For years I had a recurring line with friends asking me to comment on Italian food in Saigon: “In Ho Chi Minh City there are a lot of Italian restaurants, but not really Italian food”. The joke illustrated the problem. Even the places run by Italians would be plagued by problems with personnel turnover and I found them very inconsistent and not going beyond the level of everyday cuisine. I can now confidently say that there is an exception to this trend and it is Romeo and Juliet (R&J) lounge and restaurant. And it is not just run-of-the-mill Italian food, but bona fide high cuisine fine dining (a rarity with Italian food in Asia). If you ask me what is my top pick for Italian cuisine in HCMC, R&J is now my answer.
R&J is one of the eateries of the luxury Reverie Hotel located in Times Square, one of Saigon’s iconic buildings, towering on two of the main central thoroughfares, Nguyen Hue and Dong Khoi. It features a heavily baroque dining room, but it is still intimate, with some booths for parties requiring privacy and the furniture is very comfortable.
Behind R&J, The Long and the other eateries of the Reverie and some sister properties there is a team mainly comprised of well-seasoned Italian chefs. Over the years I spoke, more than once, with their director, Giovanni, and I had a chance to speak to the new head chef of R&J, Enrico, that at the time of my visits had just overhauled the menu. Enrico hails from Capri, where he was working in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
The visit(s)
I visited R&J twice in July 2018. On my first visit I opted for one of their two set menus, Juliet. This was a five-course menu and provided a good introduction to the venue. On my second visit, I tested one of their lobster-based seasonal dishes. On both occasions, food and service were outstanding.
Let’s see what I got during the first visit. The service started with the bread basket and an amuse bouche. The bread basket alone is worth the visit! They have half dozen varieties of bread, all based on the Italian tradition, including delicious fritters with seaweed called “zeppoline” in Naples. The amuse bouche was also inspired by the flavors of Naples, admittedly one of the culinary capitals of Italy, and consisted in a bite of amberjack (“ricciola”) surmounted by zucchini and lumpfish roe, cooked in olive oil. Just delicious.
The first dish was a burrata, on a base of tomato jelly and a piece of roasted tomato. Olive oil, oregano and basil completed the presentation. The burrata was imported from Italy and retained all of its flavor.
The second dish was an oyster on crème brûlée and salmon roe in a creamy and succulent fish soup. I wish soup was always so good.
With the third dish, the meal reached its seafood climax with a seafood risotto. This is a traditional Italian dish and there was a lot of seafood including prawns, squid, razor clams, a mussel and a clam.
The fourth dish was a slowly cooked piece of brisket (a cut that is not so common in Italy and it is a favorite of mine). The brisket came with a very rich dressing whose core element was mushrooms.
Finally, a very Italian dessert, a chocolate tortino and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This kind of cake is served hot and comes with a heart of melting chocolate. I could not ask for a better ending.
The gallery below shows the individual dishes.
On my second visit I ordered à la carte. I wanted to try one of their seasonal dishes based on lobster from Nha Trang, a Vietnamese coastal city. I ordered three dishes.
The amuse bouche was an interesting combination of white asparagus, beef, a quail egg and sea grape. With my first dish, I sampled Vietnamese and French oysters. The French oysters were more meaty but the Vietnamese oysters did not disappoint. If you are hungry for oysters in Vietnam, go local. Then I had their octopus, imported from Japan and pan-seared, enriched by a lemony potatoes salad, salmon roe, and tarragon. Then, my main course was a special type of pasta, called “scialatielli“. This fettuccine-like pasta is typical of modern Campanian cuisine and became popular in the Eighties. Its main characteristic is that is is made with milk instead of eggs and with the addition of basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan cheese. The result is a velvety texture and a melt-in-your mouth effect. Apart from the half lobster, the pasta was prepared according to a modified Nerano recipe (Nerano is a city in Campania, an Italy’s region): basil, zucchini and shallot confit. All in all, this was a majestic lobster pasta dish.
Finally, during my visits, I was offered a chance also to try two other dishes: their lamb and their brand new fagottini. The lamb chop, coming from a fee range farm, was juicy and tasty and came with two potato mille-feuilles and spinach. It is a must-have of the Italian culinary tradition. The fagottini was a brand new dish. Fagottini is a type of filled pasta. In this case filled with lobster meat, dressed with caviar and sea grapes and enriched by asparagus and an extract of prawn. It was an incredibly rich and satisfying dish.
The check(s)
The first five-course dinner cost me 1,370,000 VND (around 60 USD), the second dinner with the lobster pasta cost me 1,492,000 VND (around 65 USD). I only had water, the cost of course can sensibly rise if you like a good wine pairing.
I found the pricing more than reasonable for what I got. In Vietnam this price point can be considered as luxury, but if you look at the wider region (Singapore, Greater China, etc.) this is actually great value for money. All the elements of a great dining experience were there: excellent service (with an Italian professional, Michele, overseeing the staff), comfortable environment, an optimal mix between local and imported top-notch ingredients, an equally optimal mix between creativity and respect for the tradition, masterful presentation of the dishes. This is fine dining at its best.
I have been in many Michelin-starred restaurants around the world. I can confidently say that R&J is on a par with many of the best restaurants I have experienced in my travels. I have to say that luckily the Michelin Guide has not come to Vietnam yet: as a result you can still find a team of chefs like the ones at the Reverie and at R&J that care about a great culinary product and are not just about getting stars from the Guide.
Needless to say, I highly recommend R&J for true high cuisine Italian style, something that you won’t experience anywhere else in Saigon. If you are looking for something more casual, The Long upstairs is also a great option (I recommend their original Naples pizza).
Where in Ho Chi Minh City:
The Reverie Saigon/Times Square Building (level B1), 22-36 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1.
You enter through The Long, the bar and restaurant between Times Square and Lucky Plaza (you can access it both from Nguyen Hue and from Dong Khoi).
Check R&J webpage to consult the menu and see what is going on.