Hoi An Restaurant in Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City - We walked around Renaissance Riverside Hotel looking for breakfast and came to Bon Sen Hotel cafe.   Bon Sen Hotel is within walking distance from Renaissance Riverside Hotel and opposite Sheraton Hotel.   It was so near - Outside of Renaissance Riverside Hotel, make a left turn and the first junction turn right and walk straight down the road and you will surely reach Bon Sen Hotel.
The breakfast was reasonably priced.

Vietnamese sandwiches

We went to visit a customer and was offer fruits - some rambutans on a plate.  The Rambutans tasted very sweet but it's very small as compared to the ones in Singapore.  The Rambutan skin is very thin.

Rambutans on the plate

For dinner, I decided to go to a Vietnamese restaurant called 'Hoi An Vietnamese Restaurant' located @ 11 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1.     We were directed upstairs and the atmosphere was fine dinning and most of the patrons were foreigners.   The waiter gave me a menu of drinks, which I put aside and asked for the food menu.  He then brought me a set menu and the special set menu of the day started at USD 45++ per person.  So, I asked him again - can you bring me the ala carte menu?  of which he reluctantly brought it for me.   This is a very expensive Vietnamese restaurant and you come here once for the experience.   You need to be really 'street smart' in this restaurant. 

I observed that when you sit down, they will served you the wine menu.  If you are Japanese and European, they will immediately put a bottle of wine on the table.   Next, they will slip you the set menu.  Avoid that as the prices starts at USD 35++ with simple dishes.    On the ala carte menu, stick to the Vietnamese dishes rather than go for BBQ steak or Lobster.  If you ask the waiter, they will always recommend the most expensive dish on the menu.    

They had live traditional Vietnamese performance, which was pleasant to the ears.

Traditional Vietnamese performances

So, I ordered the apetitiser of scallops pancake which is so delicious.

Scallop fried pancakes

The next dish was intricately sculptured by the chef out of carrots and its a vegetable dish of flower buds and beef.  Also another delicious dish - the beef is so tender.

The next dish is rice vermicilli (Tang Hoon) with crab in clay pot. 

Another interesting dish was fish; also tasted good.   It was still cooking over solid fuel keeping the fish steaming hot.

Our next dish was Pork Ribs in Mulberry leaves.  You feel that the Chef has taken extra care to prepare the food with utmost professionalism.

As for desert, I order mango flambe.

Flambe is a french word that means flamed.  Thus it is a cooking proceedure whereby Alcohol is added to the hot pan to create a burst of flames.  The waitress roll out the cart to prepare this desert in front of us with flaming fire.  The result was a nice sweet taste of mango and alcohol.

This is the wine which made the flambee