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It's funny, you just listed the main Vietnamese dishes/drinks I would really consider a must-try. Vietnamese coffee is truly incredible albeit a bit sweet (though understandably so given the use of Robusta), and southern-style banh mi is the only food I tried that I would call great. I only had a short layover in HCMC when I went, and I'm very glad I ventured into the city just for that one banh mi stall.
I suspect I would have liked Vietnamese food more had I spent more time in southern Vietnam; the more south I went, the more flavourful the food became. I'm typically more accustomed to heavily-spiced food, and much of northern Vietnam seems to enjoy food that's perhaps even blander than Cantonese cuisine.
I was on a trip through Vietnam and Cambodia and the thing I found pretty consistently for both was the relatively poor quality of the meat as well as fairly mid butchery. When import meat was sold in dishes, there was usually a big markup. Seafood was the way to go in Vietnam, and I really enjoyed both bun rieu and banh xeo.
On the other hand their chicken tastes strongly of chicken compared to the bland, growth-hormone pumped American product even if the meat is tougher and the birds are less fat.
Oh, and good lord, the mangoes. So good it almost felt like a sin to eat a giant hunk of fragrant and sweet chilled mango sold off the streets.
Agreed on the high quality of the fruit (and poor quality of the meat). Didn't try any mangoes in Vietnam, but the pineapples and coconuts I had there were so very fresh. Fresher than anywhere else I've been. I had at least one coconut every day with my meal and it didn't matter where I went - regardless of if it was a sit-down restaurant or some tattered stall on the side of the street they were delicious.
I very consistently had a good time with Vietnamese desserts, which was unexpected. I was a big fan of the che when I was there, and there's a gigantic variety of these sweet soups; there's even one featuring a savoury pork dumpling (che bot loc heo quay) that actually kind of works in spite of the flavour contrast.
Never been to Cambodia, though Siem Reap is a destination I've had on the backburner for a while now.
HCM also has... weirdly good pizza. I actually managed to find a semi-legit Detroit slice there which I've basically never seen in Asia.
Yeah I was in Siem Reap. Gorgeous nature and views. I'm wavering on whether or not I should do a high-effort writeup because there are a lot of things about this trip that I found difficult to process.
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