You cannot splurge every day. In Saigon Center, Ho Chi Minh City, there is a sushi restaurant to keep in mind for a cheap but yet quality sushi meal.
The visit
The restaurant is located in the second basement of Saigon Centre, in the heart of Saigon and its full name is Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru. It is a conveyor belt sushi restaurant (I reviewed a similar restaurant in Tokyo). From what I understand it is originally from Singapore.
They have two types of seating arrangements: counter and booths for groups.
Rules of the house.
What is notable is that they serve a lot of different types if sushi, like this gizzard shard known for its strong flavor.
Another very unusual sushi in Saigon, with a fluffy egg custard.
A shrimp croquette.
Another sushi with a strong flavor: mackerel, seared with vinegar.
I also ordered from the menu (they have reduced the number of dishes on the conveyor belt, but the number is still significant). The menu, by the way, comprises also many other Japanese food classics, such as ramen.
The first trio of sushi included tuna, tuna belly and negitoro (minced tuna). The second one included snapper, hamachi, and tuna again.
Finally I had some tuna sashimi. Not the best tuna in town, but very good value.
They serve over 100 types of sushi.
The check
Total check was 376,300 VND (or 16.20 USD). A single sushi dish from the conveyor belt was 27,500 VND (1.18 USD).
Ikeikemaru is good value for money and at the same time it provides a nice assortment of sushi that is difficult to come by even in higher end restaurants in Saigon.
Where in Ho Chi Minh City: 65 Le Loi, B2 Floor, Saigon Center.
Update 2020: After the March lockdown the restaurant did not re-open. Keep an eye on their FB page to see if they re-open.
Gourmet Spanish food definitely has come to Ho Chi Minh City. One of the best exemplars of this new wave of Spanish restaurants in town is Octo Tapas Restobar that I visited twice during the initial days of the lunar new year 2019.
The visit(s)
The “restobar” is located on the second floor of a building also hosting other restaurants. It is a very modern environment, but only with high chairs. It is a stone’s throw away from the iconic Bitexco Tower.
You need to climb two flight of stairs to get to the venue, but the effort will be rewarded.
Complimentary chips.
They have quite an extensive menu of tapas. The first time I settled for some classics. My first dish was ham croquettes.
The second dish came from the list of their signature tapas and was a bowl of mussels with chorizo in a creamy sauce. Maybe too creamy for my taste, but a memorable dish.
I also tried their huevos rotos that were effectively a creamy egg custard with ham.
I also tried one of their specials off the menu (tip: look at the board above the bar): sourdough bread with tomatoes and smoked anchovies. Sometimes you can find bliss in simplicity or maybe it is just my particular taste, but this dish was just so good.
Finally I had churros with an excellent chocolate mousse.
But I wanted to try more. So I went back the day after for a second visit.
I had the non-alcoholic version of a Moscow mule.
Then I tried their version of a katsu sando (the Japanese cutlet sandwich). The white bread cuddled a chunk of pinkish iberico pork. A great dish that met my expectations completely.
And, grand finale, I had their ox cheek with scallops. This was a superb dish. The ox cheek was very tender and it was nice to have the scallops to counterbalance the flavor.
The check(s)
Regarding the checks, I must specify that there was an additional 10% surcharge that was added because of the time of the year. Many restaurants in Vietnam have some extra charge in the days following Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year, as it is usually difficult to have staff available on those days.
The first check was 1,056,275 VND or 44 USD for five dishes and a coke.
The second check was 784,300 VND or 33.75 USD for two substantial tapas and the mocktail.
Most tapas dishes were priced between 6 and 10 USD and could have been reasonably shared between two people.
While I understand that the environment caters to people indulging in drinks as well, I totally recommend Octo Tapas for its food. I am sure that everyone could find, as I did, some memorable tapas in their extensive menu. Personally I hope to go back in my next trip to Saigon to try even more options.
A good friend of mine in Guangzhou, during my January 2019 food expedition, brought me, with another acquaintance, in his favorite Japanese-style izakaya.
We went in a residential area and the izakaya, in the best of the Japanese tradition, was in the ground floor of a non-descript apartment building.
The staff was very happy to see my friend.
The visit
The dishes started to quickly flood the table.
First dish was a shirako sashimi (it was the season). This is a Japanese delicacy very difficult to find outside Japan.
Then we got the first part of an Hokkaido’s king crab. The claws were rich of pulp to pike.
Then a typical izakaya dish was served: grilled squid with cheese. We ordered two.
A very tasty boiled abalone.
Then the rest of the crab came grilled with cheese.
Then we went from sea to land with a piece of wagyu steak.
One of the highlights of the dinner was a grilled Japanese kinki fish chosen from the available fresh fish of the day. The kinki is regarded more and more as a luxury as only limited quantities are available every year. The perfect white pulp was consistently delicious and it lived up to its reputation.
By now you would say that we were done… but some of the best dishes were yet to come. The next dish was cooked at the table and was an original sea urchin dumpling in a kimchi soup.
I can only say that I would be glad to eat this kind of dumplings every day! I found it an excellent fusion dish, including the kimchi soup that I gladly drank to the last drop.
We also sampled some yakitori. The chicken skin was perfect.
Now toward the end of the dinner, we were served Chinese pastries filled with cream cheese both sweet and savory.
Also a salad was served.
The dessert included a trio of sorbets (I had the apricot one),
And at the very end we got a panna cotta.
The check
The dinner was offered by my friend and he insisted that I took a picture of the check as he knows that I run this blog where I always publish the final check. The check was substantial and had two big ticket items (the crab and the kinki fish), with many of the other dishes very reasonably priced.
If you are craving for izakaya food in Guangzhou, this restaurant does a fantastic job. I would be back just for the sea urchin dumplings. They only have a Chinese menu.
Where in Guangzhou: 61 Jiaochang East Road (a couple of blocks south of Martyr’s Park station of metro line 1, exit A)
The White Swan hotel is a 28-story luxury hotel overlooking the Pearl River. Opened in 1983, it is Guangzhou’s first truly five star hotel and in 2015 a massive renovation was completed. It is also a culinary destination in Guangzhou as it features a number of high-end restaurants including a Michelin-starred venue.
They even have a waterfall in the lobby.
The visit
In late January 2019, along with three friends I had a Sunday dim sum in the Hongtu Hall restaurant, the largest dining venue in the hotel overlooking the river. On weekends, they serve the same dim sum menu also in the Jade River restaurant located upstairs (it is the Michelin-starred one).
Dim sum is super popular in Guangzhou and Sunday morning is the busiest time for dim sum. We were handed our tickets and waited around half an hour to get a table in the busy dining room. Number progression was shown on a screen.
With a touch of class, the tea was professionally poured by a waitress.
Various dim sum dishes soon began to reach the table. One of the first was stewed chicken feet. It is an extremely popular dish, but I had to give a pass. I yet have to become acquainted with chicken feet, even if they seem to enjoy a great deal of popularity everywhere in East and South East Asia.
Then we had an excellent crispy egg tart (on the left) and a crispy crumbling pastry called sachima (on the right). This type of pastry originated in North East China and is now popular nationwide. It is made of fluffy strands of fried batter bound together with a stiff sugar syrup, but the result is not too sweet. It was the first time I had it.
Turnip cake. Always nice.
Classic shrimp dumplings. Very tasty.
Baked pork buns with minced pork. This dish had a delicately sweet backtaste.
Steamed rice flour.
The swan-shaped dim sum was a pastry filled with chestnut paste.
A very special dish that we shared was a portion of sun flower chicken. The chicken was served cold and what is special is that it is a chicken mainly fed with sun flower seeds. It is difficult to describe, but there is indeed something special about this chicken meat. Only drawback was that there was not a lot of meat.
The check
Total check was 1154 RMB (or 172 USD). That was 43 USD per person. This can be regarded as expensive for dim sum, but considering the five star venue the final price seemed quite acceptable.
All the dishes were excellent, I could rank them as one of the best dim sum I ever had. The menu is very extensive, so it is a very good idea to go as a party to enjoy more variety.
In January 2019 I had a chance to experience a classic beef hot pot in Guangzhou. Beef hot pot is a very popular cuisine in China and I was fortunate enough to have the company of two local friends that introduced me to the inner workings of a beef hot pot dinner.
The visit
My friends selected a very popular establishment called Chao Fa Beef Shop (潮发牛肉店). We had to queue around ten minutes before getting a table.
The menu was very detailed and allowed to choose specific cuts. We ordered a nice assortment of cuts.
The first step of the dinner was to wash the plates in hot tea, a typical tradition in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
The tea was also good to drink!
The second step of the evening was to get to the dip sauce station and mix your own sauce.
Above is my personal dipping sauce, mildly spicy.
Beef came on platters thinly cut. Everything was really fresh.
The meat would be positioned in a colander and dipped in the boiling hot pot. Each time it would be dipped only half a second, quickly retracted and the cycle would be repeated half a dozen times until the meat was cooked.
I was particularly impressed by the fact that each cut tasted remarkably different. I guess this was also function of the freshness of the beef provided in this restaurant.
A special dish was the beef balls pictured above. The meat of this balls is freshly prepared every day: it is grounded and hammered until it is finely pulverized.
The beef ball had a very fine texture and were impressively dense. Kind of beef squared. I particularly enjoyed them with the sauce.
We also tried some cow innards. This dish was won. Upon check in, we were given the chance to participate in an instant lottery.
I also drank coconut milk from a popular brand (celebrating 30 years in business).
The check
No check because I was a guest in this dinner.
The dinner was highly enjoyable. The beef was all excellent and I really appreciated to try so many different flavors by sampling different parts of the cow. The beef hot pot in China is a very interesting food experience.
Where in Guangzhou: Name of the restaurant in Chinese: 潮发牛肉店 115-12 Changxing Road, Tianhe District In Chinese: 广东省广州市天河区长兴路115-12 邮政编码: 510640
One of the highlights of my January 2019 food weekend in Guangzhou was discovering an artisan gelato maker in a relative remote shopping mall. The shop is using Italian machines and making excellent ice cream leveraging on local ingredients.
The visit
I was taken to the gelato shop by a friend. It would have been virtually impossible to get there alone, as the shop only has a Chinese name and is not easily found on Google and other English-friendly portals.
The shop is located in an interesting shopping mall called Grand Tea Mall that features high-end teas from around China.
The shop has a nice sitting area outside in the middle of the shopping area.
Just looking at the seasonal flavor assortment I immediately got the impression of an artisan production. One of their feature is to always have on offer a few flavors based on tea.
We spoke to one of the owners and the main gelato maker that explained how all the ingredients were fresh and natural (made from scratch) and many phases of the production were even made by hand, producing small batches.
I had their tasting option that provided six medium scoops on cones. An excellent way to seriously sample their offering.
My selection included chocolate, ginger, and green tea.
Strawberry yogurt and two types of tea.
All flavors provided were very dense and provided clear-defined flavors.
They had Italian beverages from San Pellegrino too, in particular one of my favorite, Chinotto, a type of natural cola from Italy.
The check
The price point was very reasonable, with my feast costing just 65 RMB (or just below 10 USD).
I highly recommend this gelato shop that is well worth the trip from other parts of Guangzhou.
Where in Guangzhou: You won’t find the address on the English web. My tip is the following:
Take the exit D at the Pazhou stop of metro line 8. The Grand Tea Mall is juts around the corner.
Or you can use the following address: 1000 Xingang E Rd, Haizhu Qu, Guangzhou In Chinese: 广东省广州市海珠区新港东路1000号
While not artisan gelato, Osterberg is an interesting departure from the international ice cream chains that dominate Ho Chi Minh City: it hails from Denmark and it is a family business. In Vietnam the business is managed by Cathrine, who makes all the recipes herself and has a background in Food Science from the University of Copenhagen. The ice cream is freshly made in Ho Chi Minh City with modern equipment.
The visit
In Ho Chi Minh City they have a small ice cream shop in District 2.
They offer a nice assortment of flavors inspired both by their Nordic origins and by the fresh ingredients available in Vietnam. This means flavors such as liquorice, elderflower, buckthorn and blackcurrant (recommended!) on the one side and red dragonfruit, soursop, jackfruit, and lychee on the other.
My personal favorite is their chocolate sorbet (in general I find their sorbets – basically ice cream without the milk – better than regular ice cream flavors). The chocolate flavor emerges so neatly.
I particularly like their ice-blended option: around two scoops of ice cream are blended with milk and ice: the resulting beverage has the right density for me and retains the original flavor.
UPDATE (July 2019): They discontinued the ice blend option for lack of demand. Travesty!
The check
A single scoop, like in the cup pictured in the previous section, is 55,000 VND (2,4 USD). The ice blend was 75,000 VND (3,2 USD).
If you are in district 2, Osterberg is an ice cream experience that I recommend (well, a lot less now that they discontinued the ice blend).
My assessment is that Ho Chi Minh City is full of Italian restaurants, but Italian food is very scarce. In my February 2019 trip I noticed that places serving questionable pasta mushroomed around the city. A new trend maybe? What is certain is that authentic Italian food is still hard to come by. On the luxury side I keep recommending R&J, but you cannot splurge every day. Hence, finding a mid-range restaurant serving authentic Italian food warrants a review.
The visit
The restaurant is called La Forchetta and is located in Phu My Hung, in the Southern part of Saigon. It is run by an experienced Italian chef and his son. It could be best described as a one-man show.
The restaurant occupies part of the ground floor of a Phy My Hung hotel. Most of the tables are on an open veranda and an air-conditioned dining room is also available. I personally prefer dining in the veranda, even if sometimes mosquitoes can be a bit annoying.
For a small restaurant, the menu is impressively extensive. All Italian classics are there and much more: a long list of pastas, pizzas, meat and seafood mains.
A bread basket is always included in the price.
In one visit I had squid ink raviolis filled with sea bass and coming with a dressing of crab meat. They were handmade by the chef. It was a delicious pasta dish, difficult to find in Italian restaurants abroad.
Then I had an Italian cutlet. While the original Italian cutlet is made with veal as this kind of meat is difficult to come by in Vietnam, this was a generous portion of chicken cutlet.
On a second visit I had a cold meat platter. Very large, it had two types of salamis, hams, bacon, baloney.
Finally I had a dish of spaghetti with sausage, sprouts (usually is nuts, but they were finished on that day, during lunar new year), and cheese.
All the dishes were absolutely authentic and very tasty.
The check
My first meal cost me 370,000 VND (16 USD). The second one cost a little bit more (around 20 USD because of the cold meat platter, check not pictured). I see these prices as very reasonable considering the generous portions and the quality of the offering.
If you are after authentic homemade Italian food in Ho Chi Minh City, La Forchetta is worth a detour.
The term “hidden gem” is fairly abused in reviews (all kind of reviews). I used it elsewhere too! But in this case it is very fitting. We are speaking of a gem and it is off the beaten path. You would never imagine to encounter a hot spot for Western high cuisine in one of the alleys of Phu My Hung, the Southern district of Saigon mostly known for its shopping malls and the large Korean community.
This nice anomaly in a food scene mainly catering to the Korean community was made possible by Jane and her husband Michael that set up shop in one of the many hotels/serviced apartments complexes in the neighborhood bringing their experience from Portland, USA.
The restaurant is located on the ground floor of one of these non-descript buildings. The dining room only allows a dozen of people or so to dine at the same time. For this reason they operate on a reservation basis only, but I saw online that the owners claim that they would not refuse a walk-in if space allowed. The dining room is very comfortable, but it should be noted that it is not designed to be a fancy lounge. The focus is on the food and the service. (The visits took place in the original location. In April 2019 the bistro moved to a new location that I have not visited yet.)
The visit
I visited the bistro twice to write this review, once in the summer of 2018 and once right after Vietnamese Lunar new year (February 2019). The bistro has been around since 2015, but I learnt about it only in 2018.
The first time I ordered one of their set menus. It was a perfect way to get an introduction to their cuisine.
I was welcomed with an healthy carrot drink. I need to note that they went above and beyond as they replaced the original drink when they heard that I was not a big fan of pineapple (just a preference, I am not allergic by the way).
The lunch began with a bang, with a delicious Australian King Crab cake with orange dressing and orange gel.
The second appetizer was a veal empanada coming with smoked creamy tomato sauce. It is nice how the chef pays homage to a number of cuisines.
The first main was a piece of chicken with a unique garlic and passion fruit sauce.
The second main was absolutely fantastic: a lamb rack perfectly cooked and made even tastier by handpicked condiments: roasted white beans, cured carrots, and Mediterranean dukkah.
This feast was completed by a dessert: a home made apple mulberry cobbler topped by a scoop of vanilla ice cream by our favorite Saigon’s mastro gelataio, Ralf.
I went back on another occasion for a dinner.
I had a dish of shrimp scampi as an appetizer. As always, both the main ingredient and the condiments were perfectly amalgamated in the dish and led to great flavor.
I equally enjoyed a creamy pumpkin soup.
Then I had a fish fillet (grouper) that was a little masterpiece with layers of different elements beginning with a base of quinoa. This dish, again, illustrated very well the philosophy of Jane’s Bistro: high quality and healthy ingredients amalgamated in creative ways but never for creativity’s sake.
I completed my meal with a layered chocolate cake. This was so beautiful (maybe to the level of Trump’s cake?) and satisfying. They make their own cakes.
The check
The first meal was 1,035,000 VND (around 45 USD at that time). For a feast of this quality this sum was an absolute bargain.
The second check was 851,000 VND (36.70 USD). I noticed later that they did not charge me for the cake.
Is Jane’s bistro worth the 30-minute trip from downtown Saigon (District 1)? Absolutely it is. Excluding the five-star hotels (and they are a mixed bag to say the least), it may be very hard to find a similar experience in Saigon, combining skillful execution, quality and healthy ingredients and a nice touch of creativity. Maybe a place like Quince could be comparable (with a nicer location, but also a way higher price point).
In conclusion Jane’s Bistro brought something new in Saigon’s food scene and I am very jealous of the resident of Phu My Hung that have this restaurant just around the corner.
Where in Ho Chi Minh City: 19 Hung Gia 4, Phu My Hung, District 7, Ho Chi Minh The review refers to the old location. New location in 96 Le Van Thiem, District 7, just a couple hundred meters from the original location. Tel: 09 0909 6505 (reservations preferred) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janebistro/
I have already reviewed Le Corto, a fine French restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City and I have praised the creativity and substance of its dishes. The weekend brunch warrants a separate review.
The visit
I had booked my spot for the brunch a couple of weeks in advance (exchanging a couple of messages through the restaurant’s Facebook page). Since the main dining room is not huge, spots are limited.
The brunch included a spread of appetizers, cold meats, cheese, seafood and the possibility to order a selection of dishes. In a nice contrast to other buffets following this format, guests are allowed to order as many mains as they wish.
Oysters and prawns.
Boiled vegetables and slow-cooked chicken breast.
Some salads.
Cheese and smoked salmon.
The cold meat section including Serrano ham.
Some of the desserts,
Above pictures some of the dishes I enjoyed from the buffet.
From the dishes on demand, I had the gratinated lobster.
The poached egg.
The check
The price of the brunch is 650,000 VND net. Since drinks are not included, the real price is a little bit higher. My check was 720,000 VND (31 USD) that was an absolute bargain.
I really appreciated the balance between the buffet quality selection and the hot dishes on demand. Service was good and the atmosphere was pleasant. This may well be the best brunch deal in Ho Chi Minh City at the moment.
