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.

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.

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

Raining in Saigon - Ngon Restaurant

Saigon - Arrived at the new Ho Chi Minh Airport.  The last time I was here was with my family in Dec 2010.  The airport was spanking new but the hordes of people waiting at the entrance are still the same.  It was amazing to watch so many people just waiting at the entrance. 

I exchange at HCMC airport which is much cheaper than in Singapore.  In Singapore - I would have exchange for 13,000 dong to SGD 1 but here at the airport it was 16,527 dong.   Beware that the money changers charged SGD2 for transaction fee.   In Vietnam, buyers beware!!

The taxi fare was just 150,000 dong to Renanissance Riverside Saigon Hotel.  

Our lunch was at Pho24 @ Vincom Building.  The menu has much more dishes.  I has Pho Bo (Beef noodles) and fresh spring rolls.   I have been waiting to eat this.  But Lesley had the following which is a mixture of Vietnames dishes.

We went to our customer building and I took some bird eye's view from the Top Floor of the building.  They had an outdoor cafe where we had our meeting.

Later Lesley and I went for our dinner at Ngon Restaurant.  This time I tried a different dish.  

Saigon Special Beer

Kang kong with garlic

 A very simple dish and it was not very tasting.

Ngon Special Fried Rice

Also another dish that is no so tasting.   As we look around we realised that the local Vietnamese were eating fried rice pancakes and so we order one for ourselves.  I think Vietnamese food excel in freshness and not in fried and stir fried food.

Contents of the Fried Rice pancake 

Mekong Delta Tour - My Tho Day trip

Saigon - At 8:30am, the tour guide arrives and met us at the Hotel Lobby.   We are off on another adventure to the Mekong Delta.

Scenary around My Tho Jetty

Shops at My Tho Jetty

Susan and Quin enjoying the breeze

Unicorn Island Jetty

First Stop, Bee farm and then enjoying the extracts of the Bee.  Honey, Royal Jelly and Pollen.

Pax trying Pollen on a tea spoon

2nd Stop, Coconut Candy factory.  Everything of the coconut is used and nothing goes to waste.

Signboard to the entrance of the coconut candy factory

Husk is used as fuel

Stiring the soft coconut candy mxture

Result of stiring and heating

Workers cutting the soft candy to size

Workers packing them into commerical boxes

Other uses of coconut

Coconut byproduct made into cups adn teapots

3rd Stop, we get to taste some Vietnamese fruits

Papaya, Pineapple, Dragonfruit, Pomelo and Logans

Quin and Trev enjoying the fruits

Nha Hang Ngon Restaurant in Saigon

HCMC - It was free and easy for us today and we went to Saigon's Chinatown - Colon and the Binh Tay market.   It took more than 30 minutes via taxi.   Finally, we reach Binh Tay market and it's crowded and it's a wholesale market.  

Bags and Bags for sale

Rows displayed tit bits

Yummy delicious sour prune and many sweets

Lunch at a nearby restaurant

Freshly cooked clams

Nha Hang Ngon Restaurant
For dinner, I brought my family to one of the best restaurant in HCMC.  I love the food here.  It is more expensive than outside food but the ambiance and the wide variety is excellent.  We had our usual Pho and fresh spring rolls.  But the desert tasted like our Chendol.

Location @ 160 Pasteur Street, Ho Chi Minh City

Quin on his Chendol

This restaurant has an outside kitchen which is very cool.

This stall makes all the desert

Open Kitchen concept

Cu Chi Tunnel Tour

Cu Chi Tunnel - After our lunch we travel to the site of Cu Chi Tunnel.   This will be my 2nd visit to Cu Chi Tunnel.  

The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that lies under much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968.

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The role of the tunnel systems should not be underestimated in its importance to the Viet Cong in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually culminating in an American withdrawal.

Paxton in one of the small tunnel

Trev in one of the entrance to the tunnel

Quin in the entrance to the tunnel

Tour Guide briefing our family

One of VietCong deadly traps

Another one of Vietcong traps

VietCong soldiers at work sawing the American bombs

After the Cu Chi Tour - Tea scented with Pandan leaves

Interesting souvenirs made from drinking cans