FlyerTalk Forums - A brief trip to Saigon

Just got back from a very quick trip (3 nights) to Vietnam (Saigon) and thought I'd do a rundown of where and what I ate.

I should say off the bat that I went to meet up with some friends so I wasn't picking the resturants, unfortunately they are Lonely Planet people (I think the only thing Lonely Planet is good for is finding other people who only eat at places recommended by Lonely Planet, but that's another post). Fortunately its nearly impossible to eat badly in Vietnam.

First up for Lunch was Tan Nam, I had the 6 dollar set menu which had salad, soup, fish in a claypot, some more fish, some appetizers and a bunch more stuff that I could hardly finish. Probably the best tasting meal of the trip. The owners were very nice and recommended some places to stay.

Tan Nam Restaurant
60-62 Dong Du, District 1,
Tel 829 8634

Dinner was at Lemongrass, I had the duck breast and spring rolls for an apetizer. Both were good but not outstanding.

Lemongrass
4 Nguyen Thiep St., Dist.1

Our hotel (The Hotel Continental, where The Quiet American was set) provided a buffet breakfast that was pho, lots of fruit, omelets, pancakes and other assorted items. Love the soup for breakfast thing.

Lunch was provided free with our trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, it was tasteless noodle soup, we should have spent the quarter to eat from the guy making sandwiches on the street outside where we ate our bad soup.

For dinner we went fancy and ate at a really good French restaurant called La Camargue. Very nice setting with an open upstairs balcony. I had the duck liver terrine for an appetizer and quail breasts for dinner. Both were excellent.

LA CAMARGUE
16 Cao Ba Quat
District 1

Other stuff I ate: Lots of french pastries and bread from random shops. Some street food including something with a root vegetable (taro?) and corn.

The rest of the time was spent in Mui Ne at a beach resort that included all the meals.

Overall the food was excellent and very very cheap and there are street carts everywhere offering lots of soup and sandwiches at all hours of the day. If it was just me, I'd probably shun the restaurants and just east from the carts.