The soup is famous for all the right reasons - it's beef bone based broth seasoned with cinnamon and star anise is the formula of dreams and can be found every where in Vietnam as soon as the sun comes up.
On our trip though we were determined to break away from Pho and get adventurous with our soups. There is a huge variety of soups on offer - you are only limited to how brave you are in trying them.
One thing I have learnt though is that it's best to order soup the way that the locals are - offal and all - anything you don't like the taste of can simply be picked out but it is worth trying everything once.
One soup that I was desperate to try was Banh canh cua - cua translating to crab.
The thick broth is more like a stew made from tomatoes and crab shell - simmering away to sweet perfection.
Tomato is one of my favourite flavours in any cuisine and I was keen to give this one a try. Most of the soups in Vietnam are clear and light - this was going to be interesting.
Like all good places to eat in Vietnam this was found down an unassuming alley off Nguyen Du Street in District 1 just down from the Independence Palace.
This was one of those hole in thew all local places you only find once every few days. No one spoke English and the menu was short and to the point.
When the soup arrived I was pleased to see that this time a huge chunk of congealed pigs blood was floating in my soup - something that had been omitted previously by a vendor who obviously thought I wouldn't want it. I did want it!
Along with my blood the soup came adorned with so many different toppings I didn't know where to start (let alone which pieces to leave for the obligatory "perfect" final bite that very meal must have).
Floating in my bowl of tomatoey lushness was huge chunks of crab, melt in your mouth pork, sweet prawns, fish and crab balls, a bite size quail egg and green shallots to round off the vibrancy.
The real star of this dish though is the noodles - they were unlike anything I have tried in Vietnam - if I had to compare them to anything I would say they were almost like a version of Japanese Ramen noodles, but of course better.
The slightly chewy noodles are made from a combination of rice and tapioca flour and are slippery and slurpy. The thickness of them stands up perfectly to the slightly stew like consistency of the soup. Anything else would get lost amongst the plethora of deliciousness.
When I signed to the waiter that I wanted the bill I was fully expecting this to be a slightly higher cost then the soups of usual but when she got out her calculator to tell me how much I owed I was shocked to see it was less. Local food = local prices.
The soup was 30,000 dong - around $1.75 Aud.
This is why I get out of bed every morning - for food moments like this one.