I thought it only appropriate to make a Food page, considering I love food and I know most of you do too! Thus far, I have had Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Indian and an interesting twist on Italian.
The Golden Elephant has become my favorite Thai place, as of yet. Though I am sure with some more research and exploring I will find many, many more favorites. The two story restaurant in the center of Ho Chi Minh City has live music and delicious teas (iced, of course, as you would be crazy to get anything hot to drink in this weather). I'll try and get some food pictures up here soon but it's difficult to take pictures when you're busy stuffing your face.
K Cafe is a Japanese restaurant that I was just recently introduced to. They made delicious vegetable tempura (not as good as yours, Dad, obviously!) and the owner was very nice. Besides the smoking inside, which is generally accepted in all restaurants here in HCMC, it had a very nice ambience.
Ok, so I'll be honest...Vietnamese food isn't my favorite. I promise I have given it a chance! I do really enjoy the rice dishes and the vegetables, but the 'pho' is just not my cup o' tea, or bowl o' soup, however you want to look at it. I did like the spring rolls and the veggie sushi-type rolls. (My boss had the fish, chicken and snails pictured).
Eating out is a must in Ho Chi Minh City. In fact, it is cheaper then buying all the ingredients and making something yourself! Luckily, I absolutely love to eat out so it has been a wonderful experience for me. However, for the times that you want to snack or cook on your own, Ben Than Market in downtown sells all types of foods, spices, nuts and grains. (I snapped this picture before an angry woman waved her hand in front of my camera and yelled "no pictures!" - apparently she thought I was going to show it to the competitor and ask for a lower price!)
Another French favorite is L'usine. It is right in the middle of downtown, in the upstairs of an art showroom. It also has great food and great coffee. The best feature? There is a boutique attached. Shopping, eating and coffee! Oh my!
Last night, my new friend and I (I'll tell you all about her in the next post) went to a Korean noodle place. It was delicious and probably the healthiest food yet!
There is a bit of a cupcake culture amongst the ex-pats here in Saigon. The cupcake business is competitive, and I was glad to partake in the decision of which was the best. For the whole time I was in Saigon I thought it was the red velvet at L'usine, an American owned French cafe in downtown, until my very last day at work. Two VK girls (VK is short for the Vietnamese word meaning overseas Vietnamese) brought in a bunch of cupcakes they made for a cupcake business they are starting here in the city. Their carrot cupcake was the most delicious cupcake I've had, and yes I've tried Sprinkles. It almost made me want to stick around for them to open their shop...almost. Below is a photo of the cupcake from L'usine - I was too busy eating to get a picture of the other cupcakes.
So the last day I was in town I was wandering around my neighborhood down a cute little alley about 2 minutes from my house. About then is when I saw that I had been spending way too much time, effort and more importantly, money on vegetarian cuisine. I came upon a vegetarian pho place. It was so close to home and about $1.50 for a bowl of pho, an iced tea and dessert. I couldn't believe it! You live, learn I guess...but right now I'm still in disbelief at how much I spent on food when this gem was right around the corner!
All in all, it has been quite the multi-cultural food experience! Hope you all enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed the food! xo
