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.
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, Β 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!
Update 7 March2018: This restaurant is permanently closed.Β
I wonder why I’ve never heard about this restaurant before. In Tripadvisor, it has higher rank than cuc gach quan! I’m guessing there was some changes in this restaurant that made it more famous now. This restaurant is like a hidden gem. Located in small street and on 2nd floor of diet center (Yea i know, they are tricky right?! Make you eat a lot and feel guilty then you will join their slimming program xD ). Their address isΒ 27E TrαΊ§n NhαΊt DuαΊt, TΓ’n Δα»nh, Hα» ChΓ Minh. Open from 10 am to 10 pm everyday.
Their main dishes are Vietnamese food. I heard their com tam (broken rice) with grilled pork is good, so I ordered that. While my husband ordered their lunch set. As you can see below, they have 6 sets for lunch, for 99k vnd (including vat). It consists of appetizer, main dish and drink. Quite a bargain! (Update : Last time I went there, they changed the lunch set menu. It only has Set 1, 3, 4 and Veg Set)
Lunch Set Menu @ Ru Restaurant
The first dish has come!
Deep Fried Spring Rolls
This spring rolls are awesome! Really really good! Crispy but not overcooked, and it tasted really yummy (yes it made me smile!). Must order this one again next time, but not from lunch set because it’s only 2 pcs π¦ I want moreee~!
Sauteed Pho Noodle with Australian Beef
For this menu, the waitress asked if we want normal noodle or dry noodle. Since we saw a review about crispy noodle being recommended, we ordered with crispy noodle. I love this dish as well. The veggies are nicely cooked. The beef were juicy and seasoned perfectly. When you eat it all together (crispy noodle + beef + veggies), it’s really delicious. Yum~!
Broken Rice with BBQ Pork
This one is my favorite. Well-cooked broken rice, and that BBQ pork… tastes like heaven! I can easily cut it, and very juicy. It almost melt in my mouth. The side veggies was not my favorite.
It is a really nice place to have lunch or dinner. You should try it. I definitely will come back!
Banh Mi is one of thing I would miss from Vietnam when I left. I like this bread very much, and especially they filled it with meat and vegetables inside. Banh Mi is a Vietnamese Sandwich. The bread looks like French Baguette but they are not the same. I like banh mi better than baguette, because of the crunchiness of the skin and the softness inside. If you are visiting Vietnam then banh mi is one of the food you have to try.
There are many banh mi sellers in Ho Chi Minh City. You can find it almost everywhere, on the side of the street or even in fancy restaurant where the price is very high of course. Last week I had visitor and they wanted to try banh mi. I brought them to Banh Mi Huynh Hoa in district 1. It is located atΒ 26 LΓͺ Thα» RiΓͺng street. We were just finished visiting the museum and we were hungry at that time, around 3.30 pm. I saw on google that this banh mi opened at 2.30 pm. Good chance to try it!
Banh Mi Huynh Hoa
When we arrived there, there were several people in queue. But don’t give up by the sight! They were very fast in preparing and serving the banh mi. A guy asked me in Vietnamese how many banh mi I want to buy. I said two. Their price is higher than other banh mi seller. Usually the price ranges from 10.000 vnd to 17.000 vnd, but this one costs 32.000 vnd. I saw many kind of meat in their cart.
Banh Mi Huynh Hoa
They don’t have space to dine-in. You have to take it elsewhere to eat it. In our case, we went back to our apartment. Once at home, I took a plate and a knife, cut the banh mi to several pieces because we would like to share. And of course didn’t forget to take picture π
Banh Mi Huynh Hoa
I must say this is the best banh mi I’ve ever eaten in Saigon. It had a lot of meat, perfect seasoning, good amount of vegetables as well. Just perfect! I will buy this again (and of course will recommend it to my friends).
Most of the meat (or even all of the meat!) are pork meat. My husband didn’t like it though, because it had liver pate too inside. He doesn’t like pate, and inside the banh mi there was quite a lot of pate for his taste. That’s too bad π¦
Anyway… this banh mi is a must-try. The price is worth it for that much meat filling. They are open from 2.30 pm til 11.00 pm. Will go there again next time.
On my second time to La Fenetre Soleil, I met Mrs Cinta, the owner of that place. She is a very kind lady and she told me about many dishes that are off menu. We can order it but not on the menu yet. If you haven’t read about this restaurant, you can read it here.
La Fenetre Soleil, despite of their french name, it sells Indonesian food. And this time I will write about their off-menu dishes.
La Fenetre Soleil Menu
La Fenetre Soleil Menu
This is their standard menu. And these are the meals that are not there :
Bebek Goreng Surabaya 180.000 vnd.
Rawon 200.000 vnd.
Soto Betawi
Gado-gado
and many more (will update soon).
Last time when I went there, we ordered many foods so now let me review them π
Chicken satay – this one is good! the satay sauce is yummy and the chicken is tender.
Chicken tender – yummy.
Perkedel Jagung – delicious.
Tahu Isi – Very good.
Pecel – Too spicy for me, can’t taste it properly.
Ayam Goreng – good.
Bebek Goreng – delicious. Eat it with the gravy!
Sop Buntut – good. soup is delicious, meats are tender.
Rawon – okay. it’s lack of ‘kluwak’ taste but I guess they made it to cater international taste.
Sayur Asem – good.
Rendang – good. not too spicy.
My husband and his friends loved it! Yes, the food is mostly yummy. Never had enough of this. If you’re looking for a good Indonesian restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, then you should visit this one. Can’t go wrong with the taste π
tastymonial 