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).
Where in Ho Chi Minh City:
94 Xuan Thuy, District 2
Website: http://www.osterberg-ice.vn/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/osterbergvn/