For you who loves Japanese food or just want something different in the city, you should try Manmaru. Their menu is more to the home cooked style. There are sashimi, sushi and rolls as well. And they were delicious. Fresh fish.
They have 2 branches, one at Ly Tu Trong street and the other one at Mac Dinh Chi street. I went to the second one. The design of the restaurant is unique. It gave me the feeling of eating in Japan (with some background Vietnamese voices..). I read on one of the review that if you want quieter place, you should go to second floor.
They put the menu in Japanese on the wall, but they also have normal menu book 😀 If I remember correctly, there was no English translation for the menu. But if you are familiar with Japanese food, that should not be a problem. Or you can always ask the waiters.
Yaki Soba Manmaru
Sashimi Moriawase Manmaru
We ordered sashimi set and yaki soba (fried noodle). They were delicious! We were very happy to eat it. Definitely will go back there. Even my husband said he would invite his staffs to eat there one day because it has different ambience.
The other day I went to Bitexco Financial Tower to meet up with my husband, then we planned to have dinner. He brought me to a Vietnamese Restaurant near by. It is called Mam Bac. Located at 94 Ho Tung Mau street, very close from Bitexco.
He said the bun cha here is good, so we ordered one. Another dish we ordered was com tam suon nuong opla (broken rice with grilled ribs and fried egg). For the drink I ordered kumquat juice.
And he was right! Everything we ordered was delicious. The price also reasonable as well for prime location. Definitely a good choice to have lunch or dinner if you are in the area.
Everyone here knows pizza 4Ps (maybe not everyone but at least most of the people know about it). It is very famous especially among foreigner, but there are many local people eating there as well. Their pizza is excellent. Made with special recipe and baked perfectly. I like most of their pizzas. But do you curious about their pasta as well? I did. That’s why we sometime order pasta and pizza for 2 persons, and of course their camembert cheese as well.
From few of the pasta I’ve tried there (except for the one with tomato sauce), I have 2 favorite there. The first one is clam and basil in pesto sauce. To be honest this pasta is not as good as before when I first tried it, but it still better compared to others. I would say this pasta is my 2nd favorite one.
Clam and Basil in Pesto Sauce
My number 1 favorite there is Cheese and Pepper Pasta. In Italy, they call it cacio e pepe. I tried this type of pasta when I was in Rome. It is a very simple look pasta, but delicious! And even though it looks as simple as aglio olio, the process to make it is not that simple. Trust me, I’ve tried (and failed 😦 ) It uses 2 types on cheese, and need to be mixed at the right time to make it still al dente after mixing. And pizza 4Ps nailed it! I love this pasta very much. You should try it as well if you are a cheese lover (or even if you aren’t, just try it! It won’t hurt ;)).
Cheese and Pepper Pasta
What is your favorite pasta in Pizza 4Ps? Do you have the same one as me? Please let me know in the comment so I can try it as well.
Ciao!
UPDATE :
October 2016 – They don’t have Cheese and Pepper Pasta anymore 😦
There are a lot of Vietnamese Restaurants in District 1 Ho Chi Minh City. From a very local place with cheap price to a fancy restaurant. Ganh is one of the medium level I think. It is located in 91 Hai Ba Trung, near the city center. Good location indeed. It is a Nha Trang food restaurant. So if you want to try the food from central Vietnam, you don’t need to go there (unless you have time to travel there of course). It’s not as good as the authentic food from Nha Trang but it’s already yummy enough!
I’ve been here one time and I love their Nem Nuong. It came with various items on a big bamboo plate (?) To eat this, you need to make a roll with lettuce leaf. Spread the lettuce and put the grilled pork, leaves, cucumber, mango, carrot, and crispy rice paper on top of it, then wrap it all together. Dip it in the sauce and enjoy! Very delicious~
Nem Nuong
This time we also ordered another dish (sorry I forgot the name! >.<) It consists of spring rolls (cha gio), rice noodle (the white thing on the center. I know.. it doesn’t look like noodle) and some veggies. This dish also yummy. You should try the rice noodle. It’s unique and it is delicious!
Last dish we ordered was disappointing. Oyster omelette. My husband couldn’t ate it because it was too fishy. Even me who like fishy food also couldn’t ate it. Another thing was this omelette so bland, no taste. Just fishy from egg and oyster. They came with soy sauce, but it couldn’t be helped. Tasted really bad. We didn’t finish this one.
Oyster Omelette
Have you tried the food from central Vietnam? How do you find the food? Do you like it? Tell me in comment!
When I first heard about Thao Dien Coffee I thought of an usual coffee shop, where you can enjoy coffee, enjoy small bites (cakes, bread, salad) and no proper meal. I was wrong. They do serve food as well, and they are delicious! I’ll tell you my experience there.
My first visit was on an event organized by Relocation Vietnam for A.R.C (Animal Rescue and Care). Thao Dien Coffee was the venue for that event. That time they only served finger foods, so I couldn’t tell yet about their main course but those finger foods were really good! I needed to wait at the bar to grabbed it before all other guests came and finished it. Yes, they were finished so fast! At that time I had a chance to look around and I must say the place is very relaxing and peaceful. Especially the second floor. So I was thinking.. maybe it’s not a bad idea to hang out here sometime and try their food.
My second visit was for a meeting. We had a meeting there on second floor around 11.00 am and it was perfect time. No one else beside us on second floor. I heard that many families came here on the weekend, so I was a bit worried if it might disturb the meeting. I ordered Japanese Smoothie. It was sooo good! Delicious smoothie with unique taste of black sesame.
Japanese Smoothie
After the meeting, it was past lunch time so I needed to have lunch. One of my friend also stayed for lunch, so did I. Time to try the main course!! Most of the menu are for vegetarian. There is also menu for vegan. They don’t serve red meat at all if I remember correctly, only chicken and fish dishes. I ordered tuna sushi roll. It was really good. Oishi! Delicious! Each piece of the roll was quite big.
Tuna sushi roll
My visit didn’t end at that time. Another day after dogwalking, I stopped by as well with my friends. We brought our dogs and sat outside. This time I ordered the sandwich for breakfast. Mushroom and camembert sandwich. Again, it didn’t disappoint me. Yummy food. The mushroom was cooked in garlic, so delicious. Good camembert cheese, and crusty sandwich bread. You have to try it!
Mushroom and camembert Sandwich
I love the food here! Even tho I’m a meat lover, I still enjoy their food. It was tasty and healthier as well than meat.
Recent buying at this restaurant was vegan sushi. It was sushi roll filled with eggplant and teriyaki sauce. Delicious! I like eggplant, and I never found sushi using it so this one made me happy! I didn’t take picture of it because I was really hungry at that time lol, and it was take away order.
So if you are vegetarian or vegan or..just want to try a healthier option of food (but still delicious), you can try Thao Dien Coffee in District 2.
Address : 38 Tran Ngoc Dien, Thao Dien, Distric 2, Ho Chi Minh City.
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