About Ho Chi Minh City
RESTAURANTS IN HO CHI MINH CITY
PS : If you don't see any comments, that means I haven't eaten at that place. Q1 means District 1, Q3 means District 3 and so on. For the curious, Q is for Quan (District in Vietnamese), pronounced as "wern" - please correct me if I'm wrong.
Halal Restaurants
Bombay Indian Restaurant
59, Dong Du St., Q1
Tel : 0903863 114
(Opposite Sheraton Hotel entrance)
One meal of a bowl of curry with rice, one prata & one teh-tarik will set you back about 50K+ VND plus a free banana :) - a very full and satisfying meal!
Blue Rose Restaurant - Coffee
162B Dien Bien Phu, Q3
Tel 820 0554/091 360 8883
Four Seasons Restaurant
2 Thi Sach, Q1
Tel 825 7186
HP 0913600 170/ 0913608 883
M T W T Sun : 0700-2400
F Sat : 0700-0130
Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnamese and Western Specialities
Daily breakfast, lunch and Sunday Brunch
Office and home delivery service
Thumbs up for 4 seasons - rated by my Muslim friends.
Akbar Ali Indian Restaurant
240 Bui Vien Str, Q1
Tel 836 4205
Alibaba Restaurant
60 Le Thahn Ton, Q1
Tel: 823 3594
(Indian; daily special buffet lunch)
Latest news is that Ali Baba is forced out of his cave by the mad increase in rental - a ridiculous phenomenon now in HCMC. Will be at its current location till mid-2008.
Satay House
35 Mac Dinh Chi Str, Q1
Expensive; one meal of 3 pratas, one bowl of curry, a teh-tarik set me back about 110,000VND - that's about S$11!!!
Tandoor Restaurant
103 Vo Van Tan, Q3
Tel: 824 4839
(Traditional North Indian cuisine)
Was told by my SIS teacher Serene and the DDM group that this is a good place to eat, nice ambience and reasonable prices.
New Delhi Indian Restaurant
111A Bui Vien Str., Q1
Tel : 837 9636
Vegetarian and Non-vegetarian food
Thumbs down for this restaurant. DDM ordered bryani and fried rice - said it looked the same - seems like first and last time for them where this restaurant is concerned.
Non-pork Restaurants
Arab Kebab
115 Bui Vien, Q1 Tel 920 3483
11am to 2am daily
Free delivery
Saigon Indian Restaurant
South & North Indian Cuisine
73, 1st Floor, Mac Thi Buoi St.,
(Near Vietnam House), Q1
Tel 824 5671; 912 5634
11.00 to 14.30
17.30 to 22.30
E-mail : Saigon-indian@hcm.fpt.vn
Winner of Guide Awards 2004 for best Indian Restaurant in HCMC
Ashoka Restaurant
17A/10 Le Thanh Ton, Q1
Tel: 823 1372
(Authentic Indian food)
Restaurant Snow-Tuyet Trang
Spicy-Indian Food
175/8 Pham Ngu Lao Str, Q1
08-9203120
Vegetarian Restaurants
Tib Restaurant (Vegetarian-Chay & Hue)
170 Tran Quang Khai St., Q1
Tel : 846 9685
Cay Bo De
The Original Bodhi Tree
(Vegetarian Restaurant)
175/6 Pham Ngu Lao, Q1
08-8369545
Bu Da Nguyen Thuy
The Original Buddha Vegetarian Restaurant
175/16 Pham Ngu Lao Str, Q1
08-8371910/8373595
Thai Restaurants
The Golden Elephant
34 Hai Ba Trung Str., Q1
Great food but good service. Same price as Silver Elephant, but I prefer the service and ambience at Silver Elephant.
Silver Elephant Seafood Thai Cuisine
17 Do Quang Dau Str., Q1
My favorite Thai restaurant. Have eaten there countless of times. Excellent food & service; reasonably priced menu; slightly more for seafood items. The best is the Thai dessert - must-try would be the sticky rice mango dessert. Sister branch of the Golden Elephant.
Coriander Thai Cuisine
185 Bui Vien, Q1
837 1311
Jan 08 : Coriander has improved tremendously. The menu is upgraded with lots more varieties and the mango sticky rice is very good and very reasonable for the price of 25,000VND. A decent meal for me - duck curry, rice, thai iced tea and sticky rice/mango - set me back only 84k.
Mar 07 : Reasonable prices but variety is limited, esp the desserts. No air-con too. 7.00am to 23.30pm (that's what they printed)
Western/Mixed
Bready'sBreakfast-Lunch-Dinner
62 Mac Dinh Chi, Q1
Fantastic cafe with really reasonable prices (although it has just raised its prices). Can't find a match for its mouth-watering spaghetti (25K and it's really good) and its bread&pate at 18K is simply unbeatable. Located just outside my villa, it's also the supplier of my daily breakfast - buns (8-9K) and doughnuts (5K). Definitely a must-try although it's out of the way from town.
Luna Restaurant
Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner
186 Nguyen Van Thu, Q1
08-215 2292/2202
New cafe near my villa; service quite ok; setting nice; quality of food is quite OK. Prices slightly higher than Bready's but more variety. Let's see - Spaghetti 18-30K, sandwich 20-28K, hamburger 20-25K, main courses between 25-50K, drinks 12-18K, western coffee 20-25K.
Nhi Huong Cafe
Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner
175/10 Pham Ngu Lao, Q1
08-8367967
New cafe; service ok; setting nice; price higher than Sa Sa.
Monaco Bistro Cafe-Pizza Restaurant
147 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Q3
08-9320335
Lasagna is only 28,000VND, comes with a piece of toast too - good but portion slightly small, but then again, what do you expect for 28k? There are quite a few Monacos around town.
Sa Sa Restaurant
De Tham Str., Q1
My daughter's favourite breakfast place 'cause it's cheap. Serves lunch & dinner too - reasonable price but quality of food varies. Internet access is available upstairs at 6k per hour.
Cappuccino Restaurant
86 Bui Vien Str., Q1
08-887 5701
Pasta-Pizza-Traditional Italian Cuisine. This cafe's like Sa Sa; actually there are many such cafes in De Tham and Bui Vien - and it's competitive there so prices are more or less similar.
Cafe Central Sunwah
Sun Wah Tower
115 Nguyen Hue, Q1
08-821 9303
The most happening out-door cafe in town - New York deli-style restaurant
Creperie & Cafe
Galaxy Co.,
5 Han Thuyen, Q1
08-8299 117
The best and only crepe place (there's western food too) in town with more than 10 fillings to choose from (14, I think). It's the only restaurant in the whole of Vietnam serving crepe, A meal of crepe and coffee sets you back slightly over 100K but it's well worth it - served with piping warm delicious bread and butter. One of my favourite haunts - mostly for my Sunday brunch.
Zenta Coffe Restaurant
Mac Dinh Chi Str., Q1
Looks expensive but it's popular with the locals. Breakfast set me back about 50,000VND - sandwich and coffee only. Wifi available though.
Vietnamese
Van Xuan Vietnamese Restaurant
(opposite Art Hair)
36 Pham Ngoc Thach St., Q3
08-8299266
Had company Tet reunion dinner here; nice food; was told prices are reasonable. Tried it a second time on my own but didn't know which dishes to order. Must get a Vietnamese friend to come along the next time.
Bun Bo Hue
31 Mac Dinh Chi, Q1
08-827 7257
Very popular with locals, 10,000VND a bowl - good and cheap
Bun Bo Hue
Nam Giao
189 Bis Bui Vien, Q1
08-8369446
Cheap and tasty; only 17,000VND
Pho Quyen
323 Pham Ngu Lao, Q1
The best pho in town; and from 16,000VND; try the spicy pho - not really spicy and very good; or try the spicy soup with bread; cafe sau da is good too, and only 5,000VND
Pho Hoa Pasteur
260C Pasteur Str., Q3
08-8297943
Very popular with locals and tourists but I don't find it that great. I think Pho Quyen is better but there'll be those who won't agree. Try it out for yourself - 25k per bowl - generous portion; have difficulty finishing the beef - too much for me. 6am to 12am.
Pho 2000 (Clinton Pho)
Next to Ben Thanh Market; clean and sanitized. Clinton visited this pho shop and his face is plastered everywhere...sorry, no cigars were displayed!!! That would be in bad "taste"!!! Excuse the pun...
Pho Le
381 Nguyen Trai (Chinatown), Q5 (I think)
Also serves v good pho - haven't been there for a long time - passed it recently and it's still there.
Pho Co
211 Dien Bien Phu St, Q3
Tel :829 9625
http://www.phocosaigon.com
If it has a website, it must be expensive! Actually, I found the price to be reasonable given the ambience of the restaurant. Name is misleading though, as it doesn't sell pho; they serve traditional Vietnamese cuisine. If you don't order dishes that are too X, should be ok. My bill for 2 was 262,000VND including taxes. Food was quite nice, and there was even live Vietnamese music.
Ban Xeo 46A
46A Dinh Cong Trang, Q1
Vietnamese pancake - some say it's the best in town - haven't tried yet. Will do that one day.
Quan An Ngon Restaurant
138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Q1
Just across the road from the Reunification Palace; very reasonable prices for a restaurant. Serves Vietnamese cuisine. 4 of us had dinner for about 250k - now that's cheap by Singapore standards. Go before 6pm if you don't want to wait. It's perpetually crowded with locals and tourists.
Quan Nuong Vietnamese Barbecue
29-31 Ton That Thiep, Q1
821 1631
Booking/Reservation : 0908 357 530
Interesting to try out; my kids like it there. The way up to the restaurant (on the 3rd floor) is interesting. Prices are reasonable too. On the ground floor next to it is an ice cream parlour - Fanny's ice cream. Not cheap 40-50,000VND for a serving.
Tan Hoang Ty Restaurant
106 Cao Thang - Phuong 4, Q3
08-833 2077
Some local friends (Sherryl, Anh, Alex & Bo Heng) brought me to this very local restaurant in Dec 06 that serves pork slices, vegetable and bun (a kind of fat bee hoon) rolled with rice paper. Packed to the brim with Vietnamese.
Hue Restaurants
Tib Restaurant
187 Hai Ba Trung St., Q3
Tel : 829 7242
(With Mary & Ishak; Unique but expensive; 6 of us about 1,000,000VND; dessert 15K)
Hue Gia Vien Restaurant
6C Tran Quang Dieu, P13, Q3
Tel : 931 6002
Have not eaten here yet but was told that it's good but mid-priced.
Nam Giao Hue Restaurant
136/15 Le Thanh Ton St., Q1
Tel : 825 0261
Behind Ben Thanh Market, you have to walk through a narrow alley with small shops on both side. You won't know there's a restaurant until you see it. Prices are unbelievably cheap. Most are less than 20k but variety is limited. If you want good and cheap Hue food with a very unique ambience, this is the place.
Quan Hy Restaurant
Tu Xuong Str, Q3
One of my favourite restaurants; lovely ambience and reasonable prices for Vietnamese cuisine. It's also near my school and I like to go there occasionally in the night for dinner - peaceful if there are not too many people.
Chicken Rice
Tiem Com Ga Hai Nam (Kieu Singapore)
167-169, Duong Calmette
P. Nguyen Thai Binh, Q1
Tel : 821 8759
From Ben Thanh Market, look across the golden statue-you'll see the bus station. Duong Calmette is behind the bus station...on the right. Just walk towards the huge Toshiba signboard. Decent meal.
Tiem Com Ga Hai Nam (Kieu Singapore)
164, Duong Calmette
P. Nguyen Thai Binh, Q1
Tel : 821 7751
Just across the street from the one above - talk about close rivals. I haven't tried this one yet. Latest joke : Just found out that this is the kitchen for the above chicken rice stall. Orders are placed on one side of the street, prepared on the other and served back in the original place. Some arrangement that is!
379 Nguyen Tri Phuonh, F5, Q10
Tel : 853 2211
Seen this one a couple of times but haven't tried yet.