L'usine - a good cafe place with the shop-in-shop concept

The coffee-shop style in Saigon is something really incredible! Probably nowhere in the world has that much to offer like here. Everywhere - from right on the street, very cheap one, to those huge places, good and popular for the majority…up to the real classy for young trendsetters.
Whatever taste you have, you definitely find something suitable, I guess. Before people just need a cup of black coffee to start a working day…but now having a coffee at a nice place could be a new lifestyle, a true pleasure.

            A corner at L'usine - a nice place to have coffee and light food in Saigon. 

Christmas weekend in Saigon

Only a few days left to Christmas. Weeks before we already feel the holiday atmosphere, the hurry-up mood everywhere in the city, especially this morning, probably thanks to the cold air from North, Saigon's weather is suddenly and unusually getting colder . Perfect for X-mas time. In the North, up to Sapa, the highland, it's recently heavily snowing. Imagine…snowing in Vietnam, it's not a global warming!?  

             To avoid the night crowd many young people prefer the morning shoot.  

"Vitamin" drink ?

Vitamin drink - it sounds funny, and it's not a drink mixed with various medicine, it's actually the way we call a blended fruit drink (very similar to fruit smoothie) in Vietnamese - sinh tố (i.e vitamin). To be honest I don't know how we came up with this name, surely because of the fruits. Sinh tố was, still always remains a very popular, favourite and healthy drink like coffee in Saigon (coffee is healthy?!) Everywhere here you can find a small stall of sinh tố, but the good place could be hidden somewhere else in a small alley of the big city.

Sponge cake in Saigon - Bánh bông lan

I have no idea how it comes - the Vietnamese name for "sponge cake", and it's really a beautiful name for this popular, light and soft and spongy cake - we call it "bông lan". It's literally means "flower - orchid", word by word! Actually the name itself sounds also really light as a feather!

             A familiar image of sponge cake vendor in Đồng Khởi street. 

World of Desserts - Tong Pak Fu (Đường Bá Hổ)

These days most of the new eating business is created for the youth - they are surely the biggest spender. Last night I've been to a quite new dessert place - named after a famous Chinese poet of 15th century, Tong Pak Fu (Đường Bá Hổ). I don't know is there any connection between the desserts and the poet, maybe the sweetness in his poem, the tasty love in his words? 

The place is very Chinese in many details: the dessert and its name, the decoration and staff working there : the waiter and even the cashier-lady! 

Dim sum in Chinatown in Saigon (by Duc Le - my guest posting)

Since relocated to Saigon  4 years ago, I've always been scouting for a good local dim sum restaurant.  Saigon is not lacking of the sumptuous Chinese breakfast places.  On the contrary, there are plenty of Dim Sum restaurants such as Ocean Palace Restaurant, Hoang Long Restaurant, Royal Garden, Shang Palace, Li Bai in Sheraton, Windsor plaza, Kabin in Renaissance Riverside or the famous Singaporean chain Crystal Jade in Legend Hotel, to name a few.  But mostly these restaurants are high-end and a bit pricey for an average Vietnamese to enjoy. Some of my local friends suggested me to explore Chinese cuisine in District 5 (a.k.a Cho Lon) area.  District 5 is well known for Chinese Vietnamese community settlement.  It is literally the "China Town" equivalent to San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles' Chinatown.  

In the States, If you need to have good Dim Sum or traditional wonton noodles soup, you go to Chinatown.  If you want to find good shredded pork with thousand-year-old black egg porridge, you go to Chinatown.  In Saigon, its the same.  If you crave for good Chinese dessert with affordable price, you go to district 5.  You want to find an authentic Chinese noodles soup, district 5 is where you should go. You got the picture.  

Sweet fermented rice (cơm rượu)

I didn't try the rice pudding, or maybe I did, I can't remember! When I heard about the rice pudding as dessert, my reaction was quite strange - Dessert from rice?
Then I suddenly recall that we also have something sweet from rice, I wouldn't call it dessert but it's really sweet and now as a new trend, back to the tradition, at some Vietnamese restaurants we serve it as dessert, a speciality, especially to curious foreigners.

                      Sweet fermented rice