Your Trip to Ho Chi Minh City: The Complete Guide SEE FULL GUIDE prev next Foods to Try Nightlife in Ho Chi Minh City Best Time to Visit Weather & Climate Best Neighborhoods Top Hotels Guide to Public Transportation Tan Son Nhat Airport Guide Day Trips 48 Hours in Ho Chi Minh City Top Things to Do Best Temples and Pagodas Top Museums Best Parks Exploring Pham Ngu Lao Guide to the War Remnants Museum Where to Shop Best Restaurants Your Trip to Ho Chi Minh City: The Complete Guide close Overview Asia Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City The 12 Best Restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam By Michael Aquino Michael Aquino Facebook Twitter Mike Aquino is a travel writer covering Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. He lives in Manila full-time, but is perfectly at home in a Singapore hawker center. TripSavvy's editorial guidelines Published on 09/17/20 Share Pin Email Courtesy of Hum Vegetarian Ho Chi Minh City is big enough to accommodate appetites for humble street food favorites like com tam, pho, and banh mi or for swanky coffee shops and fine-dining restaurants. Travelers to Vietnam’s southern capital dine well on all budgets, whether they’re slurping noodles on the street or enjoying a four-course European meal in a sky-high restaurant. 01 of 12 Vietnam House Restaurant Courtesy of Vietnam House Restaurant View Map Address 93-95-97 Đồng Khởi, P, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 700000, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 28 3822 2226 Web Visit website Chef Luke Nguyen, Australian-born celebrity chef, helms the team at this luxurious restaurant offering modern Vietnamese dishes from north to south. Traditional dishes take new life in Chef Luke hands. For instance, his take on cha gio (spring rolls) uses fried lobster and wood-ear mushrooms. His banh xeo (Vietnamese crepes) are redolent with Iberico ham and crab meat. And the braised wagyu beef cheek, a must-order, uses Vietnamese flavor bases to win diners over. 02 of 12 Mien Ga Ky Dong View Map Address 14/5Bis Kỳ Đồng, Phường 9, Quận 3, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 700000, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 28 3843 5630 This spacious but unassuming restaurant is devoted to chicken—serving a wide range of poultry dishes from pho mien ga (chicken pho) to chicken drumstick salad to bean-thread noodle and chicken soup. Of course, the pho—a generously-sized bowl of noodles, chicken meat, and aromatics drowning in chicken stock—is the star of the show. In fact, local demand for their pho mien ga has sustained Ky Dong for almost half a century, since its humble beginnings as a street pho stall. Do as the locals do, and order a glass of sugarcane juice to wash the lot down. 03 of 12 La Villa Courtesy of La Villa View Map Address 14 Ngô Quang Huy, Thảo Điền, Thành Phố Thủ Đức, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 28 3898 2082 Web Visit website Housed in a renovated colonial villa in District 2, La Villa creates an elegant dining experience courtesy of the husband and wife team that run the place. While Tina Trang Pham leads the front office, Chef Thierry Mounon whips up an unconventional menu that blends classical French techniques and ingredients with Vietnamese spices and flair. Diners at La Villa can choose to sit at the cozy dining hall, or outside near the swimming pool. A la carte orders are available, though the set menus are a great way to get good value out of the La Villa experience. 04 of 12 Banh Mi Hoa Ma View Map Address 53 Đ. Cao Thắng, Phường 3, Quận 3, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam Get directions What better way to enjoy a favorite Vietnamese street food, than by eating it right on the street? Banh Mi Hoa Ma along Cao Thang Road serves patrons right on the sidewalk, with two variants on the classic Vietnamese sandwich. Order their classic banh mi op la, whose name alludes to its eggy interior (“op la” derives from the French “oeufs au plat”, or sunny-side-up eggs). The sandwich comes with two eggs done your way, airy Vietnamese baguettes, meat, and caramelized onions and pickled vegetables and tea are served on the side. Pork pate and coffee are optional but highly recommended. Meals are cheap, costing no more than 50,000 dong per order. Continue to 5 of 12 below. 05 of 12 Hum Vegetarian Courtesy of Hum Vegetarian View Map Address 2 Thi Sách, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 70000, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 899 189 229 Web Visit website Hum's name is derived from a common meditation phrase and that kind of mindfulness bleeds into the restaurant's calming interiors and the well-considered menu. The Vietnamese have had a long vegetarian tradition with dishes like tofu in fermented bean sauce, spicy mushroom salad with roasted rice, and pomelo salad. The restaurant offers a fine list of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks as well. Hum is also vegan-friendly with a distinction made between vegan and vegetarian dishes on the menu. 06 of 12 Com Tam Ba Ghien View Map Address 84 Đặng Văn Ngữ, Phường 10, Phú Nhuận, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 28 3846 1073 Web Visit website Famous for its “grand slam” com tam suon nong, Com Tam Ba Ghien pulls out all the stops when serving this iconic Vietnamese comfort food. Beyond just a pork chop on top of cheap rice, you’ll get a massive (by Vietnamese standards) grilled pork chop, a healthy serving of rice, sunny-side-up eggs, Vietnamese meatloaf, shredded pork rind and meat, and a side sauce of nuoc cham (sweet fish sauce) The restaurant is pretty unassuming – little more than a stall set at a remove from the tourist district – but it’s the best place to go for com tam if you want the authentic experience. 07 of 12 Xien Khe Kars Alfrink / CC BY 2.0 View Map Address 117 Đ. Trần Khắc Chân, Tân Định, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 700000, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 90 257 21 17 Web Visit website Sit down at this grilled-seafood joint overlooking the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal, and you’ll find one of the best beer and food hotspots in the city. Vietnamese beer gets even better when paired with fresh seafood, grilled as you order. Local specials include grilled octopus; stir-fried snails; grilled oysters; and shrimp on skewers. There’s nothing fancy on the menu, but everything’s fresh, newly-cooked, and promptly served. Expect to spend some 800,000 dong for a few hours’ dining here good for four. 08 of 12 Ba Ba Courtesy of Ba Ba View Map Address 76 Nguyễn Thái Bình, Phường Nguyễn Thái Bình, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 93 699 33 68 Web Visit website Ba Ba’s co-owners, Fabien and Trang, opened their restaurant to introduce northern Hanoi-style cuisine to Ho Chi Minh City. The star of the menu is the northern noodle dish of bun bo nam bo. Every order is made fresh: beef fried in garlic and lemongrass, rice noodles, fried shallots, raw papaya, and peanuts—all with just the right amount of soup stock. Another northern favorite worth trying is northern-style nem ran, or fried spring rolls, using Hanoi rice paper. “Ba Ba” means “grandmother” in Vietnamese, as the owners hope to elicit a kind of generational nostalgia with the simple yet delicious food served in the place. Everything is down-home at Ba Ba, down to the rustic glasses and plastic stools. Continue to 9 of 12 below. 09 of 12 Oc Oanh SamuelBrownNG / Getty Images View Map Address 534 Vĩnh Khánh, Phường 8, Quận 4, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 90 368 07 57 District 4 houses the city’s famous Vinh Kanh Street (Seafood Street) where stalls and restaurants hawk fresh seafood from dusk to the early hours of the morning. Snails are a big part of the menu on Seafood Street, and Oc Oanh is one of the better outlets for diners looking to try some. Starting at 1 p.m. and ending at midnight, Oc Oanh serves up a varied menu of snails and seafood on low-slung tables along Vinh Kanh Street. Mud creeper snails are a popular choice, usually cooked in a coconut curry and served with rice. Otherwise, you can have your snails (or other items on the menu) served fried, steamed, grilled, or topped with anything from lemongrass to chili sauce. 10 of 12 Kieu Bao View Map Address 139 Đề Thám, Phường Cô Giang, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 93 960 49 37 Web Visit website Bun thit nuong (vermicelli noodles with grilled meat) is easy to find, as it's sold on almost every street corner, but very few places do it well which is why Kieu Bao is a stand out. This franchise sells from several locations in Ho Chi Minh City, offering its namesake dish to hungry Vietnamese and curious tourists but the most popular location is the one close to Bui Vien Walking Street. Bun thit nuong is served with cha gio (spring rolls), fresh vegetables, and platters of nuoc mam (fish sauce) though at Kieu Bao the nuoc mam comes in gigantic buckets on your table! 11 of 12 Saigon Retro Cafe Courtesy of Saigon Retro Cafe View Map Address Lầu 1 (1st Floor, 55 Đ. Trần Quốc Toản, Phường 8, Quận 3, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 70000, Vietnam Get directions Phone +84 93 922 05 90 Web Visit website Locals love nostalgia almost as much as they love fresh-brewed coffee and Saigon Retro Cafe delivers on both in abundance. Located above a Vinmart convenience store, Saigon Retro offers a choice of hanging out in a charmingly cluttered cafe interior, or on a balcony overlooking a bustling city street. You can order a milky Saigonese coffee (ca phe sua da) paired with a complimentary swirly cookie called banh tai heo. The vintage clutter inside the cafe—old posters, books, ancient cameras, even retro phones—complements the jazz music and the comforting warmth of the coffee, creating a relaxed atmosphere that’s hard to come by in bustling Ho Chi Minh City. 12 of 12 EON51 Courtesy of EON51 View Map Address Level 50/51/52, Bitexco Financial Tower, 2 Hải Triều, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam Get directions Web Visit website You can enjoy a fine European-style meal 650 feet in the air at EON51. with a view to match! Housed in Ho Chi Minh City's tallest building, EON51 was designed to emphasize the view, so every table has access to the view as seen from the restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling windows. Diners can choose between a Western-dining area and an Asian-cuisine area. Diners looking for more privacy and an even better view can reserve a mezzanine table. To accompany the meal, diners can also order from an extensive wine list with over 300 labels included. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Share Pin Email Tell us why! Submit