Mr Dat’s Duck Tacos, A Fusion Street Food Find

The strangest circumstances can lead you to great new food finds.

Last week, the owner of Saigon Tacos emailed us to recommend a street food joint for our tours, a place serving duck tacos.

Darling Man dismissed the concept of duck tacos as “not Vietnamese” but I was intrigued. Robert from Saigon Tacos described the tacos as “fusion street food”.

I had to check it out.

So I led a delegation of street food friends to Mr Dat’s duck taco stand, on the edge of Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Thanh District.

At first we weren’t sure if we were in the right place because a giant neon sign advertised burritos. And a smaller hand-written sign indicated street coffee and fast food was on offer.

Then we read the fine print. Tacos were served between 5pm and 9pm.

We settled into baby-sized wooden chairs on the footpath and ordered a taco each. Mine without chilli because I was sharing with Miss M.

Our orders arrived, beautifully presented with a folded paper napkin on the plate. Tender duck with a sweet tangy sauce combined with crunchy cucumber, soft chewy tortilla, refried beans with a bit of a chilli kick and a sprig of Vietnamese balm.

The verdict: DELICIOUS!

The portions were small but for VND30,000 (US$1.42) for one and VND50,000 (US$2.40) for two, no one was complaining. We could have downed a lot more but we’d told ourselves this first stop on our evening food discovery mission was just entree.

Mr Dat serves his duck tacos from 5pm to 9pm on weekdays from a tiny shop at 34 Nguyen Huu Canh in Binh Thanh District. It’s a few doors down from Moto Hien on the right-hand side near the beginning of the Thu Thiem Bridge.

Keep your eyes peeled for these signs.

Apparently the other side of this sign, the side facing the street, says “Taocs Vit” … but none of us saw the sign until we were sitting right next to it!

Drop me a line if you make it there. It is well worth the effort. And you might even see us there, we’ll definitely be back.

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By: Barbara

A career girl who dropped out, traveled, found love, and never got around to going home again. Now wrangling a cross-cultural relationship and two third culture kids.