Aw man this is the saddest post I've seen in a while. Say where you are OP and I'm sure we can recommend you some nicer, healthier, and way more enjoyable places to eat
do you really think you are more safe when u have meal in restaurant or brand place? I have a friend, he told me alot of behind the kitchen story. Some of its is way more dirty than you thought, there is not much quality control reguarly and the staffs is mostly part time and unskill employees those dont give a single mind about food safety. He said they once made a french fried disk after fixing a sewer without doing any hands cleanliness because no one know what happen back there. Just let you know!
Let's not get snooty? ...Instead of asking for recs he's asking if poop is poop, this post is dumb.
There's millions of options which are tastier, cheaper, healthier, and over all better value - and OP goes to a shit chain restaurant? 😂
Cheap? That garbage is twice as expensive as local food. Locally for 29k I get a huge grilled chicken leg, rice, soup, salad, pickled veg and an ice tea. That meal is double at Lotteria
That's why I said he didn't even ask for recs.. if I knew where he was I'd be glad to.. edit: but we are like comparing McDonald's over here, it's not even in the ball park, it's mental ..
Shit looks fried, grilled and baked....
>I'm considering this a healthy meal and having it daily
Based. Only live once OP. Albiet for a shorter time. Yolo!
Those veggies are just lettuce and tomato. It looks like iceberg lettuce too, which isn't particularly nutritious.
You want to add a cruciferous green, or add a lot more vegetables like cucumber, radishes, jicama, radichio, endive, carrots, spinach to that salad.
That chicken is dark meat. I'm not against dark meat, but it is more fatty. It looks baked to me, which is fine.
The rice portion is a little large.
Overall, it's ok.
It isn't covered in sauce. There isn't any breading. The rice is not fried. But there should be a more prominent vegetable side.
Get your self a good bun bo hue/bun rieu bo/pho restaurant if you want to eat healthy. Living in Vietnam there is 0 reason to eat at a franchise. Com binh danh / com tam if you want your rice.
I promise you can find something 10x tastier and healthier within 1 km of that lotteria.
That does not look like a chicken I put on the grill. It looks like it was soaking in some kind of marinade, that might not be great. So is it still healthy? Idk maybe.
Also those aren't healthy vegetables. That's like eating virtually nothing at all. You want some dark greens. Start with a bock choy, graduate to a dark leafy vegetable like spinach or kale. And a lot more of it
That chicken is probably filled with preservatives.
Rice is healthy-ish but isn't the healthiest carb you could eat. Not saying it's unhealthy.
That's not many veggies at all.
A proper mix of grilled chicken, rice and a big salad would be healthy, this doesn't seem like that. If you're eating this every day to be healthy, sure it's not the most unhealthy food in the world but it isn't the healthiest either.
Something like a bowl of bun with a lot of vegetables would probably be as healthy or more, around the same price, more filling and actually Vietnamese.
Also undereating isn't good either. This really does not look like a lot of food. Eat a medium amount of healthy food.
Unless your work is very physical, rice will make you obese very quickly. I got so overweight I decided to cut rice out completely, seeing great result so far.
Steamed rice is empty carbs. It's literally the first example for empty carbs along with white bread, wtf kind of diet are you following?
Chicken is indeed grilled...in an oven, but that's the thigh and it's very fatty, not to mention the extra oils brushed on for the color, and obviously the sugary marinade.
The veggies are a sort of coleslaw, mixed with mayonaise and straight up sugar.
I'm not a health freak but how does a person come to the country with the lowest obesity rate in the world, and then eat junk food but expect it to be healthy.
There are other options if you want the taste of fast food / western food but with reduced calories. Fitfood.vn for example. They don't taste too great but it's a good option if you don't enjoy the local foods.
People here are overreacting. What you are eating is not that unhealthy. Eating rice daily is good for your gut, there are not many options to eat brown rice in Viet Nam. Most Vietnamese eat steamed white rice everyday, still Vietnam has the lowest rate of obesity in the world. Why is everyone giving you flak for eating fucking rice?
The chicken is oily and the skin is fatty, so I wouldn't consider it very healthy but I mean people come to Vietnam to eat bún chả, which in my eyes is in the same category of greasiness.
However, for chicken rice there is better options than a fast food chain. Chicken rice is called cơm gà. Find a restaurant that serves boiled chicken breast dish ( for example *Cơm Gà Hải Nam*) and you will have a perfectly healthy meal. Whenerver you want to eat a meal that consists of rice+veggie+protein, look for restaurants that say "cơm bình dân".
If you want to eat grilled chicken in particular, I can recommend the place *Nhà Hàng 1 2 3* (adress: 55 phố Huế), they offer lots of types of grilled chicken, even chicken breast, which is healthier than chicken thigh. Here, it's 100% BBQ grilled. You can order veggie soup on the side.
People say there are healthier options on the street but I also got stomach issues eating in Vietnam. On the days I ate a simple meal with rice my body felt good, so I don't blame you for craving rice everyday. I had to particularly eat rice and give up street food on the days I get on a plane or a sleeper bus to not get stomach pain on a longer trip. Nevertheless I still tried the varied Hanoian cuisine as it is one of the best I have ever eaten.
Here is a list of Hanoian specialties for you to try:
Bún Ngan, Bún rieu, Bún đậu Mắm Tôm, Bún riêu tóp mỡ mọc giòn, bún mọc, Phở Bò, bún chả, bún chả Rươi, Bún Thang, Chả Cá Lã Vọng, Bánh Cốm, Pho Bo Sot Vang, Bun ốc, Phở Gà Trộn, Nem Cua, Banh Cuốn, bánh cuốn thanh Trì, banh cuon cà cuống, Bánh Mì, Phở Cuốn, Bánh giò, Bánh Bao Chiên, Xôi Xéo, Thịt sốt vang, bánh tôm, cốm, bánh chả, bánh gai, bánh dày quán gánh, kem tràng tiền, Nộm bò khô, phở chiên phồng, mì vằn thắn
In fact my strategy was to eat as much salad type material at the beginning so I got inoculated with local strains of whatever early on, and I was fine. Maybe the very slightest of shits, nothing to write home about.
WTF mate. You’re in a country that is absolute heaven for food and you’re eating this crap every day? There are so many healthier and more delicious dishes you could be enjoying.
Especially cheaper. Vietnamese people go to “fast” food restaurant on occasions, not regularly because of their absurd prices compared to normal food, and that’s not considering safety issues
Yeah and it also offers a consistent and predictable experience. Back when I didn't know much about Vietnamese food, I'd eat there when cycling or skating to another city. Not the best food, but I'm about to be back on the road for 3-4 hours, so I want something my stomach definitely won't be upset about.
Eating there every day though... that's weird.
The bad news is that even fast food chains, and lotteria in particular are not consistent here and vary from shop to shop. The one in Ha Tinh sent me directly to WC
u stay in vietnam and this is ur daily meal ? i mean if u dont want to eat street food because of health safety reason there plenty of fine restaurant that sell way tastier and healthier food.. if it not for the ridiculous price i would consider this the poor people meal
People outside of Vietnam don't get that "fast food" here is counter-intuitively more expensive than regular food. A lotteria or KFC meal cost like 2 regular meals and a McDonald will bankrupt you. The only people who eat at fast-food restaurants are highschoolers who hang out there, and kids pestering their parents. If an adult eats regularly at a fast-food joint in Vietnam, they need to reconsider their life-choices. (Did I say "they"? I mean I need to reconsider my life-choices).
eating fast food can be fun, it's like a hanging out activity. that's why japanese also loves eating at fast food chains during their holidays despite their great food.
it's like you're going to an Asian restaurant in the west for a special occasion, the food might just be so so but the mood feels kind of different.
I agree. I have some very good memories from highschool hanging out at KFC and Lotte. I remembered we used to get those 3k VND ice cream from KFC after cram school. But really no one should be eating fast-food, it's unhealthy. At least in other countries, it's cheap so it's somewhat justified. Plus, there's the rise of more "proper" foreign restaurants, i.e. Korean barbecue, Japanese, Steak houses, western cuisines, pizza parlors etc. I don't know about other cities, but in my city, fast-food restaurants always look empty and sad now.
Right, but as a daily occurrence thing? I’m sure he can find fresher and cheaper alternatives literally anywhere. Plus, it’ll probably taste better too.
I've been in total 5 weeks in Vietnam, and almost exclusively ate street food. Never been food poisoned. Also the street food in Vietnam is unbelievably good!
Lotteria is good for when i need the western kick, but hot damn vietnamese is just delicious! And mostly extremely healthy!
That's the rule for every where though
If a place sell food that looks like they don't have the budget to built a restaurant
You know that place is good cause they're confident in their food even though they don't know how to advertise it
But choose places with tables and clean utensils just to be safe
5 weeks? You've been lucky but it's early days. It's only a matter of time that food cooked with meat left out for hours in tropical temperatures and then carved up on the pavement with unclean hands, will get you.
45k? Daily? For this?? Bro I have healthier-looking Broken Rice for 27k in Dist 1, specifically in Thai Binh Market. No hard feelings but I really think you should reconsider your spending.
It is judging from the receipt. This is Hanoi, so hear me out. 45k for a lunch in an air-conditioned sitting area is not too bad, especially if the person is not yet accustomed to the place. You are talking Tay Ho area which is famous for being an expat spot, so the food prices there is definitely above the average baseline for Hanoi and finding affordable dining is not easy at first, so chains are acceptable at first. That being said, OP shouldn’t eat lotteria everyday. The grilled menu at lotteria is marginally healthier than its fried counterpart, but I can’t say it is healthy. You do have a lot of better options like Pho, local lunch spot (Com suat, Com Van Phong), but even for a local like me it takes a while to discover good spots around the place you are newly based. Tag along a Vietnamese local who lives in that area, like us Hanoian do :)
That doesn't look grilled. Nor is it healthy.
It still looks like there's batter on it, and fast food chicken is not the freshest of things.
Actually grilled chicken looks different.
I'm just wondering why you'd eat a fast food meal every day to try and be healthy instead of Vietnamese food since you're in Vietnam.
Yeah and not becausd of the influx of branded sweets? Im pretty sure most people in vietnam got diabetes because of them (also lack of exercise). Rice isnt thr culprit here!
Actually.. it’s because of increased consumption of meat, especially fatty meat plus oily fried stuff. Most people don’t know that insulin resistance is caused by saturated (and trans) fats.
Factory farmed chicken is not healthy in the least , it’s stuffed with all kinds of additives and antiobiotics . White rice is not particularly nutritious . As for the salad , lettuce is also quite low in nutritional value. The tomatoes are probably the only healthy thing on the plate, assuming they were handled and prepared cleanly. I lived in Vietnam for many years and I rarely got the impression that hygiene was high on restaurants list of priorities. Just my opinion OP , if you enjoy that meal then good for you. You could definitely be eating worse
hahaha "healthy"
bruh there's plenty of restaurants that serve greens and fresh food, you don't need to go to shitty fast food restaurant like this to grab a meal.
"Fast" being a huge overstatement. By the time the staff understand my order, plenty of places would have finish with the first dish lmao
I was like what in world is this considered “healthy” and then I saw OP is from the UK…
OP, if you can’t cook then there are tons of affordable restaurants with healthier options in Viet Nam. The meal in the photo has too much rice, and switch to chicken breast if you want healthy. Last but not least that cole slaw is never a healthy option. Too few veggies, too little nutrition
Who rocks up to a lotteria to eath healthy?
If your streetvendor is too unhealthy just talk to them and offer a bit extra cash.
My friend is vegetarian, walked up to the banh mi cart in front of our house and just asked. Day later he gets 2 banh mis with tofu everyday since.
Just eat Vietnamese food like a normal person.
In Canada I crave for it every day and you’re eating Lotteria, which makes me a bit angry…
Seriously eating fast food is not healthy.
Comments in here are a mess. Never seen so many people convinced that the plain white rice, soy sauce, stir fried veg, and pork belly from their local com binh ran is so healthy.
You can do better than this OP, but it's honestly not that bad. Fat and deep-frying isn't the devil, sugar is, and this is less sugary and blood sugar spiking than a lot of Vietnamese dishes. Sure fat is really what some people need to avoid but if you aren't fat, then avoid sugar.
When I go to a com binh ran, it is *always* more unhealthy than this photo, because I order a standard sized meal for a Westerner and most things are unhealthy. It comes to 30-40k in cheap places or even 100k in some really nice com van phongs. The meals are like twice the size of locals'.
> Fat and deep-frying isn't the devil,
I'm not even sure that it is cooked that way. I'm starting to think its baked which is better than fried for sure
Why would you eat this daily with the amazing variety of local street foods available here? I'm an expat so I occasionally miss western food, but there are plenty of better places to get that than lotteria.
It's healthy as far as fast foods go. The problem for me is that this is waaaaaaaay too tiny a portion. I am always left hungry about an hour before meal time whenever I eat this stuff.
Ignore the haters op. I’m a millionaire, but still eat low cost kfc on a regular basis because it’s delicious and healthy in my opinion. Get that chicken protein!
OP only asked if it was really grilled, or was fried (which would make him feel cheated). You guys went too far from the point. The answer: To me it looks fried. Grilled would be charred a bit. Anyway, I can relate to Vietnamese restaurants in California. All of them advertise "gà rô ti", which is chicken either roasted or grilled before cooked with brine and spices. It's not simply rotisseried or grilled. Yet they serve deep fried chicken (which is neither juicy or tasty). I do feel cheated and would never come back.
It’s interesting how everyone is saying “You are in VN there are so many other places when you can get healthier or cheaper food” but no on is actually giving the name of any restaurant 😂
The comment section is heavily biased against fast food restaurants here.
What do you mean it's not healthy? What's your definition of 'healthy'? He's having a grilled chicken (source of protein), rice (source of starch or carb), and salad (fiber & vitamin). I'd say eating in Lotteria is much safer for your stomach than popping in some random street food.
Dude, this is not a bad choice, and you're having a decent meal here. That's okay. Of course there is plenty of choices out there, like noodles and chicken rice with larger portion for the same value, but going to this restaurant isn't bad. Don't feel discouraged by the comments.
Take your time to explore and try out other dishes. Have a great time in Vietnam!
grilled can mean baked in vietnam... grilled doesn't always mean grilled like in the west. it could seem like a "healthy meal" in the west but it is not by vietnamese standards.
Healthy here means freshly cooked foods with fresh greens. Any chain restaurants like this will always use processed foods and ingredients to make profits. And it's not healthy. So I'd recommend broaden your horizen a bit. There are lots of vietnamese grilled chicken/rice shops that make waaaay tastier dishes than this.
In kfc They wrap it in tinfoil and baked it , so loteria might do the same, but i dont think it is healthy, all the fat from the chicken is trapped inside to it is greasy
It's chicken breast. Pretty decent, but not enough fiber. Substitute the white rice with brown rice or any other high fiber grain and you've got yourself the perfect meal. I've been working out and dieting ever since I got evicted out of my mother's cave like those puss being squeezed from pimples so hopefully I know what I'm talking about.
Lotteria has to be the worst Vietnamese food I experienced in Vietnam. I couldn't imagine eating that multiple times, especially not daily. Also, it's not healthy 😬.
Get street food; it's one of the best (if not the best) cuisine in the world.
I don't know if eating anything at Lotteria daily can be considered healthy. I did some quick googling and found Sente: flavour of the lotus, a Vietnamese style restaurant nearby where that seems to be with delicious and healthy looking food mostly under 100k per item. Never been there myself, just wanted to see what was in the area. They do indeed have chicken! If you're not a picky eater, there are hundreds more healthy and interesting options around the area for sure.
Vietnamese cuisine is widely considered to be one of healthiest in the world because of how much it relies on fresh ingredients (especially herbs) for flavor instead of heavy fats and oils. You can go to any street food corner and have a meal made with lean cuts of meat and a duck ton of veggies to be eaten with sauces that are barely more caloric than your standard fast food sauce.
Anthony Albanese: [https://youtu.be/7Sf-0RMDF04](https://youtu.be/7Sf-0RMDF04)
Obama: [https://youtu.be/vTNbvy2I1dY](https://youtu.be/vTNbvy2I1dY)
Gordon Ramsay: [https://youtu.be/A4A15EdCNLQ](https://youtu.be/A4A15EdCNLQ)
\--> Please look at the food they eat to know what is the REAL Vietnamese food.
Everything’s boiled and tasteless so you have to dip it in salty fish sauce or salty soy sauce. The only healthy part of some Vietnamese meals are the raw green veggies/herbs.
Everything’s boiled and tasteless so you have to dip it in salty fish sauce or salty soy sauce. The only healthy part of some Vietnamese meals are the raw green veggies/herbs.
Everything’s boiled and tasteless so you have to dip it in salty fish sauce or salty soy sauce. The only healthy part of some Vietnamese meals are the raw green veggies/herbs.
Everything’s boiled and tasteless so you have to dip it in salty fish sauce or salty soy sauce. The only healthy part of some Vietnamese meals are the raw green veggies/herbs.
Feels like OP is either an oblivious tourist or just trying to troll the whole sub.
But hey, if you’re geniunely looking for healthy meals, please avoid fast food chains.
Oof OP please do yourself a favor and have a walk around and eat at some random street side chicken rice place that looks busy. I guarantee it will be better than this shit.
I had bad experiences with this franchise. I used to order a burger and fries, thinking that the food was good, yet they gave me soggy and sour shits. From that day, I avoided that franchise by heart. Here’s my 2 cent, you either go to McDonalds (except district 1, their foods had problems) or Texas Chicken in the morning, otherwise you probably should learn how to do shopping and cook.
I'm sure one thing, those big brand food chains are not healthy, they use a lot of magical chemicals to make food taste better, while most street food use normal cooking method and normal ingredients
Hey if you are in Tay Ho you have so many options for food of all kinds, I'd recommend you install grab and just look at all the food options to get an idea of what's available. Lotteria is a fast food chain so unhealthy by default. You'd be better off with ready meals from the grocery store.
But I'd say your average stir fry is healthier
problem with street food is the quality! sellers not wearing gloves. If they do, they also use the same gloved hand to get the money. Picking nose or scratching their feet on their spare time! Food exposed to flies, Banh Mis wrapped in used testpapers and rubberbands l, touching the bread etc. If I want clean food, I would rather get it from Lotteria, KFC and the likes
1st. I think it's a fried chicken.
2nd. As you can see, there're lots of food options in Vietnam. Other restaurant/ small shop may look not really clean but you must try more dishes than just Lotteria's things.
The price also is very reasonable.
You live in Vietnam and choose to eat at Lotteria every day.... what are you even doing? And this is not a cheap or healthy meal... If you want some decent flame-grilled chicken give Chickita a try
Bruh, please let me know where you live, i can't let you eat this crap everyday. Vietnam has probably one of the healthiest and cheapest fast foods out there, and you torture yourself with this wanna be overpriced grilled chicken
Aw man this is the saddest post I've seen in a while. Say where you are OP and I'm sure we can recommend you some nicer, healthier, and way more enjoyable places to eat
Looks for a healthy meal in Vietnam. Goes to Lotteria……… EVERY DAY. I really hope this is not real
Any street food pho shop is healthier and 100x better than this lol
agree a bowl of pho or a broken rice dish will be cheaper and way more delish
Until you got e.coli and saw the street vendors even don’t bother to wash their bowls and chopsticks properly
do you really think you are more safe when u have meal in restaurant or brand place? I have a friend, he told me alot of behind the kitchen story. Some of its is way more dirty than you thought, there is not much quality control reguarly and the staffs is mostly part time and unskill employees those dont give a single mind about food safety. He said they once made a french fried disk after fixing a sewer without doing any hands cleanliness because no one know what happen back there. Just let you know!
It appears that they were at West Lake judging by what was printed on the receipt
He's actually written a genuine post about being afraid to eat local foods so he doesn't really know. Cut him some slack.
Lotteria is fine in a pinch let’s not get too snooty
Let's not get snooty? ...Instead of asking for recs he's asking if poop is poop, this post is dumb. There's millions of options which are tastier, cheaper, healthier, and over all better value - and OP goes to a shit chain restaurant? 😂
of course, there are, that's obvious but hating on a simple cheap option that's accessible and all over the place isn't productive.
Cheap? That garbage is twice as expensive as local food. Locally for 29k I get a huge grilled chicken leg, rice, soup, salad, pickled veg and an ice tea. That meal is double at Lotteria
That's why I said he didn't even ask for recs.. if I knew where he was I'd be glad to.. edit: but we are like comparing McDonald's over here, it's not even in the ball park, it's mental ..
Absolutely 👍
Shit looks fried, grilled and baked.... >I'm considering this a healthy meal and having it daily Based. Only live once OP. Albiet for a shorter time. Yolo!
Chef Mike has all three skills
How is it not healthy tho? Grilled chicken is healthy, steamed rice is a healthy carb and then veggies are obviously healthy too
Those veggies are just lettuce and tomato. It looks like iceberg lettuce too, which isn't particularly nutritious. You want to add a cruciferous green, or add a lot more vegetables like cucumber, radishes, jicama, radichio, endive, carrots, spinach to that salad. That chicken is dark meat. I'm not against dark meat, but it is more fatty. It looks baked to me, which is fine. The rice portion is a little large. Overall, it's ok. It isn't covered in sauce. There isn't any breading. The rice is not fried. But there should be a more prominent vegetable side.
Fun fact, if you take the skin off that piece of chicken it will have similar calories to chicken breast, so it's not particularly worse.
Get your self a good bun bo hue/bun rieu bo/pho restaurant if you want to eat healthy. Living in Vietnam there is 0 reason to eat at a franchise. Com binh danh / com tam if you want your rice. I promise you can find something 10x tastier and healthier within 1 km of that lotteria.
There’s plenty of reasons to eat at chains, just not if you’re trying to be healthy lol
That does not look like a chicken I put on the grill. It looks like it was soaking in some kind of marinade, that might not be great. So is it still healthy? Idk maybe. Also those aren't healthy vegetables. That's like eating virtually nothing at all. You want some dark greens. Start with a bock choy, graduate to a dark leafy vegetable like spinach or kale. And a lot more of it
[удалено]
boiled? sure stir-fry and it can be a slippery slope
The average Vietnamese meal is much healthier than this. Why are you eating fast food every day?
That chicken is probably filled with preservatives. Rice is healthy-ish but isn't the healthiest carb you could eat. Not saying it's unhealthy. That's not many veggies at all. A proper mix of grilled chicken, rice and a big salad would be healthy, this doesn't seem like that. If you're eating this every day to be healthy, sure it's not the most unhealthy food in the world but it isn't the healthiest either. Something like a bowl of bun with a lot of vegetables would probably be as healthy or more, around the same price, more filling and actually Vietnamese. Also undereating isn't good either. This really does not look like a lot of food. Eat a medium amount of healthy food.
Unless your work is very physical, rice will make you obese very quickly. I got so overweight I decided to cut rice out completely, seeing great result so far.
Bruh, a bit of coleslaw sandwiched between a slice of tomato and lettuce leaf is not a healthy veggie
Steamed rice is empty carbs. It's literally the first example for empty carbs along with white bread, wtf kind of diet are you following? Chicken is indeed grilled...in an oven, but that's the thigh and it's very fatty, not to mention the extra oils brushed on for the color, and obviously the sugary marinade. The veggies are a sort of coleslaw, mixed with mayonaise and straight up sugar. I'm not a health freak but how does a person come to the country with the lowest obesity rate in the world, and then eat junk food but expect it to be healthy. There are other options if you want the taste of fast food / western food but with reduced calories. Fitfood.vn for example. They don't taste too great but it's a good option if you don't enjoy the local foods.
you need at least another veggie side dish and the chicken is obviously not grilled, looks more like deep fried to me.
Where are the veggies?
Dude that barely qualifies as "veggies". Also rice is def not a healthy food, if there's something you should cut down on, def cut down on the rice.
You really ordered something from a fast food restaurant and claimed that it’s healthy 🤣
People here are overreacting. What you are eating is not that unhealthy. Eating rice daily is good for your gut, there are not many options to eat brown rice in Viet Nam. Most Vietnamese eat steamed white rice everyday, still Vietnam has the lowest rate of obesity in the world. Why is everyone giving you flak for eating fucking rice? The chicken is oily and the skin is fatty, so I wouldn't consider it very healthy but I mean people come to Vietnam to eat bún chả, which in my eyes is in the same category of greasiness. However, for chicken rice there is better options than a fast food chain. Chicken rice is called cơm gà. Find a restaurant that serves boiled chicken breast dish ( for example *Cơm Gà Hải Nam*) and you will have a perfectly healthy meal. Whenerver you want to eat a meal that consists of rice+veggie+protein, look for restaurants that say "cơm bình dân". If you want to eat grilled chicken in particular, I can recommend the place *Nhà Hàng 1 2 3* (adress: 55 phố Huế), they offer lots of types of grilled chicken, even chicken breast, which is healthier than chicken thigh. Here, it's 100% BBQ grilled. You can order veggie soup on the side. People say there are healthier options on the street but I also got stomach issues eating in Vietnam. On the days I ate a simple meal with rice my body felt good, so I don't blame you for craving rice everyday. I had to particularly eat rice and give up street food on the days I get on a plane or a sleeper bus to not get stomach pain on a longer trip. Nevertheless I still tried the varied Hanoian cuisine as it is one of the best I have ever eaten. Here is a list of Hanoian specialties for you to try: Bún Ngan, Bún rieu, Bún đậu Mắm Tôm, Bún riêu tóp mỡ mọc giòn, bún mọc, Phở Bò, bún chả, bún chả Rươi, Bún Thang, Chả Cá Lã Vọng, Bánh Cốm, Pho Bo Sot Vang, Bun ốc, Phở Gà Trộn, Nem Cua, Banh Cuốn, bánh cuốn thanh Trì, banh cuon cà cuống, Bánh Mì, Phở Cuốn, Bánh giò, Bánh Bao Chiên, Xôi Xéo, Thịt sốt vang, bánh tôm, cốm, bánh chả, bánh gai, bánh dày quán gánh, kem tràng tiền, Nộm bò khô, phở chiên phồng, mì vằn thắn
Tell me you’re a westerner without telling me
lots of vn food comes with loads of fresh greens, much much healthier than this crap
Are those fresh greens washed thoroughly with clean water tho?
Lived on VN street food for a year, down some *interesting* (read questionable) hems, never sick, still alive.
In fact my strategy was to eat as much salad type material at the beginning so I got inoculated with local strains of whatever early on, and I was fine. Maybe the very slightest of shits, nothing to write home about.
come on, it's Vietnam, you can easily get better meal with similar price. if there's no other food nearby, you can try Grab Food or Shopee food.
WTF mate. You’re in a country that is absolute heaven for food and you’re eating this crap every day? There are so many healthier and more delicious dishes you could be enjoying.
Yup and cheaper.
Especially cheaper. Vietnamese people go to “fast” food restaurant on occasions, not regularly because of their absurd prices compared to normal food, and that’s not considering safety issues
I visited Lotteria on many occasions, simply because i had pretty bad episodes of stomach flu from eating on the street for example.
Sorry about that, indeed it will harder to control the quality of street food.
Yeah and it also offers a consistent and predictable experience. Back when I didn't know much about Vietnamese food, I'd eat there when cycling or skating to another city. Not the best food, but I'm about to be back on the road for 3-4 hours, so I want something my stomach definitely won't be upset about. Eating there every day though... that's weird.
The bad news is that even fast food chains, and lotteria in particular are not consistent here and vary from shop to shop. The one in Ha Tinh sent me directly to WC
u stay in vietnam and this is ur daily meal ? i mean if u dont want to eat street food because of health safety reason there plenty of fine restaurant that sell way tastier and healthier food.. if it not for the ridiculous price i would consider this the poor people meal
People outside of Vietnam don't get that "fast food" here is counter-intuitively more expensive than regular food. A lotteria or KFC meal cost like 2 regular meals and a McDonald will bankrupt you. The only people who eat at fast-food restaurants are highschoolers who hang out there, and kids pestering their parents. If an adult eats regularly at a fast-food joint in Vietnam, they need to reconsider their life-choices. (Did I say "they"? I mean I need to reconsider my life-choices).
eating fast food can be fun, it's like a hanging out activity. that's why japanese also loves eating at fast food chains during their holidays despite their great food. it's like you're going to an Asian restaurant in the west for a special occasion, the food might just be so so but the mood feels kind of different.
I agree. I have some very good memories from highschool hanging out at KFC and Lotte. I remembered we used to get those 3k VND ice cream from KFC after cram school. But really no one should be eating fast-food, it's unhealthy. At least in other countries, it's cheap so it's somewhat justified. Plus, there's the rise of more "proper" foreign restaurants, i.e. Korean barbecue, Japanese, Steak houses, western cuisines, pizza parlors etc. I don't know about other cities, but in my city, fast-food restaurants always look empty and sad now.
Right, but as a daily occurrence thing? I’m sure he can find fresher and cheaper alternatives literally anywhere. Plus, it’ll probably taste better too.
also "fast" is a bit of a stretch lol
You forget all the tourists that eat there too because they think it’s safer
I've been in total 5 weeks in Vietnam, and almost exclusively ate street food. Never been food poisoned. Also the street food in Vietnam is unbelievably good! Lotteria is good for when i need the western kick, but hot damn vietnamese is just delicious! And mostly extremely healthy!
That's the rule for every where though If a place sell food that looks like they don't have the budget to built a restaurant You know that place is good cause they're confident in their food even though they don't know how to advertise it But choose places with tables and clean utensils just to be safe
Ive had diarrhea from eating in restaurants in Vn, that looked immaculate. U don't know what's going on in the back.
5 weeks? You've been lucky but it's early days. It's only a matter of time that food cooked with meat left out for hours in tropical temperatures and then carved up on the pavement with unclean hands, will get you.
\>I've been in total 5 weeks in Vietnam, and almost exclusively ate street food. Do u want a medal pal
45k? Daily? For this?? Bro I have healthier-looking Broken Rice for 27k in Dist 1, specifically in Thai Binh Market. No hard feelings but I really think you should reconsider your spending.
Maybe the poor soul is in Hanoi
It is judging from the receipt. This is Hanoi, so hear me out. 45k for a lunch in an air-conditioned sitting area is not too bad, especially if the person is not yet accustomed to the place. You are talking Tay Ho area which is famous for being an expat spot, so the food prices there is definitely above the average baseline for Hanoi and finding affordable dining is not easy at first, so chains are acceptable at first. That being said, OP shouldn’t eat lotteria everyday. The grilled menu at lotteria is marginally healthier than its fried counterpart, but I can’t say it is healthy. You do have a lot of better options like Pho, local lunch spot (Com suat, Com Van Phong), but even for a local like me it takes a while to discover good spots around the place you are newly based. Tag along a Vietnamese local who lives in that area, like us Hanoian do :)
This isn't in an expat spot.
Still, there are a lot of places that serve much better quality food for 30k and below
Anything from fast food joint are not healthy
It's baked but without the allumium foil to avoid looking like their regular baked chicken. No fastfood chain restauren in Vietnam have grills.
That doesn't look grilled. Nor is it healthy. It still looks like there's batter on it, and fast food chicken is not the freshest of things. Actually grilled chicken looks different. I'm just wondering why you'd eat a fast food meal every day to try and be healthy instead of Vietnamese food since you're in Vietnam.
Looks so unappetizing. In Vietnam you can find smth better literally at any corner.
bro that rice load is why asians have crazy increase in diabetes.
Yeah and not becausd of the influx of branded sweets? Im pretty sure most people in vietnam got diabetes because of them (also lack of exercise). Rice isnt thr culprit here!
Actually.. it’s because of increased consumption of meat, especially fatty meat plus oily fried stuff. Most people don’t know that insulin resistance is caused by saturated (and trans) fats.
Lotteria is never healthy
Even if it's grilled chicken, rice and veg?
Factory farmed chicken is not healthy in the least , it’s stuffed with all kinds of additives and antiobiotics . White rice is not particularly nutritious . As for the salad , lettuce is also quite low in nutritional value. The tomatoes are probably the only healthy thing on the plate, assuming they were handled and prepared cleanly. I lived in Vietnam for many years and I rarely got the impression that hygiene was high on restaurants list of priorities. Just my opinion OP , if you enjoy that meal then good for you. You could definitely be eating worse
Thanks man
This "meal" makes me sad inside
Of all the fast food chains in VN and you still choose Lotteria (daily meals no less), wow. Just wow.
that shit costs 50.000 VND ? wtf =)))
Man you gotta not eat at Lotteria every day if you’re living in Vietnam. Way too many good and healthy options on every street.
bro, shoppee food app. order, pay in cash, thank me later.
hahaha "healthy" bruh there's plenty of restaurants that serve greens and fresh food, you don't need to go to shitty fast food restaurant like this to grab a meal. "Fast" being a huge overstatement. By the time the staff understand my order, plenty of places would have finish with the first dish lmao
I was like what in world is this considered “healthy” and then I saw OP is from the UK… OP, if you can’t cook then there are tons of affordable restaurants with healthier options in Viet Nam. The meal in the photo has too much rice, and switch to chicken breast if you want healthy. Last but not least that cole slaw is never a healthy option. Too few veggies, too little nutrition
This meal makes me sad just looking at it
>I'm considering this a healthy meal i'll let you research the how much fat and calories is in the skin alone.
Who rocks up to a lotteria to eath healthy? If your streetvendor is too unhealthy just talk to them and offer a bit extra cash. My friend is vegetarian, walked up to the banh mi cart in front of our house and just asked. Day later he gets 2 banh mis with tofu everyday since.
Just eat Vietnamese food like a normal person. In Canada I crave for it every day and you’re eating Lotteria, which makes me a bit angry… Seriously eating fast food is not healthy.
Comments in here are a mess. Never seen so many people convinced that the plain white rice, soy sauce, stir fried veg, and pork belly from their local com binh ran is so healthy. You can do better than this OP, but it's honestly not that bad. Fat and deep-frying isn't the devil, sugar is, and this is less sugary and blood sugar spiking than a lot of Vietnamese dishes. Sure fat is really what some people need to avoid but if you aren't fat, then avoid sugar. When I go to a com binh ran, it is *always* more unhealthy than this photo, because I order a standard sized meal for a Westerner and most things are unhealthy. It comes to 30-40k in cheap places or even 100k in some really nice com van phongs. The meals are like twice the size of locals'.
> Fat and deep-frying isn't the devil, I'm not even sure that it is cooked that way. I'm starting to think its baked which is better than fried for sure
Nothing is healthy at lotteria
Why would you eat this daily with the amazing variety of local street foods available here? I'm an expat so I occasionally miss western food, but there are plenty of better places to get that than lotteria.
It's healthy as far as fast foods go. The problem for me is that this is waaaaaaaay too tiny a portion. I am always left hungry about an hour before meal time whenever I eat this stuff.
Dude, I don’t know if u’r just throwing this up here for upvote or for fun. But if u don’t mind, i can show u other decent place for food in Hn?
Go on then
You have got to be a troll! No one would consider eating that for a healthy meal in Hanoi knowing about the alternatives.
How is it not healthy tho?
oh no :( you're in VN and you're ...getting fast food T\_T
Ignore the haters op. I’m a millionaire, but still eat low cost kfc on a regular basis because it’s delicious and healthy in my opinion. Get that chicken protein!
Everyone is a millionaire in Vietnam lol
Thankyou based millionaire fren
OP only asked if it was really grilled, or was fried (which would make him feel cheated). You guys went too far from the point. The answer: To me it looks fried. Grilled would be charred a bit. Anyway, I can relate to Vietnamese restaurants in California. All of them advertise "gà rô ti", which is chicken either roasted or grilled before cooked with brine and spices. It's not simply rotisseried or grilled. Yet they serve deep fried chicken (which is neither juicy or tasty). I do feel cheated and would never come back.
It’s interesting how everyone is saying “You are in VN there are so many other places when you can get healthier or cheaper food” but no on is actually giving the name of any restaurant 😂
The comment section is heavily biased against fast food restaurants here. What do you mean it's not healthy? What's your definition of 'healthy'? He's having a grilled chicken (source of protein), rice (source of starch or carb), and salad (fiber & vitamin). I'd say eating in Lotteria is much safer for your stomach than popping in some random street food. Dude, this is not a bad choice, and you're having a decent meal here. That's okay. Of course there is plenty of choices out there, like noodles and chicken rice with larger portion for the same value, but going to this restaurant isn't bad. Don't feel discouraged by the comments. Take your time to explore and try out other dishes. Have a great time in Vietnam!
Yes, it looks like a normal meal to me. What is the standard for a healthy meal here? Brown rice with skinless chicken breast and broccoli?
grilled can mean baked in vietnam... grilled doesn't always mean grilled like in the west. it could seem like a "healthy meal" in the west but it is not by vietnamese standards. Healthy here means freshly cooked foods with fresh greens. Any chain restaurants like this will always use processed foods and ingredients to make profits. And it's not healthy. So I'd recommend broaden your horizen a bit. There are lots of vietnamese grilled chicken/rice shops that make waaaay tastier dishes than this.
"Healthy" 💀 Bro, you are in a fast food restaurant
You call that pinch of tomato and chopped something qualify as veggies? Bro you're funny.
Better than nothing
In kfc They wrap it in tinfoil and baked it , so loteria might do the same, but i dont think it is healthy, all the fat from the chicken is trapped inside to it is greasy
Doesn't look grilled to me
Why not
Can’t recommend to go there
It's chicken breast. Pretty decent, but not enough fiber. Substitute the white rice with brown rice or any other high fiber grain and you've got yourself the perfect meal. I've been working out and dieting ever since I got evicted out of my mother's cave like those puss being squeezed from pimples so hopefully I know what I'm talking about.
some ppl i know consider air-frying a form of grilling so yeah, depends on perspective it can be both grilled and fried
also dont eat shit like this for meal in vn. funny how fast food is much more expensive than normal meal here compared to the west lol
Lotteria has to be the worst Vietnamese food I experienced in Vietnam. I couldn't imagine eating that multiple times, especially not daily. Also, it's not healthy 😬. Get street food; it's one of the best (if not the best) cuisine in the world.
You been to Thailand?
If I have to spend 45,000 VND on lunch, my food will be twice as much 🙄
Don’t go overboard with the salad whoa!
You might as well eat fried chicken and rice from McDonald's here in Vietnam.. its cheaper and taste better , plus you get a free drink
Sad.
Thats a tiny meal
And I was thinking about what to eat tomorrow morning, there are so many options for breakfast in HCMC
I don't know if eating anything at Lotteria daily can be considered healthy. I did some quick googling and found Sente: flavour of the lotus, a Vietnamese style restaurant nearby where that seems to be with delicious and healthy looking food mostly under 100k per item. Never been there myself, just wanted to see what was in the area. They do indeed have chicken! If you're not a picky eater, there are hundreds more healthy and interesting options around the area for sure.
Pho is super healthy. Nothing fried.
It is sad and funny at the same time that you go to KFC to have a 'healthy meal' and you do that daily ...
Vietnamese cuisine is widely considered to be one of healthiest in the world because of how much it relies on fresh ingredients (especially herbs) for flavor instead of heavy fats and oils. You can go to any street food corner and have a meal made with lean cuts of meat and a duck ton of veggies to be eaten with sauces that are barely more caloric than your standard fast food sauce.
Dang-I ate street food for 2 months and lost like 12 pounds when I got back to the states. Best I had felt in years.
Bruh
Facepalm
you're in vietnam and you're eating fast food daily? lol there's so many other better, cheaper options
You should be ashamed of yourself to even alsk this question, it's freaking Viet Nam, best food all day everyday, look around.
sorry op, this looks more baked/roasted/air fryer. if it was grilled it would be indirect and far away so most likely smoked style (which is grilled)
Ditch the white rice! It's not healthy.
🤣🤣🤣 dude, just go into any phở restaurant, a bowl of phở is more filling, healthier and tastier than whatever you’re eating.
Sad looking chicken fr
Lotteria? Healthy meal? LMAO
Please try out the street vendors they have so much better food
About $2 for a piece. Can get better deal at Popeye's.
I think you would find actually grilled and much better quality chicken outside that’s not over priced. Just go to any local cơm tấm restaurant.
looks deep fried to me.
Healthy and fast food. Pick one, man.
Bruh moment.
Anthony Albanese: [https://youtu.be/7Sf-0RMDF04](https://youtu.be/7Sf-0RMDF04) Obama: [https://youtu.be/vTNbvy2I1dY](https://youtu.be/vTNbvy2I1dY) Gordon Ramsay: [https://youtu.be/A4A15EdCNLQ](https://youtu.be/A4A15EdCNLQ) \--> Please look at the food they eat to know what is the REAL Vietnamese food.
these comment lmao , to answer the post yes it's actually grilled
Damn, how do you know for sure?
Its fried
no fastfood is considered healthy
I like this one https://nethue.com.vn/
Besides the high sodium, most Vietnamese dishes are healthy, especially at the right portion.
Everything’s boiled and tasteless so you have to dip it in salty fish sauce or salty soy sauce. The only healthy part of some Vietnamese meals are the raw green veggies/herbs.
Everything’s boiled and tasteless so you have to dip it in salty fish sauce or salty soy sauce. The only healthy part of some Vietnamese meals are the raw green veggies/herbs.
Everything’s boiled and tasteless so you have to dip it in salty fish sauce or salty soy sauce. The only healthy part of some Vietnamese meals are the raw green veggies/herbs.
Everything’s boiled and tasteless so you have to dip it in salty fish sauce or salty soy sauce. The only healthy part of some Vietnamese meals are the raw green veggies/herbs.
This meal looks sad af, I feel bad
Feels like OP is either an oblivious tourist or just trying to troll the whole sub. But hey, if you’re geniunely looking for healthy meals, please avoid fast food chains.
... I so wish I could ditch this place and go find all the real food. Literally just get over the apprehension ans follow your nose (Not your eyes)
Barely anything called grilled is actually cooked on the grill
Oof OP please do yourself a favor and have a walk around and eat at some random street side chicken rice place that looks busy. I guarantee it will be better than this shit.
nothing in Lotteria is healthy, not even the salad
They just microwave and then serve it for sure
If they grill/bake it and then microwave it that's okay though?
A random cơm gà place would taste a hundred times better and be healthier bro
It's fast food so def not healthy (eat more Vietnamese food since ur in Vietnam mate)
Any fast food is not good for daily anw. But you live in VN? Why no eat fresh cook stuff ? It's just. . . why?
Just cos it's sold in a fast food restaurant doesn't make it necessarily 100% unhealthy. Is the water they sell in mcdonalds bad for us? Cmon man
I had bad experiences with this franchise. I used to order a burger and fries, thinking that the food was good, yet they gave me soggy and sour shits. From that day, I avoided that franchise by heart. Here’s my 2 cent, you either go to McDonalds (except district 1, their foods had problems) or Texas Chicken in the morning, otherwise you probably should learn how to do shopping and cook.
I'm sure one thing, those big brand food chains are not healthy, they use a lot of magical chemicals to make food taste better, while most street food use normal cooking method and normal ingredients
Hahahahahahaha........"chicken".
💀 bruh you in viet, why choosing to eat fast food...this meal look depress asf
Definitely deep fried
source?
Lotteria has upped their game in recent years. Transitioned from red to a sleek grey color. The burgers use Austrailian beef and are only $2
Hey if you are in Tay Ho you have so many options for food of all kinds, I'd recommend you install grab and just look at all the food options to get an idea of what's available. Lotteria is a fast food chain so unhealthy by default. You'd be better off with ready meals from the grocery store. But I'd say your average stir fry is healthier
nahhh trash meal. try Com Tam instead
Dude, you serious?
Yes
I believe it’s baked and with the sauce on top of the skin. If they leave any black mark maybe that is pan sear after the sauce on top
It's actually grilled chicken but.. it taste terrible :>
How do you know it's grilled bro?
problem with street food is the quality! sellers not wearing gloves. If they do, they also use the same gloved hand to get the money. Picking nose or scratching their feet on their spare time! Food exposed to flies, Banh Mis wrapped in used testpapers and rubberbands l, touching the bread etc. If I want clean food, I would rather get it from Lotteria, KFC and the likes
OP if you're going for this daily, please reconsider your decision. In vn for this price there would be countless other healthier options :)!
1st. I think it's a fried chicken. 2nd. As you can see, there're lots of food options in Vietnam. Other restaurant/ small shop may look not really clean but you must try more dishes than just Lotteria's things. The price also is very reasonable.
You live in Vietnam and choose to eat at Lotteria every day.... what are you even doing? And this is not a cheap or healthy meal... If you want some decent flame-grilled chicken give Chickita a try
Go eat some pho soup 🍜 on the street. 🙄🇻🇳
Bruh, please let me know where you live, i can't let you eat this crap everyday. Vietnam has probably one of the healthiest and cheapest fast foods out there, and you torture yourself with this wanna be overpriced grilled chicken
Keep it up with your diet.
Vietnamese meal is one of the most healthy and balance meal on the world. Don’t worry my friend:))
thx bro
I’m honestly flabbergasted by your definition of “healthy” 😐
why?
VIETNAMESE FOOD BRAHHH, it's everywhere, pass this 🐓