Good Ol' Fake Meat - Ngoc Tho Restaurant (Saigon)

Ok... never heard of good fake meat until I got to Vietnam. Only of the usual suspects in any American hypermarket - fake burgers, fake chicken, fake hot-dogs - full of chemicals, flavorless, and spongy. Well, different story here, in Asia, even though I can't swear it's organic, but at least it has that tofu consistency, it's not mushy and has a taste to die for.

The quest for tasty fake meat in Saigon brought me quite quickly to Ngoc Tho, a little place on an alley off Pham Ngu Lao, in the backpackers' district. It doesn't look inviting, but the menu showcases an endless choice of awesome vegan options for very, very little money:

Vegetarian Fresh Spring Rolls - with a filling of crispy noodles and vegetables, that turned them into the best rolls we had in 10 months:

Fake chicken wings in satay sauce (my favorites by far, much better than the Original Buffalo Wings - shame on me!):

Crispy noodles with vegetables:

Fried rice with vegetables:

Vegetarian Banh Xeo - this version of this dish is much better than the traditional one, because it contains much more vegetables which are meant to make up for the lack of pork in the filling. And they do, believe me.

One more good thing about this kind of places is that they are amazingly inexpensive. Most prices are around 40,000 VND (roughly $2). For all the dishes above, 3 glasses of wine, many beers, and 2 sodas, we paid 450,000 VND ($23).

Ngoc Tho (Thiem Com Chay) - 175/9 Pham Ngu Lao St., District 1 - Ph: (08)38360162. Cash only.

Que Nha Restaurant (Saigon)

Egg rice

My penchant for egg rice is definite, but good egg rice can be hard to find, even if it is common food. But when it is accompanied by grilled squid with chili

 

mango salad with dried shrimp in fish sauce

 

grilled mudfish in bamboo leaves

and fried tofu in egg batter

it makes PERFECT dinner. At a Vietnamese restaurant called Que Nha, located in a very busy intersection in district 3, north of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai:

Que Nha - 01 Cong Truong Quoc Te, P6, Q3, Saigon; Tel: (08)62907061/62/63 www.amthucquenha.com. All major credit cards accepted.

David Pizzeria (Vung Tau)

The most advertised, the best located, the most popular, and maybe the best pizza place in Vung Tau is David. I say maybe because we haven't tried them all. But if you crave amazing thin-crust pizza, this is the place.

David Pizzeria belongs to an Italian from Florence, Marco, and his Vietnamese wife. Marco does his job really well - the place looks like an Italian trattoria and the food tastes like home... his home.

If you want a table with a view to the sea on the first floor, it's better to make a reservation. The place is always busy, the waiters are crazed, and the owner is probably in Ibiza, spending the profit. Well, no, he is not. Rumor has it that both his wife and him work hard in the pizzeria.

They serve both local and Italian dishes: pizza, pasta, antipasti, Mediterranean salads, home bread, deserts, as well as a nice wine selection, out of which il vino de la casa (red, brought from Sicily) is amazing (210,000 VND / 0.5 l). Their fish is also a treat and comes in many glorious versions: wahoo tuna steak, baked sea bass, deep fried perch, etc. But the real treat for most patrons was the slow roasted lamb/pork shank, served with new potatoes.

Pizza Napoli

 The helpings are huge and the food is really, but really good! Pizza comes in three versions: small (around 140,000 VND), medium (160,000 VND) and large (180,000 VND).

Insalata di frutti di mare

Mediterranean salad

David Pizza was located at 130 Ha Long St., West of the ferry terminal, but in December 2012 they moved to 92 Ha Long St (East of the terminal). I really wished we could have paid by credit card once they moved to this new location...

David Pizzeria - (address above), Ph: 064 385 6612.

Ganh Hao Restaurant (Vung Tau)

Being in Vung Tau for a couple of days over the weekend, we reserved our last night for a special treat: Ganh Hao restaurant. We had read its fabulous reviews on Tripadvisor and thought it would be worth a try.

Ganh Hao is located at 3 Tran Phu St., right next to the water and locals say it's the best Vietnamese restaurant in town, serving the best seafood. It is true--the food is gorgeous:

Fried Spring Rolls

Fried soft-shell crab in butter with garlic

Fried spinach with garlic

Service is fast and never fails to impress: they help you deal with the food with your are a foreigner and don't know how to make a decent rice paper roll, they recommend the best and most affordable items on the menu, and are very fast.

Fish steamboat

The menu is extended and well presented. Even if it is maybe pricier than other places in Vung Tau, it is still fairly reasonable. The bill for four people was around 900,000 VND ($45), with lots of Saigon beers included.

The place is huge and it can accommodate 200 people at the same time. Yet, it is always packed with tourists and locals. For this reason, it's not the best choice for a quiet dinner, but it is perfect for birthdays or parties with friends.Don't forget to make a reservation for dinners over the weekend.

Ganh Hao Restaurant - 3 Tran Phu St., P. 5, TP Vung Tau, Vung Tau; All major credit cards accepted. 

Ganh Hao

Hoa Tuc Restaurant - A Winner

After more than three months of various dining experiences in Saigon, I picked my favorite. Hoa Tuc was our dining choice on my birthday and we loved it.

Hoa Tuc Specials (c) Domitille Parent. source: Flickr.

It is tucked away on an alley off Hai Ba Trung Street, in what used to be Saigon's opium refinery. There are four other chi-chi restaurants on the same alley, among which Vasco's and Annz. It has a pretty outdoor garden setting, with very comfy chairs and couches, as well as a charming French period inside.

(c) Hoa Tuc Restaurant

(c) Hoa Tuc Restaurant.

The food is just wonderful. It's true it's on the pricey side for Vietnam, but you get exactly what you pay for. On our first time there, we splurged on 2 cocktails, 4 dishes, dessert, and (many bottles of) beer for 1.200.000 VND (roughly $60). We had

Sauteed shrimp in claypot.

Pomello and squid salad.

Fried tofu with lime, pepper, and mint.

Sauteed leaves with garlic.

...and passion fruit custard. Classy Contemporary Vietnamese cuisine.

Hoa Tuc also offers cooking classes and boasts an almost impeccable waiting staff.  Can't wait to go there again soon, really. It sounds like advertising, but I don't care :D.

Hoa Tuc Restaurant - 74/7 Hai Ba Trung St., Ph: (08) 3 825 84 85; www.saigoncookingclass.com

Bourdain's Lunch Lady: Sunday Treat

Sunday morning hangover in Saigon. Minor, though. But major crave for Bourdain's Lunch Lady's soup. This modest taverna, which is even marked on Google Maps, is tucked away on a quiet alley on the border between district 1 and Binh Thanh, under a fabulous tree, probably a chestnut. Small shabby plastic table and chairs, roosters crowing their way among them, steamed bottles of Red Saigon for half a buck, and this wonderfully smiling lady who serves amazing pho. Woooohooo!

But is she really THE Lunch Lady? I don't think it's her. I saw this other lady fidgeting around the food cart. Well, it seems the Lunch Lady (Nguyen Thi Thanh by her real name) got herself an assistant. No problem at all - the pho was fabulous: flavored broth, thin pieces of pork, shrimp, chives, quail eggs, liver, bean sprouts, and two kinds of noodles. 15,000 VND per bowl.

The Lunch Lady's sister has a smaller food cart right next to her and sells equally famous (so I've heard) traditional fresh spring rolls, stuffed with pork and shrimp. Other street peddlers toss around the lunch place, trying to talk the patrons into buying desserts, steamed corn on the cob, sunglasses, or combs.

We caught a glimpse of the celeb noodle lady and tasted one of her dishes, but can't say been there, done that. We plan much more visits to her stall - at least to figure out what her current menu is, if not to stuff our faces with one of the most gorgeous soups we've ever had.

Lunch Lady's Noodle Cart - 23 Hoang Sa, District 1, every day from 11:30 to 13:30.

The Sushi Bar

Craving sushi? We were today! So we popped in at The Sushi Bar at 2 Le Than Ton St., one of their five locations in Saigon. The place looks good and inviting. It's very clean, nicely decorated and air-conditioned. There is a kitchen station in the middle (the sushi bar, in fact), where you can see how food is prepared.

Service is fast and attentive. When you arrive, all the waiters scream welcome.  They often check the order slip at the table, to make sure they didn't forget anything. Patrons are served complimentary green tea and small appetizers.

The food is fresh and it literally melts in your mouth. Being our first time there, we ordered 5 kinds of sushi rolls: avocado, cucumbers, fermented soy beans, plum and perilla, and pickled vegetables, as well as a helping of pickled eggplants, but stuck to Tiger beer . We'll go there next time for a fish and seafood feast. I am sure it's not the greatest Japanese restaurant in town, but it's really inexpensive, especially compared to sushi places in Europe or the US, and the quality is good. We paid 19 dollars for a glass of wine, 4 beers, and 6 dishes. What a treat!

The prices displayed on the menu or on their website (http://sushibar-vn.com) do not include VAT. Major credit cards accepted. Food delivery available.

Pho 24 - Recommended, but Not for Vegans

If you want to dine on a budget and try local cuisine, but you aren't quite up to a street side stall, then Pho 24 could be the right choice. These guys franchise their home grown food - so this is like a Vietnamese McDonalds - but much cleaner and tastier.

Pho 24 - 82 Nguyễn Du, District 1

We landed in the eatery on Nguyen Du after quite a long walk to the Zoo coming from the touristy Pham Ngu Lao and loved their spotlessly clean, nicely decorated, air-conditioned setting. The food smelled great as well, and the waiters spoke some English. This is the right choice for a quick or a take-away meal, but also for a lunch with your family. Yet, I would not go there for dinner, I'd rather grab some bowls of pho and have them at home, with a glass of red one on the side .

The menu is not so varied, though - they have only pho, appetizers, desserts, refreshments, beer (Tiger and 333), coffee, and tea. We tried their lime juice with ice (17,000 VND - $0.80) and pineapple juice (25,000 VND - $1.19) - tasty and inexpensive. We didn't try any of their soups though, as we were on our fasting day - a major downside of this place is the fact they don't have any vegan or vegetarian dish. They should also have at least one or two seafood dishes.

This might not be the authentic Vietnamese pho experience, but I can confirm their soups are made entirely from fresh ingredients. We were quite close to the cooking spot and could see how heaps of fresh herbs and meats were disappearing in those enormous pots. We will definitely go back to Pho 24 for lunch or for a take-away.

For the full menu and prices, visit their website - www.pho24.com.vn.