I may get flamed for this, but I am taking a risk as I talk facts. In HCM city the cost of Vietnamese delicacy is a fraction of Singapore's price. Given the fact that Singapore is the most expensive city in the world to live in, Viet vendors are ripping us off with 300% markups eg. A bowl off Pho cost about S$1,50 to $2.00 in HCM and in Singapore it is $6.00 at hawker centers and coffees shops and $8 at restaurants. If a local vendor can sell chicken rice and wan ton mee at $2.50 to $3.00, why can't they? My speculation is that they are here to make a fast buck and return to Vietnam to be millionaires. Another reason, they charge horrendously high prices because most viet food ordered and eaten by Viet working girls and the customer(DOM) pays for the meal. It was the same a few years ago when Chinese PRC working girls was the rage in Geylang.