Posted on 01/28/2010
Address: 978 Trần hưng Đạo Avenue . 5th District .HCM City
Au Pagolac is famous for their Bo 7 Mon beef (7 kinds of beef) dishes. Each beef dish is different from the others, from raw beef that must be dipped in the hotpot to grilled beef wrapped in herbs and spice leaves. The restaurant is very old and very well known, which should honestly be given a try by people who come to Saigon to eat... more...
Cay To' 9 Mon Dog Meat Restaurant, Saigon
Posted on 01/22/2010
Address: a lane somewhere in Saigon.
After Au Pagolac beef restaurant we decided to look for the dog meat restaurants we knew to exist in Saigon. Our local guide knew what we were talking about and gave the taxi directions. Somewhere in Saigon is a laneway with four dog meat street-side eating houses bunched together. After investigating the displays we decided on one which looked like it had the most selection, Cay To' 9 Mon. How does it taste one might ask? more...
Posted on 01/28/2010
Address: somewhere on the route between Can Tho and Vinh Long.
Second day of tour finds us having lunch at an outdoor food court. The kitchen is so far away from the main seating area that the waiters come rolling out in either roller skates or roller blades I cannot remember. Basically this place is a site set up for tour groups to have lunch. Interestingly there is a micro-brewery set up at the front that produces German beer. Since I do not drink I cannot report on the quality of these beverages.more...
Posted on 01/27/2010
Address: 80a ð nguyen trai, S riverfront, Can tho.
First dinner in Can Tho is at Doan 30 restaurant. Wandering toward what the tour guide had told us was the busy food and nightlife street, we asked around and were told that a good fine-dining restaurant making authentic Vietnamese food is Doan 30 Restaurant. Indeed this place is a fine-dining atmosphere, upscale ambience and cuisine. There was a large party in the restaurant when we arrived, a birthday I think, and it was interesting to observe how the locals make merry while we ate. more...
Pho Le Noodle Soup Restaurant, Saigon
Posted on 02/26/2010
According to Saigon restaurant guide vnnavi.com, "You can find here almost all types of Pho: tái, nạm, gầu, gân, bò viên,...Pho Le has the native flavour of Pho in the South, with sweet soup, fresh and clean vegetable. ". more...
Halal Saigon Restaurant, Saigon
Posted on 01/25/2010
Apparently Halal Saigon is the first high-end halal restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City to offer local food suitable for Muslims and other halal foodies ala Malays et al. According to the restaurant's originator "Hailing from Malaysia, my love for rich flavours started very early. After living in Vietnam for 15 years, I envisioned Halal@Saigon as the place to celebrate the fusion of Malaysian and Vietnamese flavours in a clean Halal environment." more...
Posted on 01/25/2010
The Binh Tay Market is an indoor wholesale market which is well known for its great bargains. The fantastic experience of wandering around this market for several hours cannot be adequately described by word alone. I should have taken video of this place to get across the vibrancy of locals haggling over well-known products which to me are as exotic as you can get -- the speed at which porters travel through the narrow corridors (not wide enough to be called aisles) packing oftentimes huge bags or boxes on their backs... more...
Posted on 01/25/2010
What can one say about the Rex? A historic hotel that served as base of operations for foreign journalists during the Vietnam War, the hotel has an old and a new wing. We stayed in a room of the old wing and experienced the old-school charm of this hotel that straddles an entire city block, all four sides! The restaurant on the top floor offers excellent views of central district HCMC as well as a first-class breakfast buffet (we did not eat here for lunch or dinner). Next time! more...
Posted on 01/29/2010
During my short stay in Ho Chi Minh City (3 days) I got to do a bit of street wandering, bumping into some pleasant street food surprises a couple times. Like the lady selling banana paper pastries next to Central Post Office across the street from St. Mary's Cathedral... or the suckling pig stands out during my evening motorcycle tour of city districts. more...