We had an overnight in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and desperately wanted to enjoy local cuisine on our first trip to Vietnam, so we started planning this night out months ahead. we checked reviews, spoke to our friend Peter who has lived there, and looked how far the port was from various options, only for most of our plans to be derailed. While we knew that Tet (Lunar New Year) was celebrated at this time, we later found our first and then second, choice would decide to close after we had made the bookings. Also, since we booked this cruise ages ago, the major cruise port for mid-to-large ships (we are mid) has moved from the city to about 30-45 minutes from downtown as a new bridge across the river was built and thus barring our entry.
Ultimately, Peter made a reservation for us at Vietnam House, and we were very excited about our "expedition" to get downtown (all worked out with the cruise downtown shuttle times and GRAB (the SE Asian version of Uber) to get us back. Well, there went that arrangement when a major accident involving dozens of cars closed the motorway in the afternoon and our full day excursion to the Mekong Delta was delayed almost 2 hours.
On the way back our guide helped and called the restaurant to move the reservation one hour later and we literally ran back on the ship, changed shirts, washed our faces and ran back out to the port entrance to get a GRAB as we had missed the last ship shuttle downtown in the evening. At first the taxi drivers wanted way too much ($50US) and we ordered the first GRAB for $7.13US but it cancelled. Luckily, after about 15 minutes, a car arrived and as we progressed downtown, knew the street were closed for the celebrations and made it (to the red-light district, a 7-minute walk from the restaurant) with exactly 7 minutes to spare--even with the local hookers shoving their breasts at us!
The restaurant was gorgeous with lush local decor(photos on FB) and yes, lots of foreigners, bit that was okay, as we settled in and Trinh came over to explain the menu. We had eaten a huge lunch in the Delta (the crispy elephant-ear fish spring rolls were divine) so decided to do sharing and keep it simple. The wine list was simple and offered options by the glass from France, Germany, Australia, Chile and the US, so we decided we did not need a bottle and would each have a glass of white and red (both M. Chapoutier "Belleruche" Cotes du Rhone of Grenache Blanc, Roussanne & Viognier for the white and Grenache & Syrah for the red (Will had a second glass of Tracy & Cie "Les Marnes" Pinot Noir from the Loire). They were fine and reasonable indeed paying with the US$, but again most locals would rarely be seen here due to the huge cost for them.
Pork & Prawn Fresh Rolls were super rice paper rolls with tiger prawn, pork, noodles and a very mild soy peanut & fish sauce dipping sauce which we loved.
On our arrival Trinh had asked about allergies, and we said most food save for sesame seeds and grapefruit or pomelo(which is not good for statin meds) was okay. I guess I accented Pom-EL-oh wrong and she did not understand, as she later said the red fruit in our salad was PAM-Eh-loh! No biggie as the SOFT SHELL CRAB & GREEN MANGO Salad was most refreshing with hearts of palm, red pomelo, carrots, peanuts and garlic fish sauce. It could have used some more crab and definitely more spice; nowhere like the Thai spicy mango salad!
Our main was the Wok Tossed CUBED PEPPER BEEF TENDERLOIN with smoked mashed potato. The meat was cooked perfectly medium rare and so tender with capsicum, onion, Phu Quoc Black peppercorns, garlic and oyster sauce with very plain mashed potatoes. We again had asked for spicy, and while the fabulous peppercorns were a wonderful burst of spice, there were only about 1/2 a dozen in the whole dish.
We had room for dessert, and both decided to indulge: Will loved his Coconut Mascarpone Mousse served in a chocolate shell with local raspberries and blueberries, while my Salted Caramel & Chocolate Tart with Salted Caramel Ice Cream was fabulous and even came with pieces of gold leaf on the cream atop the slice of chocolate decadence.
We walked around the monstrously crowded streets that were all blocked off for the huge New Year celebration and then tried to get a GRAB back to the ship, but alas, one more issue arose with the APP and the driver kept trying to call and find us, but we don;t speak Vietnamese! A couple took pity on us and he (who was Croatian) handed the phone to his Vietnamese wife to translate. The car was there in 2 minutes, and it turned out they were from Boston! A wonderful meal, a night of enjoyment, even with its tense moments. We have decided to keep overnight stop dining a bit closer to the ships moving forward!
