Ho Chi Minh City is bustling and it’s not hard to find eateries around. From cafés (Vietnamese coffee is a must-try!) to bars, there’s something for every taste bud.

We were in Ho Chi Minh City for just a couple of days, but had a chance to try quite a few places that were really memorable.

Will do a more detailed review for some of the places we really loved and what to order to maximise your stomach space and VND.

Anan Saigon

Anan Saigon was a recommendation by a friend!

We were initially a bit worried about the price because it made Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list, but it ended up being much more affordable than we thought.

The food is a creative and modern take on Vietnamese cuisine, and super flavourful! We really liked this a lot and honestly wished we could be back again for more.

Read my full review of Anan Saigon here.

Address: 89 Tôn Thất Đạm, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Nap by Napoly Cafe

Nap by Napoly Cafe is a humble café located near our accommodation that attracted quite a few locals during our time there.

To be honest, I found the banana walnut cake is a bit dry for my liking. However, the egg coffee (my first ever one too!) was delicious.

Address: B1.01 Saigon Royal 34, 35 Đ. Bến Vân Đồn, Phường 12, Quận 4, Hồ Chí Minh 700000, Vietnam

XLIII Coffee

We knew we couldn’t miss the chance to visit a coffee specialty shop in Vietnam, and this received raving reviews on Google Maps.

We really liked that the coffee has a deep and rich flavour – partly because they use very good beans, partly because they have such an elaborate coffee setup (?) but do note that it’s a bit pricey!

Read my full review of XLIII Coffee here.

Address: 178a Pasteur, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Okkio Cafe

This was a cafe recommended by travel guides so we had high hopes. Unfortunately, as with most highly-rated places, our expectations fell pretty flat.

The interior was very pretty and well-furnished, but the food was really average. Service was also not great and very slow.

I don’t know how this café got their great ratings, but it seems like more of a hit-or-miss. If you turn up on a good day, you might have a better experience.

Read my full review of Okkio Cafe here.

Address: 120 – 122 Đ. Lê Lợi, Phường Bến Thành, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Rang Rang Coffee

We were craving some coffee after our cooking workshop, so we stopped by this café nearby for a drink.

It was not bad, but we still feel that XLIII Coffee’s was better, even though it’s comparatively more expensive. The café gets quite crowded though because the interior is highly aesthetic (haha), so you might struggle to get a seat!

Address: 74 Hai Bà Trưng, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

My Banh Mi Saigon

I set out thinking I’d get to eat a lot of banh mi in Ho Chi Minh, which obviously didn’t work out. I was a little disappointed because I had actually mapped out a lot of the famous and highly-rated banh mi places to visit!

Fortunately, we managed to squeeze this into our itinerary, and it was actually so good!

The bread (baguette?) was well toasted, the meat tender, and the prawn rolls were flavourful.

Read my full review of My Banh Mi Saigon here.

Address: 57 Nguyễn Du Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Ho Chi Minh City 70000 Vietnam

Hủ Tiếu Mực Ong Gia

I can’t remember where we found this recommendation from, but we had this for dinner on the first day in Ho Chi Minh City and it was so good!

It is a simple and humble bowl of soup noodles that was surprisingly flavourful. Most importantly, it was very cheap!

Address: 62/3 Đ. Tôn Thất Thiệp, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Phở Thìn by SOL

We had a bad case of food poisoning (to be elaborated below) and needed something hot & soupy to calm our digestive system. Hence, the dish we sought out was none other than pho.

We found Phở Thìn by SOL on Google Maps. It was very crowded during lunch time, filled with both locals & tourists, and rightly so. This is pho as it should be: warm, comforting, with the right amount of tender beef to make a filling meal.

Address: 27 Đ. Hải Triều, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Pasteur Street Brewing Company

We ate at this highly-raved bar twice during our trip because we actually loved their craft beers a lot. We really thought we hit the jackpot here because we didn’t really drink anywhere else during our trip.

Unfortunately, Pasteur Street Brewing Company also gave us a case of food poisoning during our second time there. We can’t tell if it’s from the beer or from all the meat we had, but we were quite sure this place was the cause of it.

I had 2 other groups of friends who went and came back perfectly fine – and all loved their beer! I’m not sure if it was just us who were unlucky or simply had way too much meat that day, so I’m on the fence if I want to come back.

Still, major props to their delicious and affordable craft beer!

Read my full review of Pasteur Street Brewing Company here.

Address: 144/3 Pasteur, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh 700000, Vietnam

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