There is an interesting backstory to this restaurant. It has been repeatedly told by a Vietnamese friend that seems to be super sure about its accuracy. Admittedly, I did not find any corroboration online (but also nothing to falsify it). So maybe I am uncovering something new for the English-speaking web, or maybe not.
It goes like this. The restaurant was opened in 1993 by a very famous Vietnamese composer and song writer named Trịnh Công Sơn (deceased in 2001) and now run by his younger sister Tam. With the name of the venue, he meant to hint his love for singer Lê Hồng Nhung (born 1970), nicknamed Bong. Tib should stand for “toi ieu Bong” or “I love Bong”, where “ieu” is a variation of the most common “yeu”, “to love”. It was probably a love not meant to happen given the huge age gap between the two. Certainly, Nhung/Bong was regarded as a powerful interpreter of Son’s love songs so the two of them were in some kind of relation.
The restaurant quickly gained notoriety as a luxury interpretation of Hue food (Trịnh Công Sơn grew up in Hue, a historic city and former Vietnam’s capital). That was something relatively new a that time. In 2007 Tib was chosen by George W. Bush, then president of the United States, to host a dinner with the Australian Prime Minister during a visit to Vietnam.
The visit
Tib restaurant is tucked away in an alley of Hai Ba Trung Street and occupies what could have been an old Saigon patrician house. The decor, characterized by massive wooden furniture and old paintings hanged on the wall, is both classy and decadent. You are usually welcomed by a Vietnamese gentleman dressed like a butler and of course old Vietnamese love songs play in the background.
This review is based on their original location in Hai Ba Trung. They also operate a vegetarian restaurant in District 1 called Tib Chay (170 Tran Quang Khai Street) and a more informal eatery in Phu My Hung (100 Nguyen Luong Bang Street, Dist 7).
I recommend you to eat at Tib in a large group so you can share multiple dishes that are usually designed for sharing. This is what I had with two friends.
As an appetizer we had banh beo, that is some tiny rice pancakes with ground shrimp. They are supposed to be dipped in fish sauce and you can add some chilies. Honestly I would not recommend this appetizer, there are better choices in the menu. It is just not that tasty.
Then I could not avoid ordering a soft shell crab fried with garlic. These soft shell crabs are one of my favorite dishes in Vietnam, as you can eat everything of the crab. Sometimes the frying is overdone, but not in this case.
As customary for seafood dishes, you can dip them in a sauce of lime, salt and pepper (see picture above; they leave you the pleasure to squeeze the lime).
Another classic Vietnamese dish: a fish soup with tomato, herbs and a good quantity of white fish. There were no bones. It is an excellent dish to share and have with rice.
Somebody in the party really wanted a beef steak. Please do not order a beef steak in this kind of restaurant, really a waste when so many more interesting items are available!
We also ordered some pork ribs glazed in sweet (and sticky) fish sauce. A bit messy to eat, but a nice flavor combining different tastes.
The check
The dishes my small party had represent just a tiny selection from a very vast menu. Soups, fish, meat, vegetables, you name it. Tib has a lot of choices. Still, I hope that this review can give you an idea of how Vietnamese find dining can look like.
The check (handwritten…) reflects the fine dining concept. We spent a total of 1,298,000 VND (or 56 USD, that is less than 20 USD per person) that may seem extreme for Vietnamese food, but it seems reasonable for a fine dining venue.
Evidently, Tib suffers from a lot of competition nowadays in Ho Chi Minh City and they seem happy to continue to provide their traditional menu. If you want to jump back in time and have a “vintage” fine dining experience with classic Vietnamese dishes, Tib may just be the right place. But if you fancy a hipster decor and innovative dishes, you may want to look elsewhere.
Where in Ho Chi Minh City:
187 ter Hai Ba Trung, District 3.
They have a website, even if not necessarily up to date.