ensuring to preserve the deliciousness, sweetness, and natural aroma of the crab meat,” Mr. Hoang added.

Crab sticky rice is elaborately prepared, creating a unique and attractive flavor.

Total time to prepare crab sticky rice is about 40 minutes. The dish is served with a special thick dipping sauce and sweet and sour pickled onions.

The restaurant owner said that in addition to the price of 990,000 VND, the restaurant also serves crab sticky rice dishes with lower prices of 660,000, 770,000 and 880,000 VND/serving.

The more meals (the amount of sticky rice and crab increases), the higher the price, meeting the diverse enjoyment needs of diners.

Photo: Best Ever Food Review Show

Not only does it have a delicious and unique flavor, wild spinach is also considered a nutritious specialty in the North. After eating it, diners praise it as being as sweet as bone broth.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/khach-tay-thu-mon-xoi-gia-gan-1-trieu-dong-o-tphcm-khen-ngon-kho-dien-ta-2377907.html