Tag: District 7

Authentic Italian restaurant in Phu My Hung

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.

Where in Ho Chi Minh City:
24(R3-37) Cao Trieu Phat, Hung Gia 3, Tan Phong Ward, Dist.7
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/La-Forchetta-Ristorante-Italiano-1607187852881339/ 

Western high cuisine in Phu My Hung: Jane’s Bistro

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/

The Japanese samurai that built a pizza empire in Vietnam: Pizza 4P’s

I still remember when in one of my first visits to the original location of Pizza 4P’s in Ho Chi Minh City I had a brief chat with the founder Yosuke Masuko. It was back in 2011 if my memory is correct (but I see sources that say that the first venue opened in 2012). Pizza 4P’s (Pizza for peace) was an instant hit. It is and it has always been one of the few restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City where a reservation is necessary. I remember that in our quick conversation Masuko was showcasing his mozzarella cheese that they were producing locally and even selling to other restaurants. They continue to make their own cheeses, not only mozzarella, but also burrata, Camembert and many others. I also remember how they enlarged their first venue taking over the adjacent coffee shops. But was only around 2015-2016 that the expansion took off and they started to open new locations in Ho Chi Minh City, and then in Hanoi and Da Nang. According to a profile published on the Japan Times, they have plan to go international and open outlets in Thailand, Japan and USA.

This is the type of entrepreneurial stories that I like: someone animated by passion delivering a superior product and customer experience, after many trials and errors. Masuko and his wife showed the tenacity and consistency of real samurai. And it is probably not a coincidence that actually Masuko’s wife family had bona fide samurai in her lineage and their symbol is now part of the logo of Pizza 4P’s.

The visit

I have dined at Pizza 4P’s so many times throughout the years, usually in their flagship location on Le Than Ton street or in the one in District 7. In my latest visit, I had a dinner with friends in their District 7 location and I tried for the first time their branch near Ben Thanh Market on a lunch by myself.

Since my last visit, the menu has kept expanding and now it features a number of collaborations. For example they have a number of new dishes created in collaboration with chef Takuto Nakamura (shrimp ricotta ravioli, mushroom and chicken miso sauce spaghetti, squid and orange whey fettuccine). They now have some desserts featuring Marou chocolate and they have Onibus coffee from Tokyo. One thing that I noticed is that there are some minor differences in the menu according to the location. For example the menu in District 7 contained some additional pasta items, while the menu in Ben Thanh had a larger selection of spirits.

During the first visit I ordered an anchovy pizza with burrata, another pizza with ham and Camembert and a pasta dish (spaghetti bolognese with Parmesan cheese). We also had some ricotta cheese wrapped in ham (reminiscent of the Vietnamese wraps).  During my solo lunch I took advantage of the possibility to have a pizza with two toppings and I went for salami-chorizo and 3 cheeses (mozzarella, Parmesan, Camembert) and also had a caprese salad (tomato and mozzarella cheese).

All the food was fantastic as always. Pizza of course is their forte. The pizza is soft, with a slightly crispy crust and you can taste the freshness of the tomato and mozzarella sauce. Even if the toppings can be “heavy”, I would describe this pizza as light; never had problems digesting it and going about my day after a lunch at Pizza 4P’s. I am less enthusiastic about their pasta; it is not really Italian original pasta, I guess it is more appealing for the international public, but they do have some interesting dishes. Is this Italian pizza? I would say that the pizza actually is pretty consistent with the Italian tradition; where they add their originality is of course in the selection of toppings (from salmon sashimi to ginger pork or calamari seaweed, they certainly have a number of options that you will not find in an Italian pizza place).

Some recommendations based on my experience:

  1. Use the option to have two toppings to try more varieties.
  2. Try to have a pizza with burrata, especially if you have never had burrata (the one with anchovy is probably the cheapest option, otherwise go all in with their massive margherita pizza with burrata and Parma ham).
  3. Try their cheeses. There are some interesting sampler platters listed among the appetizers.
  4. Among the desserts, try the tiramisu (by no accident, since tiramisu is based on mascarpone, another cheese).

The check

The dinner for 3 cost 829,000 VND (about 36 USD, that’s 13 USD per person) and included drinks and an appetizer. My solo lunch cost 334,000 VND (about 14,50 USD). This prices are a good illustration of the value for money offered by Pizza 4P’s: quick service, nice ambiance and, what is more important, unique and delicious food very reasonably priced. Desserts could add another 4 or 5 USD per person to the bill. The only pizza that would cost you much more is the famed Burrata Parma Ham Margherita that costs around 20 USD, but it is totally worth since it comes literally covered in Parma ham (actually I would recommend it). So these are the reasons that keep luring me back to Pizza 4P’s.

Where in Ho Chi Minh City:
Please check their website for un up to date list of locations and for online reservation.