Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [70]
Also out this way is Dam Sen Leisure Park at 3 Hoa Binh (Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat & Sun 8am–7.30pm; 25,000đ, children 15,000đ). Its kitsch diversions – fountains, themed gardens and fairground rides – won’t appeal to everyone, but it’s a welcome retreat from the frenetic pace of the city. Next door, the Dam Sen Water Park (Mon–Sat 9am–6pm, Sun 8.30am–6pm; 80,000đ, children 50,000đ) is a great place to cool down, and easy to get to; take a number 11 bus from Ben Thanh bus station.
Ho Chi Minh City and around |
Eating
Hanoi may be Vietnam’s administrative capital, but Saigon is without doubt its culinary capital. Besides Vietnamese cuisine, which these days enjoys global popularity, just about every other type of food you could imagine is served here, including Indian, Italian, Brazilian, Japanese, Mexican, Lebanese and German, though perhaps predictably French restaurants comprise the most formidable foreign contingent in town. The French legacy is also evident in the city’s abundance of cafés, which are scattered throughout the city.
Though you’ll probably be tempted by a pizza or burrito at some time during your stay, it would be a crime to ignore the fabulous variety of indigenous food on offer, both in sophisticated restaurants and at streetside stalls. Owing to the transitory nature of foodstalls, it’s impossible to make specific recommendations, but there are plenty to choose from (See "Street kitchens" for more on how to spot a good one). One area well worth checking out in the evening is around Ben Thanh Market, where a cluster of foodstalls offer a bewildering variety of dishes, many specializing in seafood.
Ho Chi Minh City and around | Eating |
Restaurants
One step up from street stalls are eating houses, where good, filling rice and noodle dishes are served from buffet-style tin trays and vast soup urns. If you chance upon such a place displaying something that catches your eye, just point, sit down and eat, then pay a pittance later.
Cheap restaurants, concentrated around De Tham, Pham Ngu Lao and Bui Ven, which cater exclusively for travellers, are fine if you want an inexpensive steak and chips or some fried noodles, but hardly in the league of the city’s heavyweights, its specialist restaurants. Of course, by Vietnamese standards, these restaurants are incredibly expensive – eat at one and you’ll probably spend enough to feed a Vietnamese family for a month – but by Western standards many of them are low-priced, and the quality of cooking is consistently high. What’s more, ingredients are fresh, with vegetables transported from Da Lat, and meat often flown in from Australia.
Many of the upmarket hotels run lunch buffets, which at around $15 for as much as you can eat are excellent value. Some of the swankier restaurants lay on reasonably-priced set menus and also live traditional music in order to lure diners – we’ve mentioned a few such places in our listings. Though there are many delectable dishes to discover in Ho Chi Minh City, keep an eye open for chao bo, slithers of beef grilled on sticks of lemon grass, which can be superb when the beef is well marinated. You’ll find it on the menu of a few of the places listed below, such as Vietnam House and Blue Ginger.
Ho Chi Minh City and around | Eating | Restaurants |
Central Ho Chi Minh City
The following are all marked on the map "Eating and Drinking: Central Ho Chi Minh".
Al Fresco’s 27 Dong Du. Huge portions of everything here – pizzas, steaks, burgers and barbecued ribs – keep customers coming back for more.