Sinh to, sugarcane and the rest of what Vietnam drinks cold
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Vietnam's drinking gets written about at two ends. There is coffee, which the country exports and argues about, and there is bia hoi, which arrives at four in the afternoon on a plastic stool. Between them sits everything cold, sweet and non-alcoholic. That is most of what people order in the heat.
Sinh to is the centre of it, and a glass costs less than a bus ticket across town.
What should you order first?
Sinh to bo — the avocado smoothie — if it is on the board, and nuoc mia from a pavement press if it is not. Both are unmistakably Vietnamese and neither costs more than a coffee.
| Drink | What it is | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Sinh to | Fruit blended with ice and condensed milk | 20,000-45,000 dong |
| Nuoc mia | Sugarcane pressed to order, over ice | 10,000-15,000 |
| Nuoc dua | Coconut water, drunk from the nut | 15,000-25,000 |
| Soda chanh | Lime, soda and a great deal of ice | 20,000-30,000 |
| Nuoc ep | Cold-pressed juice, usually orange or watermelon | 25,000-40,000 |
What makes a sinh to different from a smoothie?
The condensed milk, and the ice. A sinh to is fruit blended with crushed ice, sugar syrup and usually a spoonful of sweetened condensed milk. That last spoonful turns it into something between a milkshake and a dessert.
The common flavours are avocado, mango, soursop, jackfruit, durian for the brave and sapodilla for the curious. Which ones a stall has depends entirely on the month, and the fruit guide has the calendar that decides it.
Order it khong duong for no added sugar. Nobody minds, and with ripe mango in June it is better that way.
Why is sugarcane juice everywhere?
Because the machine is cheap and the cane is local. A nuoc mia stall is a mangle on a trolley, a stack of peeled cane, a bag of ice and a kumquat squeezed in at the end. It produces the cheapest cold drink in the country at 10,000 to 15,000 dong a glass.
Sugarcane juice tastes grassy and faintly sour rather than sugary, which surprises people expecting syrup. Drink it where the cane goes through the mangle in front of you, and skip the stall pouring from a jug that has stood all afternoon.
What about coconut and the rest?
A coconut costs 15,000 to 25,000 dong and arrives with the top hacked off. It is the standard answer to a hot afternoon anywhere near the coast, and asking the seller to split it at the end turns the flesh into the second half of the drink.
Soda chanh is the other city staple: lime, soda water and ice, sharp and unsweet. Order it when one more sweet drink is too much. Che sits at the far end of the same shelf and is really a dessert, which the dessert guide treats properly.
In Hoi An, the Mot stall's herbal cup has turned into a queue and an institution: a spiced infusion over ice, a lotus petal on top and a lemongrass straw. Join it once. It is a tea rather than a juice, which the tea guide puts in context.
Is the ice a problem?
The ice carries the same small risk as everywhere else in the country. Stalls and cafes serve commercial tube ice, machine-made at licensed plants. The food safety guide treats that as a small risk rather than none, and hand-chipped block ice as the one to avoid.
The fruit matters more. A stall that cuts and blends in front of you beats one working from a tub of pre-cut fruit that has stood since morning. The fruit guide applies the same rule to a bag of cut mango.
When are the stalls open?
From late morning until late at night, which makes them the mirror image of the breakfast stalls. Sugarcane presses run through the hot part of the afternoon, and the smoothie shops fill after dinner.
The opening hours are worth knowing for a day's planning. The cheap eating guide sets these prices inside a full day of food, and the short version is that two cold drinks a day barely move a budget.
FAQ
What is sinh to?
A Vietnamese fruit smoothie: fruit blended with ice, sugar and usually a spoon of condensed milk, served in a tall glass with a spoon and a straw. Avocado, mango, soursop and jackfruit are the common ones, and the condensed milk is what makes it Vietnamese rather than a fruit shake.
What does a smoothie cost in Vietnam?
Roughly 20,000 to 45,000 dong depending on the fruit and the neighbourhood, which is under two US dollars at about 26,000 dong to the dollar. A glass of sugarcane juice is cheaper still, usually 10,000 to 15,000 from a pavement press.
What is nuoc mia?
Sugarcane juice, pressed to order through a mangle with a kumquat or a slice of lime dropped in, and served over ice. It is the cheapest cold drink in the country, it tastes green and grassy rather than sickly, and the machine on the pavement is the whole advertisement.
Is avocado really a smoothie flavour here?
It is the classic one. Sinh to bo is avocado, condensed milk and ice, thick enough to eat with a spoon, and the avocados come from Da Lat and the highlands. Anyone expecting savoury avocado should treat it as a dessert instead.
Is the ice in a Vietnamese smoothie safe?
As safe as the ice, which is usually commercial tube ice made at licensed plants and is a small risk rather than none. The fruit is the other half of the question: a stall blending fruit it cuts in front of you is a better bet than one working from a tub cut hours ago.
What else is worth ordering cold?
Coconut water drunk from the nut, soda chanh which is lime soda with a lot of ice, and che, which is closer to a dessert in a glass. In Hoi An the herbal cup sold by the Mot stall has become an institution and a queue in its own right.
When do the juice stalls open?
Late morning to late evening, which makes them the opposite of the breakfast stalls. Sugarcane presses run all afternoon in the heat, and the smoothie shops are busiest after dinner, when a glass of something cold is the whole reason to be out.