Saigon Mid-Autumn

Barbecue Garden Restaurant

Best Of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "Where Food and Fun Mix Well"

Grilling Vietnamese Barbeque Photo - Barbecue Garden Restaurant, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Quote:

I had always wanted to stop by the Barbecue Garden but just had not gotten around to it. Many people know the smell – which is heavenly and absolutely cannot be missed when you are within a block of the outdoor restaurant. A friend suggested that we should go there last year when I was in Saigon and it was so good that on later trips I have been taking friends from Saigon who have not been. When the delicious smells of Asian barbecue hit you – you likely will head to this place as well.For 230,000 VD for 4 people for a beef plate translates to buying dinner for 3 friends for about 14USD. This is even a better deal when you pick a good evening to go (not raining) and you have time to enjoy sitti...Read More

I had always wanted to stop by the Barbecue Garden but just had not gotten around to it. Many people know the smell – which is heavenly and absolutely cannot be missed when you are within a block of the outdoor restaurant. A friend suggested that we should go there last year when I was in Saigon and it was so good that on later trips I have been taking friends from Saigon who have not been. When the delicious smells of Asian barbecue hit you – you likely will head to this place as well.
For 230,000 VD for 4 people for a beef plate translates to buying dinner for 3 friends for about 14USD. This is even a better deal when you pick a good evening to go (not raining) and you have time to enjoy sitting around talking and cooking the food on the grills in the center of the table. For fun eating places, this is one of the best ones to take local friends to because they will enjoy it as much as you do. They are open from 11am to 11pm.
Barbecue Garden restaurant specializes in an unique mixture of Vietnamese and international grilling (ie barbecue) recipes. The restaurant is a large garden in a kind of natural environment that can hold a lot of people – and usually there will be a lot of people there. But don not let the crowd be a put off for you, the service is great and they will have you seated and taken very good care of in not time. That is kind of amazing as many people as there seem to be dining there!
All customers have the choice of either grilling their own foods at their tabletop grill or having the kitchen prepare it for you. I did once see someone order from the kitchen, but that kind of defeats the purpose of coming to this place. All the dishes (meat, seafood, and vegetarian) are marinated in different exclusive sauces that are a full out blending of different Asian and Western Flavors and rice is included with the order. If your eyes seem to water momentarily – its likely chilies in the sauce of a nearby grill.
Each time I have been there we have always had a lone vegetarian in our group, and so have tried and really like the vegetarian grill and how they spice it – particularly the eggplant. My favorite is the beef with honey – which has a fabulous taste that I have been trying to recreate since I first had it! The crowd favorite is the beef with 5 spices, which is likely the Asian barbeque smell that brought you into the garden. It has an incredible taste that somehow is even better than the heavenly smell. Do give it a try!

I also have to say that I really like the beef with lemongrass and chile, it has a different taste that reminds me of Thai foods and though it brought a few tears as it began to cook – it was worth it. It was gone in no time amongst my group – and we did seriously consider ordering some more because it was so good. The one side order we had that was a favorite was a corn fritter in a corn husk. It was the equal of any Indonesian one I have had -- and do not think you can split one between two people and not end up ordering another one. It’s one of those side dishes that there never will be enough of no matter how much you order.
The fruit drinks are also very good here, and we definately enjoyed trying many of them. The best was the watermelon juice which was sweet and refreshing when eating chili beef. My friends all like the passion fruit juice, and if you order either you will definately find a winner. There is a pomelo juice drink here as well, and it is a bit different tasting. Most of the fruit drinks are 19,000 VD (about 1USD). Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 26, 2010

Barbecue Garden Restaurant
135A Nam Kyu Khoi Nghia, Dist 1
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
84838233340

Cheer!
Flag

Norfolk Hotel

Best Of IgoUgo

Hotel | "Great Location!"

Quote:

It was highly advised by a certain friend that I stay at the Norfolk Hotel for the first few days in Vietnam on this trip. I had seen the Norfolk in passing, and knew its location, but the price usually put it out of the running in my choices because there are so many good deals to be found in Saigon. Staying at the Norfolk is all about location. The only downside to the Norfolk is the price of the room and that you are limited in finding any discounted rates on the internet.The Norfolk Hotel is located at 117 Le Thanh Ton Street in an area that is undergoing pretty heavy face-lifting and modification at this time. This is pretty much the very heart of the business district of HCMC, and a focu...Read More

It was highly advised by a certain friend that I stay at the Norfolk Hotel for the first few days in Vietnam on this trip. I had seen the Norfolk in passing, and knew its location, but the price usually put it out of the running in my choices because there are so many good deals to be found in Saigon. Staying at the Norfolk is all about location. The only downside to the Norfolk is the price of the room and that you are limited in finding any discounted rates on the internet.
The Norfolk Hotel is located at 117 Le Thanh Ton Street in an area that is undergoing pretty heavy face-lifting and modification at this time. This is pretty much the very heart of the business district of HCMC, and a focus of many new projects with the money coming into HCMC. It is also almost across from the Barbeque Garden (a must try), a great barber shop and a great student book store are both across the street. The Norfolk is but a short walk from the new shopping center, Notre Dame Cathedral, Ben Thanh Market, and the many art galleries in the neighborhoods that have sprung up in the last few years.
The Norfolk has just gone through its latest round of remodeling, and the front desk area and the dining area really look great. The hotel was the first Australian owned hotel in HCMC when it was launched in 1992. It offers 104 luxury rooms that are set up with some facing the inner court and some facing out. Best recommendation is that you ask for a room facing the outside. The layout inside the hotel is kind of unique as to each floor around the inner court.
The rooms were nice – but they were not huge as you might expect to get for the price being paid. The king sized bed rooms had a comfortable feeling to them and were very clean. I liked the soft mattress and the layout of the room. Did like that there was no issues with having hot water and that there was good water pressure in the shower. That was definitely a major plus. Each day there was a different complimentary fresh fruit left and 2 bottles of water. There was free LAN internet while I was there.
There is a small exercise room that has a few machines for running or ridding. The hotel itself does not have a pool, but you can get a ticket for use of the pool at the Norfolk Mansion property that is close by. The complimentary breakfast in the downstairs dining room was a very good spread of western, Viet, and Chinese foods. I found the serving staff a lot of fun and really had a great time each morning for breakfast. The staff did such a good job and really went out of their way in being friendly – and earned a rare high recommendation in regards note to the hotel manager from me.
I had read some issues before I stayed at the hotel that other travelers had with the hotel staff. I found my stay to be the exact opposite – and that across the board the hotel stay got very high marks. Here is a hotel where they really do put the extra effort into your staying as a guest both in customer relations and in professional courtesy. It’s not just the front desk staff that normally you would think would be doing that – but the cleaning ladies, the restaurant staff, and even the door men. Great hotels are much more than the building and the rooms – and the Norfolk has that hotel staff to be great. I actually stopped by the hotel to say good bye to all before departing back - and thank them again.
Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 26, 2010

Norfolk Hotel
117 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Cheer!
Flag

Kimdo Royal City Hotel

Best Of IgoUgo

Hotel | "The Best Location on Nguyen Hue!"

Quote:

I had been wanting to stay at the Kimdo for a while, having passed by it many times walking down Nguyen Hue and seeing that It was probably the center of central locations for Saigon’s tourist areas. I always liked the ground floor reception area, with its lion statues out front and its big plate glass with couches and customers always there looking at people passing by and very attentive doorman always taking care of customers.The Super Deluxe room I had was very clean and well maintained and had a great décor to it. I really liked the extra area that the sitting room provided in getting the Super Deluxe. It was a huge room for the great rate price that I obtained! The only pitfall was the show...Read More

I had been wanting to stay at the Kimdo for a while, having passed by it many times walking down Nguyen Hue and seeing that It was probably the center of central locations for Saigon’s tourist areas. I always liked the ground floor reception area, with its lion statues out front and its big plate glass with couches and customers always there looking at people passing by and very attentive doorman always taking care of customers.
The Super Deluxe room I had was very clean and well maintained and had a great décor to it. I really liked the extra area that the sitting room provided in getting the Super Deluxe. It was a huge room for the great rate price that I obtained! The only pitfall was the shower in the bathtub was not working properly, and the shower pressure itself was low. (Would recommend that you check the shower in the room before taking it, just to make sure that it adjusts properly). Of course if the view out of the big windows in the sitting area is really great – your likely going to stay with that room despite shower issues.
One of the best features of the Kimdo is the free Wifi on each floor. If you have T-mobile or similar service with your home cell phone – you are to put that to use and make free Wifi calls back to the USA or elsewhere and I was able to use T-Mobile to make Wifi calls back to the USA as well as sending and receiving text messages. Also, if you do not have 2 door cards, use a business card in the power card switch to keep the AC going - otherwise it takes a few minutes to cool the room down.
The Kimdo has a great staff, and from the front desk to the waitresses at breakfast – everyone there was just super helpful and friendly. The rooms stay in such good shape and are so clean because the cleaning ladies really do take a very great pride in what they do. Those doormen who I had seen helping other in the past – were a great group and really gave some great tips on different places and managed to get me a taxi in no time what so ever each time I needed one.
The hotel has a great breakfast buffet that is a full fledge spread out of Viet and Chinese and Western foods. Your ticket is left in the room daily by the cleaning crew. The breakfast area is on the 5th floor and it really is a huge and wonderful dining room with a waterfall in back and large windows to the side that look down onto the street .
The location of the hoel is central to the tourists areas of District 1. You are across the street from the Carville and the Saigon Saigon Bar atop of it, half a block from the Opera House and all the places around it, and about a km from the Benh Thanh market area (10 minutes walk). Taxis are always available on Nguyen Hue to the front of the hotel. There is a major department store next door that has several floors. You can purchase a sim card for your cellphone there if you have one that works in SE Asia.
Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 13, 2009

Kimdo Royal City Hotel
133 NGUYEN HUE AVE
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 70000
84-8-8225914

Cheer!
Flag

Fanny Ice Cream

Best Of IgoUgo

Restaurant | "A Ice Cream Cafe Par None!"

Ice Cream Mooncake Photo - Fanny Ice Cream, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Quote:

The cafe is located on Ton That Thiep Street, located in the streets away from Nguyen Hue and behind the Kim Do Hotel side of that street. It is easy to miss Fanny’s Ice Cream when you are walking down Ton That Thien so many times and not looking for it, but it was the ice cream mooncake special that stopped me and led me to my first of many wonderful experiences there. The cafe has both an outside patio with covered roofing and an inside seating section, The outside is a great place for people watching as you enjoy your ice cream, but less so if it’s the rainy season. You can sense the French connection to Fanny’s – from the wrought iron café chairs to the lacy curtains and the layout. ...Read More

The cafe is located on Ton That Thiep Street, located in the streets away from Nguyen Hue and behind the Kim Do Hotel side of that street. It is easy to miss Fanny’s Ice Cream when you are walking down Ton That Thien so many times and not looking for it, but it was the ice cream mooncake special that stopped me and led me to my first of many wonderful experiences there.
The cafe has both an outside patio with covered roofing and an inside seating section, The outside is a great place for people watching as you enjoy your ice cream, but less so if it’s the rainy season.
You can sense the French connection to Fanny’s – from the wrought iron café chairs to the lacy curtains and the layout. This is because Fanny’s was set up in Vietnam in 1994 by the much revered (in the world of ice cream) Jean-Marc Bruno of the Le Nôtre Paris school. Fanny ice cream uses traditional French methods and 100 % natural ingredients for it production – and it is one high grade brand of ice cream that you will get. One try – and I think you will realize just why Mr. Bruno is revered – and chances are you will be back to try yet another flavor.
You will find it hard to select were to start, and just know that where ever you do start – your choice will be good. They have many flavors of ice cream, and crepes, and all served with frozen fruit (Dalat strawberries perhaps – or frozen raspberries). Besides the standard ice cream sundaes, there are some unique ones as well that might be worth a try. As the wait staff too help you, and they certainly will.
If you happen to be there during the Mid Autumn Festival (usually AUG-SEP), it is with my highest recommendation that you stop in and try one of their ice cream mooncakes. The mango-caramel one was so good that I returned the next day to try it again! It is a outer layer of mango ice cream with an inner layer of caramel ice cream sitting on melted caramel and topped with excellent chocolate lid with a mooncake design. It all blended together perfectly! Before I left – I returned for another try, and with some great advising from the wait staff and their recommendation and favorite being the raspberry and vanilla – I had that - and it scored as one of the best ice cream deserts I have ever had. This is an experience you should not miss!
The menu also now has their play on sushi with ice cream rolls that combine vanilla and chocolate, vanilla and green tea and include chocolate and strawberry dipping sauces. It is not too be missed!
Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 8, 2009

Fanny Ice Cream
29-31 Ton That Thiep St., District 1
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Cheer!
Flag

IgoUgo

Ho Chi Minh City Journals

Upload Photos