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VIETNAM FEBRUARY 2014
Men of Muscle Bodybuilding Taken to the Next Level PAGE 27
The Restoration Lab Rare Books Get a New Life PAGE 30
Life is a Cabaret, Old Chum Classic Dinner Theater Comes to Saigon PAGE 44
Inside the World of Work The Working Lives of Everyday Locals PAGE 92 A Family Affair 1 2 3 OC
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VIETNAM FEBRUARY 2014
MEN oF MUsclE Bodybuilding Taken to the Next Level PAGE 27
ThE REsToRATIoN lAB Rare Books Get Everywhere you go a New Life PAGE 30
lIFE Is A cABARET, olD chUM Classic Dinner Theater Comes to Saigon PAGE 44
INsIDE ThE WoRlD oF WoRK The Working Lives of Everyday Locals PAGE 92 Director Xuan Tran A Family Business Consultant robert stockdill [email protected] Affair 093 253 4090 1
Managing Editor Christine Van [email protected] This Month’s Cover Image: Ngoc Tran Deputy Editor James Pham Model: The Tran Family [email protected] Make Up: Huyen Phan
Researcher George Bond [email protected]
Associate Publisher khanh nguyen [email protected]
Graphic Artist HIEN NGUYEN [email protected]
Staff Photographers Ngoc Tran adam robert young
Publication Manager Hang Phan [email protected] 097 430 9710
For advertising please contact: Julian Ajello [email protected] 093 700 9910
NGAN NGUYEN [email protected] 090 279 7951 ƠI VIỆT NAM Jimmy van der Kloet [email protected] NHÀ XUẤT BẢN THANH NIÊN 094 877 9219 Chịu trách nhiệm xuất bản: Đoàn Minh Tuấn Biên tập: Nguyễn Giang - Quang Hùng Kate Tu [email protected] Thực hiện liên kết xuất bản: 091 800 7160 Metro Advertising Co.,Ltd 231-233 Lê Thánh Tôn, Phường Bến Thành, Quận 1 Thu Vu (Hanoi) [email protected] 090 624 9700 In lần thứ mười một, số lượng 6000 cuốn, khổ 21cm x 29,7cm Đăng ký KHXB: 1110-2013/CXB/4 -52/TN QĐXB số: 366/QĐ-TN/CN
General Chế bản và in tại nhà in Lê Quang Lộc [email protected] Nộp lưu chiểu tháng 1/2014 Inquiries [email protected] Website: www.oivietnam.com
4 5 Contents
COVER STORY A FAMILY AFFAIR Touching stories of the meaning of family and our annual Tet Guide
FEAT32URES P10 datebook P26 Men of Muscle P66 RESPECT THE OLD, CREATE THE NEW With these events, you'll never have to be Taking bodybuilding in Vietnam to the Japanese traditions are remade into Tokyo's bored again international level hottest trends
P14 troi oi P28 THE MELODEON PLAYER P70 A LOVE LETTER TO PHNOM PENH See why fire trucks and a record-setting cable car Is Vietnam ready for a rock accordionist? Our closest capital city deserves more than just a visa run project made our noteworthy numbers this month P30 The Restoration Lab P92 INSIDE THE WORLD OF WORK P16 the bulletin A place where rare and antique books get a new A new book reveals the working lives of everyday Checking out the latest promotions and openings lease on life Vietnamese
P24 ONE MILLION+ P64 PEACEFUL MOMENTS A roundup of some of Vietnam's most successful Photographer Andre Paul showcases the quieter online startups side of Japan
6 7 WINE & DINE Restaurant Reviews Oi reviews the unique cabaret vibe of Bo Nong and the Mediterranean flavors of Saffron
44 COLUMNS P22 SAIGON MYTHBUSTERS P74 LIFE'S A TRIP P84 THE SYLLABUS What can and can't be mailed out of the country? Is an all-inclusive vacation for you? Keep calm and de-stress your toddler
P73 POSTCARDS FROM VIETNAM P82 HIGHER LEARNING P95 LEGAL EASE A Gaudi-esque mythological sculpture in Hoi An How gender differences affect the educational Creating a will to benefit your family abroad experience
8 ISSUE NO. 11 Editor’s FEBRUARY 2014 Note
All in the Family When we first immigrated to In our Business section, James Pham takes America, my parents very much wanted to a look at a new book, It's a Living: Work keep their Vietnamese traditions alive. I was and Life in Vietnam Today, which offers a just a kid then, so the Western holidays of fascinating glimpse into the lives of everyday Thanksgiving and Christmas only meant Vietnamese. This article hit closer to home days off from school for my sisters and me. than I ever imagined. I've often wondered Throughout my childhood, it was Tet that what my life would've been like had my really had meaning, a wonderful explosion of parents not made the difficult decision to Vietnamese traditions that was Thanksgiving undertake that dangerous journey by boat and Christmas all rolled into one. I have to the US. While reading the article, I found memories of my mom spending days buying myself becoming the che seller or goldfish and preparing food for Tet, everything from peddler in a parallel world that could've been. scratch. There was pickled meat (wrapped in At 5 foot tall and 100 pounds, I'm more foil because she couldn’t get banana leaves), brains than brawn. This month, though,Oi glutinous rice cakes, sweet che, crispy shrimp brings readers both. For fellow bibliophiles, chips and specialties of Hue, passed down NPD Khanh takes us inside an antique book from her own mother. By 8pm on the evening restoration department here in HCMC, before Tet started, all six of my sisters and illustrated beautifully by Adam Robert I would help set the table placed in front of Young's gorgeous images of books yellowed our altar to ancestors and Buddha. My dad and stained by age being meticulously cared had a ritual of lighting three incense sticks for by the equally worn hands of age-old and bowing three times. I remember the craftsmen. For those who prefer brawn to torturous wait for those incense sticks to burn books, Khanh introduces us to Pham Van completely down before we were allowed to Mach, Vietnam's most famous bodybuilder, eat. I swear, those sticks seemed to be a mile showing us a lighter, more personal side to long! That's not to say we didn't sneak little the world of hard bodies. bites of food here and there when our parents Also this month, our country-hopping were distracted! travel guru James Pham writes about his Now that I'm here in Vietnam and my love / hate and back to love again affair with family are all back in NYC, I alternate Phnom Penh and his wacky adventures in between enjoying the few days of quiet Tokyo (where 3m samurai panda robots may bliss when the city empties out and jetting or may not be involved), providing us with off somewhere in the region where Tet isn't two destination options for those looking to celebrated. But wherever I am, Tet is still skip the city during Tet. inextricably linked to family in my mind. A Whether you're staying put for the time when the whole country stops for just holidays or traveling with family and a few days to take a collective breath and to friends, may the Year of the Horse be an simply reconnect with family and friends. auspicious one for you and yours. Chúc Our two cover stories this month revolve mừng năm mới! around the bittersweet topic of family, touchingly related by two Vietnamese- Americans who have come back to the country of their birth, unable to shake Vietnam's influence on their own lives and Christine Van the lives of their families. Managing Editor
9 Datebook Fill up your calendar with these exciting events
now until january 15
What: Silk of Light Exhibition Where: Phuong My Flagship Store, 81 Le Thanh Ton, D1 january 16 About: Silk of Light: Ngo Dinh Bao Chau opened at Phuong What: Canvas & Wine: Monet and The Impressionists My Flagship Store commemorating San Art Production’s second Where: VinSpace Garage, 95 Pasteur, D1; 6:30pm - 9pm collaboration with fashion designer Phuong My. San Art Productions, About: This will be a fun and creative class for everyone, no matter the very first program of its kind in Vietnam, aims to realize a long- what your painting level is. Start the night with a wine tasting session standing partnership between visual art and an external creative to uplift your creativity and confidence, and then enter the studio to organization where an open dialogue between two innovative forces learn how to paint. With the help of VinSpace Garage’s instructor and commissions new artistic projects. some images of paintings as a reference, you will enjoy painting like Silk of Light is a body of work inspired by light as both a physical the impressionists. and metaphorical medium. Bao Chau carefully studies the process Contact: Access www.vin-space.com or call 090 772 9846 of light as it covers, disperses and adjusts to the surface of different materials. The artist’s preoccupation with light arises from her deep interest in architecture, and its relationship to form, shape, line and structure. Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Bao Chau’s living environment is filled with manmade light and she is fascinated by its role in human forms of labor and urbanization. Contact: For more information, email [email protected]
january 16 january 16 - 21 What: Ninth Annual Crystal Ball International Business Luncheon What: Encounter lecture with Associate Professor Thanes Where: New World Saigon Hotel, 76 Le Lai, D1; 11am – 2pm Wongyannava About: This will be CanCham's Ninth Annual Crystal Ball business Where: Hoa Sen University, 8 Nguyen Van Trang, D1 luncheon event. Well-known guest speakers from a variety of About: Thanes Wongyannava will discuss his ideas concerning business sectors will present their general outlooks and identify ‘Buddhocentrism’, which embraces the idea of Buddhism as a system challenges and likelihoods for the coming year. Guest speakers of ideas in contemporary life that has moved away from a focus on include Nicola Connolly of Adecco Vietnam, Mark Fraser of Frasers ‘enlightenment’ towards a belief in all things ‘delightful’ – meaning a Law Company, Victoria Kwakwa of The World Bank, Don Lam of focus on anything that entertains, satiates desire and is popularly in VinaCapital, Ralf Matthaes of TNS and Tareq Muhmood of ANZ Bank demand. He will look at how visual art illustrates such an attitude, Vietnam. The entrance fee is VND850,000 (members and co-hosts) including an examination of how we understand the ‘self’ and ‘truth’ and VND1,050,000 (non-members). within such a society. Contact: For tickets, contact [email protected] or Contact: For more information, email [email protected] call 3824 3754
10 january 18 january 23
What: Special Tet Calligraphy What: Canvas & Wine: Paint like Paul Klee Where: VinSpace Garage, 95 Pasteur, D1; 10am-12pm (kids), Where: VinSpace Art Studio, 6 Le Van Mien, D2; 6:30pm - 9pm 2pm-4pm (adults) About: Paul Klee was a unique artist. He cannot be identified clearly About: To celebrate Tet, VinSpace Garage Art Studio presents the with any art movement and often worked in complete isolation. His Special Tet Calligraphy event where you can learn to write traditional works show an extraordinary use of color and tone. With the help Vietnamese calligraphy with popular New Year wishes such as of VinSpace Garage’s instructor, you will create your own abstract “Phuc – Good Fortune”, “Loc – Prosperity” and “Tho – Longevity.” impressionist painting in the style of Klee. Contact: Access www.vin-space.com or call 0907729846 Contact: Access www.vin-space.com or call 090 772 9846
january 23
What: Saigon Single Malt Club’s 1st Burn’s Supper Where: Casablanca Restaurant, 58/9 Thanh Thai, D10; 7pm till late About: Saigon Single Malt Club is holding its first Burn’s Supper featuring bagpipes, Robert Burn’s poetry, girls in tartans and lots of single malt scotch and haggis. The supper costs VND1.2 million for members and VND1.4 million for guests. Contact: For more information, call 0168 990 0905
11 now until january 24
What: Right Fiction Exhibition Where: San Art, 3 Me Linh, Binh Thanh About: Right Fiction features painting, photography, installation and video by artists Nguyen Hong Ngoc and Phan Thao Nguyen that concludes their time with San Art Laboratory: Session Three. Contact: For more information, email [email protected]
january 25
What: San Art Laboratory Session 4 Where: San Art Laboratory, 40/18 Pham Viet Chanh, Binh Thanh About: San Art Laboratory is a studio/residency program initiated and managed by San Art. It provides three artists with an art studio and living quarters for six months each. Session 4 welcomes Lai Thi Dieu Ha from Hanoi, Le Phi Long from Hue, and Nguyen Van Du from Ho Chi Minh City. This will be the first time they open up on their creative processes to the public. Come visit their studio, get to know the artists, enjoy the creative dialogue, and become part of art in the making. Contact: For more information, email [email protected]
february 8
What: T-shirt Making for Couples Where: VinSpace Garage, 95 Pasteur, D1; 2pm - 4pm About: Valentine’s Day is around the corner and the T-shirt Making for Couples workshop is for those who want to celebrate their love and bring home a lovely couple’s T-shirts. Contact: Access www.vin-space.com or call 090 772 9846
February 15 - March 29
What: Saigon Soul Pool Parties Where: Splash Bar, New World Saigon Hotel, 76 Le Lai, D1 About: Saigon Soul Pool Parties aim to become the liveliest ongoing event in the city with parties starting from 10am until 11pm every Saturday. At each event they will have DJs spinning tunes, a fully operational bar with drinks from VND50,000 – VND100,000 as well as local restaurants setting up food stations, the New World spa offering outdoor massages, local artisans selling their creations, giveaways, hotel promotions, swimwear retailers and more. Entry fee is VND 100,000 and free for hotel guests. Contact: For more info call Dallas Waines at 0122 734 8128 or email [email protected]
february 20
What: Canvas & Wine: Pop Art Day Where: VinSpace Art Studio, 6 Le Van Mien, D2; 6:30pm - 9pm About: Develop your own painting using Pop Artworks as a reference. Pop Art was one of the main art movements in the last century and often uses advertising and comic books for inspiration. Andy Warhol, Roy Liechtenstein and David Hockney were the leaders in this style. Contact: Access www.vin-space.com or call 090 772 9846
12 february 27
What: Unconditional Belief Exhibition Where: San Art, 3 Me Linh, Binh Thanh About: Unconditional Belief is an art exhibition by Art Labor – visual artists Truong Cong Tung, Phan Thao Nguyen and curator Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran. For over a year, Art Labor has been collaborating with an anthropologist, ophthalmologist and medical architect, researching the influence of psychiatry, medicine and the supernatural on the understanding of sickness by Vietnamese society. This exhibition will showcase their research, which will include painting on various mediums like wooden plates, X-ray films in addition to specific installations, lacquer sculptures and video art. Contact: More information will be available via www.san-art.org
january - APRIL
What: Sandrine Llouquet: San Art Productions x Phuong My Exhibition Where: Phuong My Flagship Store, 81 Le Thanh Ton, D1 About: For the third time, San Art Productions cooperates with Phuong My fashion brand to produce an art exhibition for local young artists to promote and nurture the collaborative dialogue between visual arts and non-art sectors, specifically in this exhibition february 27 between art and fashion. The exhibition by Sandrine Llouquet will explore the idea of the human body and What: Canvas & Wine: Van Gogh – The Power of Color the transformation of the soul. Inspired by the sci-fi Where: VinSpace Art Studio, 6 Le Van Mien, D2; 6:30pm - 9pm movie genre and the symbolism of astronomy, this About: Van Gogh is one of the most famous painters in history. His isolated newly commissioned work utilizes futuristic technology life seen through the legacy of his letters and his use of color had a tremendous in reforming the body’s structure. Sandrine will create influence on art after his death. With the help of an instructor, you will develop appealing yet conceptual site-specific drawings on glass your own piece in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. and installations. Contact: Access www.vin-space.com or call 090 772 9846 Contact: For more information, email [email protected]
13 Troi Oi The country by numbers
USD210 million cable car project to Mt. Fansipan has been launched. The ground breaking VND100 trillion ceremony of a 7km long cable car is how much internet businesses are expected to earn in 2018. General Director of system to the peak of Mt. Fansipan VNG Corporation Le Hong Minh spoke at the Vietnam Internet Day 2013, organized took place in Sapa in November. by the Vietnam Internet Association, and said that internet-based businesses have The cable car will connect Sapa to been growing fast in the past decade and many sectors are capitalizing on the Muong Hoa Valley and the Fansipan internet rapidly. Total revenues of services using the internet and internet services peak. This is the first three-wire cable were VND70 billion in 2004 then rapidly increasing to VND2.6 trillion in 2009, and car system in Asia and the longest, the amount is forecast to reach VND20 trillion in 2014. highest and most complex three-wire Minh said revenue for 2014 would include revenues from online games, cable in the world. e-commerce and digital content. It is expected that the work will be According to statistics by VNG, Vietnam earned VND1.2 trillion in revenues from completed by the end of 2014 and put online games in 2009 and an estimated VND6 trillion in 2013. Meanwhile, 2014’s into use in 2015. Then, the journey to estimated revenues of e-commerce activities and web content services are VND4.2 conquer the Fansipan peak will be only trillion and VND8 trillion respectively, rising from VND100 billion and VND1 trillion 15 minutes, with speed reaching 8m/s in 2009. and a maximum transport capacity of 2,000 passengers per hour. Mt. Fansipan is the highest in Indochina at 3,143 meters. Over 1/2 of Vietnam’s fire trucks have been in use for more than 20 years, according to the Ministry of Public Security. In 2013 nearly 2,600 fires and explosions occurred in Vietnam, USD2.56 million claiming the lives of 124 people and is the estimated amount addicts in Vietnam spend a day on drugs, according to injuring 349 others, 10 percent more figures released at a photo exhibition held in Hanoi last month. The photographs than 2012, said Lieutenant General displayed in the exhibition titled “Get Out and Go On” present stories of former drug Nguyen Danh Cong, Chief of the addicts who have been successfully treated with methadone. Office of the Public Security Ministry. A representative of the General Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Lt. General Cong said that the under the Ministry of Health, said some 14,000 drug addicts nationwide are being professional firefighting forces are treated with methadone and 90 to 95 percent of them stop using drugs. insufficient and weak, particularly Methadone therapy will be rolled out to 80,000 drug users in 30 cities and the equipment. Vietnam has 927 fire provinces nationwide by 2015, according to Vietnamplus. Statistics from the trucks but more than half are outdated. Ministry of Labor, Invalid and Social Affairs show there were 180,000 drug The Ministry of Public Security will ask addicts on record in Vietnam as of June 2013 and each of them spent on average the government to purchase modern VND300,000 on drugs per day. equipment
14 Vietnamese national parks and nature reserves have been named in a new international study identifying protected areas of the utmost importance to the survival of wildlife. Conservationists said this gives Vietnam specific focus for its wildlife protection efforts, and urged the government to do more in an area where foreign 40NGOs are doing the bulk of the work, Saigon Tiep Thi newspaper reported. Vietnam’s hot spots include parks and reserves in the northern highlands like UNESCO biosphere reserve Cat Ba Islands, those in the central region like the famous Phong Nha-Ke Bang, and Cat Tien, which has made national headlines for years for being threatened by two hydropower projects that were scrapped last October. “If government officials are still going to restaurants to eat wildlife dishes and consider them delicious, Vietnam will hardly work out any conservation efforts,” said a representative. The expert also said IUCN has saved Vietnam time by naming the places it needs to pay attention to and how, and the conservationist said the government and people need to try to put its suggestion to work.
15 The Bulletin Promotions and News in HCMC...
Pamper Yourself Nestled in a quiet residential area hidden away from the hustle and bustle of the city is the recently opened Maison Mikio Boutique Salon (8 Ton Dat Tien Street in the Garden Plaza 2 Complex, Phu My Hung). The salon and spa offers clients a spacious yet intimate setting for salon and beauty services such as hair styling, coloring, manicures, pedicures, skincare, and waxing. In honor of its opening, the salon is offering a 50 percent Modern Sushi discount for all first-time clients. Those who become “I want to combine the new with the old. I don't want my restaurant VIP members will receive 30 percent off on services to be the same as anyone else's,” says Van, one of the partners and throughout the year. sushi chef at Ichiban Sushi (204 Le Lai, D1). Newly opened, the Call 5412 4773, email [email protected] or visit restaurant is a combination of a modern sushi bar with a lounge-like www.facebook.com/maisonmikio for more info ambiance featuring house music in a multi-level space. Van, together with his brother Daniel Phan, bring with them over 20 years of food and beverage experience in the US and aims to redefine sushi dining complete with a live DJ station on the ground floor and a lounge area on the second. Van brings his own unique take on Japanese cuisine with dishes such as Rock and Roll maki (unagi, white tuna and sweet sauce roll, VND138,000), Kobe cheese (filet mignon wrapped around French cream cheese, VND168,000), and his special Mr Van maki (sake, ebi (shrimp tempura), and tobiko (flying fish roll)), which earned him third place in a sushi competition in San Francisco, CA. He has also added a Californian twist to the traditional pancake with the Mr. Van Okonomiyaki – Japanese grilled pancake with bonito flakes, grilled and then baked, smothered in mozzarella cheese and mushrooms with house BBQ sauce (VND78,000) – the crust has the same texture and thickness as a pizza. “I want to create modern Japanese food to establish a new vibe. This is the first modern Japanese dining experience here, like the Japanese pizza. And when people taste my food, they'll come back, because they won't find it anywhere else. I don't want to be a copycat, I want to be me. For sure, it won't please everyone, but the majority will like it,” he adds. For further information, visit www.ichibansushi.vn
16 Image is Everything Saigon School of Imaging on Nguyen Dinh Chieu, D1 offers courses in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography led by professional photographer Quinn Ryan Mattingly. It promises to help you to learn the best way to shoot and edit stunning images. Courses typically run on weekends every two months, starting on January 18 with Lightroom 101 and Photography 101 on January 19. The following weekend sees the second level courses – Lightroom 201 is on January 25, and Photography 201 is on January 26. All courses are eight hours in duration, with a one-hour lunch break catered by Scott & Binh’s. One-on-one courses are also available. For more information, email [email protected] or call 0128 569 8144
17 Revving Into Vietnam Peugeot and the Vietnamese THACO (Truong Hai Auto Corporation) Group have celebrated the launch of the Peugeot brand in Vietnam with the Peugeot 408, produced locally at THACO’s Chulai plant in the Danang region. With the start of production of the Peugeot 408, of which 261,000 units have already been produced and sold across three continents. Peugeot and its partner THACO, the local market leader, are attacking a strategic segment that represents 22 percent of sales in the Vietnamese car market. The 408 project team foresees production and sales of 10,000 cars during the period 2014-2017.
Early Childhood Center TheAustralian International School (AIS) has recently unveiled Dog Day Afternoon its under 2s childcare program to support busy working parents. & Evening Situated in the heart of Thao Dien at XI Riverview Palace compound, Hair of the Dog bar has the Early Childhood Centre now offers a stimulating and nurturing opened at 194 Bui Vien, environment for infants as young as three-months-old, toddlers, and D1, their second location pre-school children up to five. modeled after their original The center offers specialist facilities for the under 2s, an indoor soft one in Hanoi. The owner play adventure playground, a splash pool, and two age-appropriate has renovated a large space soft turf playgrounds. Teachers are qualified expat Early Years creating an interesting professionals who are supported by a team of dedicated teaching bar with an alfresco assistants, providing a desirably low staff to pupil ratio. sidewalk area downstairs, For more information, contact Thanh Do atthanh.do@ and an upper lounge area aisvietnam.com or call 3519 2727 overlooking the lower bar that allows for a great view of the DJ station. If it follows its Hanoi theme, it will be a DJ music-focused nightclub. For more information, call 094 789 3232
The Golden Arches American fast food chain McDonald’s is opening its first restaurant in Vietnam at 2-6bis Dien Bien Phu, D1. The outlet will include a 24- hour drive-through lane, a first for Vietnam, its 38th Asian market. There is also another outlet that’s scheduled to be open soon at the triangle section of Tran Hung Dao and Pham Ngu Lao, near the Ben Multicultural Dining Thanh Market and bus station. Opened several months ago, Indaba Café & Restaurant (35 Ly Tu McDonald’s in Vietnam is represented by Henry Nguyen of Good Trong, D1) ambitiously combines Japanese sushi, Western style steak, Day Hospitality, the Prime Minister’s son-in-law. Nguyen Huy Thinh, and Italian coffee under one roof. It boasts homemade ingredients GM of McDonald’s Vietnam, said most of its ingredients will be such as udon noodles, soy sauce for the sushi, and matcha ice cream. imported to ensure quality and safety of the food. The quaint and cozy restaurant is decorated in soft hues of red and black, complemented with soft jazz music. A GermanViet Kieu with experience in restaurants in Germany helms the kitchen. Contact them at 3824 8280 or visit www.facebook.com/ indabacafe 24 Hour Convenience Japanese convenience chain 7-Eleven plans to open its first location in Vietnam within the next two months. Thai CP All, who bought the rights to franchise the brand, will open seven company- Piano & Coffee owned stores in Vietnam in Gemmi Coffee’s spacious and colonial style café recently opened the first two to three years at 193 D3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D3. They have an office lunch menu before allowing a local delivery service with inexpensive dishes like morning glory with partner to administer the garlic (VND20,000), stir fried seafood noodles (VND45,000), and chain. The stores will stock sautéed squid (VND45,000), among others. In the evenings at 8pm a 40 percent Vietnamese live solo piano performance provides entertainment for guests. products and 60 percent Call 090 651 0008 or visit www.facebook.com/GemmiCoffee for Thai and other imported more info products.
18 New & Beautiful The start of 2014 saw Xuan Truong Center debut a new cosmetic surgery clinic called Xuan Truong Paradise (12 Ky Dong, D3). The clinic is equipped with the latest advanced technology in beauty treatments available today. “Being beautiful and preserving beauty is a hard job, and in this day and age it’s even more difficult. I am happy for those who are truly beautiful, who do not need go to beauty salons and are satisfied with their appearances,” says Do Xuan Truong, Director of Xuan Truong Center. “However, for those who wish to make a few changes, I can tell them that cosmetic surgery can compensate for the shortcomings nature gave you. And for those who want to preserve their beauty, thank god, today skin rejuvenation technology has improved a lot.” The center also has branches in Dong Nai, Long An, Ca Mau and Da Nang. Feb Promo at GRAND MERCURE DANANG All you can eat Dim Sum at VND400,000 net/person with over 40 dim sum varieties to choose from throughout the week (except Mondays). Every Friday, savour a sumptuous buffet with delectable Chinese and local seafood Specialties along with a free flow of draught beer/ soft drink at VND500,000 net/person. For additional free flow of house wine, the surcharge is VND190,000 net/person. This Valentine’s Day, impress the one you love with a private and gourmet dining experience with their All-you-can-eat Dim Sum at VND400,000/person. For romance, join their Chinese and Seafood buffet with free flow of draught beers and soft drinks at VND500,000/person. A spring spa package that includes a special blend of uplifting body oils and oriental massage technique, head massage and foot reflexology is priced at VND1,200,000/person for 100 min. Any couple package will enjoy a 20 percent discount for Valentine's Day. Visit www.mercure.com for more info Dance & Yoga For Kids New Kindermusik dance and yoga educator Nattamon Puangkaew has over 10 years of experience teaching children singing and dancing in numerous musical schools and music camps in Thailand. She has also taught body jam, body balance, body step, funk jazz, pilates and yoga at California Wow Experience Thailand. Recently trained as a Rainbow yoga instructor, she created her own yoga playgroup class at Viva Yoga Thailand. Visit www.kindermusik-vietnam for details
19 Join the Club Cold Beer Club (64 Ton That Thiep, D1) is another bar alongside Ginger 60, Drunken Duck and Phattys on Ton That Thiep. Large-tabled bar downstairs with a well-designed and laid out upstairs lounge with a balcony overlooking the street below. Expect loud music, plenty of waitresses hovering around and imported and local beers. 24/7 Universal Bar on 90 Bui Vien is now opening 24/7 for food, sports on TV & music. The upstairs bar and lounge is scheduled to reopen soon and will feature DJ music & dancing. Marriott Hotel Marriott International marks a milestone in its expansion into Emmmm… Southeast Asia with the unveiling of JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi. The December saw the opening of the first property of the brand new property is the JW Marriott brand’s third to open in Asia within the 3-star chain EMM Hotels and Resorts, operated by the same group past two months (others in Bengaluru and New Delhi), reflective of that manages the upscale Victoria Hotels & Resorts. The 56 room a significant investment in the region by the rapidly growing luxury property (157 Pasteur, D3) features 18 hotel rooms and 38 1- and hotel brand. 2-bedroom apartments with kitchen, dining room, and spacious The 450-room JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi is a 'reverse skyscraper' living room for those looking to stay a bit longer. EMM is derived designed by acclaimed architecture practice Carlos Zapata Studio. from em in Vietnamese, meaning comfort or well-being, and the The impressive structure was inspired by the country’s magnificent chain guarantees guests "a fantastic night's sleep, coupled with a coastline and evokes characteristics of a dragon – a modern nutritional and tasty daily buffet breakfast." interpretation of a symbol from Vietnam's past. The property's signature colors are vibrant pink and lime green, With over 3,600 square meters of meeting space built for large giving it a funky fresh vibe, coupled with custom art work by corporate and association events, JW Marriott Hanoi is well placed Vietnamese artists. The property's most spectacular feature, though, to cater to the flourishing market for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, is its gorgeous 11th floor restaurant / bar / terrace with 180 degree Conferences and Exhibitions) in Vietnam. The hotel has a total of 17 views of central Saigon, a chill spot to watch the sun set over the city. meeting rooms including two Ballrooms. All meeting facilities are Until the website is operational, queries can be emailed to minh.le@ conveniently located on the ground floor with a dedicated entrance victoriahotels.asia and parking. Chipping Away Saigon Fish & Chips Vietnam has opened on 237 Pham Ngu Lau (upstairs, use the hotel reception lobby) just around the corner from the popular Hem 241 alleyway. One piece of Atlantic whitefish with chips is VND79,000, or the Fish Basket with two large lightly crumbed fish fillets & chips for VND99,000. Fish & shrimp or deep fried shrimp meals are also available.
Aeon Influx Japanese retail and shopping center operator Aeon has opened its first mall in Vietnam. The mall is the first stage of a mixed residential development called Celadon City, in the outlying Ho Chi Minh City suburb of Tan Phu. A large Aeon supermarket and department store anchors one end of the center, which extends four stories. Retailers trading from day one include Malaysian listed jeweler Tomei, The Body Shop, Face Shop, local book retailer Fahasa, discount apparel chain Fashion Outlet Store (FOS) and Birkenstock. Levis, Samsonite and a raft of other brands are expected to open soon, with the mall reportedly 90 percent leased. Aeon has a second Vietnam mall under construction already with at least two more planned. Working Together Work Saigon on 267/2 Dien Bien Phu, D3 is a shared working space, creativity school, and café in Saigon. It is home to a community of people who are trying make a meaningful living. The space can host events or workshops as small as 30 all the way up to 250 people. It can also be booked for private meetings and is open from 10am to 9pm. For more information, visit www.worksaigon.com
20 21 saigon mythbusters
THE MYTH: Are English books banned from being shipped out of Vietnam?
Actually, no, it’s not English books bearing an authentic stamp or code books specifically. Both English and will have already undergone a cultural other foreign-language books are often inspection there). In general, the following simply caught in the line of fire between items are prohibited from local prohibitions and actually-banned crossing Vietnamese publications. borders: According to Vietnamese Post Office Regulation #49/2010/QH12 (you can find - Narcotics and it on the Vietnamese government legal neurological drugs text archive moj.gov.vn) and the imports regulation (12/2006/ND-CP), any “cultural - Weapons and ammunition, Sample of a book stamp and publisher’s name unauthorized military technology products” (of which books are one) that are banned from circulation within Vietnam - Debauched cultural products, are also banned from being imported into publications and documents that or exported out of Vietnam. According to this internal policy, any undermine public order and Both of these regulations are pretty books, publications, or documents lacking incite against the State straightforward concerning the types of both of these items – whether they’re books that are unwelcome in Vietnam: books Vietnamese or foreign – are likely to be - Explosive, flammable, of an adult nature; socially controversial given the boot by the post office workers unhygienic, or polluting substances and materials material; and textbooks with an anti- in charge. government agenda. Despite this very clear So what do you do if you know your - Any items banned from distinction, however, many expats still find books are not illegal under Vietnamese circulation, import and export their non-adult-material, non-controversial, law but don’t have a stamp or the name and non-anti-government books turned of a local publisher on it? Fortunately, in - Living organisms away at the post office. practice, this policy is not set in stone. The problem stems from the lack of an Because the root problem is not a legal - Items banned from entry institutionalized department dedicated to one but rather a lack of resources, if you to receiving countries content inspection (which would probably find that your books are denied at any post - Precious metals, stones, or be too costly) in Vietnamese post offices, office and you know for sure that the law products made from precious especially those smaller ward-level post itself has no problem with them, then just metals or stones offices with fewer resources. Without an take your books to a larger post office or inspection department, the general post international shipping company where they - Post containing mail sent office has a ‘cultural inspection’ policy have more resources (and more staff used to to multiple addresses that does away with reading through dealing with foreigners), and where you’ll the content in favor of a minimum-effort have a much better chance of shipping check for a stamp or book code from a them out of Vietnam than you would at legal Vietnamese book publisher (since any your local branch. - NPD Khanh
22 23 TECHNOLOGY
One Million+ 10 startups in Vietnam that have reached over one million users Text by Anh-Minh Do
There currently is a healthy and growing app development and usage data, it may crowded market with successful mobile- “middle class” app economy. Mobile analytics be glossing over the very real struggles oriented startups hitting the one million user firm Flurry reports seeing 357 percent growth developers in mature markets have to milestone. Here’s a list of both the mobile and over the past 18 months from independently overcome to just get their app noticed by non-mobile spaces that might interest you. owned apps that have a worldwide audience of users, and then keep it from being abandoned over 20 million monthly active users, and 121 by users later on. Greengar percent growth from those with an audience of If this latest mobile app data from Flurry Greengar is one of the most successful mobile over one million. about a “middle class” app economy is really app companies in Vietnam. It started out as an A good bit of the mobile app growth Flurry is true, then this may indeed suggest that there app studio that built apps, from productivity to touting today is because of mobile app adoption is a middle-ground market for mobile apps gaming ones, but since entering the 500 Startups in emerging markets, something the company that are able to achieve a certain number of program in Silicon Valley, it has focused solely alludes to by citing the adoption of gaming, active users; even if those same mobile apps on its most successful app - Whiteboard. The utility and messaging apps like LINE, Kakao, might not be constantly used. app allows users to collaborate on a shared Snapchat and WhatsApp around the world. The new data from Flurry also confirms whiteboard with text, paintbrushes, and more. In particular, the company found earlier this that mobile applications will still face an The app is mainly targeted at educational summer that China alone accounted for 24 initial struggle to get noticed and then institutions, but the CEO, one of Vietnam’s few percent of all the connected devices worldwide, continually adopted and used by many female tech startup co-founders, says it can also including both smartphones and tablets. in order to become large successes in the be used in business meetings. This means that while Flurry is making mobile application market due to the current a good point that there’s still plenty of presence of over one million applications in Zalo room for growth in the mobile app stores, the Apple/iOS mobile app store. VNG is no longer a considered a startup. It’s one by taking a high-level view of the mobile Vietnam is definitely getting in on this of Vietnam’s biggest tech giants, and is worth
Whiteboard Zalo Fuzel
24 mentioning because it is basically Southeast far one of Vietnam’s most successful daily Project Lana, there are three main e-commerce Asia’s only major contender against East Asian deals sites. It saw user numbers climb at an sites - Be Yeu (for mothers), Lam Dieu (ladies’ chat apps like Line, KakaoTalk, WeChat, and exponential rate, and saw revenues approaching fashion and accessories), and Foreva (lingerie). foreign competitors like Viber and Whatsapp. USD2 million per month according to an Project Lana is one of IDG Ventures Vietnam’s Zalo is most likely Vietnam’s second most undisclosed source. Unfortunately, the site was biggest e-commerce projects. used chat app with almost seven million users embroiled in a controversial embezzlement to date. That’s growth that only occurred in scandal which led to the exit of the founder Money Lover the last year. This explosive growth is because and CEO, and the dissolution of the original Money Lover is a beautifully designed app VNG has poured huge resources into an management team. The scandal resulted in that allows users to manage their finances on aggressive marketing plan. consumers’ distrust of the company and leveled a smartphone. It’s simple to use, and although the playing field for other daily deals sites to the app is not at the same level of Mint or Not A Basement take over the market. Today, Nhom Mua still Money Management, it has managed to earn a The mobile app company recently released survives but is just another one of the many worldwide user base. another version of its Fuzel app. Rather than medium-sized daily deals sites. update the old app, the Not A Basement team MC Corp decided to keep the old version as a legacy AppVL MC Corp is a gaming company that specializes app and encouraged users to download its HaiVL, like Zalo, has seen explosive growth in in mostly fantasy games ranging from tower new same-name version. The new app has a year, but did not need to spend huge amounts defense, card battling, role playing, puzzles, already skyrocketed to Apple’s recent “Best of marketing to get there. It’s a site that closely and action adventure. With young Vietnamese New Apps” list and features a modern chic resembles 9gag, the funny photo sharing site, gamers so enthralled with ancient Chinese and design. The original Fuzel app had received and started out by doing free marketing on Vietnamese mythology, MC Corp has been over a million downloads and Not A Basement Facebook. HaiVL, within just over a year, able to capitalize on this niche market with studio’s MangaRock, an app that allows users received 2.5 million unique visits to its site per iOS, Android, and flash games. to read their favorite mangas, has also received day. Half of those visits came from direct visits over a million downloads. where users were typing “HaiVL” into the Colorbox URL bar. The growth of HaiVL has spawned Its flagship game is Dalton, a particularly fun Divmob a number of clones, but it will be a long time iOS app that features a running character Considered as one of the most successful before anybody can dethrone a startup whose named Dalton who travels around in a mobile gaming companies in Vietnam, Divmob young 22-year-old CEO is intent on hitting surrealistic universe chopping down odd has produced more than 10 games for Android 10 million visits per day within the next few creatures. The co-founders of Colorbox were and iOS. Its most successful is Ninja Revenge, years. all former Gameloft designers, underscoring which garnered over one million downloads one of the most important aspects of building a in 21 days. It received close to two million Project Lana successful startup - experience. downloads in the first month and in total has WebTreTho is Vietnam’s biggest female forum over four million downloads. My personal with over a million users because it focused There are many ways Vietnamese startups favorite is Zombie Age. on one of the most active demographic on the have been able to achieve over one million internet – Vietnamese women. Adultery is one users - each hit on very specific markets like Nhom Mua of the most searched and asked about topics education, fantasy gaming, or communication. This is the only startup in this list that has a on WebTreTho. With its large loyal user base, It’s a lesson for young startups in Vietnam sad story. Started by a team of Vietnamese- it has since expanded into an e-commerce today that are looking for growth numbers Americans and locals, Nhom Mua was by business under the name Project Lana. Under like these.
Nhom Mua HaiVL Money Lover - Expense Manager
25 SPORTS
26 Men of Muscle Meet the two men who are trying to take bodybuilding in Vietnam to the next level
Text by NPD Khanh Image by Ngoc Tran
Meet Pham Van Mach, a three time world A Secret is Revealed champion and a seven time Asian champion “I have a secret,” Mach shares. “I actually don’t bodybuilder. He’s done the rounds both at home have the best body out of all the bodybuilders and on the international stages, but to become in Vietnam.” Mach currently weighs a mere a member of the International Federation of 55kg, not even enough to get on the lightest Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB), the world’s classification of the IFBB, and stands at a largest bodybuilding federation, is on another modest 1.58 meters. “Many bodybuilders level entirely. If Mach succeeds in getting in, he younger than me have much buffer bodies will be the first Vietnamese bodybuilder to ever and are far taller. I went to the beach with gain entrance into the federation. them a couple of time before, but sometimes Ben Dell, a veteran bodybuilding coach with I don’t even dare to pull off my shirt in front over 25 years of experience under his belt and a of their awesome physiques. I look tiny Canadian champion in his own right, is Mach’s compared to them.” ace to open the gate to the IFBB. But when it comes to showmanship “There was a time when people thought and competitions, Mach still reigns as the bodybuilders were these huge, stupid people champion. that lifted weights,” says Ben, whose sentiment “The key is to understand how your body Mach agrees with and thinks is still the case in looks as a three dimensional object. The exact Vietnam. shape of your body. Bodybuilding is not just For the two, there is much more than meets starving yourself and pumping weights until the eye when it comes to bodybuilding. “You you look like a gorilla. It’s the careful carving have to understand everything about your body, of your own body until you achieve the exact about your muscles and about the foods you eat shape you want. And then when you stand in order to create the body shape you want. You before the judges, know how to flaunt your have to be a nutritionist and you have to be a best parts and hide your not so good parts. chef. You have to understand how your foods Everyone has good and not so good parts, so interact with each other and how they interact bring your good parts into the light and hide with your body. You have to educate yourself. the other stuffs in the shade,” Mach says, he Knowledge is the first step,” says Ben. drawing this knowledge from his ongoing And with that passion for food and body, Ben Masters Studies in architecture. has even created a restaurant called Ben Style In terms of gaining entrance into the (302 Co Bac, D1) to help those who want to bulk IFBB, both Ben and Mach think it will be up or just want to eat healthier. a challenge though not an impossible one, What comes after the required knowledge is despite Mach’s disadvantage in weight and even tougher. The will to adhere to the diet. height classification. “Bodybuilding is more about the control of “I’m used to gaining or losing 15-20kg one the mind,” Ben adds. “If you cannot control at a time. It’s just part of the job for me. But your mind, you cannot control your body. what we want to do is to bring bodybuilding The pain of hunger will kill you. Mental in Vietnam to the next level,” says Mach. preparation is the first thing. When you are According to him, there is no lack of talent hungry, you won’t care about anything at all. or passion for bodybuilding in Vietnam. What You have to learn to control it. People will say, is lacking though is proper attention from ‘Ok, I’ll start my diet tomorrow,’ and that’s the government in developing bodybuilding, why they fail because tomorrow never comes. attention - both organizational and financial But for a bodybuilder, no means no. When we - that is being paid to other more popular start the diet, everything stops. I love ice cream sports such as football. and I love coffee. But once the diet starts, “We athletes all receive our funding and everything stops overnight.” sponsorship from the Ministry of Culture, “I would say bodybuilders are gods of Sports and Tourism. Anyone can look into diet. The two weeks before the competition the monthly salary and see the discrepancy is the toughest. Our meals are planned and between the salary of a footballer and your timed exactly every day. Even the water average athletes of any sports. Usually it’s a we drink is controlled. Maybe ten cups per 10 to 1 ratio.” But even this cannot deter what day because we have to balance between the team of two have in mind. dehydration, which is dangerous of course, Mach adds: “We understand that a sport and creating the body shape we want by needs to be more popular, needs to prove controlling our food and water intake. The itself before it can pull that kind of attention last two days you cannot drink much, if you and funding, and that’s exactly what we are can drink at all.” doing. We will compete with the king sport. The last step, the stage performance of We will show Vietnam and the world that we bodybuilders is also not as simple as it seems. can take bodybuilding to the next level.”
27 28 MUSIC
The Melodeon Player Meet Saigon’s only melodeon playing folk singer from Manchester Text by Michael Arnold Image by Adam Robert Young
Saigon’s an unlikely stage for a retired If it all works out, I want to stay here and do blue in the face practicing, but it’s only when folk melodeon player from Manchester to maybe two tours a year, one on this side of you’re in front of people, and you get that start making a big comeback, but Keith the world, and one on the Europe side.” feedback that you suddenly think, bloody hell, Hancock’s certainly looking very pleased Describing himself as a “rock accordion” I’m doing a gig, I’m a musician.” with himself these days, and one gets the player, Keith shies of the ‘folk’ label. “People impression that life’s about to drop yet – the Brits, and the Americans in particular Don’t Call It a Comeback another new adventure straight into his lap. – they like to put music in boxes,” he says. Things progressed quickly from that point on. He’s recently been on tour in Europe, after “They just decided it was folk music. I mean Keith released a few albums, started gigging billing in a series of Scottish arts centers really, once you call one thing folk music, with his then-wife, and eventually went on with renowned folk/blues vocalist Marilyn what isn’t? It’s just one guy on stage with an international tours, at one point playing to a Middleton, and he’s now talking about instrument.” crowd of 25,000 people. putting a band together – here. Keith’s roots lie more in the Beatles and “Whenever I toured Canada, I used to freak “I’ve really got the bit between my teeth the Who than they do in the genre with out,” he says. “They have so many fantastic now,” he enthuses. “I want to start playing which he’s commonly associated. “I was lucky musicians over there. The first gig I did was again. I’ve got a drummer and a guitarist enough to grow up in the 60s with all that the Regina Festival, and I was at the top of lined up here already. They sound interested phenomenal English music,” he says. “I think the bill, because I’d come over from England, and they’re fantastic players. It’s just a case of I got into folk music when I was about 20. I’d so I was headlining the whole weekend. We finding the other personnel.” moved to the East Coast with my brother, but followed a guy called Oscar Lopez on stage, He’s already talking about going on tour he was killed in a car crash in 1976, so I came and Oscar’s one of the finest guitar players in Asia, confident he can get gigs in Jakarta, back to Manchester a bit of a mess. I had a in the world. And he just had the place. This Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and here. “You’ve pretty tough three years. It was grim. Then I young, good-looking Hispanic-American got the makings of it there already,” he says, just walked into a pub one night, and there onstage in these gleaming spotlights, ripping “and once you start putting gigs in, people were about 15 musicians in there, all playing his guitar, you know, shredding it. Who start getting interested. We sell it big, and if folk music. A tune would start, and everyone would want to follow that? But because that works, then we take it to Europe.” in the room knew it, and they all played it. I we were English it was fine, so we went This kind of talk would have been thought this is just terrific. I’ve got no idea on and we sounded completely different to inconceivable at this time last year. Having why it was the melodeon – and I don’t know everybody else over the whole weekend.” long since left the folk festival circuit behind what it was, I just thought, I like the sound of Things may have quieted down these days, him, a series of misfortunes left him stuck in that, and I reckon I could play it.” but the future’s taking shape very quickly. Saigon with USD60 in his pocket. So far, it’s “I just took to it so quickly,” he recalls. “I’ve never played in Vietnam apart from only been his determination to stay in Asia “I literally just borrowed one off a guy, he doing two songs one night,” he says. “But I’m that’s put him back on his feet, but the music taught me one tune, I went home, worked on doing two gigs, I’m doing one in probably seems to be calling once again. it, then sat in the pub waiting for that one February. I’m doing April the 23rd, St. “Music is my freedom,” he says. “I don’t tune to play, and joined in. The week after I George’s Day, in BMV (38 Quoc Huong, D2). want to go back on the road full-time though. learned another two tunes. And within about And there’s going to be a date at Snap Café It’s too grueling. It is a very, very hard three months, I knew the repertoire. I was (32 Tran Ngoc Dien, D2) before then. That’s existence. I would never knock it, because it’s playing all of it. In fact, I did my first gig three just going to be me solo.” the most exciting time I’ve ever had in my weeks after I first picked the instrument up. “I don’t really see it as a comeback,” he life, to be jumping on airplanes once every There were two other accordions in the band says. “I do see it as a new phase in my life, month flying off to exotic locations – that’s and they sort of carried me along. That’s what though, and I’m happier than I’ve been in pretty good stuff. But it takes it out of you. did it. You can sit in your bedroom till you’re quite a long time.”
29 ART
The Restoration Lab In the hands of a team of skilled surgeons, rare and antique books get a new life Text by NPD Khanh Images by Adam Robert Young
In the heart of Ho Chi Minh City lies preservation, restoration, and digitization. at a time. A single page can take as much as a secret hospital - a tiny well-kept and well- PAR officially started in 2000 when the a month to restore, a full-size book as much loved operating room the size of a shoebox Library of General Sciences invited two as half a year or longer. And we have a total apartment. There are three surgeons, two antiquarians from Cornell University (US) of 3,000 rare antique books to care for, and operating beds, and ten nurses and caretakers to Vietnam to provide training to their staff. beyond that, nearly one million public titles who oversee a total of 3,000 inpatients in Prior to this, PAR was simply a book binding that also need someone watching over them.” addition to a fluctuating amount of close to room. Its true origin, however, began much “The environment needs constant one million entries in and out every year. earlier than that, in as early as 1996 when the monitoring - PAR’s main and storage rooms, However, to be admitted to this hospital you then-Director of the library, Nguyen Thi Bac, the cellars, shelves, and the processing rooms must meet two criteria: you have to be rare was sent on a one-person training trip to the - the entire building actually. No sunlight. and antique, and be made out of paper. US. It was from Bac’s trip that knowledge of We have blinders on all the windows and The hospital goes by the name of The antique book restoration began trickling back somebody is always checking on the sun. Department of Preservation and Restoration, to Vietnam. Out of the original staff in 2000, Heat and humidity, neither of which are easy shortened to simply Preserve and Restore only one remains till this day - a senior staff to control, of course, but if we don’t do that, (PAR) by its residents. It is the youngest member named Quy who now acts as the the texts will either rot away or dry up and department of the restricted access area of chief specialist restorer and main surgeon of fall apart.” the Ho Chi Minh City Library of General the entire operation. Sciences, and is the only place in all of “It’s a quiet, patient thing, what we do. As She adds: “The tools we use are that of real southern Vietnam where dying books - rare you can see, not many people actually know surgeons. Scalpels, chisels, cutters, standing and antiques, maps, documents, and aged torn about us,” says Kim Anh, the chief of PAR. scopes, clamps and forceps, even surgical papers that have seen firsthand the turmoil “It’s an unglamorous and unforgiving job room needles. We have them all. A surgeon of Vietnamese history - can be brought that requires your full attention to the most can walk into this room and he wouldn’t lack back to life. PAR has three main functions: minute of details over weeks or even months for a small operation. The only few things we
30 "They are hundreds of years old. Some of them are on the verge of falling to pieces and probably would have if we hadn’t sealed them up"
have that aren’t taken from a surgeon’s tool list are things specific to our specialty, such as paper thread used for sewing up tears, non- acidic paper glue, or a handheld bookbinder’s iron. There is no room for error, since the books we are working on are considered national treasures and part of the Vietnamese cultural heritage. They are hundreds of years old. Some of them are on the verge of falling to pieces and probably would have if we hadn’t sealed them up. The government has strict rules regarding our handling of these books and texts and one slipup is all it takes to see a veteran staff out the door.” Self-preservation From that first starting point in 2000, it took a full five years for the department to grow to a level where it could start offering its services to outside libraries, museums and private collectors. “I won’t say it’s tough asking for funding,” says Kim Anh. “We do have funding, of a sort, VND40 to VND50 million per year. Sometimes a couple hundred million if we need new equipment for digitization.” This amount is roughly the equivalent of a national football team member’s monthly salary. “What I will say, however, is that there’s still not enough attention paid to the importance and necessity of book restoration. Out of our three functions, the fund is actually almost exclusively for the digitization team since it’s the only one mentioned in the government charter on the preservation of our cultural heritage. Preservation and restoration have to get their funds from those earmarked for digitization. There is no charter and no campaign that calls for book preservation and restoration. So while people on the outside are clamoring for the creation of an online library of our digitized historical texts, the real articles are left forgotten and locked away to rot in our cellar.” Despite these challenges the staff at PAR aren’t daunted. “We have done this for more than a decade. We are plenty patient,” they say. “And we are teaching other people, other libraries in other provinces about book restoration and preservation. We are making sure the knowledge we got from our foreign teachers isn’t lost along with the old generation.” “If I have to put it in words,” says Kim Anh, “an antiquarian restorer is both a doctor and an artist. A doctor because you really have to know what you are doing and be really meticulous about it. An artist because only an artist can work on a single piece, on a single cause for months or years and not grow tired of it. Truly, it’s a job fit only for the most fanatic of book lovers.”
31 A Family
As the new year beginsAffair and the old year is put to rest, all Vietnamese rejoice in their most important holiday - New Year. The living pay homage to the dead, and younger community members honor their elders. Families are reunified; the coming of spring and the planting season are celebrated. This is a time for relaxation, joy, and hope. Tet is the time to settle past mistakes and start anew.
To celebrate the New Year as a family is an essential part of the Vietnamese experience and a way of validating one's place in the most important group - the family. Everybody who is able to do so goes back home to visit parents and grandparents. Extended families come together to enjoy each other's company and to pay ceremonial respect to the elders of the family and the ancestors. People visit family and friends, eat special holiday dishes, give gifts, and play games of chance. Firecrackers welcome the New Year. A good Tet augurs a good year ahead. And with that in mind our family at Oi wish your family "Chuc Mung Nam Moi!" b y n go c t r an I mage
32 A Tale of Two Families The one that went and the one left behind Text and Images provided by James Pham
Few words engender feelings of movement (Northerners who moved to warmth, safety and belonging like “family.” the South in 1954 as France lost its grip Especially this time of the year, when on Vietnam), they settled in Saigon. My Vietnamese families the world over gather grandfather was a civil servant and old for a few precious days of merrymaking, family photos tell a tale of carefree children overeating and good-natured gossip. For with good teeth, fashionably dressed, posing some, it’s literally the only respite from an in front of a landscaped garden with an unforgiving work schedule, time to revel in automobile in the background, servants to the embrace of family. help around the house. I was born in Vietnam, a child of the war. Even then, my father’s family was open- Here, it’s referred to as the American War while minded, sophisticated, well-traveled. My everywhere else it goes by a different name. own parents got married in Germany while Growing up in the US since the age of away on scholarship, my father also studied two, I was blissfully unaware of the world in France and Morocco. One uncle met his I was born into, a country which no longer Australian wife on a cruise. Another aunt exists. In fact, I was perfectly happy being a met her Swiss husband while hanging out ‘banana,’ yellowy Asian on the outside, more in a kibbutz in Israel. Yet another uncle was white than anything else on the inside, living stationed as a diplomat in Paris, London in suburban Virginia, going to the best, and New York. Photos show graduations all predominantly White schools, hanging out around the US. To this day, I find it surreal with my conspicuously pale, homogeneous that I have sets of cousins who look nothing group of friends with little thought to where like me, including some with the blondest I came from. of hair. But the story of my childhood, and now, My baby book, a surprising recent find of my present, is a tale of two families. One after being safeguarded for decades, shows that went and the one that was left behind. glimpses of a comfortable life. A smiling My father’s family came from Thai Binh, family of four, perched on a shiny new Vespa 100 km south of Hanoi. Part of the Bac 54 which I’m told was quite the status symbol
33 Clockwise from TOP: Carefree aunts and uncles, James' grandmother, Aunt Thu then and now, James' grandfather
in the day. My mother, dusting sand off my one-year-old feet on a visit to Cap Saint Jacques, the French coastal playground now known as Vung Tau. While the country was at war, my privileged family felt little of it, insulated in Saigon. We experienced no deprivations, no shortages to speak of. Those with money could still find whatever they wanted. Of course, by then, the war had been going on for nearly 20 years. People kept up with it in the papers, but there was little panic. It kindly left our family alone. Sure, my father witnessed the aftermath of battles as a teacher in the southern provinces of Vietnam. And my parents carefully monitored the news of the 1968 Tet Offensive from far away Germany, worried for the newborn daughter they had sent back to live with my grandparents in Saigon. In fact, the only person in my family to go to war was my Uncle Giap. He came home uninjured but no longer whole. A few years later, and three years before I was born, Uncle Giap took his own life. I still hear the heartbreaking wistfulness in my father’s voice on the rare occasion he speaks of his brother, younger by four years, the one uncle I never knew. In old photos, I see kind eyes looking back at me. How much did his suicide have to do with the things he experienced as a soldier? By the early 70s, most of my father’s surviving six brothers and sisters were already living abroad. Our little family remained in our tenuous bubble of security. Things came to a head, though, in the early part of 1975. Now the war was no longer just on the fringes of consciousness. It was inexorably moving towards Saigon. In those final moments, my parents tell me they spent every waking minute listening to the radio in a torturous, helpless exercise of tracking exactly how close the front lines had become. The end of life as they knew it was measured in days and hours, not weeks and years. One of my aunts, who had by then returned from a study tour in the US and gained citizenship, went to the US Embassy in Saigon to arrange evacuation. She was told there was no space. Undeterred, she went directly to the airport and was able to sign herself up along with our family for evacuation. My mother recalls they had less than one day’s notice. What do you take when you have just a few hours to liquidate your entire life? Even though my maternal grandparents lived only 15 minutes away, in the confusion and panic, there was not even time enough for good-byes. We left five days before what is now called the “liberation” of Vietnam, before the infamous scenes of people desperately clinging to the last few helicopters. My mom tells me that the night we left, I asked my parents why we were still outside at night despite the curfew. The word “curfew” should not be in any
34 Portaits of James' family in 1974 and below, in the US
two-year-old child’s vocabulary. The Weight of History Safely in the US, though, our family photo albums depict a happy kid who rode ponies and hugged Disney characters, as always, shielded from the past. But over the years, small chinks appeared in the armor. I vividly recall one late afternoon in 1977. I would’ve been four. My mom was drying her hair with one of those old fashioned contraptions that included a light green plastic bonnet, a hose and a very loud fan. The phone rang. In an instant, my mother was doubled over, sobbing inconsolably over the news that my grandmother had died in a land far away. The one there was no time to say good-bye to. A kind woman who I had no memory of. Part of the family left behind. Other than that, I cannot recall one instance where we talked about the war growing up. I think my parents were just happy to be living abroad, especially as we started meeting ‘boat people’ who in most cases paid a terrible price to get to where we were. Then came the war on Iraq during my teen years. Again, there was 24/7 coverage of war, but this time with live images. My father was transfixed. Not only did he watch the news when he was home, he taped it when he wasn’t. Even after all those years, he had an intense visceral reaction to what he was seeing, the final crack in the floodgates of his memory, a trigger which led to more serious issues that carry on until this day. I have never asked him what terrible things he must have seen in those country provinces long before I was born. I’m not sure I want to know. The young are rarely burdened by the weight of history. It’s usually when we see our lives as history mostly written that we start looking back. My parents have since come back to Vietnam on many occasions. They marvel at how much everything has changed. I tell them of new 50 story buildings going up and mega cities being planned. This is actually one of the reasons I’ve decided to come back to the land of my birth. I’m no longer happy being a ‘banana’. I want to know the country that shaped my parents, even though that country, on paper at least, does not exist anymore. Later on, most of the family left behind did manage to come to America. But by then, my maternal grandfather was wizened and shriveled, a toothless shadow of what he once was. Even if I wanted to forget my childhood connection to this country, I can’t. It’s everywhere I turn, even now, almost 40 years later. It’s in the mural that I pass by three times a week on the way to my tennis courts, defiant faces ripping foreign flags as fires rage in the distance. It’s in the landscape of the city, previously known as the Pearl of the Far East. Where are the slick monorails of Bangkok or the impressive skylines of Hong Kong?
35 TOP: James' great-grandmother, grandparents and aunts and uncles;
BELOW: Uncle Giap
It’s in the missing tip of the right forefinger of the security guard who scans my parking pass, an all too common sign among men of a certain age who voluntarily amputated their trigger finger to avoid a soldier’s life. It’s in the gaunt face of a woman I randomly met who happened to have been in the same graduating class as my mother and taught at the same all girls’ school as she did. I came back to show her a recent photo of our family and she stared at my mother’s now aged face for a long time. “I hardly recognize her,” she says quietly of a friend she hadn’t seen in nearly four decades. “I remember your mother as a very pretty girl with a round face.” I don’t know if the years have been kind to her either. Or whether this was the life she envisioned for herself. It’s in my childhood home that I drive past in District 3, strangers now living in it, squatters who had their pick of homes abandoned by the fortunate / desperate. Whenever relatives come to visit, they always ask me to drive them by there, though never entering, as if to try and cling to a dream in those ethereal moments between sleep and wake. I wonder whether it still looks anything like the neat, cheerful home in my baby photos, filled with toys and books? All I know is that the past has shaped my present. Then and now. Empty and complete. East and West. While I straddle both worlds, I’m not sure I can say I truly belong in either. But I know my family will always be there to help me figure it out, both the family that went and the one that got left behind.
36 Unknown A man’s journey of self-discovery while searching for his lost birth parents Text by Michael Arnold Images by Adam Robert Young
The old orphanage in Vung Tau has that he was the son of a local woman and an however, that it ended when she walked out of now been closed down; the man who kept American soldier. the hospital doors without her son. it running for so many years has long since He says a prayer and buries the picture Brian’s now close to 41, and he’s ended passed away. Back where he began life as Cao beneath the sand that must have borne his up settling here in the country where, if his Hung Phi, an abandoned Vietnamese war baby, mother’s footsteps a thousand times. He may mother had made a different decision, he Brian Hester can see that his journey home never know whether or not she still remains in would have been raised. He’s a strapping, hasn’t answered any questions – but somehow, this area, or why she didn’t have the courage gregarious, easily likable man, and he’s the circle seems complete. In a sense, Vietnam to take him home after the birth. The nurses actually crazy enough to be running a has already given him the sense of identity he’s who filled out his adoption report weren’t Vietnamese restaurant for Vietnamese people been looking for. exactly sympathetic to her sacrifice, simply – despite having essentially grown up as a He carries a photograph down to the noting that she’d had a false death certificate corn-fed boy from the Midwest who’d never nearby beach. It’s an old black and white made out for her baby, and that she took his laid eyes on a Vietnamese person until he was image of himself taken right there back in original birth registration away with her, 19-years-old. the day – January 1973, before the end of the which had to be replaced. “When I was young, my mother never told war. A glance at his face even then would Whatever suffering brought her to that me much,” he says, leaning back at one of his have been enough to show beyond any doubt decision was not recorded. It’s unlikely, dining room tables where curious locals come Unknown37 to eat pho at an American-run restaurant. could never relate.” we got shipped out to the countryside, it was There’s very little about his face that’s “The stigmatism in America back then,” he at night, and I stayed at his brother's house. obviously Vietnamese, although his tattoo, adds, “it was not good about Vietnam because The next morning I woke up – couldn't sleep which reads “Cao Hung Phi,” is in plain sight. of the war. Though a lot of it wasn't discussed. much – opened the gates, and the whole world “I just knew I was different. I was darker; I had I didn't even tell my friends, probably the came alive.” black, straight hair. My siblings were whiter better half, until I was in my senior year “I felt like I was watching a movie. A and our parents were Caucasian, blue eyes and in high school. A lot of my friend's fathers guy walks past with a cow, and there green eyes. In my family pictures, I’m the one were Vietnam vets, hated Vietnam, or loved were kids riding their bicycles to school, who looks different.” Vietnam, and what could I do? When I was and everybody going to work on their “I remember one time, I was almost 28 years in fifth grade, I skipped school one day. They motorbikes, and I was like: This is what it's old, and my mom comes over with a box. It were studying different parts of the world. like, huh? Let's go to Ho Chi Minh, I want to was the clothes that she’d mailed to me in Vietnam came up, and I was like, ‘I'm not see what it's like down there.” Vietnam, so that when I came over on the going to that class.’ I went to my mom, and I “So we got in the car, we drove down here, plane, I’d be wearing them. My baby shoes, said, ‘I can't do this. I don't feel right.’ There and I literally had a headache for two days my little jacket. And then all the letters that was a part of me that I didn't understand, in from looking at all the bikes, at this mayhem. were written back and forth. My mother in fifth grade. I'll never forget that.” The chaos. The controlled chaos. Now it doesn't America wrote to the nurses in Vietnam, ‘how affect me. But back then it was amazing.” is he doing, what’re the updates.’ ‘He had his Growing Roots Brian stayed three weeks, and immediately first shots here,’ they’d answer, ‘he had his first It was Facebook that started Brian on the booked a return flight after arriving back haircut.’ And they described my personality hunt for his roots. Not long after making a home. It wasn’t long before he found himself exactly the way I am today. It’s amazing. To cursory search for “Vietnamese adoptees,” he standing on a beach in Vung Tau, his questions write that down and have that was priceless. found himself at a reunion seated across from buried beneath his feet in the sand, reflecting You’re not going to find too many adoptees people who’d been through exactly the same on a lifetime of “wondering what it was like to who still have that today in this kind of experiences as he had. “It was like we were all be on the other side of the ocean.” condition. I’m looking at the letters with the related,” he says. “But then on the flip side of “I just started exploring every town,” he nurses writing back and forth, and it’s bringing that was, I didn’t look Vietnamese. Everyone says. “Started going to every place. I wanted to tears to my eyes, it’s like, what the hell? And thought I was someone’s boyfriend.” know and learn about everywhere. I traveled there were more than a dozen letters that I Some time later, Brian ran into a Viet Kieu about 80 percent of Vietnam. I came back again never knew about for half of my life.” through his landscaping business who invited two years ago, figured I’d start a life here and Growing up with only a vague sense of his him to visit Vietnam. “Six months later I was try to get back… focus the second half of my heritage left Brian with a jarring disconnect. on a plane and we were going back,” he says. life here. If I ever write a book, the title would “I’d ride around with friends in the car back “And in my mind, I always pictured we'd fly be Coming Full Circle.” home,” he recalled. “It was like, ‘yeah, that’s into Saigon, and I'd see it all right there. It was Beyond the business, Brian has devoted a where my grandparents live,’ and ‘that’s the all in my head, in pictures. But unfortunately good number of volunteer hours to working hospital where I was born’ and ‘my parents are we flew in at 11 o'clock at night, and I had a with orphans. “You know, I’m a firm believer buried over there’ and I could never do that. I window seat ready to go, but it was dark! Then in paying it forward,” he says. “Whatever you
38 do in life, you have to continue it. There’s a at all. Since deciding to make his move to hasn’t inherited a Vietnamese face, the certain part of your life where it’s, OK, I’m Vietnam permanent, he has never made any chances are high that he strongly resembles done learning, or I’m not done learning but serious attempt to search for his birth family. his father. How his mother might react to it’s time to start teaching. I first worked in “My story about finding my actual parents seeing the face of the one American soldier an orphanage here in Vietnam. It was up in is, there’s nothing there,” he says when he she most wanted to forget is anyone’s guess. Danang. It brought tears to my eyes, I just gets back. “My story’s about me coming back That possibility of reopening old wounds is couldn’t believe it. I was walking around, and learning about me and moving forward. something that Brian is reluctant to force there were so many adoptees who were Getting back to the real me, trying to be upon his birth mother, even though a reunion looking at us, through a window, and that successful.” could ultimately bring her a sense of peace could’ve been us. That really… that was hard.” There’s something unconvincing about she has never since known. His mother may “It wasn’t complete until I came back,” he his tone, however, and he concedes there’s yet walk that Vung Tau beach to this day, not adds. “I think going back to Vung Tau, that more to it than merely not having gotten knowing that the picture of her baby boy lies was it. I was only a block and a half off the around to knocking on his birth mother’s buried beneath her feet, nor that her son has beach. Back to where the kids were taken door. “It’s not that I don’t want them,” he come home. after the hospital. No memory. I was a year admits. “It’s just that the pursuit of that isn’t “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t old when I left. I was able to walk and speak a something I’ve really focused on. Right now think about what it could be like,” Brian little Vietnamese.” I’m distracting myself. With the restaurant says. “But I’m reminded even more when “A lot of my life when I was over there in and the business, yeah.” I’m around other adoptees who found their America, I thought about what it would be In any case, one thing Brian won’t be mother, their siblings. I think the number one like in Vietnam. Now that I’m here, I think doing is participating in the popular TV reason why I haven’t pursued it is my look. about my past and what it was like back show that reunites families torn apart by Even back home, I don’t look like my family. home. That’s almost like a myth, a memory. the war. “I don’t want to get involved with I don’t want to come here and have the same It’s two years ago. I've been so involved here that,” he says. “I had a friend of mine go do thing with my own blood.” – I mean, I love it here, I wouldn’t change that show, she went in for the interview. Brian may not yet have made the decision anything. I just have to keep moving forward, No clue that her parents were sitting in the to “open Pandora’s box” and make his circle that’s all I would wish for anybody. Success, audience behind her. Talk about dropping complete by finding his family – but his life and learning. Those are important.” the bomb. There’s not really a finesse way to answers could still be within reach. His do things in Vietnam. She’s sitting there in mother may have taken away his real birth Lost & Unfound the interview, and they’re talking, and the certificate, but intentionally or otherwise, Brian seems to think we’re done, so he ducks camera’s on, and they’re saying, ‘oh by the she’s left him a clue. In falsely registering her out of the restaurant doors to check on the way, we found your parents. They’re sitting child’s death, there’s bound to be a record measurements for a new sign that’s being right here in the audience.’ No, I don’t ever listed in the musty old archives of a hospital delivered, cheerfully tending to his reclaimed want to go through that. It turned her upside somewhere in Vung Tau that details the slice of Vietnam with obvious enthusiasm. As down for about ten years.” unfortunate stillborn delivery of a certain Cao much as he seems to fit in here, there’s still The real barrier is probably something Hung Phi, along with the name of the woman a sense in which he hasn’t come full circle far more straightforward. Given that Brian who gave birth to him.
39 40 b y n go c t r an I mages No Horsing Around
A guide to Tet
When Vietnamese people talk about people believe that the colors red and yellow 9. Tet Nguyen Tieu – January 15th Tet, they generally mean Tet Nguyen Dan, will bring good fortune, which may explain why which can be interpreted as “Feast of the First these colors can be seen everywhere during Tet. During this time, most families make or buy Morning” or “The Dawning Period” of a new People believe that what they do on the dawn the traditional banh chung (in the north) or lunar year. This year, Tet begins on January 31, of Tet will determine their fate for the rest of banh Tet (in the south). The main ingredients 2014 (Gregorian calendar). the year, hence people will always smile and for these cakes include sticky rice, green bean According to the Chinese Zodiac, which behave as nicely as they can in the hope for paste, and pork. Banh chung is shaped like a consists of 12 animal signs, 2014 is the Year of a better year. In addition, gifts are exchanged square box and wrapped in dong leaves, while the Wood Horse. Wood is related to trees and between family members and friends, where banh Tet is shaped like a cylinder wrapped in the color green; therefore 2014 is also called the usually children receive lucky money kept in a banana leaves. Year of the Green Horse. People born in the Year red envelope. In addition to these cakes, other popular of the Horse are believed to be hard-working, No matter where Tet is celebrated, it must dishes are stewed fish, pork pate, pickled bok high-spirited, smart, sophisticated, and talented. be clarified from the beginning that Tet is not a choy, and spring onions. Most households also It’s also thought that horses do not like to be day, but several days of celebration. The general stock red-dyed melon seed, sweetened lotus restrained and tend to be impatient. According process is as follows (all dates quoted according seed, sweetened ginger, and squash candy strips. to superstition, if you’re born in the Year of the to the lunar calendar): Most importantly, Tet is an opportunity for Horse, you are most content as a journalist, people to return home and spend time with lawyer, publicist, or within the fields of sport or 1. Ong Cong, Ong Tao Day (Kitchen God day) – their families. Seven days prior to Tet, each travel. It is also believed that the horse is most December 23rd Vietnamese family offers a farewell ceremony compatible with the dog and the tiger, but least for Ong Tao (the Kitchen God) to go up to compatible with the monkey and the rat. 2. Wrapping chung cake – December 26-28th Heaven Palace. His task is to make an annual Since Tet occupies an important role in report to the Jade Emperor of the family’s affairs traditional religious beliefs here, the Vietnamese 3. Family reunion and tat nien – December 30th throughout the year. will begin their preparations well in advance of The last day of the old year and the first the upcoming Lunar New Year. In an effort to 4. Giao thua – Tet Eve – Includes praying sessions three days of the Lunar New Year are the most get rid of the bad luck of the past year, people to gods and ancestors, xong dat (First visit to a important ones. On Tet Eve, most Vietnamese will spend a few days cleaning their homes, family in the Lunar New Year). people have dinner with their family members, polishing every utensil, or will even repaint or and will celebrate with a feast at midnight. They redecorate their houses with kumquat trees, 5. First three days of Tet – Visit paternal side on offer prayers to honor and thank the gods of branches of peach blossoms, and many other the first day, maternal side on the second day, and Heaven and Earth for their blessings. colorful flowers. The ancestral altar is especially teachers on the third day. During this time, Vietnamese families often taken care of, with careful decoration of five offer an open-air ceremony to welcome Ong kinds of fruits and votive papers, along with 6. Visit relatives, friends and neighbors. This can Tao back from his report to the Jade Emperor. performing many religious rituals. Everybody, take place from January 3rd-5th. At the altar, they will place a tray of five fruits especially children, buy new clothes and shoes which represent the five basic elements of Asian to wear on the first days of the Lunar New Year. 7. Hoa vang – Burn offerings near the end of Tet mythology: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. People also try to pay all their pending debts for ancestors on January 4th. Traditionally, these offerings are for good crops and resolve any conflicts or problems among and prosperity. colleagues, friends, and family. 8. Reopen business. Usually owners pick a good On Lunar New Year's Day itself, it is Like other Asian countries, Vietnamese date that matches their age. considered important to celebrate, to have
41 b y YU MI I mages
smiling faces, and to refrain from scowling, Vietnamese beliefs. quarreling with, or criticizing anyone. When entering a Vietnamese home for the first time during the year, guests should wear Events and Activities Tet Etiquette brightly-colored clothes that are appropriate for Fireworks will be held in various locations on the “Lucky money” is given by the older and the occasion, and black and white combined is evening of January 30, 2014. They will begin at superior, to the younger and subordinate. definitely unacceptable since they are mourning midnight and last for about 15 minutes. Parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles give colors. Everyone should avoid getting angry lucky money to children. People give money and saying words related to unfortunate topics - Thu Thiem Tunnel (corner of Ton Duc Thang to their friends' children, teachers give lucky like death, accidents, failure, or breaking up. and Ham Nghi, D1) money to students, and management gives Normally, girls and women are not selected to - Go Vap Cultural Park (Go Vap District) - Nga Ba Giong Memorial Park (Hoc Mon) lucky money to employees. You can also give be the first visitors, especially if pregnant or - Ben Duoc Memorial Park (Cu Chi) lucky money to the people who helped you having just given birth. The guest is expected - Park of Culture and Ethnic History ( D9) throughout the year like your driver, gardener, to be a man who has an open personality and - Dam Sen Park (D11) guard, or household helpers. achieved much success the previous year. - Lang Le-Bau Co History Relic Zone Lucky money should be given during the first (Binh Chanh District) few days of Tet, but it’s also possible to give it Dos and Don’ts a little before or after this time. It’s traditional Unless asked, do not set foot in anybody’s to give new bank notes, which are considered home on the first day of Tet. Most shops, Tet Flower Markets luckier for the recipients. companies, etc. are very serious about picking A week before Tet, flower markets will be located in more than 68 places around city. The largest Being invited to be the first guest of the the most auspicious date and time to start or ones can be found at: year is both an honor and a challenging reopen their businesses. responsibility to anyone. The best time for Be extremely careful when going out. - 23/9 Park (Pham Ngu Lao xong dat is from the midnight of Tet Eve until This is the time when many thieves look for near Ben Thanh Market, D1) the morning of the first day of Tet. However, opportunities to steal valuables. Double check - Gia Dinh Park (corner of Nguyen Kiem) the host and the guest normally come to an your doors and windows before leaving your - Nguyen Thai Son, Binh Thanh District agreement in advance about the time deemed home. Make sure that everything is locked. Put - Le Van Tam Park (corner of Hai Ba Trung and most suitable for the host’s zodiac sign. your wallet, hand phone, motorbike/car keys Dien Bien Phu, D3) A successful and humorous gentleman, in a safe place. Stay away from crowds because Tet Flower Festival smiling happily, giving good wishes is believed most thieves tend to blend into crowds for an See thousands of flower exhibits from all over to bring a lucky new year to every member in easy chance to pick your pocket. Vietnam at Tao Dan Park (55C Nguyen Thi Minh the house. Before coming to the host’s home, If you have household helpers or employees, Khai, D3) the guest is expected to spend time visiting it is expected at this time to give them a bonus. pagodas or temples praying for fortune, health The bonus is determined by how long they Lunar New Year’s Eve and achievement for the upcoming New have been working for you and, of course, Hear outdoor music performances in front of Year. Afterward, he can bring some buds, tree whether you’re happy with their services or Sunwah Tower on Nguyen Hue (D1) with light art branches with fruits, or a bottle of wine, which otherwise. Generally speaking, if the employee performances on Sunwah Tower, Palace Hotel, and Fahasa. stand for vitality and wealth as gifts for the host. has been working for you for more than a year, He can also give some lucky money stuffed the bonus starts from one month’s salary and Lunar New Year in Chinatown inside red envelopes to children with wishes for above, normally up to a maximum of three In District 5’s Cultural Center (Tran Hung Dao B health and wisdom. months. (The average is one to two months). near Nguyen Tri Phuong) Moreover, the host also needs to wish the If an employee has been working for you for guest all the best for the New Year and give under a year, you would pro-rate the bonus. - Lantern festival him some lucky money in return. In southern For example, if they have been working for - Lion performances every night Vietnam, the host puts a small bucket of eight months, you would give 2/3 of their - Traditional music performances water and a branch of apricot blossoms monthly salary. A special thanks to Santa Fe Relocation Services so that the guest can splash the water and Before Tet begins, you should give them their (www.santaferelo.com) for their help in compiling scatter the flowers on the way leading to salary and their bonus (bonus in a red lucky this special Tet survival guide. the house. Water and apricot blossom petals money envelope) and wish them a happy Tet symbolize ‘multiplying luck,’ according to with their families.
42 WineIMAGE BY ngoc tran & Dine
Basilico
43 FEATURE Life is a Cabaret, Old Chum Dinner theater comes to HCMC text by Julian Ajello IMAGES BY Adam Robert Young
A collective groan can be heard across asked about the inspiration for a cabaret, comes with appetizers, a main, and dessert. Saigon on any given evening. “There’s nothing they laughed and proclaimed, “Well, we are Appetizers include a trio of fresh spring rolls to do,” so the familiar complaint goes. More French!” The only thing French about the that consist of traditional shrimp and pork, to the point, there’s nothing new to do in our fare on offer here, however, is the wine. The chicken and mint, a la lot roll, and a pair of city. We’re all quite familiar with the different food and entertainment are decidedly, and deep fried prawns encrusted in sticky blue areas expats and locals flock to for nightly deliciously, Vietnamese. rice. Light and crunchy, when dipped in an entertainment. Drinking, dining, dancing, live An unassuming stairwell leads guests to a accompanying coconut sauce they are nothing music, even darts and sports are all a part of set of red curtains, behind which lie the Bo short of spectacular. our existence, but many of us yearn for the Nong cabaret. Simple, subtle, and very cozy, We went a la carte and sampled the young novel. We want a new experience that injects Bo Nong’s small round tables ring the central Haiti apple salad with prawns and water some culture and sophistication into the city. stage. Fans of cabaret and live theater are celery that, at VND125,000, was a tender, Enter Thibault Detraz and Jeremy familiar with excitement that starts to build moist prelude to our mains. The stewed beef Gremillet, a pair of Frenchmen who set out the moment you take your seat, knowing the with green pepper delivered a kick, but their to reclaim an old French coffee shop on the action is going to be close enough to reach out version of cha ca La Vong, along with the second floor of 143 Nguyen Trai, but found and touch. prawns for appetizers, is what stood out on themselves embarking on an entirely different Working in conjunction with their chef, the menu. Thibault will readily explain, “We journey. Nestled in one of the many nooks Thibault and Jeremy assembled an elegant want patrons to enjoy their meal, but the food and crannies along Nguyen Trai is their set menu, with a la carte options, to provide is not the focus.” brainchild, Bo Nong (meaning pelican), a a wonderful meal that will satisfy foodies yet cabaret that brings the French passion for leave the focus on the show. The set menu Come Hear the Music Play fusing live entertainment with dining. When is priced at VND300,000 per person and One goes to a cabaret not for the food, but
44 for the entertainment, which Bo Nong at the Conservatory of Ho Chi Minh City.” delivers. As the house lights dim, a small Of particular note were the lead dancer troupe of dancers assemble on stage and and the musicians who played the dan "Bo Nong presents begin to stomp and drum their way around, tranh, a 17-string zither, and the dan bau, a causing the room to vibrate. Brightly monochord zither. If you’ve never had the old world Vietnamese colored costumes add flair to the show. pleasure of hearing these instruments played Once the performers have your attention, well, the music emanating from them may culture and beauty the real fun begins. The emcee elicits active keep you spellbound. participation from the audience as people Bo Nong presents old world Vietnamese in a way only the are drawn into assisting with magic tricks culture and beauty in a way only the French and other delights. They coax some audience can manage. Combined with food and wine, French can manage. members on stage, as this writer was, and you just may find yourself captivated by it then ask personal questions about dinner all, looking forward to the next iteration of Combined with food companions. Of course, it’s all in good their show. And dare we hope, that more fun, there’s no cause for alarm if you find such cabarets will follow, one day giving Ho and wine, you just yourself under the lights. Chi Minh City its own Little Pigalle. Should you survive your bout of stage Ticket prices only (per person, per show): may find yourself fright, the show will continue in the form of Standard VND500,000; VIP VND700,000; a narrative. “All the artists are local talents,” Premier VND1,000,000. For booking call captivated by it all" explains Jeremy. “We found them through 090 302 0243 or visit www.bo-nong.com for word of mouth, and the musicians study more info.
45 RESTAURANT REVIEW
A Taste of the Mediterranean A new restaurant stirs up the dining scene with the unexpected text by robert stockdill IMAGES BY ngoc tran
Enter Saffron, Tony Fox’s new even more mouthwatering dishes. The range halloumi. Mediterranean style restaurant on 51 Hai Ba stretches from cheese (more about that later) Chargrilled Octopus (VND195,000) was next Trung, D1, and the first thing that strikes you is and salads, through seafood, beef, chicken, rice, up. The soft white meat was tender, not chewy, the terracotta pots. There are 450 of them - all pork and vegetarian offers, many of them unlike and it was laid on warm potatoes, Tuscan mounted upside down at different angles on the anything we have seen on other restaurants’ beans, kalamata olives and drizzled with harissa ceiling as if pouring out warmth, intimacy and menus in Vietnam or beyond. Some dishes vinaigrette. romance on the diners below. Many customers are spicy, but most easy on any palate and For those who enjoy a little spice, you cannot no doubt wonder if any have come unstuck: the on multiple visits to Saffron we’ve noticed ignore the Shrimp Pil-pil (VND130,000). Fresh, answer is a resounding no. Vietnamese enjoying the food equally as much tender meaty shrimps served with slices of spicy The unconventional ceiling is a hint of what as Europeans which bodes well for Saffron’s chorizo sausage, garlic and salsa bravas. It has a to expect at Saffron - the unexpected. There success in a fast crowding downtown restaurant decidedly Asian kick this dish, but not too much are no starters and mains on the Saffron menu, scene. that you’re left with a burning tongue. rather a long list of dishes from every spectrum Our fourth and final dish (and we were of Mediterranean cuisine, some with a distinct Our Meal struggling by now) was a new signature Asian influence added for further uniqueness. We gladly accepted Tony’s offer to surprise special: Duck Shepherds Pie (VND240,000), a The dishes are larger than tapas but (usually) us with a mix of four dishes he is particularly sensational invention in texture and taste. smaller than main courses, so a group of four proud of. Each of the dishes exceeded Shepherd’s Pie is traditionally an English dish should find themselves well and truly satisfied expectation, perhaps explaining why this eatery made with minced lamb, wholesome, hearty, with about six dishes. Three will satisfy a has established a loyal customer base in just two and home-cooked to warm the coldest worker couple, with the sharing concept guaranteed to months since opening. on a winter’s day. Somehow it still works in add to the romance of any date. First to arrive was the most spectacular dish, the Vietnamese heat, though. Switching twice Saffron is located 50 meters from Ciao Bella, the Cheese Saganaki (VND150,000) - a large cooked, boneless duck meat for minced lamb Tony’s popular Italian restaurant on Dung Du slice of halloumi cheese, fried and served on is a masterstroke. The tender, tasty meat is a and some of the best staff and customs of Ciao a sizzling iron platter. By the table, the server perfect match for the creamy layer of potato on Bella have been shared with the new location. pours a glass of cognac over the cheese, then top. The dish is somehow soft and light despite For example, the complimentary welcome drink sets it on fire, an act of theater that attracts the its meat and potato composition. It’s delicious, of Prosecco when guests are seated, the fresh- attention of all the diners each time someone filling and innovative. baked bread served with garlic, olive tapenade orders it. The last of the flames are extinguished Saffron’s menu is extensive, and you can and hummus, and the moorish lemoncello with lemon juice. It’s covered in a soft, fragrant dine to any budget, with dishes ranging from delivered with the bill. pesto and sliced tomato. Once the flames VND110,000 through to VND295,000 (and a The biggest challenge for diners here were out we tucked in and found the cheese Caesar salad for just VND90,000). Tony has is choosing from the extensive menu, deliciously chewy with only a hint of salt, opened an impressive addition to the downtown complemented by a specials board that has not the overbearing saltiness often found in restaurant scene.
46 Just Like Nonna's The simple elegance of Basilico Text by JAMES PHAM IMAGES by Ngoc tran
We visit Basilico (corner of Nguyen in healthy cooking and techniques like spicy dish, tossed in a flavorful, thick to the Du and Le Van Huu, D1) on a cold, overcast sous-vide and cooking at low temperatures, point of being almost gritty, tomato-based Sunday night, floor-to-ceiling windows looking I'm actually a bit against innovation. I want sauce. I found the osso buco (ossobuco di out on whipping raincoats and pounding rain. to keep Italian food the way it's done by vitella, VND365,000) well braised in a modern Inside, though, the mood is decidedly warm, Italian grandmothers without any fusion or red wine and tomato sauce, and set on a fueled by a roaring wood-burning pizza oven adaptation to the North American or local fragrant bed of saffron risotto, tender but set into a rough stone feature wall. palate," says Executive Chef Roberto Mancini not mushy. Our fish course was a rustic and Managed by the InterContinental Asiana who himself hails from Rome. "Italian cuisine again, generously sized, branzino (European Saigon, Basilico feels unlike your typical is based on not much elaboration. The key is sea bass), oven-baked with a white wine sauce hotel restaurant. Yes, there's the efficient wait to showcase top quality ingredients." and served atop crunchy sautéed spinach staff clad in all black and its location near with slices of baby potatoes which provided the entrance of the InterContinental Asiana Delizioso! textural contrast to the flaky, meaty fish. Saigon Residences, but the vibe is very much For the appetizer, we order the Antipasto By meal's end, we were so full that we laid back and welcoming. This Sunday sees Misto Basilico (VND298,000), an unexpectedly managed to try only one dessert amongst the the dozen or so tables inside Basilico's main generous selection of olives, Parmigiano beckoning tiramisus, panna cottas and crème dining area (think casual contemporary) cheese and a bevy of cured meats, including brûlées. Considering the cold-for-Saigon completely full, with diners also seated in a standout home cured salmon with orange weather and the festive time of year, we went the covered outdoor terrace and spilling out and dill that balances perfectly with peppery off-menu (but always available) with a whole onto the smattering of tables set in the atrium sprigs of arugula. The dish is thoughtfully wine-poached pear over almond chocolate cake shared with the residential tower. presented on a wood board, cheekily (VND125,000). It turned out to be the perfect If you're hoping for a clichéd Italian dining pedestaled using cans of tomato sauce, but end to the evening, the pear evenly poached in experience, you'll find it in the requisite red paired with a complimentary selection of a fragrant cinnamon and star anise spiced red checkered tablecloths and the hanging cured homemade crostini with a smooth yellow wine, atop a decadent yet light bitter chocolate meats with accompanying garlands of knotted zucchini dip and shaved Parma ham, and cake to offset the sweetness of the reduction of garlic, but there is a fine line between cliché certainly shareable between a small table. the red wine poaching liquid. and authentic and thankfully Basilico's fare For our mains, we order one dish each from The decor is eclectic, vacillating between squarely falls on the side of the latter. The one the pasta, meat and fish menu. The seafood a casual trattoria and a trendy eatery, page menu is mercifully simple and focuses linguini (linguini allo scoglio, VND215,000), with the soundtrack alternating between on the classics, from homemade fettuccine traditionally a hodgepodge of whatever opera and jazz, and the food is confidently and wood-fired pizzas to traditional osso is freshest at the fish monger's that day, authentic, serving up generous portions of buco and oven-baked branzino. "My personal features a huge freshwater shrimp, beautifully Italian classics with premium ingredients in philosophy is a bit old style and absolutely presented in shell, as if guarding what turns a friendly, cozy space. This is one restaurant traditional. While we follow new trends out to be a wonderfully (and surprisingly) which feels like home.
47 TET PROMOS
Image provided by Windsor Plaza
Caravelle Hotel 19-23 Lam Son Square, D1 The hotel is hosting a mouthwatering Lunar New Year buffet dinner of Asian, Western, and traditional Tet delicacies at Restaurant Nineteen every evening from January 30 to February 5. Families and friends can indulge in an extensive array of time-honored Tet Eating for delicacies, ocean-fresh fish and seafood, and imported grilled and barbecued meats. The East-meets-West spread will feature local dishes such as beef in la lot leaves and banh xeo alongside international classics such as red wine poached beef tenderloin, saffron-marinated chicken, and Chinese whole steamed fish. Prosperity Cost: Inquire at [email protected]. Food is the cornerstone of any Tet Hotel Majestic Saigon celebration. So in keeping with the 1 Dong Khoi, D1 The Lunar New Year’s Eve gala dinner at Prima Hall (5th Floor) festive spirit, we've rounded up a includes a buffet with free flow of house wines, soft drinks, and water. number of places where you can enjoy Entertainment consists of a dragon dance, a New Year LED dance, live music, and a fireworks show. some essential New Year’s dishes. Cost: VND1,999,000/adult; VND999,000/child (below 1.2 meters)
The New Year gala dinner at M.Bar (8th Floor) includes a buffet dinner and free flow of house wine, soft drinks, and water. Entertainment consists of a dragon dance, a New Year dance, live music, and a fireworks show. Cost: VND2,499,000/adult; VND1,249,000/child (below 1.2 meters) with a 10 percent discount for early purchase 15 days before the event.
48 Intercontinental Asiana Saigon New World Saigon Corner of Le Duan and Hai Ba Trung, D1 76 Le Lai, D1 A lion dance performance will be held in the hotel lobby at 10:00am on January 31, where you’ll have a chance to watch a local troupe ring in the Parkview Year of the Horse. From January 31 to February 14, gather your family and friends for a Tet lunch or dinner at Parkview to enjoy traditional Vietnamese Yu Chu and Chinese dishes, local and imported specialty seafood delights, Yee-Sang Salad, or Prosperity Toss, is a popular dish believed to bring luck homemade Yee Sang, and much more. and prosperity to everyone. This shared raw fish salad is colorful and the Cost: Lunch is priced at VND668,000, while dinner is priced act of tossing the salad together symbolizes ushering in prosperity and at VND968,000. Including tea, coffee, soft drinks, house wine and abundance for the coming New Year. sparkling wine. Cost: Yee Sang Salad priced at VND250,000 (serves up to 2), VND400,000 (serves up to 6) and VND550,000 (serves up to 10). Dynasty On January 31, Dynasty offers Tet lunch featuring a sumptuous Market 39 array of dim sum and Chinese delicacies and a Tet card to ensure a Along with an international and Vietnamese buffet, delicacies include healthy and prosperous year of the horse. barbecued pork, seafood, Vietnamese caramelized pork with egg, Tet Cost: Priced at VND888,000 per person. Including complimentary sticky rice cakes and much more. Chinese tea made from their own special blend. Cost: Buffet lunch priced from VND498,000++/person including free flow of tea and coffee. Buffet dinner priced from VND899,000++/person including Bring Tet to Your Home free flow of selected house wines, Tiger draught beer, soft drinks and signature From January 15 until February 14, celebrate with a delicious and cocktails. healthy meal in the comfort of your home. Choose from either Dynasty style deep-fried chicken stuffed with seafood and sticky rice, served with broccoli, cauliflower and sesame spring onion Lotte Legend Saigon sauce, Chui Chow style marinated duck, deep-fried bean curd, red 2A-4A Ton Duc Thang, D1 chili and garlic vinegar or Hong Kong style roasted suckling pig, From January 31 to February 3 the hotel’s Atrium Café will feature a steamed buns, vegetable pickle and hoisin sauce. Tet buffet. Their local chefs will be adding traditional Tet specialties and Cost: Priced from VND1,650,000, and no matter which set of Vietnamese delicacies from Northern, Central, and Southern regions of gourmet delicacies you choose, you’ll receive a complimentary bottle of Vietnam to their standard international spread. Diners can expect gio thu wine as well as free delivery to Districts 1 and 3. (pig’s head paste), dua hanh (pickled welsh onion), cu kieu (pickled scallion heads), goi luon nuong hanh tay (grilled eel with onion salad), goi hai san thom (seafood with pineapple salad), ca ri vit (duck curry), and much more. Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon All will be complemented with a free flow of beer, soft drinks, coffee and 8-15 Ton Duc Thang, D1 tea for lunch; wines, beer, cocktails, fresh fruit juices, soft drinks, coffee Ring in a happy Lunar New Year by celebrating with your loved and tea for Saturday & Sunday brunch; and wines, beer, cocktails, soft ones at Riverside Café. There will be a delicious array of traditional drinks, coffee and tea for dinner. favorite dishes during the Tet celebrations including Vietnamese Cost: VND550,000++ for lunch, VND880,000++ for Saturday & Sunday vegetable roots pickle (dua mon) accompanied with sticky rice with brunch and VND940,000++ for dinner. Children from four to 12-years-old are pork & mung bean filling banh( chung), traditional cold cuts (cac half price. mon thit nguoi truyen thong), and delicious braised pork with egg in fresh coconut juice (thit kho nuoc dua). For desserts, the highlights will include a selection of Vietnamese sweet candies (mut) with traditional coconut and ginger candy (mut dua va mut gung). Cost: Inquire at 3822 0033.
Windsor Plaza 18A An Duong Vuong, D5 Café An Dong Available every Thursday and Friday in January, savor rotisserie roasted whole pig over an open fire and served alongside vegetables and sauces. For a sweet treat, experience the sweet flavors of vanilla cake with white peanut butter ganache and crushed roasted peanuts. Additionally from January 25 to February 15, dine on a traditional Tet feast featuring sticky rice cakes, dried fruits, and many more Vietnamese favorites. From January 31 to February 2, the God of Fortune will visit with lucky envelopes for all. Cost: Lunch buffet: Monday to Friday is VND318,000++/person; Saturday, Sunday & Holidays is VND338,000++/person. Dinner Buffet: Monday to Friday is VND488,000++/person; Saturday, Sunday & Holidays is VND518,000++/person Ngan Dinh Restaurant Available from January 1 to 26, Ngan Dinh Restaurant is proud to present a feast of nine authentic Chinese dishes in a unique set menu. This delicious meal features roasted suckling pig, pan-fried beef with black pepper, steamed garoupa with lotus leaf, and much more. Cost: Each order includes ten glasses of Pineapple Green and is b y N GO C T R AN I mage VND3,188,000++ for ten people.
49 The List
Atexpats is Ho Chi Minh City's first truly comprehensive insider's guide for foreign residents - website launching 2013
Wine &bakery serviceDine with a charitable focus, 3824 3483 Schneider’s Cafe & Tea Corner bakeries teaching young Vietnamese hopefuls The bakers at Schneider’s offer fresh, [email protected] how to bake delicious breads and cakes healthy, delicious breads, cakes, and www.bluegeckosaigon.com Bread Talk through their food training program. pastries, introducing Ho Chi Minh City to 4.30pm - 12am With a mission to revitalize the once-stale 30 Lam Son, Tan Binh eight centuries of German baking tradition. business of bread, Singaporean BreadTalk 3547 0577 27 Han Thuyen, D1 Bootleg DJ Café now has outlets throughout Asia and harvestbaking.net 2229 6910 has established itself in several HCMC 7am - 5pm Monday-Saturday www.schneiders-finest.com Modern, moody, and minimalist cafe bar locations. A brand partnership with Gloria 9.30am - 9pm with reasonable prices by day, chic lounge Jeans has seen a wide range of bakery Kinh Do Bakery with DJs playing by night. Has a limited goods available in the cafés, with both Tous Les Jours menu of sandwiches and other health- brands sharing the premises at this Kinh Do Bakery makes reasonably priced conscious Italian fare. location. baked goods to-go, such as cakes and A Korean owned French-style bakery 9 Le Thanh Ton, D1 106 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D3 cupcakes, tarts, sandwiches, Vietnamese franchise serving fresh baked bread and 090 760 9202 3930 3181 “banh bao”, Western-style hamburgers popular pastries, all baked on-site. [email protected] and mini-pizzas and gelatin-based 180 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Brodard Bakery desserts. 3823 8302 Boston Sports Bar 128A Hai Ba Trung, D1 6am - 11pm Brodard Bakery has been operating in 3829 6552 Located in the heart of the backpacker Saigon for over 30 years. It provides finely kinhdobakery.vn bars area, Boston Sports Bar is open 24 hours crafted cakes for all occasions in addition 6am - 10.30pm and provides guests with a modern to ice cream, pastries, chocolate and tarts. Ahoy Beer Club bar-going experience. The bar boasts a 95 Nguyen Hue, D1 La Doree Recently opened, this nautical themed pool table, live sports on LCD TVs, and 3821 2416 Providing patrons with over 50 varieties of bar serves local and imported beer western food. 6am - 10pm cakes, along with a rich sandwich menu along with food served by wait staff in 28/4 Bui Vien, D1 from luxurious French-designed premises. sailor outfits. 6656 6338 Cakewalk Cupcakes La Doree is the best place in town for 79 Nguyen Cong Tru, D1 macaroons. Broma Saigon Bar Small boutique cupcake shop offers 216 Ly Tu Trong, D1 Allez Boo cupcakes with panache. Traditional 3822 1718 Famously known for 'not being a bar' cupcakes as well as new, creative flavors www.ladoree.com A popular bar in Saigon featuring tropical Broma is one of Ho Chi Minh City's most are sure to satisfy everyone who is 7am - 9.30pm bamboo decor, multiple levels and a DJ popular hangouts with prices ranging compelled to bend to the will of their spinning funky beats. This unique bar from VND30,000 - VND500,000. Broma sweet tooth. L’amour Bakery & Cafe offers a wide range of beers, shakes, is a more upscale option for those wishing 84 Nguyen Cong Tru, D1 More than just another bakery, L’amour spirits cocktails and food throughout to escape the cheap drinks in The Pham. 6295 9087 is the perfect place for those whom are the day. 41 Nguyen Hue, D.1 10am - 9pm looking for respite from busy HCMC. 187 Pham Ngu Lao, D1 3823 6838 This patisserie offers a large selection of 6291 5424 [email protected] Cheesecake Ngon Oi’s Pick European cake and pastry, fresh juice and [email protected] Cheesecake Ngon is a small boutique- coffee. You will also find pastas, salads, 24 hours Carmen Bar style cheesecake shop. They use only and sandwiches, ideal for lunch time. Carmen Bar features a small cavern-like top quality local and imported ingredients Open from 6am – 10:30pm Alpha entrance with rough rock walls decorated that give their cakes their signature 24 Hai Ba Trung D1 Alpha is a sports bar recently opened on with ambient lighting. With an exclusive smooth, creamy taste. They can provide the first level of The Manor. Offers weekly range of drinks and cocktails, guests cheesecakes for all occasions: birthdays, promotions such as Manor Mondays can relax while enjoying tunes from an Nhu Lan Bakery (happy hour all day for Manor residents), functions, cafe/restaurant supply or One of the most famous and prestigious excellent Flamenco band. even just a single slice. With a range of Teacher Tuesdays (happy hour all day local brands of bakeries in the city, Nhu 8 Ly Tu Trong, D1 flavors including passionfruit, raspberry, for teachers), Thirsty Thursdays (two for Lan Bakery supplies bakery products, 3829 7699 strawberry, lemon, coconut and of one on all cocktails), Sport Saturdays cakes, bread, ham, sausage, poultry, course original and a price starting at (screening sports from around the world) roasted pork, and dried foods. VND40,000 per slice. and on Sundays movie nights by the Charm Bar 50 Ham Nghi, D1 Unassuming expat bar in the central city 44 Truong Quyen, D3 pool and a roast dinner. 3829 2970 with table soccer and an upstairs floor for www.cheesecakesnow.com The Manor, Level 1, 91 Nguyen Huu Canh, www.nhulan.vn private functions. Opens late night. 3610 0211 Binh Thanh 4am - 12am 58 Huynh Thuc Khang, D1 3915 3826 Givral Bernie’s Bar & Grill [email protected] The cakes and tradition of this unique Pacey Cupcakes This cozy little bakery features elegant cake shop have captivated generations An Irish bar and restaurant serving of Vietnamese customers. With many décor and offers 12 kinds of cupcakes international cuisine like pizza, burgers, Boudoir Lounge outlets throughout the city, this particular daily, located near the cathedral in a hip, pasta and more. Celebrates happy hour Designed to look like a lived-in yet store was reopened in 2010 on its original modern setting. from 5 to 7pm, and frequently provides immaculately styled Parisien home with site at Vincom A, built on the old Eden 53G Nguyen Du, D1 live music. plush leather sofas, silk cushions and complex. 3823 3223 19 Thai Van Lung, D1 171 Dong Khoi, D1 [email protected] 3822 1720 velvet armchairs, Boudoir Lounge serves 3822 8659 www.paceycupcakes.com up everything from afternoon tea to www.saigongivral.com 9am - 10pm Blanchy’s Tash evening cocktails along with signature 6am - 10pm This cocktail lounge is a perfect place to dishes for any occasion from informal Pat’a Chou relax with friends, meet with colleagues or meals and business lunches to gourmet Gourmand Shop French-style bakery with charming décor. just enjoy a cocktail or two. With plenty of canapés accompanying evening drinks. Specializing in baguettes, fresh croissants seating around the central bar as well as Ground floor, Saigon Sofitel Plaza A traditional delicatessen shop featuring of various varieties, small quiches, and tables for couples or larger groups, plus a 17 Le Duan, D1 freshly baked baguettes, croissants, cakes for every occasion. more intimate VIP area with comfortable 3824 1555 chocolate breads, charcuteries, pastries, 74B Hai Ba Trung, D1 sofas, you will find the right space for any finest macaroons and other French 3824 8179 occasion. Brotzeit German Bier Bar & delicacies prepared daily. Special products 5am - 10pm 95 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Restaurant imported from France are also available www.blanchystash.com The HCMC venue is in the flashy Kumho such as French oysters, Damman Freres Savouré Bakery 090 902 8293 te x pats luxury tea, and a range of authentic Shops have a wide selection of cookies, complex on the edge of the central products. sweet and savory breads and cakes Blue Gecko district, and features a wide 24-meter Ground floor, Sofitel Saigon Plaza including cashew chocolate, taro and restaurant frontage on the mezzanine 17 Le Duan, D1 orange. Custom cakes can be ordered for Blue Gecko provides a classic bar level and a contemporary and chic setting 3824 1555 weddings and holidays. experience complete with a pool table, with German-inspired wooden benches Unit E3, 1st Floor, Saigon Tax Trade Centre, darts board, cold beer and friendly staff. and a long wooden bar counter. Serving Harvest Baking 135 Nguyen Hue, D1 Guests can watch live sports and relax in authentic Bavarian cuisines and premium 3914 3773 the comfortable ambience of the bar. beers.
Harvest Baking offers a delivery-based www.savourebakery.com 31 Ly Tu Trong, D1 39 Le Duan, D1 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 50 9822 4206 6291 8751 Hard Rock Café Last Call Oi’s Pick brotzeit.co/kumholink www.eon51.com 7am - 2am Memorabilia from Hard Rock’s iconic A fine hole-in-the-wall cocktail bar in the Chilli Pub Saigon Oi’s Pick collection adorns the walls of Hard Rock centre of town opposite the Sheraton Game On Café Ho Chi Minh City and there is live Hotel, Last Call is a 70's themed lounge A fun place to unwind, with cold drinks, Opened in July, Game On is Saigon’s music most nights. Located in the Kumho with a permanent neon glow. Now one good music (customers can choose the newest and biggest sports bar that serves Plaza complex. of the most popular expat/hip local late music) friendly staff, light pub food, weekly breakfast, lunch and dinner. The bar also 39 Le Duan, D1 evening bars, with a small deck from quiz night (Mondays), darts and televised has an extensive drink menu that includes 6291 7595 which to overlook the nightlife set on sport. Try a challenge shot from the big coffees, juices, beers, wines, vodkas and www.hardrockcafe.vn Dung Du. Chilli on the bartop. more. Besides being a good place to 11.30am - 2am 59 Dong Du, D1 104 Ho Tung Mau, D1 watch games, Game On also boasts a 3823 3122 09 8376 3372 function room for corporate meetings or [email protected] Heaven Bar Saigon private parties. Le Pub 4pm-4am 115 Ho Tung Mau, D1 Standing out from other nightclubs, 6251 9898 Heaven Bar impresses their guests with In a brawny Australian snub to the effete Chu Bar [email protected] nice decor in tone of red and blue, a broad vestiges of French Colonialism that 8am till late pervade in Saigon, Le Pub is a hearty At this beautiful, laid back venue, tourists range of sparkling drinks, Ladies’ night, awesome DJ at weekend, and many Oz-styled pub proudly located in a small and locals alike can sit around Chu’s large alleyway between Pham Ngu Lao and Bui Ginger 60 exciting events for expats. oval bar or on luxurious padded benches. Vien st, Opposite the Chua Au lac arch, It has a full cocktail menu as well as a 8 Le Quy Don, D3 A low-key expat bar with an extensive where it is a magnet for backpackers and short menu of snacks and sandwiches. 090 534 3316 drink menu and live music in a friendly blokey expats. The manager and staff are 158 Dong Khoi, D1 www.barsaigonheaven.com atmosphere. friendly enough too, I suppose. 3822 3907 5pm - 2am 60 Ton That Thiep, D1 175/22 Pham Ngu Lao, D1 7am - Midnight 3837 7679 093 772 1011 Ice Blue www.lepub.org Cloud 9 Rooftop Lounge Go2 A small, atmospheric, emphatically Lion Brewery and Restaurant Located near Turtle Lake, this stunning bar English-style pub, Ice Blue is a popular The brewery offers its signature Lion beer, Go2 is a popular nightspot in the offers panoramic views of Saigon. Guests meeting place for Ho Chi Minh City’s brewed by its German master brewer, backpackers area. This two level bar offers can peruse an extensive international expats with reasonably priced drinks, who trained in Germany, along with other dancing, shisha, and a streetside view wine list or choose from an array of friendly staff and a cozy atmosphere. kinds of beer. The Lion restaurant has two creative cocktails and international beers. with comfortable seating. The bar also Great place to play darts. banquet halls that can accommodate 530 Level 6&7, Hai Nam Building, 2 Bis Cong has a pool table and extensive western 54 Dong Khoi, D1 persons. Truong Quoc, D3 food menu. 3822 2664 11-13 Cong Truong Lam Son, D1 090 944 5544 187 De Tham, D1 3pm - 1am www.lionsaigon.com 3836 9575 te x pats Eon51 Kim’s Tavern Lindo Eon51 includes a fine dining restaurant, a Hair of the Dog champagne lounge, a cigar bar and a heli A large space creating an interesting bar An expat bar on the edge of the Cozy sports bar with big screen TVs and pad cocktail with an alfresco sidewalk area downstairs, downtown shopping district renowned for restaurant quality meals. The Sunday bar. Spread on three levels, Eon51 is a and an upper lounge area overlooking the friendly, attractive staff, cold beer, and a afternoon “Sausage Sizzle” and other destination for bespoke private and lower bar that allows for a view of the DJ relaxed ‘local pub’ environment. weeknight events make this an appealing corporate events in Saigon. station. If it follows its Hanoi theme, it will 20 Huynh Thuc Khang, D1 venue for expats any day of the week. Levels 51-52, Bitexco Financial Tower, 2 be a DJ music-focused nightclub. 090 777 5141 149 Ton That Dam, D1 194 Bui Vien, D1 3915 3149 ©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 Hai Trieu, D1 4pm - 1am
51 Long Phi 3520 9099 this an appealing destination for tourists AQ Coffee One of the staples in the backpacker www.intercontinental.com/saigon of all budgets. Located in the heart of the Beautiful café situated in one of the city’s district, Long Phi is a no-frills bar that backpacker district. oldest French mansions, serving coffee doubles as a cheap diner serving some 111 Bui Vien, D1 made with traditionally-roasted coffee fairly decent French and European cuisine. 3920 7670 beans. [email protected] 207 Bui Vien, D1 32 Pham Ngoc Thach, D3 11am - 12pm 3837 2704 3829 8344 6pm to very late, Tuesday - Sunday Storm P 7.30am - 11.30pm Lush Storm P restaurant and bar is named after the famous Danish cartoonist Robert Angel-in-us Coffee Another of Saigon's more infamous night A sophisticated and classy coffee Storm Petersen, and it’s the only Danish venues, this have-to-go/love-to-hate franchise with exemplary attention to restaurant in Vietnam. club is still as popular as ever, attracting a detail, Angel-in-us has a pretty angel wing 5B Nguyen Sieu, D1 pumping Vietnamese and foreign crowd motif and a quality coffee menu. on a nightly basis – if the reports from 3827 4738 145 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 local events websites are to be believed. www.stormp.vn 3827 8588 Lush has a highly distinctive, modern look, 10am - late facebook.com/angelinuscoffeevn with different areas catering to different needs, including a VIP space with plush RED Bar Vasco’s couches for chatting with hot new friends. RED offers one of the longest Happy Blue Cafe
2 Ly Tu Trong, D1 Hours in Saigon, from 9am - 9pm, Stylish bar, restaurant and cocktail lounge www.lush.com.vn with live music available from Monday in a converted colonial style house. A sprawling, unique cafe in Go Vap, with - Saturday. This multi-level bar has European and Asian fare downstairs indoor-outdoor seating and an attempt to M52 Bar a non-smoking floor and a function with extensive wine list and cocktails. DJs recreate the appeal of rural Dalat. Enjoy room along with a top quality pool perform upstairs at night. the shade inside, or sit outside amidst the A bar catering primarily to foreigners. table and soft-tip dart machines. A 74/7D Hai Ba Trung, D1 greenery and watch aircraft taking off from menu of Eastern and Western dishes Offers a simple setting for a night of 3824 2888 Ton Sat airport. Extensive menu and broad also includes wood-fire pizzas. range of coffees and chilled drinks. drinking in the company of friends. 70-72 Ng Duc Ke, District 1 www.vascosgroup.com 701-703 Phan Van Tri, Go Vap 34 Ton That Thiep, D1 2229 7017 3821 0151 Wine Embassy 3588 6824 5pm - 12am For those looking to relax and enjoy a www.mtvcafe.com.vn Banter Bar @ Stella glass of wine after work, Wine Embassy is 7am - 11pm Miss Saigon Oi’s Pick the perfect place with wine specialists and Occupying the top floor of Stella, this new an interactive menu to help you pair your Bobby Brewer’s Recently opened, this quaint and cozy bar bar has an outdoor terrace along with a wine with crafted food. offers great service and delicious cocktails pool table and dart boards indoors. Happy 13 Ngo Duc Ke, D1 A contemporary cafe in the backpacker for those looking to quench their thirst hour drinks are also available Opens till 3824 7827 area set over three floors, the cafe after work. Beers start at VND30,000 late. www.wineembassy.com.vn features a large free cinema, a great and cocktails start at VND55,000 with First Floor, 119 - 121 Bui Vien, D1 4pm till late place for couples. happy hour from 6pm – 8pm where beers 11am - late 45 Bui Vien, D1 cost VND20,000. Open from 6pm to Saigon Saigon Bar 3920 4090 midnight. Xu Bar www.bobbybrewers.com 8A/1C1 Thai Van Lung, D1 In wartime Saigon, the rooftop of the A cocktail hot spot with Coconut Martinis, Caravelle hotel was one of the most Cranelo Sparkles and Passion Fruit Boulevard Cafe MTV popular drinking holes in the city for Caprioska on offer along with a variety
foreign journalists and expat embassy of tapas with DJs and drink specials This Parisian-style cafe has a fine, white A large Vietnamese cafe in D3 spread staff – and it remains one of the most throughout the week. tone and a warm ambiance that attempts over two levels with space for quiet sought-out casual tourist attractions in 71-75 Hai Ba Trung, D1 a look of luxury with its plush sofas and romantic chat or larger group meets. the city today. Panoramic views of Saigon www.xusaigon.com chandeliers. Serves a broad range of coffees and can still be obtained on the garden terrace 98 Phan Xich Long, Phu Nhuan chilled drinks. despite all the construction, and efforts 65 Vo Van Tan, D3 have been made to preserve the original 3930 2597 character of the venue with its multiple cafés Bukafe - Cafe [email protected] ceiling fans, subdued decor, and quietly ABC Bakery & Cafe This quaint cafe offers a Japanese style www.mtvcafe.com.vn romantic atmosphere with oil candles on ABC Bakery & Cafe has over 30 different 7am - 11pm the table tops. setting with chairs that have you seated kinds of baked goods such as baguettes, on the ground. While offering elegant 19 Lam Son Square, D1 danishes, whole cakes, sliced cakes and 3823 4999 drinks and tasty simple dishes, make sure Number Five Bar even pizza. Together with its range of Number Five Bar has become notorious www.caravellehotel.com/en/1/15/325/ to catch the live bands. It won't set you baked items, it is also has Western and for its “all you can drink” draught tiger beer products.aspx back much either with inexpensive drinks. Vietnamese coffee and juices. offer. Attractive waitresses are always 43 Nguyen Huu Cau, D1 223 - 225 Pham Ngu Lao, D1 enthusiastic contestants on the billiards Oi’s Pick 090 265 2635 Saigon Retro www.abcbnc.com table. [email protected] 44 Pasteur, D1 One of the newest expat bars on the 3915 3150 block, offering friendly bar service. Live Achaya Cafe Café Ban Sonate [email protected] sport on screen, including English Premier Cafe Ban Sonate is a peaceful haven, Achaya Cafe have two floors providing a 3pm - 1am League. tucked away from the boisterous noise nice atmosphere for meeting, relaxation or 113 Ho Tung Mau, D1 of the city. This cafe offers elegant decor party. The menu is extensive with drinks Oi’s Pick 6278 2349 along with indoor and outdoor seating O’Brien’s and Western, Japanese, Vietnamese Two-storey Irish-themed bar & restaurant 4pm - 2am options. furnished to high standard. O’Brien’s food from sandwiches, spaghetties, pizzas, steak and special Japanese sweet 53 Dang Dung, D1 promotes a relaxed, comfortable Shots Bar 3290 6004 atmosphere. Known for its excellent food A corner bar on Bui Vien that, along with desserts. menu, this is a fun place to socialize while drinks, serves a variety of food such as 90 Le Loi, D1 093 897 2050 Caffe Fresco shooting pool, playing darts, or chatting seafood, pork and chicken dishes. 207 Bui Vien, D1 11am - 10:30pm with the friendly staff. A new player on the scene currently 74/A3 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Aisha Lounge battling for supremacy in the coffee chain 3829 3198 Slate market, Fresco offers a wide range of www.irish-barsaigon.com espresso and local coffees, juices and Slate takes its name from the dark grey Secreted away in a small alleyway on slate tiling that covers the floor of the Pasteur, Aisha lounge is a fascinating smoothies. Phatty’s 121 Le Loi, D1 A sports bar offering a selection of ice- entire establishment. A modern, relaxing Turkish-style coffee shop designed with 3821 1009 cold local and imported beers as well as a spot for an after-dinner drink with an an Arabic architectural theme. The ground complete range of tasty pub food. Central extensive martini list and delicious BBQ floor is washed in a Mediterranean blue www.fresco.com.vn features are the TVs, connected to an menu. A tad difficult to find above a BMW tone, and seating is on plush cushions extensive sports channel network. dealership, but accessible from the hotel it of the kind you'd expect to spend the Café Terrace 46-48 Ton That Thiep, D1 is worth the effort. evening lounging around on in a haze te x pats 3rd Floor, Moevenpick Hotel, 253 Nguyen with an exotic pipe. Rather incongruously, Cafe Terrace is a popular modern cafe/ Purple Jade Van Troi, Phu Nhuan however, Aisha offers a menu studded restaurant in the chic Saigon Center. This Purple Jade is a stylish and chic venue 3844 9222 with various Vietnamese drinks and food cozy, dimly lit cafe offers customers a long with exceptional world class cocktails by 5pm - 11pm – although the belly dance show does outdoor terrace with views of the bustling the city’s award-winning bartender along evoke the spirit of the interior design. pedestrian and traffic scene. A second with snacks to melt away the bustle of Spotted Cow 63/1 Pasteur, D1 cafe is located on the first floor amongst the city. 6660 9040 fashion stores. First floor- InterContinental Asiana Saigon Hearty breakfasts, great pub grub, cheap [email protected] Ground Floor & First Floor, Saigon Centre, drinks and the latest sport on TV make www.aishalounge.com Corner of Hai Ba Trung & Le Duan 65 Le Loi, D1 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 52 Cafe Vuon Kieng someone’s home as the tranquil quality blends in selected hotels and 3520 8180 atmosphere will have you tension free supermarkets. www.lamourbakery.com Cafe Vuon Kieng is a quiet, casual cafe in no time. The peaceful setting is ideal Saigon Center, 65 Le Loi, D1 near the banks of the Saigon River, for dates or low-key social events. Make L’Anmien Dining Cafe boasting relaxing views and refreshing sure to catch the live bands that frequent i-Box Cafe breezes. This riverside cafe offers jasmine the cafe. Linked to the luxurious Mui Ne hotel of tea, coffee, ice cream, beer, even cocktails. 314/2 Dien Bien Phu, D10 iBox cafe is a unique, cafe with aristocratic the same name, this internationally-styled 10B Ton Duc Thang, D1 6276 6966 decor. This decorative cafe specializes sidewalk café is a place to relax and enjoy 3823 3279 [email protected] in red wine, Asian dishes and spaghetti. the cool air and watch the busy inner-city They also offer an extensive selection of traffic from a more refined vantage. Cake Durian Duiro Elle Cafe ice cream creations. 76A Le Lai, D1 135 Hai Ba Trung, D1 38212718 A chain of cafes selling durian inspired Keeping in line with the sense of style that 3825 6718 crepes and buns with prices under comes along with the Elle fashion label LightBox Cafe VND100,000. brand, the menu and décor of Elle Cafe ID Café Kiosk in Le Thi Rieng Park, 875 Cach Mang sets it apart from the competition. This stunningly designed cafe also Thang 8, D10 Ground Floor, Bitexco Financial Tower, 45 Separated from the bustle of nearby Ben doubles as an event and photography 093 333 9365 Ngo Duc Ke, D1 Thanh Market by a tiny alleyway, ID is a studio, so make sure you dress to www.banhsaurieng.com 6291 8766 retro café opening a door to an earlier impress at this location because you Saigon. never know who might snap your picture. 34D Thu Khoa Huan, D1 Centrofarms Coffee Fe Cafe They also serve vegetarian cuisine with Fe Cafe brings you all kinds of This recently opened cafe, located near prices ranging between VND300,000 - scrumptious coffee, along with the airport, sells its own eponymous brand Imagine Coffee shop VND500,000 Vietnamese food and dessert. It offers of Centrofarm organic roasted beans 179 Hoa Lan, Phu Nhuan breakfast, lunch, dinner and offers delivery One of the walls of this rustic cafe is direct from Dalat with indoor and outdoor 3517 6668 as well. The interior is a mix of alternative literally covered with books. An easy seating that’s perfect for people watching www.lightbox.vn and getting your daily dose of caffeine. and fancy, with wooden furniture, soft place to get lost for an evening with prices 19 Ut Tich, Tan Binh backrest pillows and decorative paintings. below VND100, 000. 26 Ly Tu Trong, D1 58 Ho Bieu Chanh, Phu Nhuan L’Usine 090 878 3788 090 956 0105 L’Usine is a retail, café and gallery Chi’s Cafe space occupying two locations in the www.facebook.com/fecafe.vn www.facebook.com/ImagineCafeShop center of D1. Its retail space is dedicated Chi’s Café is a restaurant serving 7:30am - 11pm 09 0956 0105 to Vietnamese designers and more both Western and Vietnamese food [email protected] established brands from abroad as well in the backpacker area. The menu Geisha’s Coffee and Tea House 8am - 10pm as stocking a wide range of stationary is extensive, with everything from and home ware items. The café in both sandwiches and pizzas to their Experience a funky, relaxed atmosphere Kebab Cafe locations serves international fare and popular baked potatoes with filling. with a refreshing drinks & delicious snack a range of pastries and the ever popular 40/31 Bui Vien, D1 at Geisha Coffee and Tea House. A retreat The healthiest kebab! Featuring an Sweet & Sour Cupcakes. 3836 7622 away from the hustle and bustle of the excellent homemade white sauce, fresh streets of Saigon. veggies and chicken or pork marinated 151/1 Dong Khoi, D1 Ciao Cafe 85 Pasteur, D1 without oil. The French owner also serves 70B Le Loi, D1 3829 4004 savory and sweet crepes and a home- www.lusinespace.tumblr.com An icon in downtown HCMC, Ciao cafe www.geishacafe.com made puree. 9am – 9pm features two floors serving simple food, 538/2/8 Doan Van Bo, D4 coffee, smoothies and ice cream – and Gemmi Coffee 01648 805 915 Le Tokyo Baum an opulent lounge bar on the top floor. This cafe serves a variety of food like [email protected] Antique tiles mix with velvet curtains salads, chicken dish alongside coffees www.kebab-cafe.com Popular Japanese cake cafe with quiet and stylish paintings to make this a and other beverages. Provides live solo 10am - 10pm seating area, specializing in orange cakes. memorable chill out environment. piano music every night from 8pm. 46 Nguyen Van Trang, D1 74-76 Nguyen Hue, D1 193 D3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D3 Kem My 3926 0388 40 Ngo Duc Ke, D1 Hatvala This quiet ice cream shop is the perfect May Coffee Cosmo Lounge place for families and couples to indulge A superb, friendly, and inexpensive little This tea house, coffee shop and their sweet tooth. It offers a fresh release café most notable for its perfect view Cosmo Lounge is a popular location restaurant offers selected, quality from the heat of Ho Chi Minh City. of the Cathedral tower bells and close for stylish and trendy locals and expats Vietnamese tea and coffee to drink or to 11 Duong 41, D4 proximity to the post office. alike. Chill out in a bold blue and white buy as leaves and beans. They also have 093730 3030 1 Cong Xa Paris, D1 environment with local and European a delightful all day casual dining area in www.kemmy.vn 3827 7099 cafe food and a broad selection of coffees their stylish bistro. 3.30pm - 11pm www.maycoffee.com and drinks. 44 Nguyen Hue, D1 86 Bis Le Thanh Ton, D1 3824 1534 Kesera Minhu Coffee 3823 5848 8am - 11pm [email protected] A cozy and friendly café/bar serving This specialty cafe offers a wood www.hatvala.com coffee, beer, wines, freshly- baked Cooku’s Nest furniture interior setting, which resembles www.facebook.com/hatvala homemade cakes and delicious the cabins you would expect to see in the Western food. Cooku’s nest has a clean, artsy vibe western North American frontier. Live 26/1 Le Thanh Ton, D1 offering drinks and snacks. Hi-End Coffee bands are a regular feature at the cozy keserakesera.com 13 Tu Xuong, D3 cafe and prices are inexpensive. Located near the leafy Tao Dan Park, Hi- 2241 2043 149/35 Le Thi Rieng, D1 End Coffee is one of a few venues serving Kita Coffee Crèperie & Café up just as much music as caffeine. 3601 9319 126 Suong Nguyet Anh, D1 This three- storey establishment provides Inexpensive Western fare targeted mainly 3824 1004 patrons with Lavazza coffee along with a MTV Cafe
at locals, delivering some fairly decent Open to 10pm unique Mediterranean menu. Providing a relaxing atmosphere after a low-cost sandwiches. 39-41 Nguyen Hue, D1 hard day’s work with some of the top hits 5 Han Thuyen, D1 Gloria Jean's 3914 0683 Australia’s most popular coffee franchise [email protected] out today, MTV cafe is the perfect place to Cryptic Acoustic Cafe now has a solid presence in Ho Chi 7.30am - 10pm unwind with that special someone or just Cryptic Acoustic Cafe features an Minh City with multiple locations in the a cup of coffee. architecture that blends classic and inner city. While the favourite Dong Khoi Kopi Beans 65 Vo Van Tan, D3 modern elements. Featured drinks address has now been given over to a 3930 2597 include Cryptic frappe (the combination Sony store, new venues in Vincom A and Kopi Beans Cafe is a favorite among mtvcafe.com.vn of coffee and Orion cake, banana at CMT8 prove this favourite brand with high school kids. It’s a small takeaway and fresh cream), Cryptic soda (soda, locals and expats alike is steadily growing coffee shop with cheap espresso and MZ Coffee flavored orange peel, lemon and in Vietnam. iced coffees. A cafe in a colonial villa that was built in te x pats fresh cream) and Cryptic yogurt (with 2 bis Cong Truong Quoc Te, D3 206 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D3 the early 20th century. It boasts a broad yogurt, mango, strawberry, peach). www.gloriajeanscoffees.com/vn selection of This place also holds acoustic and art L’amour coffee, from fine Vietnamese condensed performances. Highlands Coffee milk coffee to Italian Lavazza expresso, 343/6 To Hien Thanh, D10 A stylish bakery and cafe new to Hai cappucinos With over 50 cafes in Vietnam, Highlands Ba Trung, in the city centre, L'amour and lattes as well as wines and beers. DeJa Vu Cafe Coffee serves up international and specialises in cakes and desserts and 56-56 A Bui Thi Xuan, D1 traditional Vietnamese blends. Coffee serves Illy Coffee. Eat in or take away. 39255258 lovers can also find Highlands premium 24 Hai Ba Trung, D1 ©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 It is easy to mistake this cafe for www.m-zing.com
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 53 NYDC 3839 5038 Cafe. With live bands and prices under semi-private or thee totally private rooms. 7am - 11pm VND100,000 it's no wonder The Myth New World Hotel A fun, dynamic and cosmopolitan place cafe is one of the best around. 76 Le Lai, D1 for food, desserts, beverages and not Starbucks Coffee 176 Dien Bien Phu, D3 3822 8888 forgetting the company of good friends. 3820 9735 www.saigon.newworldhotels.com Prices range between VND100,000 - Has a large, open ground floor space with [email protected] VND300,000. ample seating in booths and tables, and a Hung Ky Mi Gia Diamond Plaza, 34 Le Duan, D1 smaller space upstairs with views out on Trung Nguyen Cafe 3822 9992 the busy Nga 6 Phu Dong roundabout. Hung Ky Mi Gia is a famous and long- www.nydc.com.vn Also has outdoor seating. Expect to pay One of the most ubiquitous coffee standing restaurant with more than 13 Western prices. brands in Vietnam. With a burgeoning years of operation. It serves traditional Onset Cafe 76 Le Lai, D1 presence throughout the city, it’s hard Chinese cuisine with authentic dishes to go anywhere without tripping over a such as roasted chicken, duck, and pork. This lounge cafe features live bands Stella Restaurant & Cafe Trung Nguyen café – serving gourmet 20 Le Anh Xuan, D1 and is a good setting for work events Vietnamese street coffee. 3822 2673 Providing authentic Italian and or business meetings. With bold interior 26B-C Le Loi, D1 Vietnamese food using fresh imported furniture it is a popular respite for Ho Chi Kabin and local premium-quality ingredients. Minh residents. The Serenata Cafe Where else can you find such good 319 Ly Thuong Kiet, D11 Kabin is a Cantonese restaurant coffee/cuisine at such reasonable prices? 6670 7092 The Serenata Cafe is a peaceful, relaxing specializing in exotic dishes such as baked 119-121 Bui Vien, D1 [email protected] oasis in a French Colonial house. This cafe duck tongue, grouper cutlet, and lobster 3836 9220 embraces nature with plants, fishponds, soup. Located in the five star Renaissance Paris Deli www.stellacaffe.com and small fountains, and offers music in Riverside Hotel, this restaurant offers a the evenings. wide variety of dim sum. A French style cafe serving some of The Blue Cafe 6D Ngo Thoi Nhiem, D3 Renaissance Riverside Hotel, the best pastries in Saigon, this cheerful 3930 7436 8-15 Ton Duc Thang, D1 A spacious cafe divided into two different spot is a real slice of Parisian life. Many 3822 0033 areas with a lush, outdoor garden seating European drinks and dishes. Vecchio Cafe lounge and an air conditioned in-door Ground Floor, Saigon Centre, 65 Le Loi, D1 The interior features Italian ornate décor, Li Bai Chinese Restaurant lounge. The Blue Cafe has live music with 3821 6127 dim lighting and antique furniture, Located in the Sheraton Hotel, Li Bai drinks under VND100,000. enhanced by Italian music. Offerings offers a selection of over 50 dim sum 701-703 Phan Van Tri, Go Vap include pasta, soup, chicken dishes, dishes as well as traditional Chinese and Passio Coffee to Go 3588 6824 salad, beef dishes, gelato and beverages Cantonese specialties. Diners will enjoy Passio Coffee offers its guests fine such as smoothies, fresh fruit juices the relaxed, upscale ambiance provided Italian style coffee made from the finest The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and tea. by the wood paneling and oriental art. ingredients. Since Passio’s inception in 39/3 Pham Ngoc Thach, D3 Level 2, 88 Dong Khoi, D1 Offering over 22 varieties of coffee and 2006, this enthusiastic team of coffee 3827 2828 20 kinds of tea, The Coffee Bean & Tea brewers has become recognized by www.libaisaigon.com Leaf has been serving the best coffees Windows international coffee drinkers. and teas from around the world for more A highly fashionable cafe near the 112 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D3 than 40 years in its cozy, handcrafted oak Ming Court cathedral. For many years, this eye- paneled stores. catching venue has remained a place to Since the Nikko Hotel graced the Saigon Phuong Cac Cafe www.coffeebean.com.vn see and be seen, often frequented by skyline, the venue has managed to set the 7am - 11pm the famous, the well-to-do, and the ne’er standard for classy, five-star dining with its With indoor and outdoor lounge areas this 39 Le Duan, D1 do well. bold grey modern decor and Japanese-style cafe is a relaxing respite from the grind Ground Floor, Crescent Mall 12 Alexandre De Rhodes, D1 efficiency. Ming Court, on the hotel's third of Ho Chi Minh City. With live bands and Ton Dat Tien, D7 38238408 floor, is a large Chinese restaurant with all drinks under VND100,000 it makes for 157-159 Nguyen Thai Hoc, D1 the expected graces of the Orient belonging the perfect getaway. 39 Le Duan, D1 to the exotic fantasy of the dynastic era. Bis 213 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D3 12-14 Thai Van Lung, D1 Yogen Fruz Serves frozen yogurt with 20 different 3rd floor, Nikko Saigon Hotel 3932 7484 94 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D3 kinds of fruits for you to choose from. 235 Nguyen Van Cu, D1 235 Nguyen Van Cu, D1 This place also provides an environment 3925 7777 Phúc Minh Coffee 235 Dong Khoi, D1 where customers can relax and be 1-5 Le Duan, D1 social. Phuc Minh coffee is an airy, clean 60-62 Cach Mang Thang 8, D3 Ocean Palace B3-15B Basement Vincom Center B, 72 Le A place for those who love Chinese food. environment providing a varied menu and 1-3 Phan Chu Trinh, D1 delicious coffee. The staff is attentive and Thanh Ton, D1 The large dining room on the ground floor quick with a friendly approach. Prices start www.yogenfruz.com.vn can accommodate up to 280 diners. Up The Library on the first floor are six private rooms and around VN 25,000 for this simple cafe. The Library provides a welcoming a big ballroom that can host 350 guests. 51 Hung Phuoc 4, D7 atmosphere for those in search of Zoom Cafe Oi’s Pick www.quancafe.vn/phucminh.1 tranquility, comfort and great drinks in the 2 Le Duan Street, D1 heart of Saigon This distinctive Vespa-themed Café has 3911 8822 Princess and the Pea Ground floor – InterContinental Asiana been a popular fixture in D1 for ten years. Saigon Today, the café serves as the place for Seven Wonders (Bay Ky Quan) A fairytale-themed venue for the Corner of Hai Ba Trung & Le Duan Vespa enthusiasts and tour veterans It’s worth traipsing out to D6 for this one. Not dreamers of Ho Chi Minh City, hidden 3520 9099 to swap stories over ice-cold beers and only are the Dim Sum, Peking Duck, and away in a tiny alleyway off Pasteur. www.intercontinental.com/saigon what many claim is the best selection pan-China home-style cuisine exemplary, Discover it if you can. of mouth-watering burgers, paninis, and but the venue design, with its architectural 63/18 Pasteur, D1 The Living Room baguette sandwiches in town. flourishes from the seven wonders of the 169A Bui Vien, D1 world (including the Great Wall, the Taj Regina Coffee The Living Room has two floors providing 3920 3897 Mahal, and the pyramids) makes for a highly A popular hangout for hip, young a laid-back atmosphere for meet-ups distinctive dining experience. Vietnamese around Nguyen Du, serving or after-work relaxation over drinks and 12 Duong 26, D6 western coffee in a vintage, artsy Western and Vietnamese food. chinese 3755 1577 environment. 40-42 Dong Du, D1 www.7kyquan.com 84 Nguyen Du, D1 3822 0377 Dragon Court Shang Palace Restaurant Retrobite Diner Cafe Tram Coffee Oi’s Pick Dragon Court is a large restaurant Inspired by the concept of 1960s opposite the Opera House in Saigon’s The slightly off-centre, high-class Norfolk Americana, bi-level Retrobite Diner Cafe A unique romantic cafe experience bustling District 1. Enjoy Chinese dishes Mansion Hotel on Ly Tu Trong is home features an interior that includes booths, hidden well off the beaten track, but close from many regions with dishes like glass to one of Saigon's most well-respected retro egg chairs, jukebox and classic radio to District 1 in neighbouring Phu Nhuan noodles, hot pot, and a large dim sum Chinese restaurants outside of Chinatown. players. The menu is mostly American District. Sip a coffee, juice or beer or collection. Located on the 1st floor, Shang's dark food with sandwiches, hamburgers, indulge in good cafe food over candlelight 11-13 Lam Son Square, D1 intricate wooden tables and chairs with pastas, steaks, milkshakes, waffles and in a dark, intimate environment hidden 3827 2566 white linen and deep red carpeting make more. amongst trees and trickling streams. Relax for an atmosphere of moody opulence; 6 Cong Truong Quoc Te, D3 there is seating for over 300 guests, and in an air conditioned room or dine alfresco Dynasty te x pats 3521 0673 amongst the greenery. The perfect spot to private rooms are available. [email protected] impress a date with your local knowledge. New World hotel's in-house Chinese 1st Floor, Norfolk Mansion 7:30am - 11pm 100 Tran Huy Lieu St, Phu Nhuan restaurant is certainly a venue of fine 17-19-21, Ly Tu Trong, D1 2240 5306 contemporary Chinese dining. The chef 3823 2221 Soho Coffee offers a variety of authentic Cantonese The Myth Cafe dishes along with classic dim sum under a Shi-Fu Dim sum Two level local cafe chain serving light high lantern/chandelier-lit ceiling, in a broad meals, coffee and local chilled drinks. Escape the daily grind of Ho Chi Minh City dining room decorated in classic Chinese Shifu Dim Sum House is a restaurant
185 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 with a trip into the mystical setting of Myth style. VIP guests can dine in one of four specializing in dim sum, with modern A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 54 Chinese décor and over 68 dim sum dishes. La Cuisine Ty Coz Oi’s Pick 139A Nguyen Trai, D1 3925 1111 This ultra-fine little bistro is an exercise in An unpretentious venue focused only on www.dimsumhouse.vn minimalism with its twenty seats and bare, serving great cuisine. Ty Coz provides a chic-rustic interior of wooden furnishings fine balcony view of the cathedral, intimate Yu Chu and black & white photographs on atmosphere, and affordable prices. Yu chu is renowned for the quality and whitewashed walls. Its warm lighting 178/4 Pasteur, D1 presentation of its authentic Cantonese and clean atmosphere belies a certain 3822 2457 and Peking cuisines along with its elegant sophistication, however, and the price of www.tycozsaigon.com décor. Watching the chefs prepare the fare is significantly damaging enough signature dishes such as hand-pulled to make this a rare treat for those not in Vatel Saigon Restaurant noodle, dim sum and Peking duck right in the restaurant's fabulously wealthy target the kitchen is a prominent dining feature market. Le Bacoulos This is a fine, well-managed, and even here. 48 Le Thanh Ton, D1 Le Bacoulos is a luxurious dining venue serving authentic First floor, InterContinental Asiana Saigon 2229 8882 French restaurant, bar French cuisine in a Franco-Viet design Corner of Hai Ba Trung & Le Duan www.lacuisine.com.vn and lounge that serves French cuisine, space. There's red carpet along the 3520 9099 bar food like burgers, fish and chips entrance way, gallery-standard art on www.intercontinental.com/saigon La Creperie alongside vegetarian options like the walls, and an overall atmosphere of La Creperie is the first authentic Brittany spinach soup and Greek salad. There’s refinement and good service. also a garden to unwind in with a glass French restaurant that serves savory 120 bis Suong Nguyet Anh, D1 of wine or enjoy a game of pool. french galettes, sweet crepes with tasty seafood 13 Tong Huu Dinh, D2 08 5404 2220 Alibi Restaurant and Bar and 3519 4058 vatelsaigon.com the best apple cider in Saigon. www.bacoulos.com 17/7 Le Thanh Ton, D1 Centrally located a stone’s-throw from the 3824 7070 Opera House in downtown D1, this is a indian [email protected] Le Chateau de Saigon warm, appealing lounge environment with Situated in a small but romantic French Mon-Sun 11am-11pm modest prices. villa, Le Chateau De Saigon Restaurant Ashoka Ashoka is one of the city’s most popular 5 Nguyen Sieu, D1 is designed to accommodate any kind and enduring Indian restaurants with 3825 6257 La Doree of event. Whether it is dinner with family La Doree provides its patrons with over and friends, or a passionate evening with a reputation for good food with a wide 50 varieties of cakes, as well as a rich range of North Indian culinary dishes your loved one, Le Chateau De Saigon will Au Manoir de Khai sandwich menu. They are located in at a reasonable price. Large space provide a sophisticated and memorable the heart of District 1 in a building with a for private parties,outdoor catering Au Manoir de Khai is an authentic, first dining experience. luxurious French design. In addition to and free home delivery also available. class French restaurant. Guests can enjoy 45A Le Quy Don, D3 sweets and snacks, this eatery also serves traditional French cuisine in this classic Special set lunch veg/non-veg from coffee, cocktails, and their specialty: green www.lechateaudesaigon.com 100 year old villa. Their menu is extensive VND90,000 upwards.Promotion (free tea tiramisu. and features dishes like Kobe beef, foie Le Jardin trip to Cambodia) and discount available gras, red grouper, and truffle mushrooms. 216 Ly Tu Trong, D1 for people booking in groups. 08 3822 1718 Le Jardin is a gorgeous enclosed garden 251 Dien Bien Phu, D3 17/10 Le Thanh Ton, D1 www.ladoree.com space that allows eaters to follow the 3930 3394 3823 1372 example of the French colonists a century www.ashokavietnam.com ago and pretend they're actually in Paris. Augustin La Fourchette Whether dining outside under the shaded Baba’s Kitchen Oi’s Pick Augustin is a romantic and charming terrace or within the old, warmly-lit villa, French restaurant located just steps away Small and cozy, La Fourchette is a favorite amongst the French expat community. the cuisine, decor, and general mood of Baba’s Kitchen, also known as the best from the Rex Hotel. Serves lunches and the place is like a Stargate direct to France. dinners and offers 10 percent discount on The vintage posters and wood paneling Indian restaurant on Bui Vien, is familiar 31D Thai Van Lung, D1 a la carte menu items. add to the charm of this French eatery among expats and locals alike, rating 3825 8465 10D Nguyen Thiep, D1 located downtown, a stone’s throw from 4.5 out of five stars on Trip Advisor. Their www.augustinrestaurant.com the Saigon River. vindaloo is a must try. 9 Ngo Duc Ke, D1 Le Paris 164 Bui Vien, D1 Bon Appetit 3829 8143 Le Paris has an interior that features 3838 6661 www.lafourchette.com.vn depictions of Eiffel Tower, Seine River www.babaskitchen.in A small French-Vietnamese fusion bistro and Notre Dame Cathedral. Food 11am - 11pm on Pham Ngoc Thach with a simplistic La Nicoise offerings include French, seafood, charm enhanced by a fine selection of steaks and vegetarian dishes. Bombay Indian Restaurant old-style French music. A small, friendly French bistro with about 45 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 Located in D1 near the Ben Thanh Market 78 Pham Ngoc Thach, D3 a dozen tables, La Nicoise serves up www.facebook.com/leparisrestaurant area, serving Indian & Halal cuisine. The 090 789 8345 typical French dishes under the watchful ambiance is relaxed thanks to Bombay’s eye of its French-Vietnamese owners. L’Olivier easy-going, family kitchen vibe. Bonjour Restaurant 56 Ngo Duc Ke, D1 57-59 Ham Nghi, D1 3821 3056 L’Olivier is a restaurant serving authentic 9am - 10.30pm Bonjour serves up international dishes with a Mediterranean cuisines, located on the French flair. The large menu of main courses L'essentiel 2nd floor of the Hotel Sofitel. Bollywood feature roast duck, salmon, lamb and steak Sofitel Saigon Plaza, 17 Le Duan, D1 Complete North & South Indian Cuisine. with specialties being ostrich and venison. A recent arrival to the growing ranks of 3824 1555 Special Chaat & Tandoori Dishes. Parties, 150/26 Nguyen Trai, D1 authentic French dining experiences in www.sofitel.com Events & catering service available, Daily 3926 0699 HCMC, L'essentiel offers a quiet intimate Lunch tiffin and Set menus. dining experience downstairs with space Le Rendez-Vous de Saigon Oi’s Pick Free Delivery(All Phu my Hung) Cordon Blue for private functions and alfresco dining A new wine bistro that offers a warm and 22131481 - 22450096 on an upper floor. The menu changes friendly atmosphere. Unwind either in their 0938069433 weekly, the food is fresh and the wine list A unique French venue decorated with blue stylish downstairs bar, or lounge on cozy Hotline: 0906357442(English) carefully collated. and green shades serving high-quality French leather seating in the upstairs section with [email protected] 98 Ho Tung Mau, D1 cuisine on the outskirts of the inner city. a balcony overlooking a courtyard in an facebook: bollywoodvietnamindiancuisine 0948 415 646 38 Mac Dinh Chi, D1 alley. The venue offers a tasty selection of (for complete menu) 3822 5216 wines from France to South Africa, and a www.cordonblue.vn Le Bordeaux delectable menu of French cuisine. Ganesh
9A Ngo Van Nam, D1 Set in a French colonial-style mansion, Le Ganesh serves authentic northern Indian La Brasserie de Saigon www.lerendezvousdesaigon.com Bordeaux serves southwestern French tandooris & rotis along with the hottest 6291 0396 Set in a trendy space featuring art cuisine in a beautiful setting. Known for its curries, dovas, and vada from the southern nouveau décor and intricate iron foie gras and large selection of wines, Le region. Oi’s Pick spiralstaircases, La brasserie de Saigon Bordeaux is worth the trip to Binh Thanh The Refinery 15B4 Le Thanh Ton, D1 presents authentic French cuisine with district. 8223 0173 Parisian brasserie service experience. 72 D2 Street, Binh Thanh This Parisian bistro hidden away in its www.ganeshindianrestaurant.com 38 Dong Du, D1 3899 9831 enclave on Hai Ba Trung is an exceptional 0862913657 restaurant-lebordeaux.com.vn venue, making for an elegant reparation Indus Indian [email protected] 11.30am - 1.30pm; 6.30am - 9.30pm of the sins of the past. It was here in www.labrasseriedesaigon.com French Colonial days that opium was Indus Indian is a relatively new Indian te x pats 11.30pm - 2.30pm; 6pm - 12am Le Bouchon De Saigon manufactured, bringing ruin to the people restaurant in Saigon providing all the of Asia; it is here that a far softer side classic Indian favorites. Operated by La Camargue Red and white checked tablecloths and of the French culture now exercises a dedicated husband/wife duo, this closely set tables make Le bouchon its influence over present-day Saigon, restaurant specializes in Halal food. Known for its high food quality, de Saigon the place to go for a casual, serving modern European cuisine in its 2G Thi Sach, D1 reasonable prices and a fine selection classic French bistro experience under tastefully decorated dining area and airy 3521 0324 of wine, the long running La Camargue the eye of iron chef Vietnam winner outdoor patio. serves up home-style French cuisine in an David Thai. 74 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Mumtaz open plan 1st-floor terrace. 40 Thai Van Lung, D1 3825 7667
©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 74/17 Hai Ba Trung, D1 www.lebouchondesaigon.com www.therefinerysaigon.com With bona-fide Indian owners and chefs,
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 55 authenticity at Mumtaz is guaranteed. Chef Mamma’s Pomodoro cuisine. Baby Spoon omurice (green bell While the service and setting is relatively Chef Mamma’s is located at Saigon’s peppers, bacon, tomato sauce omurice) basic, the food is amongst the best of its Superbowl Center offering a variety of In this family-style, simply-decorated is the house specialty. type in the city in terms of taste alone. The Italian and Asian food. The restaurant trattoria restaurant with an arched ceiling 47 Phan Chu Trinh, D1 brand has a second branch in Da Nang opens from early in the morning until and an all-brick interior, a fine Italian city if you're ever on holiday and missing late at night serving breakfast, lunch menu pleases diners with 12 different Blanchy Street Oi’s Pick your curries. and dinner. pizzas along with pasta dishes, parma 226 Bui Vien, D1 A43 Truong Son, Tan Binh ham with a spicy tomato chutney, and Once hidden upstairs at the Blanchy's 3837 1767 a highly-recommended French onion Tash bar, Blanchy Street now has its own Da Vinci’s soup. Ideal option for a simple, reliable, location in the courtyard of eateries on The Punjabi Hai Ba Trung, offering authentic Japanese Da Vinci’s is an Italian-American style and thoroughly pleasant night out with no food mixed with fusion cuisine and the Authentic North Indian cuisine prepared pizzeria delivery offering pizzas, lasagna, complications. occasional additional Southeast Asian in a home-made tandoori oven makes spaghetti, calzones, salads and desserts. 79 Hai Ba Trung, D1 dish. Run by an ex Nobu (London) chef Punjabi a popular spot for budget Their full menu is online at www. 3823 8998 conscious eaters who crave Indian davincisvietnam.com. Free delivery to www.pomodoro-vietnam.com with his own signature dishes, it has wide standbys like spinach naan and chicken Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and Phu My Hung. appeal. Food is designed to be shared tandoori. Open 11am - 10pm. Sarpino’s Pizzeria and is backed by an extensive list of 40/3 Bui Vien, D1 Call 083 943 4982 or sakes and wines. 3508 3777 SMS your order to 093 328 4624 Sarpino’s Pizzeria provides authentic 74/3 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Italian pizzas made from gourmet 3823 8793 Good Morning Vietnam ingredients. www.blanchystreet.com italian 125 Ho Tung Mau, D1 * Reviewed by Oi in April 2013 Italian restaurant with a unique menu www.sarpinos.vn 1960 Presidential Club including traditional Italian dishes. The Cam On Restaurant 1960 Presidential Club is a member- restaurant is conveniently located in a Scoozi only restaurant with an interior design beautiful old house in the heart of Saigon, An Italina restaurant that offers pizza, Cam On specializes in Japanese health inspired by Saigon in the 60s. You will well integrated in the local architecture. pasta, salad, special desserts and a wide food, with a dedication to helping men experience more traditional style of 197 De Tham, D1 variety of drinks. Provide dine-in , take and women maintain their beauty and Italian cuisine with an extensive menu 3837 1894 away and home delivery services. health by providing quality cuisine with led by chef Franco Buressi. www.thegoodmorningvietnam.com 6 Thai Van Lung, D1 natural ingredients. Floor 22 Sailing Tower, 111A Pasteur, D1 30 Thai Van Lung, D1 www.club1960.vn La Hostaria 3823 3955 japanese www.cam-on.asia Basilico Restaurant Designed with an intimate atmosphere invoking something like an Italian town, Trattoria-style Italian eatery Basilico Dragon Hotpot this venue focuses on traditional ethnic specializes in homespun recipes. Italian cuisine (rather than the ubiquitous Dragon Hotpot blends fine taste with the Contemporary décor, casual ambience, pizza and pasta), creations of the skillful and casual yet attentive Bistro-style healthy ingredients of Japanese cuisine. executive chef – straight out of Venice. service makes it a relaxing dinner venue. Drinks include Japanese favorites along The place lights up on romantic Thursday Ground floor, on the Corner of Nguyen Du & with fine international wines. evenings with candlelight and light music. Le Van Huu, D1 122-124 Ho Tung Mau, D1 17B Le Thanh Ton, D1 3520 9099 3825 8842 3823 1080 6.30am - 10.30pm www.lahostaria.com Achaya Cafe Dragon Noodle Capricciosa Lucca Oi’s Pick Achaya A rather small but pretty restaurant with Cafe have two floors providing a nice You'll find the standards here – pizza, warm tones and a nice series of murals atmosphere for meeting, relaxation pasta, soups, salads, with a few special A Brooklyn-style Italian eatery upstairs or party. The menu is extensive depicting old Saigon, Dragon Noodle dishes such as calamari and onion in with an adjoining bar. Downstairs is a with drinks and Western, Japanese, focuses on the Japanese staple – ramen squid ink sauce. They're all prepared relaxing cafe offering generous breakfasts, noodle soups – although their version simple cafe fare for lunch and some of the Vietnamese food from sandwiches, according to strict Japanese standards, spaghetties, pizzas, steak and special is a little less spicy than is traditionally best espresso coffee you’ll find in the city. and the result is actually really good. Japanese sweet desserts. served, increasing perhaps the 88 Ho Tung Mau, D1 Booth B3-03A, Level B3 90 Le Loi, D1 international appeal of the dish. There are 3915 3692 Vincom Tower, 70 Le Thanh Ton, D1 093 897 2050 a total of four soup bases to accompany 8am - 11pm 3993 9786 11am - 10:30pm the noodles. www.capricciosa.com.vn 29 Dong Du, D1 Margherita 3521 0008 Casa Italia Aka Taiyo www.ramen.vn Well-reviewed overseas, Margherita is Italian owned & run, Casa Italia’s menu a familiar place to tourists trawling the Aka Taiyo serves traditional and exotic ranges from home-style cooking that nooks of Ho Chi Minh City. This is partly Japanese cuisine with an extensive menu Dragon Steak includes steaks, seafood, a large variety a result of its agreeable price, sumptuous featuring more than 200 dishes. Also A striking Japanese restaurant tucked of homemade pastas, jumbo salads, Western-style pizzas, English-speaking stocks a surprisingly comprehensive away off Saigon's central street, Dragon appetizers and the best pizzas. staff, and more than average customer range of Japanese alcoholic beverages. steak specialises in thick wagayu cuts 86 Le Loi, D1 service. 74B Hai Ba Trung, D1 and tenderloin that could well have 3824 4286 175/1 Pham Ngu Lao, D1 3824 4295 www.casaitalia.com.vn 3837 0760 www.akataiyo.com been cut off a beast the size of a dragon. They're so enormous that the restaurant Opera Restaurant Ajisen Ramen once ran a cheeky competition – guests who finished one within half an hour A contemporary, casual trattoria-style One of the more authentic Japanese dined free. Italian restaurant overlooking the Opera venues in the area with ingredients 138 Ton That Dam, D1 House, Opera is located within Park Hyatt imported from Japan, this restaurant is 3821 0288 Saigon specializing in authentic pizza best-known for its tasty “white” soups. The www.steak.vn baked in a wood-fired oven, pasta and restaurant serves at least 250 traditional homemade Italian dishes. dishes. Ebisu 1st floor Park Hyatt Hotel, 120 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, D1 Ebisu serves neither sushi nor sashimi – Ciao Bella Oi’s Pick 2 Lam Son Square, D1 3822 0522 3824 1234 instead, the menu focuses on a range of Hearty home- www.saigon.park.hyatt.com Aki Japanese Restaurant wholesome charcoal-grilled meals and style Italian food 6am - 11pm on thick, white Japanese udon noodles – served with flair and excellent service. A small Japanese restaurant with a cozy made from imported udon powder from An extensive menu is complemented Oi’s Pick and comfortable atmosphere, Aki serves Australia – and presenting an overall with daily specials. Arriving guests are Pizza 4P’s A little treasure hidden away at the top over 100 authentic Japanese dishes. rustic cuisine with a variety of good sakes.
greeted with a free glass of Prosecco. te x pats 35bis Mac Dinh Chi, D1 Diners sit in a cozy setting upstairs of an out-of-the-way alley off Le Thanh 15/9 Le Thanh Ton, D1 or on the ground floor for people Ton, this Japanese pizzeria is a major hit 3827 9083 3822 6971 watching. Big groups should book in with those in the know. Highly attractive [email protected] advance. premises and some extraordinary Baby Spoon ebisu-vn.asia 11 Dong Du, D1 toppings catering to all tastes make this 3822 3329 an unmissable pizza experience. Famous for its extensive omurice Fuji Restaurant [email protected] 8/15 Le Thanh Ton, D1 menu (fried rice wrapped inside an www. saigonrestaurant 012 0789 4444 egg omelette), Baby Spoon offers The cuisine is exceptional – fresh seafood group.com/ciao
www.pizza4ps.com contemporary Japanese-Western fusion and vegetables flown in direct from Japan A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 56 and Dalat. A preferred venue for those Kokekokko Pandora 2 Le Thanh Ton, D1 10am - 2pm; 4pm - 10pm staying at the hotel, and worth trying if 3823 8042 you're living local. Kokekokko is a combination of modern www.sushibar-vn.com Ground Floor, Nikko Hotel Saigon style fast food with the essence of ancient korean 235 Nguyen Van Cu, D1 Japanese cuisine. The restaurant space is Sushi Dining Aoi
3830 8123 designed with high quality materials and Dae Jang Gum Sushi Dining Aoi is one such restaurant, All the theatrics of a traditional Korean features youthful and modern dynamic where the whole atmosphere of the place experience are part of the service at Dae Hanayuki subtleties. With prices under VND100,00 evokes the best of the culture. With its Jang Gum, named after an historic figure, Kokekoko is a must see. but more pertinently after a wildly popular A Japanese-style restaurant on Ton typical Japanese-style decor – the smooth 4th Floor Pandora, 1/1 Truong Chinh, Tan Phu Korean drama focusing on her life – Duc Thang with a sushi bar on the earthen tones of the wooden furniture and 3849 6840 photos from the series appear throughout ground floor and a fine mezzanine surrounds, the warmth and privacy of the www.kokekokko.com.vn VIP rooms – it's possible to believe you're the venue. From waitresses in hanboks level, Hanayuki serves more than 200 in a more elegant realm. to vast plates of kimchi, this is the most exquisite Japanese dishes with more La Fenetre Soleil 53-55 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, D3 authentic introduction to the cuisine than 30 kinds of sushi and sashimi. 3930 0039 available outside of District 7. Private, traditional Japanese VIP rooms Glass tables with mosaic tiles and wooden www.sushidiningaoi.com 1st Floor, Kumho Asiana Plaza are available on the top level. floors set off large comfy sofas and high 39 Le Duan, D1 21C Ton Duc Thang, D1 ceilings, and diners can look out over the Sushi World 3825 7974 3824 2754 busy Ly Tu Trong though 11 large French www.daejanggum.vn windows. Its sense of personality attracts A four-storey restaurant in a Japanese- Ichiban Sushi artistically-inclined expats to return often, style, the first and second floors feature Hana Restaurant Ichiban Sushi Vietnam serves fine sushi and many of these profess it as their an open sushi bar, while the upper levels and signature drinks/cocktails in a lounge favourite hangout in Saigon. Cuisine is contain 15 VIP rooms decorated in a Japanese-Korean fusion in the heart of setting. Japanese-Vietnamese fusion. traditional Japanese style with tatami D1. Hana has contemporary decor with 204 Le Lai, D1 44 Ly Tu Trong, D1 matting. a private, open feel. Its broad menu www.ichibansushi.vn 3824 5994 28 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 includes both cooked and raw fish in Mus Mus 3911 0147 addition to traditional hot pot with fish Indaba Restaurant www.sushiworld.com.vn eggs, rice and vegetables. 8 Cao Ba Quat, D1 Indaba Cafe & Restaurant offers Japanese, Customers choose a total of twelve Tokyo Deli 3829 5588 Western and Vietnamese cuisine. It ingredients from the selection on offer, 9am - 10pm boasts homemade ingredients such as which are then added to a bowl of boiling Tokyo Deli’s menu consists of a wide udon noodles, soy sauce for sushi and broth on the tabletop. Flavours are range of distinctive and delicious meals, Kimsine matcha ice cream. prepared by specialists to create pure essentially Japanese seafood. A place to enjoy Korean style dishes 35 Ly Tu Trong, D1 Japanese flavor. The menu is always 117 Vo Van Tan, D3 in the city center. Kimsine’s menu is being changed and improved. www.facebook.com/indabacafe 3930 9185 extensive; offering everything from instant 240 Le Thanh Ton, D1 [email protected] noodles to chicken’s feet. 5404 2244 Inaho Restaurant www.musmus.net 8A/5D2 Thai Van Lung, D1 tokyodeli.com.vn 7306 4045 11am - 11pm This unique venue specializes in Osaka Ramen 094 467 2281 traditional sushi & sashimi as well as hot [email protected] pot dishes. Couples can retreat to the Traditional Japanese noodle restaurant Uraetei BBQ Restaurant 10am - 3am
upstairs area; it’s far more private than the offering traditional Ramen dishes as well Uraetai serves yakiniku grill, a variant downstairs bar. as Japanese/Vietnamese fusion cuisine. of the popular Korean dish bulgogi. Mi Han Quoc 4 Chu Manh Trinh, D1 67 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D1 The restaurant itself is attractively 3829 0326 10am - 10pm This franchise has gained popularity done, with a nod to feng shui in its 11am - 2pm, 5.30pm - 10pm in Ho Chi Minh City for having selective placement of ponds and rocky Robata Dining An successfully adapted the spiciness pathways outside. of Korean cuisine to the local Kabuto Tokyo The restaurant has a downstairs bar and 6673 9373 a second floor with private rooms that Vietnamese palate, serving perfectly One of the more exuberant Japanese have sunken tables, sliding fusuma doors balanced noodle dishes. Vicki’s Teppanyaki & BBQ 92 Ham Nghi, D1 venues in this city, Kabuto Tokyo on Mac and tabletop barbecues. Popular with Thi Buoi specialises in both traditional and the Japanese expats, the menu serves 3914 1565 It provides a fusion of Asian cuisines www.mihanquocvn.com fusion fresh Japanese seafood cuisine. up healthy appetizers, rolls, sashimi with dishes from Japan, Singapore, and 8am - 11pm It's a vibrant venue with its manga murals, and An specialty dishes like deep fried Vietnam. Their menu is interesting and carp lanterns, giant samurai warrior, and chicken with garlic salt sauce An style diverse, with many delectable seafood large aquarium – and in the evening it Mr. BBQ – Korean Chicken & Hof (VND100,000). options. becomes a respectable upmarket bar. For 15C Le Thanh Ton, D1 42 Le Anh Xuan, D1 This unusual Korean import famous for a quirky beverage there, try a sake served www.robata-an.com 3823 3232 extraordinarily spicy chicken is an odd in a bamboo tube. vickis.com.vn phenomenon on the HCMC culinary 45 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 Sakura Vietnamese-Japanese 10.30am - 3pm; 5pm - 10pm landscape, serving up a version of 3822 2351 Restaurant KFC that's actually painful. Lovers of kabuto.com.vn Wainosuke spicy food rejoice. The restaurant itself Cozy, friendly and modern Japanese Wainosuke is a Japanese and Italian is clean and modern in design, and K Cafe restaurant near all of the attractions in the style restaurant. It serves food such as there are another 50 Korean dishes city center. pastas, salads and steaks to name a few on offer beyond the signature dish, K Cafe Sushi is a large Japanese 99 Suong Nguyet Anh, D1 and wine from traditional Japanese to including some tasty bibimbap mixed restaurant; an ideal place to gather for a 6291 1036 premium Italian wine. rice dishes. business lunch or for a social dinner. sakurasaku.vn 37 Ho Tung Mau, D1 20 Ho Huan Nghiep, D1 74A4 Hai Ba Trung, D1 11am - 2pm; 5pm - 11pm 3821 4016 3823 9000 38245355 www.wainosuke-vn.asia 9am-11pm www.yakatabune-saigon.com Sumo BBQ 11am - 2pm, 5pm - 11pm Yoshino Seoul House Sumo BBQ is a rising star amongst Kissho Japanese venues in Saigon, offering The decor is straight out of the set of Seoul House is a well-known two-story Experienced chefs prepare teppanyaki, smokeless table BBQ and a unique Shogun, with black wood, tatami mats, Korean restaurant with a simple, cozy stencilled cherry blossoms and all sushi, and yakiniku dishes before your buffet/a la carte concept: get whatever atmosphere. Its menu contains Korean the trappings of Japanese exoticism favorites like Banchan, hotpots, grilled eyes. In addition, an extensive wine list is you want from the menu, as much as – tastefully done. While Ho Chi Minh meat, clay pot mixed rice, and kim chi available as well as an array of fine sake you like. Free birthday beer specials on City is certainly not short of fine tofu soup. to complement the exquisite flavors of arrangement. Japanese eateries, this one is particularly 33 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 premium imported meat and seafood. 300 Le Van Sy, Tan Binh impressive. 3829 4297 14 Nguyen Hue, D1 3991 4757 2A-4A Ton Duc Thang, D1 7am - 10pm www.kissho.wmcvietnam.com sumobbq.com.vn 3823 3333 te x pats 10.30am - 10.30pm Kuru Kuru Shusi Yuki steakhouses A Japanese restaurant that features a Sushi Bar rotating conveyor belt for the buffet, Yukie is a popular Japanese restaurant Au Lac do Brazil offering 50 different selections. It also There are plenty of dining spaces – large located in the backpacker area of offers an a la carte menu. and small rooms, floor-level Japanese District 1. Offering authentic Japanese Serving Saigon for more than 10 years, 129 Nguyen Du, D1 dining on tatami mats, private areas, and cuisine at affordable prices. Au Lac do Brazil is the very first authentic www.kurukuru.com.vn the eponymous large sushi bar on the 99 Nguyen Thai Hoc, D1 Brazilian Churrascaria in Vietnam, bringing ground level. a new dining concept - an “All you can ©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 11am - 2pm and 5pm - 10:30pm 3824 2754
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 57 eat” Brazilian style BBQ where meat is enormous servings. 27C Le Quy Don, D3 Bo Ne Le Hong brought to your table on skewers by 8A/1D1 Thai Van Lung, D1 3930 7873 a passador and served to your heart’s 3825 1901 www.spicevn.com Bo Ne Le Hong is a popular Vietnamese 11am - 2pm; 5.30pm - 10pm content. They have an extensive selection 10am - 2pm; 4pm - 11.30pm restaurant specializing in beefsteak. It has of fine wines as well. a rich, diverse menu, and also offer fresh Ho Chi Minh City Thai Express fruit juices. Au Lac do Brazil I thai Thai Express is the world’s largest Thai 489/27/39 Huynh Van Banh, Phu Nhuan 238 Pasteur, D3 3990 5106 (08) 3820 7157 Coriander restaurant chain. Enjoy fantastically Ha Noi authentic Thai cuisine at reasonable prices in a relaxed, contemporary Bun Sai Gon Au Lac do Brazil II A small Thai joint pleasingly decked out in natural materials with cork walls atmosphere. 6A Cao Ba Quat, Ba Dinh and sedge-lined floors. The resulting 8A Le Thanh Ton, D1 This franchise positions itself firmly in (04) 3845 5224 ambience is nicely authentic, and the 6299 1338 the local market with the slogan 'the bun For Banquet & Catering same goes for the cuisine – try the green www.thaiexpress.com.vn noodles of the Vietnamese people' – Call or email shrimp curry, the fried noodles in Thai 10.30am - 10pm indicating a concerted dedication to the [email protected] style, or the squid vermicelli for a taste authenticity of its noodle soup staples. 090 947 8698 of the Gulf of Thailand. The restaurant is 6276 2609 www.aulacdobrazil.com also known for its almost embarrassingly vietnamese www.bunsaigon.com.vn www.facebook.com/aulacdobrazil cheap beer. 16 Bui Vien, D1 3T Quan Nuong Cha Ca La Vong Corso Steakhouse and Bar 3837 1311 This venue only serves Cha Ca, a With hanging oil lamps and wooden traditional Hanoian dish. Cha Ca is a salad Corso Steakhouse and Bar operates Golden Elephant statues lining the stairs, this venue made out of pieces of fish and spring under an open kitchen concept, bringing above the Temple Bar has a touch more onion stir-fried in a hotpot. together an exciting menu of Asian and A cozy and relaxing Thai style atmosphere than most of its kind, but 36 Ton That Thiep, D1 European dishes with a focus on grilling. restaurant, serving an extensive the otherwise simple décor with bamboo 3915 3343 Guests can choose from a wide variety of collection of Thai specialties including tables and chairs are fitting enough. wines and spirits. noodles, curries, rice, stir-fries, soups, The broad barbecue grill menu features classics of its kind. Cuc Gach Quan 117 Le Thanh Ton, D1 and a good range of seafood. This Vietnamese venue serves traditional, Top Floor, 29 Ton That Hiep, D1 3829 5368 34 Hai Ba Trung, D1 country-style foods, a mixture of street 3822 8554 3821 1631 www.norfolkhotel.com.vn food dishes made with fine ingredients 11am - 10pm 6pm - 11pm Jasmine Thai An Khue Quan together with a selection of more Dragon Steak contemporary options.
A quiet, candle-lit affair complete with Serving a well-selected series of dishes 10 Dang Tat, D1 Specializing in generous portions of the ethereal tones of traditional music, from both northern and southern regions 3848 0144 Wagyu cuts; they’re so enormous guests can enjoy variations on dishes of Vietnam in an area where international that the restaurant runs a cheeky prepared in the Thai culinary tradition. diners are likely to be in abundance – and Ganh competition - finish one within half an 85 Quoc Huong, D2 therefore well attuned to the foreign hour, and it’s free. 35190038 palate. With green suspended lanterns, simple 138 Ton That Dam, D1 5pm - 9.30pm Tue-Sun 92B Le Lai, D1 and elegant furnishings, all touched off 3821 0288 3925 9583 with bamboo baskets of fruit, flowers, www.steak.vn Koh Thai and reed grass, the atmosphere is just 11am - late An Vietnamese Bistro as smooth and well-defined as a more Stunning Thai-chic decor and unique modern-styled venue. El Gaucho Siam cuisine make Koh Thai one An Restaurant offers exquisite dishes 58/4 Pham Ngoc Thach, D3 Serves great Argentinean steaks, of Saigon’s most authentic and from the North, Central, and South of 3829 5243 hamburgers and more. A great place memorable Thai restaurants. Located Vietnam, served by well-trained waiters www.nemnuongganh.com to entertain clients or friends from in the Intercontinental complex, Koh and waitresses dressed in traditional overseas. With outlets in Hanoi and Thai serves Asian inspired cocktails Southern clothing. Gold Fish Bangkok too. in a trendy lounge environment with 71/5-6 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 5D Nguyen Sieu, D1 chill music. 3825 8275 Gold Fish offers a slice of authentic 38251879 1st floor, 39 Le Duan, D1 Vietnam with a genuinely rural cuisine. www.elgaucho.asia 3823 4423 Banh Xeo 46A 73 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 091 233 9138 3822 5229 www.kohthai.com.vn Although known for a wide range of New York Steakhouse www.goldfish.vn 11am - 10pm Daily Vietnamese specialties, the local pancake stuffed with herbs and prawns is its While situated in a fairly laid-back area, tastiest dish. Grillbar - Eatery & Cafe New York Steakhouse is definitely in the Lac Thai A new trendy kitchen and cozy restaurant 46A Dinh Cong Trang, D1 upmarket category and serves exclusive Lac Thai is a large, three-floor restaurant 3824 1110 with the concept of taking traditional American imported beef dishes, with a offering a wide range of Thai cuisine Vietnamese charcoal grilled street food whole range of steaks from rib eye, New with signature dishes like Pad Thai, Tom Banh Xeo An La Ghien and serving it in a New York stylie cafe. York strip steak, and tenderloin being Yum Koong, Chicken Satay and many 122 Le Thanh Ton, D1 popular options. others. The fare on offer is traditional Vietnamese, 38227 901 25-27 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, D1 71/2 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 specialising in the Banh Xeo filled egg www.grillbar.com.vn 3823 7373 3823 7506 pancake, a favourite with foreigners with [email protected] 9am - 9pm its light crispy shell and fragrant herbs and www.steakhouse.com.vn meats inside the pancake pocket. Mai Thai 74 Suong Nguyet Anh, D1 Pho 99 Oi’s Pick 3833 0534 Mai Thai is a Thai restaurant offering an www.banhxeoanlaghien.com.vn/en Not a traditional steakhouse per se, but extensive menu with many Thai favorites. Pho 99 is known for its excellent filet This two-storey restaurant features Barbecue Garden mignon steaks made out of Cu Chi beef. traditional decorations and friendly Also serves great pho. service. The venue features all open-air dining 139 Nguyen Trai, D1 13 Ton That Thiep, D1 and the atmosphere is distinctly festival- 3925 2791 3821 2920 like, relaxing, and casual, becoming 6am - 2.30am 11am - 2pm, 5pm - 10pm congenially boisterous in the evenings. Quan Bui - The restaurant specializes in Western- Authentic Malee Thai Vietnamese fusion dishes such as beef Vietnamese Samba Brazilian Steakhouse with cheese, 5-spices beef, squid with Cuisine A cute, central Thai venue decked satay sauce, and shrimp kebabs. This is certainly Saigon's most visible and out in royal purple decor, Malee is an 135A Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D1 colourful restaurant serving the popular An exciting Vietnamese culinary intimate restaurant serving a wide range 3823 3340 experience awaits you in the heart Brazilian buffet style, where enormous of consistently tasty dishes, although www.barbecuegarden.com of the old French quarter in skewers of meat are circulated around without the full effect of Thai cuisine’s downtown Saigon. Reasonably the tables for diners to enjoy as much of signature burn. Beefsteak Nam Son priced, you will see the open kitchen as they can. 37 Dong Du, D1 This local steak restaurant specialises in as you come in (chefs working hard
10C Thai Van Lung, D1 3829 3029 Vietnamese-style iron-plate meat dishes to thrill your palate with the herbs, te x pats 3822 0079 11am - 2pm; 5pm - 11pm rather than the American steaks often spices and sauces from around the www.samba.vnnhahang.com popular with expats – but while these country - definitely no MSG here). Spice two varieties have their differences, the The ambiance is sophisticated Wild Horse Salon local version of the dish has a fresh, light and comfortable with Spice Thai restaurant has been a favorite character and is served with some good, traditional crockery serving as decoration. Cowboy-themed western steakhouse among the locals in Saigon since 2003. delicate Vietnamese sauces. 17A Ngo Van Nam, D1 with an impressive exterior on trendy This multicultural eatery offers Thai food 188 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D3 3828 1515 Thai Van Lung, Wild Horse serves high- & seafood in a décor fusing Oriental & 3930 3917 www.quanbui.vn
quality Tex Mex/American cuisine with Mediterranean artifacts. www.namsonsteak.com A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 58 Highway 4 13-15-17 Dong Khoi, D1 of an old European villa; but inside its Tin Nghia space is designed as an ancient Hue A charming little venue serving vegetarian The menu reflects the ambiance of the Mitau ruong house. cuisine. Its quaint appearance hides north and wider Vietnam, although dishes Mitau creates a gathering place for 138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D1 the fact that it was the first international are carefully selected to meet a more those who love Hue cuisine. The interior 3827 9666 vegetarian restaurant in Ho Chi Minh universal palate. includes memorabilia, statues, bric and www.quanngon138.com City and an important center of the city’s 101 Vo Van Tan, D3 brac and golf trophies. 7am - 10pm vegetarian culture. 3602 2069 52 Hai Ba Trung, D1 9 Tran Hung Dao, D1 www.highway4.com 3823 0767 Royal Revolving Restaurant 3821 2538 www.mitauhue.com Hoa Tuc The Royal Revolving Restaurant is a Vietnam House Nghi Xuan unique restaurant experience. Experience Set in what used to be Saigon’s opium stunning views of the city while you spin Vietnam House is a high quality refinery, Hoa Tuc serves up contemporary Lost down one of the less noticeable around in the sky. The restaurant offers restaurant specializing in both local Vietnamese cuisine in a Parisian, art-deco alleyways of the inner city, if you do more than 50 Hong Kong inspired dishes Vietnamese and international cuisine. atmosphere. happen to chance upon Nghi Xuan, and a bar that serves coffee and cocktails. This restaurant is set in a restored French colonial house offering stunning views of 74 Hai Ba Trung, D1 the sheer grace of the venue will come 3823 2232 the street. 3825 1676 as something of a surprise. Decorated 93-95 Dong Khoi, D1 www.hoatuc.com as a high-class traditional Vietnamese Saigon Vegan mansion, Nghi Xuan is perfectly fitting for 3829 1623 Hoang Yen a venue serving the finest of Vietnam's Saigon Vegan is located in a casual and www.vietnamhousesaigon.com A venue for those who are looking for classical cuisine – the imperial dishes inviting space with high ceilings, dark high-quality Vietnamese cuisine. Try of Hue. Service is courteous, fast, and wood tables, and lots of natural light. (other) asian some of the country’s delicacies in a quintessentially elegant. Guests can choose from over 100 vegan modern yet inviting atmosphere. The 5/9 Nguyen Sieu, D1 dishes, all of which are either soy or 3823 0699 vegetable based. Crawfish King eatery’s various clay pots are flavorful; Crawfish King serves special menus nghixuanrestaurant.com 378/3 Vo Van Tan, D3 some feature mam, a delicious fermented with crawfish, lobster, mantis shrimp, 3834 4473 fish paste. While the restaurant’s cuisine American-style chicken wings, oysters, is light and healthy overall, those Nha Hang Ngon fruit beer, sea urchin and more. Offers free with a penchant for green veggies SH Garden restaurant delivery for customers in D1 and D3. Famous restaurant serving easy should definitely order one of Hoang 63 Truong Dinh, D1 Vietnamese cuisine to foreigners Yen’s assortment of edible ‘flowers’ – Established in the 1930s, the Terrace 6272 7888 especially the sautéed hoa thien ly. It is and tourists with more than 400 restaurant is located at the corner of www.facebook.com/crawfishking63 recommended to order a few dishes and traditional dishes. two of the oldest boulevards of Saigon, 7am - 12am share them all. 160 Pasteur, D1 Nguyen Hue and Le Loi, where romantic 7-9 Ngo Duc Ke, D1 3827 7131 memories of Saigon float around. This 148 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Lion City www.quananngon.com.vn restaurant offers a variety of delicious Parkson Hung Vuong, Third Floor, Hung 8am - 10pm traditional Vietnamese dishes. This is a Singaporean franchise to Vuong Plaza, An Duong Vuong, D5 4th floor, 98 Nguyen Hue, D1 CR1- 12, 103 Ton Dat Tien, D7 watch with interest – since its humble Oi’s Pick 6680 0188 www.hoangyencuisine.com Papaya Restaurant beginnings in 2006 with the rather shgarden.com.vn more unpleasant name Singapore A petite, clean, and brightly-coloured Frog Porridge, it has risen in strength Khoai Restaurant Vietnamese restaurant with simple décor Specializes in dishes from Nha Trang. Song Ngu to become the most prominent serving a light, healthy, northern-style representative of the cuisine in the city, 3A Le Quy Don, D3 cuisine. There's no fuss in the layout There are eight different rooms capable of and its growth has continued to be www.khoairestaurant.com here – green walls with black & white seating a total of 350-400 guests, each remarkable. artworks, brown wooden furnishings, and warmly-lit with dark wooden furnishings. 45 Le Anh Xuan, D1 Lemongrass lanterns above every table make for a very On a small stage, a traditional chamber 3823 8371 The vibe aims at a harmony between pleasant atmosphere – and it's casual orchestra with ladies wearing classical Ao www.lioncityrestaurant.com modern styling and the Vietnamese without being messy, and refined without dai costumes perform Vietnamese music traditional arts, and the dining room with any trace of pretentiousness. on genuine old instruments. Long Monaco Oi’s Pick its tile floors and wooded wainscoting 68 Pham Viet Chanh, Binh Thanh 70 Suong Nguyet Anh, D1 effects a comforting natural environment. 6258 1508 3832 5017 Long Monaco operates throughout the city under various brand names – this 4 Nguyen Thiep, D1 [email protected] outlet is a standalone restaurant in the 3822 0496 www.chi-nghia.com Temple Club busy Etown office complex in Tan Binh Usually regarded as one of central district. You'll probably only visit if you're Luong Son Pho 2000 working nearby or visiting on official Pho 2000’s Ben Thanh Market branch Saigon's most authentically Vietnamese was famously visited by former US venues, this historic and good-looking business, but you'll find the restaurant Exotic beer garden style eatery famous for serves some great Asian business President Bill Clinton in 2000. The chain features classic Indochinese decor, its barbecue beef. Luong Son also serves lunches. serves up variations on pho as well as broadly interpreted as a blend of the fear factor items such as scorpions, grubs, Ground Floor, Etown 1 noodle and rice dishes. old French colonial style with pan- ostrich meat and crickets. 364 Cong Hoa, Tan Binh 4 Phan Chu Trinh, D1 Asian graces that appeal more to Asian 31 Ly Tu Trong, D1 www.longmonaco.com.vn 3825 1330 3822 2788 exoticism than reflect actual Vietnamese www.facebook.com/LuongSonQuan 6am - 10pm styles. With antique furnishings and ceiling fans, the atmosphere is certainly western/international Nam Phat Restaurant Pho 24 pretty. 29-31 Ton That Thiep, D1 A Vietnamese restaurant that specializes PHO24 is a popular Vietnamese 3829 9244 in hosting social events such as weddings noodle restaurant chain with templeclub.com.vn and business conferences. Traditional 70 outlets across Vietnam and Vietnamese cuisine is the specialty throughout Southeast Asia. Thanh Nien Restaurant with prices ranging from VND100,000 71-73 Dong Khoi, D1 - VND300,000. The setting is of an 3825 7505 With its attractive home-style layout, pretty elegant banquet hall. garden for outdoor dining, and warm, 21 Nguyen Trung Ngan, D1 Quan Bui Authentic Vietnamese yellow-toned interior for the buffet, it's a 3910 6488 Cuisine charming venue for tourists and a familiar [email protected] Leafy green roof garden, upmarket favourite for long-timers. It's intentionally restaurant with reasonable prices and a decorated like a private home, walls Parkview Marina Saigon wide menu of choices. Open style kitchen decorated with floral artworks, and the Located within advertises its cleanliness. Designer interior garden surrounded by bamboo. New World Marina Saigon is one of the leading with spot lighted pictures and beautiful 11 Nguyen Van Chiem, D1 Saigon Hotel, seafood restaurants in Ho Chi Minh cushions give an oriental luxurious 3822 5909 Parkview is a sophisticated restaurant City. This restaurant provides a feeling – augmented by dishes served on www.vnnavi.com/restaurants/thanhnien with a view of the adjacent 23 luxurious environment with French/ earthenware crockery. September Park. Their buffets feature Vietnamese fusion cuisine. 17a Ngo Van Nam, D1 Thang Bom Quan both Asian and international favorites 172 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, D3 3829 1515 Serves hot pot and special style BBQ. along with local and imported fish, (deliveries: 3602 2241 or 091 400 8835) oysters, prawns, shrimps and snails. te x pats 3930 2379 49 Pho Duc Chinh, D1 Every Sunday, the brunch buffet Maxim’s Nam An Quan An Ngon Tib Restaurant offers a fine fare including rotisserie Quan An Ngon appeals easily to tourists This fine Vietnamese Hue-style restaurant and steak specialties, with an ice bar Large and lavishly decorated, Maxim’s and local people alike in its unique looks almost like a temple, and it's serving up sushi and sashimi. Nam An restaurant serves Vietnamese concept: presenting the diversity of considered one of the city's premier New World Saigon Hotel cuisine in style. The carved wooden Vietnamese cuisine from different regions settings serving imperial cuisine. 76 Le Lai Street, D1 booths, completed with silk curtains, in a village market style. The restaurant is 187 Hai Ba Trung, D3 3822 8888 are a romantic hideaway for couples or set in a large new building, which from its 3829 7242 [email protected] external yellow appearance is reminiscent www.saigon.newworldhotels.com
©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 small groups. www.tibrestaurant.com.vn
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 59 Al Fresco’s cushions and mosaic tiled and glass Subway tables. Serves a range of cocktails, Offering a mix of Tex-Mex, Italian, and imported beer, coffee and smoothies Subway is now in Vietnam, offering Australian food along with cold local & together with a Japanese-Vietnamese its internationally-renowned range of imported beers and a wine list featuring fusion menu. subs sandwiches and cookies. World Australia’s finest whites along with 4 Ly Tu Trong, D1 travelers can expect the same high affordable South American reds. quality of ingredients regardless of 16 Nguyen Thi Nghia, D1 La Habana what nation they are visiting. 3926 0036 121 Ho Tung Mau, D1 3914 4118 www.alfrescosgroup.com Offering authentic Spanish cuisine and 8.30am - 11pm a wide choice of tapas, as well as Cuban cocktails, La Habana is a den of Cuban- The Burrito Revolution Spanish inspired architecture located on A food cart serving Mexican food such as Annam Gourmet tacos, burritos, tortillas and more. An upscale deli and grocery chain offering inner-city Cao Ba Quat. 124 Bui Vien, D1 gourmet groceries, cheese, organic 6 Cao Ba Quat, D1 090 271 4882 products, gluten -free products, fruit and 3829 5180 vegetables, gourmet deli, wine and other Burger Oi www.lahabana-saigon.com Burger Oi offers fast The Burger Corner beverages. All locations, in District 1, 2 delivery at affordable and 7, have a coffee lounge that serves Ly Club Tasty, fresh homemade burgers with a prices. Try their burgers, filet of fish, breakfast, lunch, drinks and early dinner. range of ingredients aimed at satiating BBQ pulled pork, fresh cut curly fries 16-18 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Often used as a venue for gatherings, both foreign and local palates. Menu and desserts. See their full menu 3822 9391 networking meetings, and events where an includes local ‘rice burgers’ and prices are online at www.burgeroi.com 41A Thao Dien street. D2 air of wealth and sophistication is useful, Ly well below those of international chains. Call 083 826 5426 or Club is a sure bet for making an impression 43 Nguyen Hue, D1 3744 2630 SMS your order to 093 836 3030 SB2-1 My Khanh 4,Nguyen Duc Canh, D7 on a date or business lunch. Built into a 3821 0094 www.theburgercorner.com.vn 5412 3263 traditional French villa with wide elliptical www.annam-gourmet.com Chuck’s arches, the atmosphere of naked opulence persists throughout the property. The Elbow Room Chuck’s offers American comfort food Au Parc like pancakes, omelets, burritos, fries, 143 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D3 The Elbow Room on Pasteur is an tacos, burgers and hotdogs. 3930 5588 American-style bistro with a long bar, It's only fitting that this Mediterranean- 27 Tran Nhat Duat, D1 www.lyclub.vn exposed brickwork, white walls, and styled restored villa with its original tiles, whirring ceiling fans – making for a old window frames, plush cushions, and Crab Pot Margherita casual, contemporary space with an Crab Pot is a beer and seafood international vibe. More of a diner than a opium-themed art collection sits in one restaurant serving breakfasts, lunches of the most gorgeous streets of central For some, Margherita doubles as an restaurant, Elbow shoots at a cool, relaxed and dinners of American, French, atmosphere, pleasantly decorating its Saigon. Au Parc is an unforgettable Seafood and Vietnamese cuisines, with unofficial expat rendezvous, partly a result venue with a décor that manages to of its agreeable prices and sumptuous warmly-lit walls with evocative black & delivery and catering services also. white photos and subtle lighting. simultaneously capture the grace of the 65 Pham Ngoc Thach 6, D3 Western-style pizzas and foods. 52 Pasteur, D1 175/1 Pham Ngu Lao, D1 old Colonial architecture and the mood 3821 4327 3837 0760 of west-Asian exoticism that transfixed Hog’s Breath Café www.elbowroom.com.vn Europe in the Romantic period. 23 Han Thuyen, D1 An Australian family diner and bar concept. Market 39 Renowned for quality steaks, seafood and The Hungry Pig 3829 2772 Market 39 showcases seven interactive A sandwich bar that takes bacon very other western fare served in an informal live show kitchens, featuring a la carte seriously, The Hungry Pig is a place environment. Smoke-free indoors. all-day dining and an extensive buffet where you can find bacon, wrapped in Bahdja Ground Floor, Bitexco Financial Tower, fresh-baked bagels and baguettes. 2 Hai Trieu, D1 selection served daily during breakfast, 144 Cong Quynh, D1 Algerian restaurant serving north African 3915 6066 lunch and dinner 3836 4533 delights such as couscous, tajines and 090 381 8700 Ground floor, InterContinental Asiana desserts. Unique Mechoui set dinner is www.hogsbreathcafe.com.vn Saigon a popular choice and perfect for groups Corner of Hai Ba Trung & Le Duan Wainosuke Oi’s Pick Wainosuke is a Japanese and Italian (available with prior notice). Jaspas Wine & Grill 3520 9099 style restaurant. It serves food and wine 87-89-91 Ho Tung Mau, D1 www.intercontinental.com/saigon Jaspas Wine and Grill provides an extensive from traditional Japanese to premium 093 787 2010 (French, Arabic, English, wine list along with many “reinvented” Italian wine. Finnish) Jaspas dishes, new creations, and Mogambo Bar & Grill 37 Ho Tung Mau, D1 0122 763 1261 (English, Russian, Vietnamese) mouthwatering steaks. Japas also offers a www.wainosuke-vn.asia Mon - Fri 11:30 - 2pm wide array of delectable dessert options. Mogambo is a dark, African-styled Mon - Sat 6pm - 11pm 74/7 Hai Ba Trung, D1 restaurant with some the finest US & Tex- Warda 3827 0931 Mex and exceptional burgers. Oi’s Pick alfrescosgroup.com 50 Pasteur, D1 Warda is a Middle-Eastern style bar and Ben Style restaurant headed by a renowned Syrian Every sandwich comes wrapped with a 3825 1311 chef. Guests can enjoy authentic middle- label that displays its calories, protein, fat eastern cuisine indoors and outdoors and carbohydrates content. A 544-calorie Pacharan - Tapas & Bodega while enjoying an almond cigar or shisha. Cheesy tofu meatballs sandwich costs 71/7 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 VND80,000 while a 281-calorie Chicken The city’s best-known Spanish restaurant salad sets you back VND50,000.The with a sports bar on the ground floor, chicken jumbo sandwich comes with two floors of dining space, and an open a massive 638 calories, 59 grams of rooftop deck for cocktails and live music. protein and 62 grams of carbohydrates, Serving tapas, paella, and an extensive but only 16 grams of fat. Ben also offers Iberian wine list. meal plans for those who want to get fit 97 Hai Ba Trung, D1 and bulk up. 090 724 2757 302 Co Bac, D1 [email protected] 090 691 2730 10am - late Black Cat Restaurant Pasha
Originally envisioned as a fast food Khoi Thom Serving Turkish and Mediterranean
Vietnamese sandwich place, Black Cat cuisine, the kitchen is headed by Chef Khoi Thom - "fragrant smoke" in White Forest Saigon now serves international food with Ismet with over 30 years of experience in Set in a modern English - is a unique venue, set in décor, the a focus on burgers, most famously its “Big a bright, colourful al fresco decor similar restaurants. Cheese” featuring 500g of beef. 25 Dong Du, D1 restaurant serves inspired by renowned architect authentic Italian and French cuisine 13 Phan Van Dat, D1 6291 3677 Ricardo Legoretta. A long way from accompanied by a good selection of 3829 2955 Mexico, Chef Alejandro Torres's www.pasha.com.vn European wines and cocktails. Happy www.blackcatsaigon.com menu blends "Cocina Hour cocktails from 2pm – 7:30pm 7am - 11pm Potosina" and timeless Skewers where it’s buy one get one free. Order Mexican classics.
take-away online at vietnammm.com, te x pats Blu Bar and Grill 29 Ngo Thoi Nhiem, D3 An open-air kitchen at the front of the foodpanda.vn, and eat.vn www.khoithom.com restaurant and a small cigar lounge 14 Bis Nguyen Dinh Chieu, D1 Blu Bar provides a wide range of Asian upstairs set off the atmosphere and mark 0122 428 5237 and Mediterranean specialties for La Fenetre Soleil this venue as one with a unique presence www.whiteforest.com.vn breakfast, lunch, and dinner along with La Fenetre Soleil, literally means in Saigon. The purely Mediterranean many unique beverage options. ‘window to the sun’, showcases a fusion cuisine is appropriately authentic. Xu Restaurant Lounge 53 Vo Truong Toan, D2 of Old World fittings such as exposed 9A Thai Van Lung, D1 3744 4111 bricks, antique furniture and chandeliers 38224798 The venue is well-known for its pork with New World elements such as fur wantons, bun cha, seared beef crostinis, 7am - 11pm www.skewers-restaurant.com A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 60 bo luc lac diced beef and 'Xu-style' coffee and chocolate needs, warm including sashimi, sushi, tempura, The Deck chicken rice. Xu is an elegant venue that snacks, cold refreshments, breakfasts and sukiyaki and shabu shabu works as a restaurant or a high-class bar lunches. River Garden, 170 Nguyen Van Huong, D2 Located on the banks of the Saigon for the upper echelons. 53 Vo Truong Toan, D2 6683 5308 River, this restaurant offers great 71-75 Hai Ba Trung, D1 37444111 THAI international and Vietnamese fare. 3824 8468 www.coffeeshalom.com 38 Nguyen U Di, D2 www.xusaigon.com 6:30am - 7pm Baan Thai www.thedecksaigon.com
ZanZBar RESTAURANTS Baan Thai serves authentic Thai cuisine Vino ZanZBar boasts an eclectic range using a considerable variety of tastes and They offer professional advice on of international cuisine, great wines, FRENCH spices prepared by Thai chefs.Generally selecting and tasting wines. The handcrafted espresso coffees, happy speaking, the cuisine leans more towards outdoor terrace area is the perfect spot hour specials and more. Open for Gastro’home being authentic in taste than serving the to sample a new vintage and brunches breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days New delicatessen shop offering more internationalised versions of Thai on the weekends. a week from 7am until late. western-fusion French food by French cuisine available elsewhere. NO.1, Street 2nd, D2 19-21 Dong Khoi, D1 chef Stephane Courtin. Visit the shop 55 Thao Dien, D2; 3744 5453 www.vinovietnam.com or try their catering service. www.baanthai-anphu.com Zest Bistro & Cafe 100 Xuan Thuy, D2. 6281 9830 A casual restaurant featuring an Jasmine Thai American, French and fusion menu. La Villa Oi’s Pick The List Located across from the waterfront, just Expect here variations on dishes you'll minutes away from the Bach Dang pier, This Colonial-style villa set in a quietly find throughout the Thai culinary tradition Zest offers diners one of the nicest views gentrified district 2 street is a cache of with features more common to those in the city. luxury with its beautiful poolside garden restaurants serving in Western nations. 5 Ton Duc Thang, D1 and cosy, scenic white-toned dining room 85 Quoc Huong, D2 District 7 3911 5599 area. Dine outside or in, on an off-the-cuff 3519 0038 BAKERIES menu prepared by the French chef, Oi’s Pick based on the best market ingredients VIETNAMESE Zoom Cafe Dunkin’ Donuts available on the day. Set amongst the This American doughnut and coffee Zoom cafe serves Tex-Mex and flowers and with a ring of the lost charm Banian Tree franchise offers munchkins, croissants, A fine dining Vietnamese restaurant. of the Colonial era, this is an appealing donut sandwich and toasted Vietnamese cuisine as well as running a Offers a set lunch, set dinner and and impressive venue for An Phu's high- sandwiches - along with the popular Vespa tour service from within the café. international breakfast 169A Bui Vien, D1 profile community. sugar raised, glazed chocolate mochi, 14 Ngo Quang Huy, D2 River Garden, 170 Nguyen Van Huong, D2 3920 3897 glazed, chocolate coconut, cinnamon, 3898 2082 [email protected] Boston kreme, Bavarian Kreme, www.lavilla-restaurant.com.vn Frangipani Hoa Su strawberry-filled or chocolate frosted 7am - 2am daily Frangipani Hoa Su offers authentic *Reviewed in Oi March 2013 donuts. Vietnamese cuisine with a variety of 59 Nguyen Duc Canh, D7 Trois Gourmands dishes from different parts of Vietnam Opened in 2004 and regarded as one ranging from pho, bun bo Hue to mi Savouré Bakery of the finest French restaurants in town. quang. It serves breakfast, lunch and The List dinner. It also has an open space and Offering gourmet cakes and pastries with Owner Gils, a French native, makes his all the fine characteristics of the European own cheeses as well. a VIP air-conditioned room together which can hold a maximum capacity of gourmet tradition. Customers can choose 18 Tong Huu Dinh, D2 from a wide array of baked goods 3744 4585 500 people, making it an ideal venue for different types of events and functions. including cakes, desserts, breads, cookies, wedding cakes, and moon cakes during District 2 26 Le Van Mien, D2 Indian Bakeries [email protected] the season. Grand View, SD 4-1, Nguyen Duc Canh, D7 Ashoka 5412 2469 Voelker Ashoka is one of the city’s most popular Western/ INTERNATIONAL French bakery selling fresh breads, www.savourebakery.com and enduring Indian restaurants with pastries and chocolate Oi’s Pick a reputation for good food with a wide Boathouse 39 Thao Dien, D2 With a great view of the Saigon River, BARS range of North Indian culinary dishes 6296 0066 this restobar serves imported steak, at a reasonable price. Large space voelker-vietnam.com healthy salads and much more in an Peaches for private parties,outdoor catering alfresco environment. A spacious, attractive restobar with and free home delivery also available. 40 Lily Road, An Phu Superior comfortable, lounge-style seating and a BARS Special set lunch veg/non-veg from Compound, D2; 3744 6790 bar area, this watering hole mixes three VND90,000 upwards.Promotion (free www.boathouse.com.vn beers on tap and a large screen for live Mcsorley’s trip to Cambodia) and discount available sports with a pan-Asian curry menu. Recently opened Irish pub with a for people booking in groups. swimming pool and outdoor patio. Blue Crab Oi’s Pick S57-1 Sky Garden 2, D7 33 Tong Huu Dinh (Street 53), D2 Blue Crab offers delicious seafood Serves pub grub with events and theme 3744 4177 nights happening regularly. - prawns, scallops and lobster, crab, Ruby Soho www.ashokavietnam.com A popular district 7 spot with excellent 4 Thao Dien, D2 oysters, scallops and many more for and cheap range of cocktails, good 3519 4659 rock-bottom prices. All of the seafood ITALIAN food and great music! Listen to the likes www.mcsorleys.vn is sourced from the same supplier as a number of high-end hotels and of Jimi Hendrix, The Ramones or Beck Pendolasco – Thao Dien restaurants in the city, ensuring the food while downing an ice cold one. Papagayo Saigon is fresh and high quality. For meat-lovers S52-1 Sky Garden 2, D7 A resort-style design and French Expect excellent classic Italian cuisine – Mediterranean food are the make-up of there’s also a wide range of dishes that wood-fired pizza, spaghetti, and tiramisu – include pork ribs and chicken wings. The Tavern this newly opened hangout. cooked with a focus on fresh flavours and The Tavern is a Western pub & 18 Tran Ngoc Dien, D2 They offer weekly specials as well. featuring the finest imported ingredients 49 Quoc Huong, D2 restaurant where patrons can play 6252 1333 from Italy. 3744 2008 darts & pool, watch football or enjoy 36 Tong Huu Dinh, D2 www.bluecrabsaigon.com reasonably priced food and drinks. Buddha Bar 62532888 R2-24 Hung Gia 3, Bui Bang Doan, D7 One of the long standing bars in the www.pendolasco.vn area, it has a pool table, darts, big screen Mekong Merchant Set in a colonial house within an CAFES tvs along with cheap beers and bar food. Sarpino’s Pizzeria open-air courtyard surrounding, this 7 Thao Dien, D2 restaurant serves delicious pizza, Baskin Robbins 3744 2080 Sarpino’s Pizzeria is a famous pizza sandwiches, smoothies with an With more than 7000 branches in more brand from Canada with three extensive wine list. than 50 countries, Baskin Robbins is cafeS branches around Ho Chi Minh City that 23 Thao Dien, D2; 3744 4713 the largest ice-cream chain in the world specializes in pizza, pasta and rice. with flavors such as Baseball Nut and Agnes Cafe - Dalat Coffee & Flower 43 Thao Dien, D2. 3744 2132 Snap Cafe Lunar Cheesecake. Shop 105 Ton Dat Tien, D7 At Agnes Cafe they offer fresh coffee, JAPANESE By day, Snap Cafe is a community- www.baskinrobbins.vn smoothies and juices along with a centered, family-friendly cafe and delicious breakfast and lunch menu. Tama River-Japanese Restaurant restaurant. By night, guests can enjoy Bud’s This quaint and cozy cafe is a perfect Bottles of sake fill shelves along the live music, sports on the big screen, Bringing the taste of American ice te x pats place to meet up with friends or just wall behind the sushi bar, and unique quiz nights, pool, foosball, and more. cream to Vietnam, Bud’s Ice Cream has relax to get away from the bustling Japanese paintings add a nice visual Serves international cafe fare, great nine stores in Ho Chi Minh City. Apart traffic outside. They offer free delivery. touch. Since opening four months ago, food, icy-cold draught beer and wine by from a variety of delicious ice cream 11A-B Thao Dien, D2 the restaurant has attracted a diverse the carafe. The space is a large open- flavors, Bud’s also offers a wide range [email protected] clientele, from locals to expats. plan room with an attached garden and of Western and Vietnamese food. 6281 9772 14E1 Thao Dien, D2 play area for kids. Holds regular movie SD - 04 Panorama Residential Complex, D7 facebook.com/pages/Agnes-Cafe 3744 6782 screenings. www.budsicecream.com.vn 32 Tran Ngoc Dien, D2 Shalom Coffee Chiisana Hashi 35194532 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Shalom Coffee is available for all your Serves authentic Japanese cuisine www.snap.com.vn ©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf serves
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 61 some of the best coffee and tea from Italian cuisine and a wide selection of SC 3-1 Khu Pho My Khang, Nguyen Luong Classic Fine Foods around the world. It also has a full line imported seafood, prepared from the Bang, D7 Supplier of international brand foodstuff of baked goods made from high quality freshest ingredients, in a relaxed, rustic like Illy, Valrhona, Bonne Maman along ingredients, most of which are from atmosphere. Boomarang Bistro Saigon with fresh vegetables, dairy, and meat. Located in The Crescent by the their own proprietary recipes. Reviewed in Oi April 2013 No. 17, Street 12, D2 Crescent lake, the spacious Boomarang Ground Floor, Crescent Mall, Ton Dat Tien, D7 Block 07-08 CR1-07, 103 Ton Dat Tien, D7 www.classicfinefoods.com www.coffeebean.com.vn 5413 7932 Bistro Saigon serves Australian and other Western food in the most FB Deli Coffee Sarpino’s pedestrian friendly part of town. 107 Ton Dat Tien, D7 FB Deli Coffee features a unique black and Sarpino’s Pizzeria serves authentic 3841 3883 white design and signature coffee beans Italian pizzas as well as other Italian www.boomarang.com.vn imported from Italy. Guests can also enjoy dishes such as oven-baked pasta, many varieties of homemade cakes, along baked rice, wraps and salad, all at Cham Charm with Tiramisu, muffins, and sandwiches. All reasonable prices. Famous for their extensive international cakes 50% off from 7 to 10pm. 3SI 12-1 Grandview, Nguyen Cao Nam, D7 nightly buffet featuring 8 types of SE-1 My Khanh 2 Apartments, D7 www.sarpinos.vn oysters, American Angus beef and Australian filets, Cham Charm is The Fountain Coffee Ice Cream Salt & Pepper Italian Restaurant devoted to Cham arts, culture and Le Cochon D’or Known for its Swiss ice cream with all Located in the modern confines of The cuisine and is tastefully decorated with LeCochon the fixings, Fountain Coffee also serves Crescent, this contemporary-styled Cham artifacts and sculptural works. D’or shop sells Western dishes in a spacious lounge Italian restaurant and pizzeria has an 02 Phan Van Chuong, Phu My Hung New European and area. open kitchen and an outdoor terrace Urban, D7 International meat that include ham, SB4-1 My Duc Residential Complex, area. Serving up a range of pan-Italian sausages, pate, terrine, and smoked Nguyen Duc Canh, D7 cuisine, the menu includes a selection EL CAMINO specialties. A taste of home, because of salads, pastas, main courses, pizzas you and your taste buds deserve it! MOF Japanese Sweets & Coffee and desserts, all at affordable prices. A small bar & restaurant situated in the Customizes service available including Crescent 103 Ton Dat Tien, D7 | 5412 4848 heart of Phu My Hung. Relaxing outdoor door-to-door delivery. www.saltpepper.com.vn saloon featuring inexpensive Spanish 64 Ngo Duc Ke, D1 Sourcing the majority of their dessert tapas and small plates from gourmet 3829 3856 ingredients from Hokkaido, Japan, MOF JAPANESE ingredients. Affordable selection of 8am – 7pm serves up premium desserts and a Spanish & French wines. www.ngp.com.vn Japanese restaurant menu. Osaka Ramen 137 SB-02 Khu My Phat, Nguyen Duc 101 Ton Dat Tien, D7 This sleek, open-kitchen contemporary Canh, D7 www.mof.com.vn/en eatery serves up Japanese noodles 5412 4641, 3pm - midnight Metro starting from VND78,000. There are www.facebook.com/elcaminovietnam Wholesale suppliers of foodstuff, office NYDC also set menus, individual dishes and a supplies, furniture, clothes and more. Established in 1995 in Singapore, NYDC, range of smaller, appetizing sides. El Gaucho Entry is reserved for business owners The New York Dessert Café, aims to SD04, LO H29-2, My Phat Residential El Gaucho Argentinian Steakhouse is only but foreigners can obtain a one- bring a piece of New York to Southeast Complex, D7 an international chain of restaurants day pass by showing their passports. Asia with their popular mudpies and a serving authentic Argentinian cuisine Residential An Phu, An Khanh Ward 2 whole range of Western comfort foods. THAI in a space reflecting modern yet rustic 107 Ton Dat Tien, D7 decor, giving it an inviting ambiance and Veggy’s Nathalie's Phu My Hung genuine atmosphere. A specialized grocery store carrying S’cottage Restaurant - Café Unit CR1-12, The Crescent, D7 imported products, Veggy’s offers Inspired by the mysterious wooden Nathalie's Phu My Hung is situated in an 3825 1879 a wide range of international food house in the Hansel and Gretl story, ideal location on a central corner in the www.elgaucho.com.vn imported from abroad and fresh S’cottage serves up home-style meals district 7 high-profile metropolitan area. produce grown in Vietnam. in a spacious, fairy-tale inspired space. Serving delicious Thai cuisine in charming Salt & Pepper S54-1 Sky Garden 2, Pham Van Nghi, D7 SB-02 My Duc Residential Complex, and romantic surroundings, the restaurant Salt & Pepper Restaurant mainly serves Nguyen Duc Canh, D7 has two floors with a unified, simple decor Italian dishes. 5411 1186 and warm colourful tones throughout. 103 Ton Dat Tien, D7 wine & liquor S9 Hung Vuong 3 Apartments, D7 www.saltpepper.com.vn CHINESE 5410 0822 Bacchus Corner www.nathaliesrestaurant.com Scott & Binh’s Restaurant Oi’s Pick Bachhus imports from most of the Huong Vien Hunanese Restaurant This unassuming little bistro is making world’s wine regions and supplies Thai Express- Crescent Plaza big waves with visitors to the city and wholesale and retail customers. It Serving China’s little-known spiciest Thai Express's interpretation of Thai resident expats alike. With a menu replete encourages wine tasting in its Pasteur cuisine, the dishes of China’s reddest food exhibits the best of the cuisine but with tasty sandwiches, burgers, pasta, and store using the unique Enomatic province and the preferred taste with the edges softened for a global various other international dishes, this is system, and staff are skilled in advising of Chairman Mao, Huong Vien is palate unused to the extremes of Thai an ideal guilty hideaway from Vietnamese on wine matches with food. well-decorated although a bit on the style cooking. Averaging from 40,000 cuisine for just one meal at least. 158D Pasteur, D1 pricey side, with dishes averaging VND to 200,000 VND per dish, its price 15-17 Cao Trieu Phat, D7 VND180,000 . can't be beat for the same quality and Beer Plaza S59-S61, Sky Garden 2 Apartments, D7 deliciousness. Beer Plaza has an extensive range 105 Ton Dat Tien, D7 supermarkets of international beers in stock. Ming Dynasty Connoisseurs will be pleased to find all Ming Dynasty serves authentic Chinese VIETNAMESE 100% of their favorite varieties of beer along food in a setting reminiscent of an old 100% Alimentation.Generale.De.Qualite with unique glassware. Chinese palace. Specialties include dim is the latest high-end grocery store to Co Ba Vung Tau 94-96 Le Lai, D1 sum, shark fin and abalone and dishes Co Ba Vung Tau is a chain of traditional grace the streets of An phu. With a rustic from Quang Dong. Vietnamese restaurants serving up charm 100% provides customers with 23 Nguyen Khac Vien, D7 their famous banh khot amongst 100% safe, natural and local products all Boutique Cellar an extensive menu of affordable sourced and manufactured in Vietnam. All about wine, lots and lots of INDIAN Vietnamese food. The shop only offers products that reach wine. Priding itself in being the sole R1-72 Hung Gia 1, Bui Bang Doan, D7 international food safety requirements distributors of premium wineries around Ashoka 5410 2027 and runs food events at the store. All the world. Ashoka is a small chain of slightly more products are available to order online at 11 Suong Nguyet Anh, D1 upscale Indian restaurants serving both ASIAN www.100percent.vn.com. Northern and Southern Indian cuisine 26b Thao dien, D2 Shop Thai Duong including curries, naan and tandoris. Cham Charm Beer, wine, & spirits importers. S9-1 Block R13, Bui Bang Doan, D7 Annam Gourmet Previously known as Tan Mai. 5410 1989 Charm is more like a museum than a An upscale deli and grocery chain offering 54 Ham Nghi, D1 dining venue, filled with the artefacts and gourmet groceries, cheese, organic Spice India sculpture of the Champa people and products, gluten -free products, fruit and The Warehouse Spice India offers a wide range of with gorgeous artworks and colourful vegetables, gourmet deli, wine and other A premium wine importer, distributor, dishes that cater to any pallette. Enjoy hangings on the walls. The upstairs area is beverages. All locations, in District 1, 2 and retailer supplying wines from your curry with a side of Bollywood. a wide-open terrace with plenty of tables and 7, have a coffee lounge that serves all over the world, the Warehouse S6-1 Bui Bang Doan, Hung Vuong 3, D7 for a more relaxing atmosphere. The breakfast, lunch, drinks and early dinner. also offers spirits, wine accessories, 093 841 6551 cuisine is pan-Asian. 41A Thao Dien street. D2. 3744 2630 glassware and refrigeration to www.namaste-india.com.vn 2 Phan Van Chuong, D7 SB2-1 My Khanh 4,Nguyen Duc Canh, D7 complement their customers’
16-18 Hai Ba Trung, D1 choices. te x pats ITALIAN WESTERN/INTERNATIONAL 178 Pasteur, D1 An Phu Supermarket La Cucina Berru Large supermarket stocking a wide Vinifera Berru is a family-run Turkish restaurant range well-known international brands Established in 2002, Vinifera is one La Cucina has opened on Crescent offering a variety of Turkish specialties of dry goods along with fresh groceries, of the most reliable wine distribution Promenade in Phu My Hung, with on the menu including kebabs, koftas, frozen meat and fish, fresh fruit and companies in Vietnam.Offering an open-plan kitchen that can mezzes and soups. This is one of the vegetables, cheese, wine, toiletries and prestigious wines from around the accommodate 180 diners. Enjoy few halal restaurants that imports all of more world at a a great value. 43 Thao Dien, D2 top-end dining featuring the best of their halal meat. 15C7 Thi Sach, D1 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
LEGEND: Wi-Fi Delivery Credit Card Dendau Privileges Apply 62 TravelImage by JAMES PHAM & Leisure
Robot Restaurant
63 PHOTO ESSAY
Peaceful Moments
Growing up, I was always curious about how hand, a place so steeped in tradition, with Japan never ceases to amaze me - it is photographers captured the images they did beautiful temples and natural wonders always changing so I find something new to and how they brought the subjects to life. This and on the other, a modern powerhouse shoot every time I visit. curiosity turned into a passion for taking photos full of sprawling cities, flashing lights and when I was in my 20s and then into a career. technological marvels. Bio: Andre Paul currently lives and works in When I embarked on my first overseas Looking through the lens I am often drawn Southeast Asia with his wife, renowned makeup holiday through Asia, the people and the into the peace and tranquility of this side of artist Claire Schultz. He specializes in photo places really struck a chord with me - Japan and I always hope my images portray shoots for luxury hotels and resorts, restaurants, I wanted to capture and hold onto the this, drawing the viewer into the subject tourism campaigns and commercial brands. To memories. One destination that has really and allowing them to experience that same view more of his work, visit www.andrepaul- grabbed a hold of me is Japan. On one peaceful moment. photography.com.
64 65 GREAT ESCAPES: tokyo ama gu te b y me g I mage
66 Respect the Old, Create the New Chasing Tokyo’s new old trends Text & IMAGES by James Pham
Sushi Art
The Japanese have a saying: On-ko-chi- the streets of frenetic Tokyo, where Lolitas home, looked on intently as the instructor went shin, meaning “ask old things” to “know new (modeled after Victorian-era schoolgirls) walk through the intricate steps of making a crab things.” The Confucian proverb encourages side by side with kimono-clad matrons. design, meticulously assembling cucumber taking lessons from the past and learning claws, egg body and tuber eyes. Yuta, 26, one of from the wisdom of the ancients in order to Sushi as Art only two men in the class, explains the renewed forge new paths. While some tales say sushi was fortuitously interest in art sushi. “It's all about beauty and From an outsider’s perspective, Japan is discovered by an old woman who stashed her presentation.” all about the new. Japanese culture with its pots of rice high up in an osprey's nest far from "You'll probably never see these in a obsession towards perfectionism (and the thieving hands, only to come back and find her restaurant," says Sachiko Goto, vice president equally strong pull against perfect uniformity) rice had fermented and got mixed with tasty of the academy. "While a skillful sushi chef can seems the ideal incubator for the latest crazes scraps of fish, sushi most likely originated as make a regular roll in two to three minutes, one and headshaking forms of self-expression. a way to preserve seafood using the acid from art roll can sometimes take 30 minutes and only Michiyo, a Tokyo guide, explains that "Japanese fermenting rice. With the invention of rice yield four or five slices." The academy has filled are perfectionists. We find something we like vinegar, the process of sushi-making went orders for everything from corporate logos to and will immerse ourselves in it to the end." But from months to days, making it available to the sports team mascots. One particularly difficult somewhere along the line, amidst sensational Japanese masses and then the world. design involved Olympic rings, the face of a stories of eyeball licking, hadoken-ing knockout While traditional sushi chefs (almost always table tennis player and a Japanese flag. photos and bagel heads, Japan became the men) take up to five years to master the art, the Sachiko thinks kazari maki sushi is more arbiter of cool. Hello Kitty, Pac-Man, energy Tokyo Sushi Academy has seen a new trend - than just a fad, though. The academy has had drinks and anime are worldwide phenomena kazari maki sushi ('fancy rolled sushi') prepared more than 700 members in its art roll program, originating in the Land of the Rising Sun. But mainly by women. During a recent class, the completing the five-day course which costs increasingly, what appears to be new may 12 participants, ranging from a Parisian wine around USD1,500 per person. "Sushi is very actually be a reinvention of the old, a living instructor to housewives looking to generate healthy and these days people love healthy expression of on-ko-chi-shin, on display on income by teaching sushi-making classes at food. Unlike baking where you need a lot of
67 special equipment, here you just need a here are older and are used to the old style of chestnuts, adorned with leaves that look like sushi roll mat. For color, seaweed powder, cod business. The government is trying to make they just fell onto the plate. "I want it to look roe, salmon flakes, chopped pickles, scrambled 'good use' of the land by building malls and natural and not too staged so guests can fully eggs and sesame powder can be used. Once office complexes. Their thinking is: New is good. feel the season." you have the basic skills, you can create a lot But I think it would be unfortunate to knock of different patterns." down the locality and the nearly 80-year history Geek Chic of Tsukiji." As any otaku (geek) knows, Akihabara, Tokyo's Inside Tsukiji electronics mecca, is the place to hang out, The fish used in Tokyo's sushi likely comes Inn Style where cosplay-ers (short for 'costume play') from the iconic Tsukiji Market, over 1,700 stalls New properties often look back to find in elaborate outfits find themselves at home selling more than 500 varieties of fish. "Unlike inspiration when it comes to design aesthetics. amidst shops specializing in anime, manga Western food laden with sauces we want The award-winning 37-story Conrad Tokyo, is and retro video games. For a lonely otaku, to taste every single ingredient," says Reiko an example of marrying elements of traditional an hour with a cute, giggling girl in a French Yoshikawa, author of an upcoming book on the Japanese architecture with contemporary maid outfit who calls you "Master" while hand stories behind the market and its vendors. "The design. Entrances are perfectly square, feeding you dessert and playing rock-paper- Japanese say it’s ideal to have 30 ingredients emulating Shinto torii gates, denoting visitors scissors may sound like heaven, explaining the per day for a balanced meal. That's why the are about to enter a sacred space. In the lobby, estimated nearly 300 maid cafes which have Japanese take pride in the freshness and care "Purification", a modern oversized sculpture opened in Akihabara alone since they first provided to our food." is designed to alleviate modern-day stress and appeared in 2001. In the wet market, Reiko points out some fatigue. Elements reflecting the Shinto (“the But the maid cafes have found their match in of the old ways - a woman who deftly uses an way of the gods”) reverence for nature are also the Robot Restaurant which opened last year, abacus to tally up purchases and a traditional woven throughout the property, in the form of reportedly at a cost of USD100 million. Visitors woven basket strung from the ceiling used sakura (cherry blossom) motifs in the carpets, are greeted outside the restaurant by robotic as a cash register. A few solitary handcarts sumi-e (brush paintings) of trees and birds, dinosaurs and aliens, providing the smallest are lined up outside, abandoned for the fast live pine cuttings in each room and even the of hints of what's to come. The 70-minute electric carts which whiz around tight corners, light-rimmed circular mirrors, mimicking the experience is in part seizure-inducing, awe- oblivious tourists be damned. Technology has full moon. inspiring and head-scratching, an homage to come to Tsukiji, bringing with it sanitation In Kazahana, Conrad Tokyo's Japanese everything gaudy, blinking and deliriously and efficiency. Despite 2,000 tons of seafood restaurant, the nature theme resurfaces in Chef gleeful. Flashing lights, flat panel screens, changing hands daily, the market barely smells Masanobu Inaba's traditional 9-course kaiseki psychedelic colors and lasers covering every fishy thanks to roving sanitation inspectors with menu. Sashimi is served atop a whole fresh yuzu available surface assault the senses, and we the latest in laser thermometers to ensure the and garnished with purple shiso flowers. While haven't even gotten to the main showroom yet. products are fresh. Mountains of used styrofoam obsessed with perfect presentation, Chef Inaba As the crowd filters in - part tourist, part containers for both live and flash frozen fish is also known for his modern blend of Western work colleagues looking for some fun, part are ground up and melted into industrial-sized ingredients and classic Japanese dishes. Diners middle-aged single guys - bento boxes and cakes of resin for export right on the grounds of may be surprised to find cheese and truffles light sticks are handed out. What follows is a the market. incorporated into their dish or bite into a Kyoto blur of million-dollar, larger than life robots, Embracing the new, though, may actually chestnut infused with brandy. "I always think: staged battles between what looks to be Kung sound a death knell for the market. The What looks natural but has a creative twist?" Fu Panda riding a giant cow against samurai government has plans to relocate the world's says Chef Inaba whose intention is to bring out robot warlords and a taiko drum sequence by largest fish market (inner market only) to a each ingredient while making it look like its scantily clad, white-wigged beauties. This is new, modern facility as early as 2015. "About natural state. His menu includes seasonal and every boy's Princess Leia fantasy reinvented one-third have decided to move, but the rest are grilled dishes, like barracuda wrapped in wood for the new millennium. opposed to moving," says Reiko. "Most workers paper and grilled with autumn mushrooms and "Originally, we targeted Japanese customers -
68 Conrad Tokyo IF YOU GO...
Where to stay: For a luxe experience, the Conrad Tokyo with gorgeous panoramic views over scenic Tokyo Bay and the Hamarikyu Gardens is conveniently located directly above the Shiodome metro station within walking distance to the Ginza entertainment district. Guest rooms start at ¥75,000 (USD715). See www.ConradTokyo.co.jp
Where to eat: Kazahana offers traditional Sushi, Kaiseki and Teppan dishes with a contemporary twist, 28 stories above Tokyo Bay viewed through 8m high floor-to-ceiling windows. The Kaiseki Shunka menu (¥14,000 (USD133)) features 9 courses including a soup, sashimi, a grilled dish, a simmered dish and a seasonal dish. Located on Opposite PAge Clockwise from left: Tsukiji Market, ABove: Shibuya Crossing the 28th floor of the Conrad Tokyo. Robot Restaurant, Yakitori, Monjayaki More bizarre-yet-endearing show than restaurant, the Robot Restaurant serves up a bento box meal with a bottled drink for ¥5,000 (USD48). There mostly business people after work, or maybe with the environment. We are what we eat are three shows per night and reservations are girlfriends going for a night out. We didn't and the macrobiotic diet encourages eating recommended. Within easy walk of the Shinjuku expect it to be so popular with tourists, too," seasonal food harvested locally where one is station. See www.robot-restaurant.com/E says Namie Osawa, the dancer / choreographer born and raised, in order to harmonize one’s / businesswoman behind the restaurant cum body with the environment in balance." The Tokyo After 5 tour by Tokyo Urban dance extravaganza. "My vision was to have Another food trend reflects Japan's changing Adventures is part-walking tour, part-foodie tour futuristic girl dancers together with robots. attitude towards work. With the average of Tokyo's culinary landscape, including stops Other than that, it's just my taste," she says of Japanese spending 540 working minutes for yakitori, monjayaki and grilled carp (actually fish-shaped cakes filled with sweet red beans), the gold bathrooms, the gilded nautilus chairs per day, amongst the world’s highest, it’s with enthusiastic commentary on the fascinating in the lounge and the three meter tall humanoid no surprise that yakitori, skewered grilled history of the food and places visited. Tours robots. "There doesn't have to be a reason for chicken marinated in soy sauce or simply are ¥11,300 (USD107) per person and include creating something." seasoned with salt, has long been popular transportation, all food and one local drink. See If the quirky celebrities who've visited the with Tokyo's salarymen. "That's why you'll www.urbanadventures.com/tokyo_tour_tokyo_ Robot Restaurant, ranging from JJ Abrams to often findyakitori joints near train stations," after_5 Katy Perry to Tim Burton, are any indication, says foodie Meg Yamagute. "Most open after the otakus of the world have a new place to five and are more bar than restaurant. People Where to learn: call home. typically work until late and the trains are The Tokyo Sushi Academy offers classes in fish preparation, sushi making and art sushi. Group packed during rush hour, so businessmen will lessons and private classes available. Three-hour The Cultural Barometer of Food pass the time here until the trains thin out. private classes start at ¥40,000 (USD380) per The Japanese are known for their life That's why the clientele is mainly middle-aged person. See www.sushischool.jp expectancy, perennially the world's longest. men wearing suits. The culture here is you While good genes, a leaner diet and a more finish work and then keep working. If your Reiko Yoshikawa gives small-group tours of active lifestyle are often cited as factors, Japan is boss invites you out for a beer, you're not the Tsukiji Market and surrounds. Market tours also spearheading the trend towards being more supposed to refuse. Their life is their work. are followed by a cooking class, conducted in health conscious. Food creator and writer Yuka They see more of their coworkers than their English. Find her on Facebook at "Tsukiji Fish Market and Beyond" or email Reiko for pricing: Togami is a proponent of fermented foods and own family." [email protected] macrobiotics, a low-fat, low-sugar, high-fiber But that workaholic tide may be turning. diet focusing on whole grains and vegetables. "Nowadays when the work day is done, young Yuka Togami gives cooking classes out of her Founded by Japanese educator George people are saying: I'm sorry but I have to go Kyodo home (about a 40 minute train / bus ride Oshawa in the early 20th century (and further home to my family," says Meg. "With changing from Shinjuku station) often highlighting local mainstreamed by celebrities like Madonna and economics, keeping the same job even if you products used in macrobiotics and fermented Gwyneth Paltrow), the macrobiotic movement don't like it isn't the norm anymore." We hop foods. For more see www.yucharism.com/jp/ addresses spiritual health and balance in on the metro and head out to Tsukishima for blog/ or email: [email protected] , a popular savory pancake, evidenced addition to the physical side. monjayaki The Tokyo Traditions and Trends tour combines “Japanese people have gotten used to eating by the 70 or so similar restaurants that line walking and public transportation to provide an oily Western fast food that isn't suitable for the road. Inside, the atmosphere is raucous overview of some of Tokyo's most iconic sights Japanese DNA,” says Yuka, who now leans and alive, filled with family and friends. Meg in one day including the square gates of the towards ingredients like shio-koji (a fermented orders monjayaki with bacon and cheese and Shinto Asakusa Shrine, the otaku and maids of mixture of rice inoculated with a special mold proceeds to cook the pancake on the table's hot Akihabara and the lolitas of Harajuku. Tours are and sea salt that has become trendy in recent plate. "You can choose your own ingredients, ¥4,000 (USD38, not including transportation and years) and substituting ingredients like beet like pork, fish, spicy eggs or seafood and as you lunch) and can be booked at www.travelience. sugar for processed sugar and soy instead of can see, this dish is designed to be shared so it's com/tours/ meat protein. “Macrobiotics is about the yin nice to have in a group", perhaps a reflection of and yang of every ingredient and its connection Japan's shifting focus from work to family.
69 GREAT ESCAPES: phnom penh A Love Letter to Phnom Penh The Pearl of Asia rises once more Text & IMAGES by James Pham and NGUYEN DUY PHUONG
70 Dear Phnom Penh, eateries, chic boutiques - you've never looked I love you even when people tell me I as good. But while you've blossomed into a shouldn't. You were my first foreign love and real beauty, I love the way your heart hasn't throughout our ten year affair (my longest changed. The easy smiles I see on your people If you go... adult relationship ever), you grew on me and are among some of the most genuine I've come Many bus companies (Sapaco, Mekong helped shape my views on what it meant to across anywhere. Express, Mailinh) do the six hour trip be an expatriate. Admittedly, we didn't hit it While so many barely take the time to know between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom off immediately. In fact we had the worst of you, preferring the company of Siem Reap Penh, with multiple departures daily which include stops at both borders and for a first impressions. Remember in 1995 when we (with its jewel of Angkor Wat) or the laid-back meal. Tickets are around USD12 and for first met and I was a victim of a scary home beaches of Sihanoukville, I see the beauty in many nationalities, the bus staff takes care invasion? I vowed to leave and never come you - now and what once was - when you of Cambodian visas on arrival (USD25, back to your lawless, unsavory, Wild West- were rightly called the “The Pearl of Asia” and though check with your embassy). It like streets. the “City of Four Faces” (situated where the should be noted that the actual cost of But over the years, we both grew up. Mekong, Tonle Sap and Bassac rivers meet). the visa is USD20. The extra USD 5 is You matured. I matured. And when we met My whole life, I've been drawn to cities near ostensibly for the convenience of having again a few years later, we were different water, and I truly miss your vibrant riverside, someone expedite the paperwork for you. people. Sure, whenever your name came up, so much more alive than my current love, Where to stay: friends still talked behind your back. "It's Saigon. Remember that one perfect day we Initiated by the late King Sihanouk as dusty," some said. "It's backwards," injected spent along the newly rebuilt riverside? the first luxury hotel in Phnom Penh, the others. "It's barbaric," claimed my Vietnamese Thanks for convincing me to wake up early 4-star Hotel Cambodiana occupies the friends. They were probably remembering and do tai chi with the older Chinese ladies. If best spot on the riverside. Floor to ceiling you when you were younger, during your we weren't there so early, we would’ve missed windows from the restaurant as well as a more turbulent years. I saw a glimpse of that Sambo, the huge elephant that came lumbering gorgeous swimming pool overlooking the when I visited the Toul Sleng school turned by, on its way to Wat Phnom, the temple hill Tonle Sap River take advantage of its prime concentration camp turned museum where you were named after. Then we walked to the location, within easy walking distance of the bustling riverside and private boats rows upon rows of haunted eyes from scared, nearby Royal Palace with its Silver Pagoda available for river cruises. Doubles start resigned faces burned right through me. In and 9,584 diamond-encrusted Buddha statue at USD100+, inclusive of buffet breakfast my dreams I can sometimes hear the echo whose bling made your eyes light up, Phnom with its own ku tiev station. See www. of my footsteps across faded tiled floors that Penh. We came back in the evening for a stroll hotelcambodiana.com.kh witnessed unspeakable things. And seeing bits past other young couples watching the sun go of bone, teeth and fabric poking out from the down, groups of kids playing pick-up football For more intimate accommodations, ground at Choeung Ek, better known as the games, and the smell of sugared popcorn try the 5-room White Linen Boutique Killing Fields, just a few miles outside of the and fried noodles in the air. That nightcap at Hotel. Located near the Russian Market, city, was nearly too much to bear. I'll always the Foreign Correspondent’s Club (locally the bright and airy property has flexible booking options from single suites to remember one innocent conversation about known by its acronym, “the FCC”), with its entire floors. Best of all, White Linen is Valentine's Day when one of your daughters live music, vintage ceiling fans and stunning one of six small businesses run by the stated matter-of-factly that had she kissed view of the river was amazing. I could almost Daughters of Cambodia NGO, providing her husband in public back in those terrible hear the ghosts of yesteryear's diplomats, UN fair trade employment for victims of times, they would have been killed. I know officials, and reporters rehash war stories and trafficking. Doubles start at USD45 you went through some horrific experiences, close calls. And remember that one magical (including cooked breakfasts). See www. Phnom Penh, but that has just made you night we spent at the regal Hotel Cambodiana, daughtersofcambodia.org stronger. The way you've put the past behind swimming in the pool overlooking the you is extraordinary. New skyscrapers, trendy Mekong, just you and me, when all of a sudden
71 "I'll never forget that time you served
Where to eat: me a platter of fried tarantulas, crispy Try Malis (136 Norodom Boulevard) for an upscale Cambodian meal in an elegant grasshoppers and boiled cocoons in setting (mains start at USD 10), Khmer Surin (9 Street 57) for authentic, reasonably priced front of the Central Market" Cambodian fare (mains are USD3-6), and a tiny, unassuming noodle shop that’s only open in the morning but has the best ku tiev fireworks went off so close that we could from unsuspecting tourists? Or the industrious in the business (corner of Streets 51 and 208). almost touch them? I'll never forget the magic little boys with their long sticks tipped with Get there at around 10 am as it’s starting to wind down for the most flavorful soup you'll of that moment, Phnom Penh. glue to re-catch and re-sell the just-released ever have. "lucky" little sparrows? I miss our little hikes to Confessions the top of the hill to view the temple complete Where to buy: A confession, though, now that that we're no with its colorful murals and naga snakes Check out the Central Market for its longer together. You're not the best of cooks. decorating the roof. There's nothing like that architecture but head to the Russian Market I'm sorry. Some of my other loves, Bangkok, here, Phnom Penh. In fact, I miss the closeness for a wider selection of souvenirs. If planning Athens, Beijing, have been more talented in we shared. No matter where you were, I could on clothes shopping, be aware that the the kitchen. Don't get me wrong. You had get to you within 20 minutes. No so here, cramped stalls have no dressing rooms, so Phnom Penh. My current love is so much more wear comfortable clothes and be prepared some shining moments. Like your ku tiev, to duck behind a stack of clothes to change. some of the grittiest, most flavorful noodles complicated. And loud. And high maintenance. The market can get pretty hot, so head over I've ever had. The sweeter, more refined Saigon We shared simpler times, Phnom Penh. to the only air-conditioned stall in the market, version of hu tiu Nam Vang ("Nam Vang" I still have some of the quirky gifts you Bodia Nature (stall #284-285), and pick up is the Vietnamese word for Phnom Penh) gave me - all the lovely silks and even the "I some excellent all-natural balms, lotions doesn't hold a candle to you. Or the distinctly survived Cambodia" t-shirt from the art deco, and oils. Cambodian amok (coconut-based fish curry ziggurat-looking Central Market (Phsar Thmey steamed in a banana leaf) was a pleasure to in Khmer). Especially since it got that USD4.2 How to help: unwrap. You've surprised me, too. I'll never million facelift a couple of years ago, it's never Phnom Penh has lots of beggars, both adults and children. Instead of giving money directly forget that time you served me a platter of looked better. I didn't even mind shopping with to the poor, support NGOs and other worthy fried tarantulas, crispy grasshoppers and boiled you at the Russian Market (known as Phsar organizations. Mith Samlanh ("Friends" in cocoons in front of the Central Market. Or the Toul Tom Pong) with its claustrophobic warren English), an organization which provides strangely tasty traditional dish of red tree ants of stalls but with amazing bargains like the training opportunities for former street stir-fried with beef and basil. That was a nice hand carved, wooden plaques (great as trivets), youth and employment for their parents, surprise, Phnom Penh. and inexpensive silver and turquoise jewelry. runs various outlets including Romdeng I enjoyed the quiet afternoons we spent at I'm still using the wallet you gave me that has Restaurant (74 Street 174) which serves Wat Phnom, the hill topped by a stupa which a Cambodian newspaper design and the fork up delicious tapas and even red tree ants that got twisted into a ring. stir-fried with beef and basil. Or stop by the in legend was set up by Daun Penh, a woman Friends 'N' Stuff stall at the Russian Market who found statues of the Buddha inside a tree I'm so sorry it had to end, Phnom Penh. It (#434) for some unique mementos. See floating on the Tonle Sap River. Remember wasn't you. It was me. I needed a change. But www.mithsamlanh.org. when we laughed at the troupe of very I'm so glad we've remained friends. After all, bold monkeys just waiting for a moment of I'm still coming over for Tet. We’ll pick up distraction to snatch away drinks and snacks where we left off and it'll be like I never left.
72 POSTCARDS FROM VIETNAM ART Column
A Dragon, a Turtle A professional artist and author of A Week in Hoi An, Bridget March specializes in urban landscapes and aims to reveal the hidden treasures of city life and small town cultures through her illustrations. Bridget holds drawing classes for beginners and a Carp and improvers in Saigon. For more of Bridget's work including Folklore immortalized in broken pottery her new book, see BrushWithAsia.blogspot.com B Y Br id g et M a r c h illust r ation
There is a wonderful piece of mythological Hall itself was erected in 1885 from up to the heavens. And the sacred turtle is sculpture in a temple garden in Hoi An that components crafted in China; Parc Guell said to have helped Pangu create the world. I visit every time I go to the Old Town. It was completed in 1914. It is possible the Ancient Chinese thought the turtle’s flat stands in the forecourt of the Quang Trieu fountain even predates Gaudi's work. belly and the domed carapace of the shell Assembly Hall and is truly one of the finest The fountain sculpture is loaded with was like the flat earth and the domed sky. examples of folk mosaic I have ever seen. symbolism of Chinese mythology. The The turtle represents endurance, tenacity It reminds me of the mosaics from Antoni imperial dragon (signified by its five claws) and stability. Gaudi, and is imbued with the same wit, is attributed with the power to control water, Visiting traders and fishermen seeking artistry and invention. Gaudi commissioned rain, floods and typhoons which, in this shelter and good company in Hoi An custom glazed tiles to achieve the desired corner of the world, make him someone would have been much comforted by the look for his work but the mosaic panels and worth keeping in with! Its scales are of peaty, sight of these three heavenly creatures sculptural reliefs found in Vietnam's temples sea green and a ridge of spiky ochre fins runs as they moored their ships at the dock are mainly made from shards of broken down its back. Its white belly is made of a in front of the Assembly Hall where the pottery, making them all the more ingenious continuous stack of white saucers and it has original waterfront used to be. and well crafted. rice bowls for its protruding, flashing eyes. For me, the dragon riding on his Gaudi's dragon (El Drac) that stands The dragon is in good company with a heavenly swirl of spiraling blue and white at one of the entrances to Parc Guell in leaping carp and a turtle. Because the carp, clouds looking down on his cousin the Barcelona is possibly one of the most which comes from the same clan as the koi and the sacred turtle speaks volumes famous pieces of 20th century mosaic dragon, is known for leaping up waterfalls about the culture of this tenacious little art in the world but, beautiful as it is, it just like the homecoming salmon, it has town. Hoi An has survived centuries of doesn't come close to the matching the come to represent tenacity, courage and typhoons and floods to become a haven vigor, splendor, passion and cultural legacy achievement in Chinese culture. There is a for craftsmen and artists from many fields embodied in the fountain sculpture at 176 high waterfall on the Yellow River in Hunan of art and design. Go to the Assembly Hall Tran Phu in Hoi An. Interestingly, the two known as the Dragon's Gate, and there’s a on a sunny day to enjoy this sparkling may have been constructed within only a belief that any carp strong enough to leap sculpture at its best and be uplifted by its few decades of each other. The Assembly it will be transformed into dragons and fly infectious energy.
73 LIFE'S A TRIP TRAVEL Column
No Worries Having visited nearly 60 countries as a travel writer and award-winning photographer, James Pham blogs Inside an all-inclusive resort about his adventures at FlyIcarusFly.com
“Are you sure this is free?” my mother where guests are likely to stay put. The Oi speaks to Jose Luis Cervantes, Director asks for the third time in disbelief, as the concept has yet to make a dent in Vietnam, of Sales for Bahia Principe Mexico, about the waitress brings her a Piña Colada, swiftly or even Asia, though, as resorts are typically world of all-inclusives. followed by a Miami Vice (pina colada/ close to city centers where food is plentiful daiquiri mix). It’s 10 in the morning and and cheap and where guests are likely to go For those who’ve never tried it, what’s we’re ensconced under thatched huts on out and explore during the day. A handful the draw behind the all-inclusive concept? a gorgeous beach in Akumal, on Mexico’s of Vietnamese properties offer meal plans so-called Mayan Riviera, a 112 mile stretch of with select meals but rarely drinks, alcoholic JLC: The economy has been changing a lot coast which encompasses the relatively new or otherwise, as an added option purely for so people want to know that they just need tourist area from Puerto Morales down to the sake of convenience, like the ritzy An to pay whatever amount they can afford Tulum, south of Cancun. Lam Ninh Van Bay, a distant speedboat plus and not worry about paying anything extra This week, we’re spending a family 20km ride away from Nha Trang. But true because pretty much all your food, beverages reunion at the Bahia Principe Sian Ka’an, all-inclusives are few and far between in this and activities are covered. If you’re on a an all-inclusive, 420-room room resort set part of the world. budget, you know you’re going to have good on almost 300 acres of lush jungle. Together At the Bahia Principe properties this meals, good drinks. The concept of all- with the three larger sister properties just week, a Spanish-owned chain with resorts inclusives has changed a lot. I remember one across the street, it’s part of a mega resort in the Caribbean, Mexico, the Canary of the first all-inclusives in Cancun was Club with a mind-boggling total of nearly 3,000 Islands and Spain, one price buys activities Med, which was semi all-inclusive (meals rooms on 600 acres which includes two like water aerobics, dance/Spanish/cooking but not drinks). Other properties saw their world-class golf courses, a dolphin center, classes, bingo and karaoke nights, as well success and said why don’t we change to be and residences. as non-motorized watersports and access to like that? All-inclusive resorts usually encompass a whopping 63 bars, restaurants and clubs, Now that the all-inclusive hotels have all food, drink, accommodation and a departure from our family’s usual MO of been around for a few years, guests already entertainment for one price, and are renting a beach house with the requisite have expectations. They try out different practically the norm in the Caribbean and burdens of car rental, grocery stops and hotels, always looking for something better. Mexico as well as on most cruises – places decisions about where to eat out. If there are 35,000 rooms on the Mayan
74 Riviera, probably less than 1,000 are on a What is involved in taking care of so many European Plan (room only, no meals). People people 24/7? expect it now. JLC: We’re running at 95 percent occupancy, Does the all-inclusive concept discourage so around 6,000 people will be staying here MORE BANG people from leaving the resort and visiting tonight. Less than 0.5 percent really go and FOR YOUR BUCK local businesses? take advantage of local restaurants. The closest area is Playa del Carmen but it's an Tips for getting the most out of JLC: In Cancun, where it’s pretty much just USD80 cab ride plus dinner. your all-inclusive holiday restaurants, bars and discos, they don’t really When we have that many people, it’s like the all-inclusive concept because people difficult to make everyone happy. But we 1 Beware the upsell. Extras can add have more than 2,000 employees in three up quickly, including premium alcohol, tend to stay at the property and not spend wine with meals, spa treatments and money anywhere else. shifts – we’re a 24/7 business. This is a city. on-site shopping. It's easy to sign things Here, in the Mayan Riviera, there is nothing We have our own transportation, our own to your room, so be aware of what you're within walking distance of our property. It’s areas where we have apartments for select spending. different from the way they built hotels in staff, our own doctors, gyms and pools for Cancun which was just like Miami. Mexico staff only. 2 Take a few minutes to read through learned their lesson. When they started the week's program and try something thinking of expansion to the Mayan Riviera, Making sure everyone is well-fed must be a you wouldn't ordinarily do, like a they planned to do it a better way. The huge challenge. language or dance class. government mandated that each building 3 All-inclusive holidays, whether they had to be surrounded by lots of space with JLC: In an average month, we'll cook be land or cruise, tend to be based on vegetation. So it’s not like there’s a corner store 23,700kgs of chicken drumsticks, 20,000kgs volume, so if you’re looking for secluded where you can pick up a Coke. of chicken breasts, 25,600kgs of tomatoes beaches and few people, this type of Most people will stay within the property and 5,800kgs of rice. holiday may not be for you. That said, except for the tours, like to Xcaret with its Depending on the season, we provide if you're willing to pay more, chances culture shows or [the famous Mayan ruins at] each chef an amount per person per day. are you'll be in select company. We Chichen Itza which is two hours away. Chefs have their own menus which repeats were looking for quiet, so the property we're at is adults-only and costs slightly every two weeks. For each guest, [the more than the others, giving us more Because all-inclusive guests tend to stay food budget] is something like USD15-20 privileges (like being able to dine at any put, what can you do to make sure they're per person per day. The chefs can use that of the other specialty restaurants and entertained the whole time? money to create a good variety of food, having a separate beach area with bar drink and desserts. service). JLC: Part of our challenge is to be able to In addition to the buffet restaurants, 4 offer guests whatever they want. Onsite we guests can also book one of the a la carte Unless your package says otherwise, gratuities are usually not included. Bring have a disco, bars and live shows certain restaurants featuring seafood, Brazilian, Japanese, and many other cuisines. It's all lots of small bills for everyone from the days of the week. waiters to the housekeepers. Even within the complex, we have one included. For our costs, some restaurants property that has 1,000 rooms and it's family- cost less than the buffet, like Italian. Pasta 5 Make specialty restaurant oriented with a water park, a big children’s isn’t expensive. But dinner for one at one of reservations early. Seats are limited and club, and starting this winter, we'll have family the other gourmet restaurants may be more after the first few days, most people will rooms where kids will have their own room than two people at a buffet. You can always want a break from the buffet restaurants. with their own mini-bar but with juice and tell who’s coming to an all-inclusive for the It's easier to change reservations than to candy instead of beer. Two of the properties first time. They have a huge mound of food make new ones. Bring along one dressy outfit just in case there's a dress code. are right on the ocean so they're popular with at the buffet - that’s an ‘arrival.’ The second honeymooners. This month alone, we'll have 80 night, they realize they can eat anything weddings on the complex. they want, as many times as they want!
75 The List
Atexpats is Ho Chi Minh City's first truly comprehensive Travel & Leisure insider's guide for foreign residents - website launching 2013 Malaysia Airlines a side alley off CMT8 is quite deceiving. refrigerators are provided. 32-inch LED airlines 37 Ton Duc Thang, D1 285/7 Cach Mang Thang Tam, D 10 TVs are equipped with premium cable www.malaysiaairlines.com 0906699371 channels. All accommodations provide Air China desks, safes, and direct-dial phones. 7th Floor, Sun Wah Tower, 115 Nguyen Qantas Airways Little Saigon Boutique Hotel 157 Pasteur, D3 Hue, D1 186 - 188 Le Thanh Ton, D1 01663221322 3823 3888 3910 5373 A small, value-for-money boutique www.airchina.com hotel with 18 air-conditioned, non- Ibis Hotel Saigon South smoking rooms, Little Saigon Boutique The 3-star Ibis Hotel Saigon South is Qatar Hotel is an easy walk to Ben Thanh located in front of Saigon Exhibition and Air France Suite 8, GF, Petro Vietnam Tower 130 Dong Khoi, D1 1-5 Le Duan St., room 4, Floor 8, AB tower, Market and other D1 sights. Hidden Convention Centre and only 15 minutes 3829 0981 away in a quiet back alley right in the from the city centre. It features 140 [email protected] central area. rooms with free Wifi internet access, a Singapore Airlines 36 Bis/2 Le Loi, D 1 restaurant/bar and 3 meeting rooms. www.airfrance.com.vn 29 Le Duan, D1 35218462 There is a free Ibis shuttle available to 3823 1588 and from the hotel to major corporate Asiana Airlines www.singaporeair.com 39 Le Duan, D1 THREE STAR offices and the city centre. 3822 2622 73 Hoang Van Thai, D7 Thai www.ibis.com www.ea.flyasiana.com 29 Le Duan Blvd, D 1 A&EM Hotel - 8A Thai Van Lung Local accommodation chain that aims Tan Hai Long Hotel & Spa- Nguyen An Air Asia Turkish at the classy mid-level market; still No official office in Vietnam Sales office in Vietnam Ninh budget, but with a touch of dignity www.airasia.com 76 Le Lai St., room 4, Floor 8, AB tower, D1 about it. The Tan Hai Long Hotel and Spa offers Address of sales office: Noibai Airport, 8A/1D2 Thai Van Lung, D 1 award winning 3 star service and Terminal 1, International Departure Hall, United Airlines 38224495 stunning views of Ben Thanh Market 3rd Floor, Ha Noi Unit 708, 7th Floor, Sun Wah Tower, 115 and downtown Saigon. 3 star Hotel and Website of agent: www.airasia.biz.vn Nguyen Hue, D1 spa located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh Phone: 04.37478953 www.united.com Bizu Boutique Hotel Phu My Hung The hotel’s 24 guestrooms are all city with 160 rooms and suites, also 95G - Ly Nam De - Phuong Cua Dong - designed with guests’ comfort in mind, providing professional spa services by Quan Hoan Kiem - Ha Noi Vietnam Airlines featuring wireless Internet access along skillful and experienced staff Tel: (04).37478953 16F Sunwah Tower , 115 Nguyen Hue, D1 with all the basic facilities. Other features 15-17-19 Nguyen An Ninh, D 1 www.vietnamairlines.com.vn at the hotel include a restaurant, billiards, 38272738 Cathay Pacific Airlines karaoke, 24hr room service 24hr, an R502, 5th floor, 72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Vietjet elevator, laundry service/dry cleaning and FOUR STAR Khai, Ward 6, D3 CT Plaza Building 8th Floor, 60 Truong Son meeting facilities. 3822 3203 St., Tan Binh Dist., HCMC 15-17 Cao Trieu Phat, D7 Hotel Continental Saigon sgn#[email protected] 84 8 35471866 / Hotline: 1900 1886 5411 1008 www.cathaypacific.com www.vietjetair.com One of Saigon’s oldest hotels, most Blue Diamond Hotel graceful colonial properties, and historic China Southern places to stay, it is perhaps most 21-23 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 hotels A cut above the multiple nearby 2-star famous as the location where much of 3829 6800 HO CHI MINH CITY properties, this hotel has been officially Graham Greene’s The Quiet American [email protected] recognized for its quality décor and was written in room 214. www.csair.com TWO STAR service, including high accolades in 132-134 Dong Khoi, D 1 international publications. 38299201 Emirates Bali Hotel 48-50 Thu Khoa Huan, D 1 www.continentalsaigon.com 15 Nguyen Hue, 14th Floor, Dist.1, HCMC 38236167 Email: [email protected] Ideally-located for attendees to Kimdo Royal City Hotel Phone: 08 39113099 any exhibitions held at the Saigon Bong Sen Hotel www.emirates.com/vn Exhibition and Convention Centre, Bali Nestled in amongst the commercial Boutique is flash and modern in style - Located in the heart of D 1, The buildings at the top of District One’s Etihad with a little touch of the plush thrown in Bong Sen Hotel offers luxurious central business strip, the posh-looking etihadairways.com for good measure. accommodation for guests who wish to Kimdo is right in the heart of the 39 - 41 Hung Phuoc Villas, D 7 relax or get a little work done. administrative, business, shopping, and EVA Airlines 54104747 117-123 Dong Khoi, D 1 entertainment district. 2A-4A Ton Duc Thang, D1 38291516 133 Nguyen Hue, D 1 3822 4488 Calmette Hotel www.bongsenhotel.com 38225914 www.evaair.com www.kimdohotel.com Charming hotel on one of the most Boutique Garden Hotel JAL Japan Airlines attractively-named streets in the city, Newly opened in 2012 and conveniently Liberty Central Hotel 4F Hotel Nikko Saigon, 235 Nguyen Van although slightly out-of-the-way. located close to Phu My Hung, FV Cu, Nguyen Cu Trinh, D 1 Quality, elegant furnishings and modern Hospital and Tam Duc Hospital, guests Liberty Central has a very prominent 3830 6231 amenities. can choose from 20 rooms. brand and is a particularly stylish, eye- 151 Calmette, D 1 R3-84 Hung Phuoc 3, D7 catching property right in the centre of Jetstar 39144951 5410 5941 the tourist district. 112 Hong Ha, Ward 2, Tan Binh Dist., HCMC 179 Le Thanh Ton, D 1 Tel. 08 38450092 Cat Huy Hotel Catina Saigon 38239269 [email protected] www.libertycentralhotel.com www.jetstar.com Cat Huy is the best-kept secret of Hotel Catina Saigon provides 3 star the backpacker district, located in a accommodation in large, boutique Norfolk Hotel Korean Air peaceful and very local-looking alley rooms that include free, high-speed Unit 909, Floor 9, Diamond Plaza, 34 Le close to the downtown area of Ho Chi internet access and city views. Chic, warm exterior with boutique Duan, D1 Minh City, but culturally part of deep 109 Dong Khoi, D 1 charms within, this property is an ideal te x pats 3824 2878 suburban Saigon. 38296296 escape for business travellers from the www.korean-air.vn 353/28, Pham Ngu Lao, D 1 plasticity of chain hotels. 39208717 EMM Hotel Saigon 117 Le Thanh Ton, D 1 Lufthansa 38293415 14th Floor, Bitexco Building, 19-25 Nguyen Ken Hotel The 56 air-conditioned guestrooms www.norfolkhotel.com.vn Hue, D1 at EMM Hotel Saigon include laptop- 3829 8529 A surprisingly well-designed hotel, this compatible safes and minibars. Novotel Saigon Centre [email protected] budget establishment looks anything Complimentary wireless and wired but from within, although the location in One of HCMC’s newest hotels, Novotel www.lufthansa.com high-speed Internet access and in-room A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
76 is located on busy Hai Ba Trung St, just Corner Hai Ba Trung & Le Duan, D1 tea service, high speed internet, safe, DALAT within walking distance of downtown 3520 9999 well-stocked mini-bar as well as the jack attractions. It’s everything you’d expect [email protected] bag (connectivity kit). Ana Mandara Villas Dalat from the international brand with www.intercontinental.com/saigon 8-15 Ton Duc Thang, D1 24-seven guest services and a broad 3822 0033 Ana Mandara Villas Dalat comprises dining offer. Lotte Legend Hotel Saigon www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sgnbr- seventeen restored French-style villas 167 Hai Ba Trung, D 1 renaissance-riverside-hotel-saigon from the 1920's and 1930's, preserving 38224866 Classic hotel offering 5 star amenities the original design, décor and charm, is www.novotel.com along with a scenic view of the Saigon Rex Hotel Saigon and set in the cool climate of the rural River, and providing a unique culinary highlands of Central Vietnam. Striking Oscar Saigon Hotel experience with many options for fine Rex Hotel has consistently won awards views of the surrounding town and dining. for being one of the best hotels in countryside abound from all areas of French colonial hotel in District 1 2A-4A Ton Duc Thang, D 1 Asia. Impeccable dining options, great the gently sloping hillside property. offering stunning panoramic views and 38233333 location, and 5 star amenities make this Le Lai, Phuong 5, Dalat 4 star amenities. www.legendsaigon.com recently refurbished hotel a preferred 06 3355 5888 68A Nguyen Hue, D 1 destination for travellers with generous www.oscar-saigonhotel.com Majestic Saigon budgets. Blue Moon Hotel & Spa 141, Nguyen Hue, Ben Nghe, D 1 One of HCMC’s oldest and most Palace Hotel Saigon 38292185 Located in the heart of breathtaking Dalat, characteristic hotels, the Majestic on www.rexhotelvietnam.com the Blue Moon Resort & Spa is designed One of the tidier properties of its class the Saigon River with its grand French to complement the natural beauty of the within the vicinity, with 144 deluxe guest architecture is just a few steps away "City of Eternal Spring.” Built opposite rooms of contemporary design well- from Saigon’s premiere attractions. Saigon Domaine Luxury Residences Oi’s Pick the popular and tranquil Xuan Huong equipped with modern facilities. 01 Dong Khoi, D 1 High-class getaway hotel located Lake, Blue Moon is centrally located and 56-66 Nguyen Hue, D 1 38295517 out of the city centre on exotic Thanh convenient to Dalat's eating, shopping www.palacesaigon.com www.majesticsaigon.com.vn Da Island, allowing guests to escape and entertainment spots.Much more than just a comfortable night’s sleep, from the chaos of the city life while Blue Moon Resort & Spa invites you to Park Royal Saigon Hotel Moevenpick Hotel Saigon remaining close to the action. experience true hospitality. More hotel than apartment complex, Park Royal Saigon Hotel is an ideally An international hotel chain with Swiss 4 Phan Boi Chau, Dalat 67, Vietnam The Domaine’s private residences are placed conference hotel which caters roots, this comfortable hotel caters to www.bluemoonhotel.com.vn/bluemoon2 to all MICE needs. The hotel offers a both businesspeople and families with classic and luxurious, making the most wide array of banquet services and can fine dining options, a fitness centre, and of the natural surroundings. 1057 Binh Quoi, Binh Thanh Dalat Green City Hotel accommodate 30 to 300 guests. multiple conference rooms. Budget hotel in the center of Dalat. Five 35561145 309B-311 Nguyen Van Troi, Tan Binh 253 Nguyen Van Troi Apartments, Phu minutes from most major attractions in www.saigondomaine.com www.parkroyalhotels.com Nhuan Dalat. Quiet. Newly refurbished. Beautiful 38449222 mountain and city views from the rooftop. Thao Dien Boutique Hotel [email protected] Sheraton Saigon Hotel And Towers Features free WIFI, TV, snack bar in all www.moevenpick-hotels.com rooms. Coffee shop downstairs. Airport Set in a secluded, verdant garden Located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh pickup by private car. Motorbike rental. occupying 1.2 hectares along the Saigon New World Saigon Hotel City vibrant business and entertainment Tour information. Laundry. Computers in River, Thao Dien village is a tropical Oi’s Pick district, Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers lobby for public use. hideaway that’s just 20 minutes from One of the most impressive business is a 5 star haven of convenience, 172 Phan Dinh Phung, Dalat the city centre. hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, with connecting guests with colleagues and (063) 3827 999 195 -197 Nguyen Van Huong, D 2 stunning views and 5 star amenities. friends. www.dalatgreencityhotel.com 37442222 533 luxury rooms and suites offering 88 Dong Khoi, D 1 www.thaodienvillage.com the perfect ambience for concentrated 38272828 Dalat Train Villa & Cafe work and undisturbed relaxation. [email protected] Located near the Dalat Train Station, the FIVE STAR 76 Le Lai, D 1 Dalat Train Villa is for short or long staying 38228888 Sofitel Saigon Plaza Hotel guests. The villa is a restored 2-story Caravelle Hotel [email protected] French colonial-era villa. Next to the villa www.saigon.newworldhotels.com The Sofitel Saigon Plaza is located is a French train car, which has been Part of the city’s modern history since in the city center, in the heart of the renovated into a bar/cafe/restaurant. 1959, few properties in Saigon are quite Nikko Saigon business district and close to Notre Romantic venue. From the lake, take first as iconic. A major center for foreign Dame Cathedral and Reunification left after Dalat Train Station. correspondents during the war, it has One of the city’s newest Palace. 275 elegant rooms and 11 suites, 1 Quang Trung St, Ward 9, Villa #3 emerged as a plush and vibrant luxury accommodation jewels, this lavish hotel a swimming pool, and a fitness center. (063) 381 6365 or 090 334 2442 hotel in the present era. is designed to make the maximum 17 Le Duan, D 1 www.dalattrainvilla.com Caravelle Hotel is one of the city’s impression of austere Japanese-style 38241555 classiest icons and represents a true class from the lobby upwards. This is [email protected] Sofitel Dalat Palace slice of Saigon’s history while remaining one of the most luxurious hotels in www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-2077-sofitel- one of its most luxurious places to stay. HCMC, with classic, precise and elegant saigon-plaza/index.shtml Hotel Sofitel Dalat Palace is one of the 19 Lam Son Square, D 1 decor. most beautiful and amongst the few 38234999 235 Nguyen Van Cu, D 1 Windsor Plaza remaining historical hotels in Southeast www.caravellehotel.com 39257777 Asia. Built in 1922 and meticulously www.hotelnikkosaigon.com.vn Located in the heritage area of old restored in 1995 to its original grandeur, Equatorial Ho Chi Minh City Cholon, the Windsor offers authentic the Sofitel Dalat Palace offers Park Hyatt Saigon Vietnamese and Chinese hospitality individualized service in the finest An international hotel located where the with a mix of commercial, cultural, and tradition of Vietnamese hospitality. borders of the city’s four main districts Without a doubt the city’s most retail experiences - and they put on a 12 Tran Phu, Dalat meet. The city’s major commercial and luxurious hotel, Park Hyatt Saigon fine buffet. 06 3382 5444 entertainment area is only an 8-minute features French colonial inspired 18 An Duong Vuong, D 5 [email protected] drive away. rooms, two award-winning restaurants, www.windsorplazahotel.com 242 Tran Binh Trong, D 5 an outdoor pool and a stylish DANANG contemporary bar. The exterior is the 38397777 CON DAO ISLAND www.equatorial.com/hcm result of meticulous research into the Furama Resort Danang colonial architecture of the region.
InterContinental Asiana Saigon 2 Lam Son Square, D 1 Six Senses Con Dao The Furama Resort enjoys a stunning Oi’s Pick 38241234 beachfront location on one of True to the Six Senses philosophy Located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh www.saigon.park.hyatt.com Vietnam’s finest beaches, fringed by of selecting remote (but accessible) City, the InterContinental Asiana natural pines and coconut palms. Two destinations in areas of outstanding Saigon is dedicated to providing Renaissance Riverside Hotel four-storey wings overlook the ocean natural beauty, Con Dao is an local, authentic, and enriching travel on one side and a freshwater swimming untouched and breathtakingly beautiful experiences. Decorated in tasteful A five-star hotel located in the heart of lagoon and manicured tropical gardens te x pats oriental flair, the hotel is dedicated to Saigon’s business and entertainment area. Con Dao has been built with the on the others. representing the charms of Asia and district. The hotel's 336 rooms and very lightest ecological footprint, with Truong Sa, Ngu Hanh Son, Danang evokes the mystique of this beautiful suites offer an incredible view of the villas set up along a mile of sandy 051 1384 7333 continent and its cultures. Right next to Saigon River as well as over the city. beach, sheltered by the green forested Saigon’s key landmarks, this hotel is Each guest room is designed and hills behind and with stunning vistas Fusion Maia ideally placed for high-class travellers furnished with discerning business of the deep blue sea and the curve of and groups seeking a high standard of and leisure travelers in mind. Choose the bay. It is the first all-pool villa- style resort accommodation. Full MICE areas and a deluxe room or suite with large desk Dat Doc Beach, Con Dao, Con Son in the destination and offers 87 pool
©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 facilities are on-site. and ample lighting, in-room coffee and 06 4383 1222 suites, spa villas, and beach villas
77 each with modern, open-plan living 04 3719 9000 centre access to Nha Trang’s only The Sailing Beach Resort and private courtyard with swimming beachfront resort. It is surrounded Offers a contemporary setting in sensual pool. Customize-your-stay options and The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi by private tropical gardens, offering tropical harmony that befits its bay host. breakfast available at multiple locations Oi’s Pick simplicity, serenity and refinement All 192 rooms, with spacious private are a few of the surprising offers in Features include 364 rooms and together with spectacular views of Nha balconies affording stunning ocean views, store. suites, excellent French cuisine at Le Trang Bay. Unforgettable incentive are scattered across tropical vegetation, Truong Sa, Ngu Hanh Son, Danang Beaulieu, Vietnamese specialities at experience. ponds and rests steps from an endless 051 1396 7999 Spices Garden, and Angelina - Hanoi's Beachside Tran Phu Boulevard, Nha Trang beach. most ""avant garde"" Italian Restaurant 05 8352 2222 107 Ho Xuan Huong, Mui Ne, Binh Thuan, Life Resort Danang & Lounge. Seven function rooms, a Phan Thiet swimming pool, fitness centre and the Six Senses Hideaway Ninh Van Bay www.thesailingbay.com A pair of four-storey hotel blocks house Le Spa du Metropole are also available most of the resort's rooms, with villas in the hotel. The resort is one of Asia’s most WindFlower Beach Boutique Hotel flanking one side of a long pool corridor 15 Ngo Quyen, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi exclusive and intimate beach escapes, Located in the resort capital of Vietnam sitting on dramatic Ninh Van Bay, splicing the middle of the resort. Its 04 3826 6919 – Mui Ne Bay, WindFlower Beach with its impressive rock formations proximity to three UNESCO World [email protected] Boutique Hotel offers an intimate overlooking the South China Sea, white Heritage sites as well as the former setting for guests to enjoy a getaway sand beach and towering mountains colonial French hill stations at Bach Ma HOI AN on the beach to its fullest. The hotel is behind. and Ba Na make this ideally placed for home to 24 cozy deluxe rooms with Ninh Van, Khanh Hoa incentive excursions. services and sophistication that are Life Heritage Resort Hoi An 05 8372 8222 Truong Sa, Ngu Hanh Son, Danang expected from a beach boutique hotel. 051 1395 8888 Rooms are designed along Japanese 76 Huynh Thuc Khang, Mui Ne
themes, each having a personal porch Sheraton Nha Trang (Vietnamese) (06) 2374 3969 / (English) HALONG BAY with couches for reading and relaxing. 090 291 3969 Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa offers Spacious bathrooms feature stand- www.windflowermuine.com ten categories of accommodation – Novotel Halong Bay alone showers or recessed baths, from spacious, deluxe rooms to 70m2 and many bathrooms enjoy views PHU QUOC ISLAND A glimpse into contemporary Vietnam executive suites and a huge presidential of a private garden. Ideal for events with echoes of the country’s intricate suite. With exemplary conference where participants will be enjoying the past through its elegant interior décor. facilities, this is the number-one MICE Chen Sea Resort & Spa colourful ancient town area. Sturdy polished stone, glass and resort in the region. Located in a quiet bay, this resort marble stand against the delicate 1 Pham Hong Thai. Hoi An Town, Quang 26-28 Tran Phu, Nha Trang allows guests to enjoy the peace and Asian textures of silk, wickerwork and Nam 05 8388 0000 natural beauty of Phu Quoc while also carved wood. With sweeping windows 051 0391 4555 enjoying the exclusive atmosphere and large mirrors, the hotel captures PHAN THIET that the location suggests and the panoramic views of Halong Bay and its The Nam Hai resort offers. The resort was born from spectacular seascapes at every turn. Anantara Mui Ne Resort & Spa a long and passionate study in order Ha Long Road, Bai Chay Ward, Ha Long City A stunning all-villa resort located on the to be integrated and to respect the 03 3384 8108 pristine China Beach featuring 60 one- The new face of the former l’Anmien, uncontaminated nature of the bay and [email protected] bedroom retreats as well as 40 privately- this resort offers an exclusive haven of owned two-to-five bedroom residences luxury and relaxation in a spectacular of the coastal zone. Bai Xep, Phu Quoc TUAN CHAU RESORT each with a private infinity pool. beachfront location right in the heart of Hamlet 1 Dien Duong Village, Dien Ban, Mui Ne. The only property in the Mui Ne 07 7399 5895 Tuan Chau Resort is constructed in the Quang Nam district with full conferencing facilities style of classical French and modern 051 0394 0000 and a range of exclusive villas – and it Saigon Phu Quoc Resort Vietnamese architecture. This is the has an impressive wine cellar. ideal place to find white sands, blue HUE Mui Ne Located on a hill of coconut palm trees, ocean, and the rejuvenative energy of Saigon Phu Quoc is a beautiful, quiet the Vietnamese tropical sun. Ana Mandara Hue Princess d’Annam seaside resort with plenty of sunshine. Tuan Chau Island, Ha Long City Just 10 minutes from the airport, the resort Located a scenic 15km drive from The two Empress Suites are the is an ideal haven for relaxing, fishing, HANOI central Hue, this is spacious resort with pinnacle of luxury accommodation in trekking, snorkeling, and scuba diving. the largest villas and rooms in the area. Vietnam – they are mini millionaire’s 62 Tran Hung Dao, Phu Quoc Hilton Hanoi Opera The property includes private pool villas, mansions in themselves, fully-equipped, 07 7384 6999 beach villas, duplex and deluxe rooms bright and spacious, and possessing of
This landmark of Hanoi was inspired in a wide range of styles and decor the same ethereal design quality that La Veranda by the famous Opera House located designed with complete and modern pervades this whole resort. Set in the The most distinguished of Phu Quoc nearby. A hotel of great beauty and facilities. remote Ke Ga Bay, wordlessly beautiful. Island's hotels and guesthouses, La luxury, the Hilton stands in the city’s An Hai Village, Thuan An Town, Hue Phu Hon Lan, Binh Thuan Veranda sports paddle fans, butter- fashionable and elegant French Vang 06 2368 2222 yellow exteriors, whitewashed louvers, Quarter, and is within close range of 05 4398 3333 the charming Old Quarter and bustling Muine Bay Resort and tropical gardens recalling a colonial plantation. Freestanding deluxe villas Business District. La Residence Hotel & Spa Located in the Mui Ne Bay and 1 Le Thanh Tong, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi overlooking the Hon Lao pristine island are notable for their sea-facing porches, spacious bathrooms, and cathedral 04 3933 0500 This former French Governor’s of blue sea, Muine Bay Resort includes 103 rooms in 4-stars standard of which 32 ceilings. residence dates to 1930 and is a bungalows designed and inspired by the Tran Hung Dao, Duong Dong Beach, Phu Intercontinental Westlake masterpiece of art deco design. Its Cham Tower. Quoc incredible location overlooking the Khu pho 14, Mui Ne Ward , Phan Thiet 07 7398 2988 Superbly situated on the serene waters Citadel and the Perfume River brings www.muinebayresort.com of Hanoi’s West Lake and adjacent this 122-room hotel a total and serene to the famous 800-year-old Golden 0622220222 Paris Beach Resort Oi’s Pick tranquillity. The hotel features a 40m Owned and managed by a friendly and Lotus (Kim Lien) Pagoda. Conveniently outdoor salt swimming pool at river located and yet able to offer a retreat hospitable French-Vietnamese woman height giving the illusion of merging Sea Links Beach Hotel from the hustle and bustle of downtown Located within the Sea Links City and her French husband, the resort is into the Perfume River. Ideal for Hanoi, the combination of spacious complex resort, Sea Links Beach Hotel located about a 15-minute taxi ride from executive retreats and exotic incentives luxurious accommodations, facilities, offers 188 elegant rooms and suites, four the airport. It has an outdoor swimming programmes. and attentive Vietnamese hospitality palatial-sized pools, restaurants and bars, pool, a private beachfront, recreation room, 5 Le Loi, Hue make this the perfect place to stay spa, recreational amenities and the largest bicycles and a restaurant serving local and 05 4383 7475 for both the corporate and leisure meeting facilities providing modern French food. Each room or bungalow has traveler. conveniences to every guest. air conditioning, a mini bar, cable TV and
1a Nghi Tam Tay Ho, Hanoi Pilgrimage Village Km9 Nguyen Thong Road, Phan Thiet free Wi-Fi. They also offer tours around 04 6270 8888 www.sealinkscity.com the island. Pilgrimage Village offers the harmony 039304083 Cua Lap, Duong To, Phu Quoc Sheraton Hanoi of a soothing natural environment www.phuquocparisbeach.com and fascinating local culture. Delicious The Cliff Resort and Residences Perfectly located by the shores of the meals, sound sleep, and the peaceful Offers 128 rooms equipped with a myriad QUY NHON life of the quiet countryside refresh the of amenities such as 3D smart TV, safe
largest lake in Hanoi and surrounded te x pats by a beautifully landscaped garden spirit. and mini bar as well as private bathroom. Life Wellness Resort Quy Nhon and courtyard, the hotel provides the 130 Minh Mang, Truong An, Hue It boasts an extensive lap pool, a kid’s pool perfect balance between tranquillity and 05 4388 5461 and pool bar as well as submerged on A hide-away style spa and beach convenience. Take in panoramic views deck swimming pool chairs. Its restaurant destination set in 13.5 hectares of of Hanoi’s largest lake and enjoy great NHA TRANG serves a selection of local seafood private mountainous land and beach. comforts in the 299 spacious guest specialties and Western cuisine. The tranquillity, splendid views, Cham- rooms and suites, specially designed Evason Ana Mandara Zone 5, Phu Hai Ward, Phan Thiet inspired architecture and surroundings for relaxation. www.thecliffresort-binhthuan.com are so far unmatched in Vietnam. This
K5 Nghi Tam, 11 Xuan Dieu, Tay Ho, Hanoi The exclusive location affords city- 0623719111 resort was awarded Best Wellness A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
78 Resort in Vietnam in 2005, 2006 and amenities, elegant furnishings and features an outdoor pool, gym & sauna, Somerset Chancellor Court 2007 by the Vietnam Economic Times. carefully chosen trimmings and fixtures, and high-class Cantonese restaurant. Each of these 172 spacious serviced Ghenh Rang, Bai Dai Beach, Quy Nhon, creating a luxurious harmony of comfort 17-19-21, Ly Tu Trong, D 1 apartments in District 1 is fully- Binh Dinh andtranquility that will have you relaxed furnished with an open kitchen and recharged, and functioning at peak Riverside Apts concept, contemporary western style
Bai Tram Resort and Spa performance. Overlooking the Saigon River, the décor, and a large balcony. No 01 – Street No.104-BTT, Quarter 3, Binh compound offers short and long term 21-23 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D 1 Bai Tram is based on holistic ideals and Trung Tay Ward, D2 leases. 53 Vo Truong Toan, D2 38229197 the search for environmental balance 096 829 3388 / 3742 5678 www.riverside-apartments.com embodying the trend towards seeing www.the-ascott.com ourselves, the natural world, and the Somerset Vista Ho Chi Minh City River Garden Apartment It has an extensive array of modern man-made environment as one. Garden Court It is located within a 15-minute drive of Hoa Loi, Xuan Canh, Song Cau, Phu Yen facilities and provides convenient Completed in 2009, Garden Court is a downtown and provides its occupants access to a hypermarket, international 05 7372 2563 luxury apartment building located close with stunning views of the Saigon River schools, a medical clinic, retail outlets to schools, supermarkets and shopping in a resort type of environment. and offices. VUNG TAU centers and a golf course. 170 Nguyen Van Huong, Thao Dien, D2 628C Hanoi Highway, D2 Garden Court,Ton Dat Tien, D7 The Grand-Ho Tram Strip 6255 9900 The Grand - Ho Tram Strip is Vietnam's Saigon Court www.somerset.com/vietnam Glenwood Serviced Apartment Since its opening in 1998, Saigon Court first largest integrated resort and A very modern property, located in ultimately will include an 1,100-room has become well-known amongst the the heart of the expatriate's residential The Crescent five-star hotel, a world-class casino, expatriate community for exceptional The Crescent is located along the area, steps away from Int'l schools and restaurants, high-tech meeting space, standards of service. This 12 storey Crescent Lake in the heart of Phu My supermarket. an exclusive VIP area, as well as building is among the highest in the Hung New City Centre, offering an 248A Nguyen Van Huong, D2 a variety of beach-front recreation area, offering its tenants commanding exclusive high-class lifestyle for locals 0944 168 568 activities. The first 541-room tower of views of other parts of the city. and expats. This area consists of a this development opened in July 2013 149 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, D 3 variety of green parks, restaurants, with its casino including 90 live tables Hung Vuong Plaza Apartment luxury apartments, retail shops and Huong Vuong Plaza apartments above and 614 electronic game positions. The Saigon Pearl Apartment entertainment venues. the D5 Parkson are comprised of two second 559-room tower is on track to Ho Chi Minh City’s largest five star 101 Ton Dat Tien, D7 open in 2015. 29 floor buildings with many luxurious apartment complex, Saigon Pearl Phuoc Thuan Commune, Xuyen Moc apartments in bustling Cho Lon. comprises six 37-story residential 126 Hong Bang, D 5 The Landmark District towers located on the banks of the The Landmark features serviced Tel: (64) 3788 888 Saigon River in Binh Than District, apartments, offices, luxury dining, sports www.thegrandhotramstrip.com InterContinental Asiana Saigon about five minutes by taxi from clubs, swimming pool at the rooftop Residences downtown. Pool, gym, supermarket and of the building with great views of the It’s a 31-floor tower with 260 rooms; the dining facilities all on site. Residences offers superb panoramic Saigon River. It offers one bedroom, two serviced apartments 92 Nguyen Huu Canh, Binh Thanh views of downtown area and is part of bedroom and three bedroom units for Avila Serviced Apartment the Kumho Asiana Plaza - the city’s rent. Amenities offered include wireless finest integrated complex featuring Saigon Skygarden broadband Internet access, 100 percent These serviced apartments combine A 15-storey building located in the commercial, hotel, residential and power backup, room service, maid an excellent location with luxurious Saigonese Little Tokyo on Le Thanh a diverse choice of wining and service and laundry, 24-hour reception amenities. Ton, offering 172 international-standard dining outlets. They will also benefit and airport shuttle service. 20-20bis Thi Sach, D 1 Serviced Apartments for lease. from the preferred amenities at the 5B Ton Duc Thang, D1 20 Le Thanh Ton, D 1 Bella Serviced Apartments InterContinental Asiana Saigon next www.thelandmarkvietnam.com Affordable, classy apartment living in door. a tidy alleyway residence styled with Corner of Le Van Huu & Nguyen Du Saigon View Residences Villa Song Saigon Saigon View Residences offer a range white classical flourishes, Bella offers 3520 8888 Colonial-style, boutique apartments of Deluxe, Superior, and Executive good living and proximity to the city characterised by solid hardwood room types in distinctive one and two without succumbing to the lures of the flooring and an outdoor swimming pool Jasmine Court Serviced Apartment bedroom apartments. expat bubble. Facilities include a small A boutique property with only 12 ensconced by verdant gardens. 117, Nguyen Cuu Van, Binh Thanh but well-equipped gym on the top floor apartments, comprised of one and 197/2, Nguyen Van Huong, Thao Dien, D2 and pleasant terraces on front-facing two-bedroom suites of various sizes. apartments. All apartments are designed in a fresh Sedona Suites V-Star Apartment With a fantastic location in District 56/4 Nguyen Thong, D3 contemporary style and finished in a Good proximity to the Saigon River 1 and rooms offering all of the pleasing neutral colour scheme. and FV International Hospital, as well comforts of home, this award winning Cantavil Daewon Apartment 307/29 Nguyen Van Troi, Tan Binh as international schools and the Tan High-luxury complex with libraries, serviced apartment complex caters to Thuan export zone. research center, and cultural Lancaster Serviced Apartments businessmen and families alike. Go O Moi, Phu Thuan, D 7 information center on site. Also Lancaster Serviced Apartments Le 65 Le Loi, D 1 37733151 features an outdoor swimming pool. Thanh Ton enjoys a commanding One of the most luxurious towers in the position over the nightlife, culture, and Sherwood Residence central area. business hub of Ho Chi Minh City, Serviced apartments available for travel agencies 600A Dien Bien Phu, Binh Thanh offering a sweeping panoramic view short or long term bookings, located of the city skyline from virtually every in Pasteur, within walking distance Central Garden Apartment window. of downtown Ho Chi Minh City, These luxurious apartments offer 22 Bis Le Thanh Ton, D 1 international schools, shopping centres, stunning views of downtown etc. Pool, sauna, gym, mini-cinema Saigon along with western style onsite. accommodations and excellent The Landmark The Landmark is a prestigious 127 Pasteur, D 3 location. Clean, inner-city luxury development of residential compound close to the Ben Nghe River. accommodation and office space Sky Garden 225 Ben Chuong Duong, D 1 situated in the heart of HCMC. The Sky Garden is a huge complex of 16-storey complex, located on a prime apartments including 42 buildings with City View waterfront site, was one of the first of more than 3,000 individual apartments Located in the prime business and set on 10.4 hectares. residential district, only minutes away its kind in the city. Sky Garden, Nguyen Van Linh, D7 by car from downtown area, City View 5B Ton Duc Thang, D 1 Exotissimo is the perfect place for home and/or 38222098 Travel business in Ho Chi Minh City. Somerset Ho Chi Minh City Exotissimo Travel offers tours to Designed with families in mind, it 12 Mac Dinh Chi, D 1 Mai Ha Lan II Serviced Apartments Vietnam, the region and the whole Mai Ha Lan II offers a sweeping provides relocating executives the wide world ! Local and regional tours Diamond Island Luxury Residences panoramic view of the city skyline space and security to build a warm for family and visitors are quick and te x pats easy to arrange, from standard to Diamond Island Luxury Residences offers from virtually every window. It offers and comfortable home. Friendly staff 33 luxurious and graciously furnished are always on hand to help with local higher-end versions. Less common 68 fully-furnished apartments, ranging requests are tailor-built for you by apartments with studio and two knowledge. You can join in a wide from two- to four-bedroom units with friendly online operators and/or the private balconies providing panoramic bedroom options. range of social, cultural and lifestyle pleasant District 2 location office. views of the stunning surroundings. Each 8A/1C Thai Van Lung, D 1 activities, especially designed to help A District 1 presence will re-open soon. apartment comes with a fully-equipped you integrate into the local culture. 41 Thao Dien, D2 kitchen, en-suite bathrooms, separate Norfolk Mansion 8A Nguyen Binh Khiem, D1 3519 4111 work and living areas. Each lavish A comfortable serviced luxury 3822 8899 www.exotissimo.com [email protected]
©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 space features plush interiors, modern apartment in the city center, the Norfolk www.somerset.com/vietnam
79 Asiana Travel Mate Viet Journey 74 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Offering tours to magnificent scenic Viet Journey was founded by social clubs & classes areas in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, dedicated travelers of the southeast Saigon Swing Cats Saigon Swing Cats organizes dance Indonesia, and India - the firm has Asian region, and they strive to Brogolf Bar Wars classes, workshops and events strong purchasing power in these provide quality, time-efficient service Group of barflies who meet regularly for golf, open to new members. First at various venues around HCMC regions, allowing it to offer heavily for travelers from around the world. Saturday of each month, breakfast, including restaurants, lounges and discounted rates. 18-19-20 Ton Duc Thang, D1 brunch, and 18 holes with a caddy. dance studios. Dance styles include 92-96 Nguyen Hue, D1 3823 7152 46-48 Ton That Thiep, D1 the Lindy, Shim Sham and Tranky Doo. Aquarius Booking Office Petrohouse Tower- caffe molinari, With access to a global network of cinemas & theatres DanCenter 5 Le Duan, D1 leading travel specialists, Aquarius A professionally run dance studio is a domestic & international air with an international teaching team Vietnam Cookery Centre Oi’s ticketing agency committed to offering The Ballet and Symphony Orchestra offering over 70 classes per week Pick Ho Chi Minh City’s local classical low-cost flights, travel insurance, and and workshops for kids and adults of A complete cookery center offering music venue with regular programs & accommodation. all ages and abilities. Kids can start hands-on classes. This culinary performances. 4th Floor, Yoco Building, 41 Nguyen Thi from age 4 with Dance Intro. Regular compound introduces visitors to 212 Nguyen Trai, D1 Minh Khai, D1 classes offered for kids and teens in Vietnamese cuisine. Sing & Dance, Jazz, Ballet, Tap, Hip 26 Ly Tu Trong, 4th floor, Ste 45, D1 Amazing Thailand Tourism Office Ben Thanh Theatre Hop, Break & Acro Dance. Adults Funded by the Thai tourism board, this Once the cultural center of District 1 of any age, size and ability are also VLS Vietnamese Language School office is loaded up with travel resources when it was built in 1995, this is a good welcomed. Come and try Ballet, Jazz, Imparting genuine fluency in and advice for travellers to Thailand, an air-conditioned theater for Vietnamese Hip Hop, Tap, Contemporary, Belly and Vietnamese since 1994, VLS is one invaluable source of help for travelers shows & cultural activities that can many more. of the city’s best-organised and most on their way to the land of smiles. accommodate over 1000 people. 53 Nguyen Dang Giai, D2 professional training centers devoted Travel resources and advice for 6 Mac Dinh Chi, D1 3519 4490 / 3519 4340 to the Vietnamese language, with travelers to Thailand. www.dancentervn.com classes for all levels. 5th Floor, Empire Tower, 26-28 Ham CT Plaza Megastar 4th floor, CMARD2 Building, Nghi, D1 This theater complex offers close Dat Nam Friendly Club 45 Dinh Tien Hoang, D1 proximity to shops for shoppers and While it may ring of a bingo Buffalo Tours many other attractions. Large cinema association, this is a fairly well- A premium travel agency that helps complex on the 7th floor with 3D respected venue for entertainment and sports travelers customize their itinerary and theatres and VIP room. cultural exchange amongst foreigners destination packages. From corporate Level 10, 60A Truong Son, Tan Binh and entrepreneurs - a very casual Great World Pool to small tour packages available. networking opportunity. Popular public pool known for its high standard of cleanliness, this indoor 81 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 Galaxy Basement Level, 116 Nguyen Du, D1 www.buffalotours.com.vn Vietnamese cinema showing pool is shallow at both ends and deep international and domestic films. in the middle to ensure safety for non- Hash House Harriers swimmers. Clé Voyages - Xuan Viet Travel 116 Nguyen Du, D1 Combining beer and running, this Xuan Viet Travel has been providing long-established club goes to various 600 Nguyen Pham Tuan, D6 travel services and advice for nearly Golden Dragon Water Puppet out of the city running areas to burn two decades. some calories. Departs from the Ky Dong Swimming Pool Theater Great D3 outdoor family pool, ideal for Unit 1105, Harbour View Tower, Vietnamese water puppet show Caravelle Hotel every Sunday ay 2pm. the kids. 35 Nguyen Hue, D1 with live Vietnamese traditional www.saigonh3.com 40 Ky Dong, D3 music, this is an original performing Fiditour art preserved and handed down for International Ladies of Vietnam Fiditour offers a wide range of tours to A women’s group that meets Thursday Lam Son Swimming Club nearly a thousand years. Daytime Olympic-sized swimming pool with the southeast Asian region, including mornings for coffee from 10am- noon performances by special arrangement. designated lanes (one exclusively unique cultural trips, adventure trips, at Sherwood Residences- 1st floor 55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 for women) and a reputation for beach holidays, cruises, and culinary (127 Pasteur, D3) Cost for coffee and cleanliness. trips. snacks is VND130,000. Membership 129 Nguyen Hue, D1 Ho Chi Minh Conservatory Of Music 242 Tran Binh Trong, D5 One of three conservatories in is VND700,000 per year. Open to all ladies Ha Nguyen Vietnam, offering world class musical Lan Anh Swimming Club Pool Specializes in providing tickets for Eva education and performances. There are various areas with different Airlines, Qatar Airways, China Airlines, Concerts at the local Ho Chi Minh City Overland Club depths from 1.4m to 2m, suitable Overland Club is a 100 percent Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, Music School. for adults. Swimming lessons are foreign-owned Japanese company Singapore Air, Malaysia Airlines, 112 Nguyen Du, D1 available at the club. that organizes cultural classes Korean Airlines, Qantas Airways , 291 Cach Mang Thang Tam, D3 including pottery (from basic to Lufthansa, United Airlines and many IDECAF Drama Theatre intermediate level, as well as painting other international airlines. IDECAF is a theater holding French unglazed pottery) and cooking classes The Bike Shop 64B3 Xuan Thuy, D2 cultural exchanges as well as offering The shop is a full service shop serving (Japanese and Vietnamese). The courses in French. the local cycling community. They Overland Club also hosts various 31 Thai Van Lung, D1 offer a huge selection of kids, BMX, Hoi An Express events. Past events include noodle Preferred by many five-star hotels urban, mountain & road bikes for all making, soap carving, and kids’ in Ho Chi Minh city such as Windsor levels of cyclists. Brands include: Trek, Le Thanh Theatre cooking. Plaza Hotel, Duxton Hotel, Legend Experimental art space for dance and Canondale, GT, Jett, Elite & J. Wolf Custom 36bis Huynh Khuong Ninh, D1 Hotel Saigon, and Equatorial Hotel, exhibitions, with regular performances bikes. They also stock a wide range this privately owned travel agency of leading-edge artistic theatre. of accessories and components from offers a wide range of services. Rubber Duckies Swim Program leading manufacturers, with a top-notch 25 Phan Phu Tien, D5 Group swim lessons for children ages 94 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 service center and performs world class six months - four-years- ld. Parents and Saigon Opera House bio-mechanical bike fittings.H ours: Tue-Fri Inside Asia Travel children participate together in songs 12-8, Sat-Sun 9-6, Closed Monday. No mere historical museum piece, and safe water activities. Instruction is Inside Asia Travel is a boutique the Municipal Theater is a thriving 250 Nguyen Van Huong, D2 focused on developing water safety 3744 6405 luxury travel provider of tailor made performance centre with regular travel arrangements for English habits, basic water skills and confidence facebook.com/thebikeshopVN musical and cultural shows - speaking expats and travelers in the water. Classes are currently predominantly of the classical, high- through Southeast Asia. Guests enjoy located in Districts 1, 2, and 7. For more brow, and top-dollar variety. Van Thanh Pool highly personalized, bespoke travel details or to reserve a place contact A very casual swimming venue 7 Lam Son Square, D1 arrangements suited to individual Katie at admin@rubberduckiesvietnam. favored by younger people and tastes and budget. com, Facebook @ Rubber Duckies recreational swimmers. www.insideasiatravel.com The Soul of Vietnam Vietnam, or call/text 0122 3922 550 48/10 Dien Bien Phu, Binh Thanh
The Soul of Vietnam showcases te x pats 3844 1005 (Ext: 221) traditional Vietnamese music shows Saigon Cooking Class Yet Kieu Swimming Pool Saigon River Tour with voice and traditional instruments. A long-standing swimming club that’s Established in 1998, Saigon River Tour Be sure to check out the three-part Classes can include a market tour to become the standard for competition, provides speedboat services and Legend of the Trung Sisters’ with buy the day's ingredients followed by clean water, and inexpensive prices, speedboat tours (ecotourism, Cu Chi accompaniment of stone musical a hands-on cooking class, organized Yet Kieu is a well-managed complex Tunnels, Mekong Delta) from Bach instruments, gongs and two lifelike twice a day from Tuesday till Sunday of pools for the family - and it also has Dang Pier. elephants. (US$39.50 to 45.50). Team building its own gym. 7 Lam Son Square, D1 programs also available. 10b Ton Duc Thang, D1 1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
80 Living
81 HIGHER LEARNING EDUCATION Column
Boys Will Be Boys “The ‘differentness’ of boys is not inherently bad but it does present a challenge to teachers, to the school culture and to boys themselves.” Excerpt from Raising Cain by Dan Kindlom and Adrian Watts is the Deputy Headmaster and Director of Academic Studies at the International Michael Thompson School of Ho Chi Minh City (ISHCMC)
Since the late 90s, evidence has been female teachers themselves have more than their mother’s face. Girls naturally mounting showing that boys are struggling sensitive hearing and will tend to speak prefer colors like red, orange and green in school far more than their fathers ever more quietly. So, without realizing it, boys while boys are attracted to black, grey did. The evidence also shows that girls may innocently be noisier in class and and silver. This translates into the type of on average outperform boys in school, consequently distract girls from their work. art that interests young boys and girls. In when measured by report card grades Girls develop a link between the the majority of kindergarten classrooms in most subjects and in all age groups. amygdala and the cerebral cortex much teachers are female, and many encourage What emerges from research into this earlier than boys. This means that it often students to draw people and animals using topic is that nature is playing a bigger isn’t productive to ask adolescent boys lots of colors, but boys want to draw trucks role in gender differences than nurture, why they are feeling an emotion or even to in motion using darker colors. This could and therefore gender differences are real, imagine an emotion because for them there consequently make boys decide that they biologically programmed, and important isn’t a connection between where emotion are no good at art or that art is for girls to how children are educated. Let’s take a is generated and the part of the brain from a very early age. look at some of the differences that have that is used to talk about that emotion. Boys and girls like to read different been identified by researchers and how Perhaps this is why so many boys are types of books because of the way their these might affect a boy’s education. uncomfortable and appear resistant when brain develops. Girls enjoy fiction, short Firstly, girls are born with more asked to express their emotions about an stories and novels. Girls can experience sensitive hearing than boys and this event in which they have been involved. greater emotional connection and empathy difference increases with age. Males There is apparently a difference in the with characters and their feelings. Boys, on tolerate higher noise levels than females anatomy of the eye where the male retina the other hand, tend to prefer nonfiction, because they don’t realize that it's louder. is thicker than a female’s because of cell action books with strong male characters Boys may be inattentive in class because composition. This leads to preferences who often act as brave heroes. This can they genuinely do not hear what a teacher regarding colors and motion. Boys could ‘turn off’ boys from reading because at the is saying. This could be because many be more interested in a mobile in their cot early elementary level the type of books
82 provided by schools tend to be of little than females because of testosterone. Boys the amygdala in males dominates behavior interest to boys. enjoy rough and tumble play fighting as patterns far more and far longer than in These days children are starting school it releases aggression, while girls do not females, who transition at a much earlier younger and younger. This may be have this need. It has been shown that age to the cerebral cortex for their response detrimental for boys because their brains banning more aggressive activities for boys mechanisms. This has definite implications develop in a different sequence to that of at an early age can lead to more serious for issues such as drug education in schools. girls. Boys tend to need more time to adapt acts of violence later in their lives. For Boys and girls will respond very differently to the skills of reading and writing than boys, aggressive sport is seen as fun. It is to the same information; what might scare girls. Girls’ language and fine motor skills certainly important not to treat boys and a girl may trigger the risk-taking thrill mature earlier than boys, while in boys girls the same in this area because they response in a boy. targeting and spatial memory matures are hardwired entirely differently from as It appears clear to the majority of people earlier. It may be worth noting that in the early as the first three months in the womb, who have raised children of different majority of Scandinavian countries children where the combination of testosterone genders or worked with them in schools don’t start formal education until they're and Mullerian-inhibiting substance that boys and girls are different, have seven, an age at which boys are as ready ‘defeminizes’ a boy’s body and brain. different needs and abilities, and aim for as girls to start to learn to read and write. It is commonly joked about throughout different goals. If one accepts that these Perhaps the rush to get children into formal the world that males and females navigate differences are due to nature and not education and away from social play groups differently. Females will use landmarks nurture, as the studies of children raised in has different implications for boys than girls. that can be seen, heard or smelled, while a gender-neutral manner would suggest, Boys and girls have different males use absolute directions such as north then education needs to reflect seriously perspectives about friendships. Girls or south and exact distances when giving on why it treats boys and girls the same. enjoy spending time together – face-to- directions. This is common not because of Schools abound with the rhetoric of face, talking and sharing secrets, and self- nurture but nature. Women use a different differentiation, but where is this applied disclosure. When boys form friendships, part of their brain (cerebral cortex) to when it comes to probably the most they are usually developed out of a shared navigate and for other spatial tasks, while important area of difference – gender? As interest in a game or activity. They don’t men use their hippocampus. It is the we learn more from neuroscientists about want to hear secrets. They want to focus same for children, and hence has differing gender differences in our brains, the need on the activity, not the conversation. This implications for teaching geometry and for answers becomes ever more important has implications for teachers in classrooms number theory. for schools if they are to reverse recent where girls look for a friendship with the As Nietzsche, the German philosopher, trends concerning boys in school. teacher – a smile, eye contact, or non- said, “the secret to getting the most out Research for this article were taken from verbal reassurance. Working with boys of life is to live dangerously,” but again these sources: theatlantic.com, newsweek. means sitting down next to them, shoulder this applies very differently to boys and com, www.aph.gov.au, et al. to shoulder. It also means that girls suffer girls. Boys find risks irresistible, admire In his next column, Adrian will write greater stress and anxiety pressures when others who take risks and get a thrill from about challenges facing girls in schools friendships break down. Girls under stress physically risky activities. Boys and girls today. want to be with friends, while boys would react differently to pain and so therefore are The opinions expressed in this article are rather be left alone. attracted to different activities. This risk- those of the author and do not necessarily Males can be innately more aggressive taking is again hardwired in the brain as represent the views of Oi.
83 The Syllabus EDUCATION Column
Keep Calm
& Read On Lauralynn Goetz, B.A., M.M.Ed. US, is the director of Teaching children to relax an early childhood education center in Vietnam
It may surprise parents to learn that go at your house, breakfast or lunch are their nose. You can also have them place a toddlers experience stress too. Dr. Becky great alternatives. hand on their belly and try to move their Baily, author of Conscious Discipline, hand up and down with each breath. describes stress as the sense of “not Make Sleep a Priority enough-ness” in their language, physical, Experts recommend nine hours of sleep De-Stress Technique: Listening to Music and cognitive skill areas. Throughout a night for teens but high school seniors and Yoga their day, babies have to deal with all the generally average less than seven. Why it works: Studies have shown frustrations of their developing selfhood – Work with your child to limit late-night that soothing music lowers heart rate, which is why taking the time to teach studying, try to enforce an earlier bedtime, blood pressure, and stress-hormone them how to relax and be calm is critical and encourage naps if you can tell that levels. It can help to create a mellow to their emotional well-being. your child is worn out. mood. Yoga can also help counter early Melody Warnick in Better Homes & This is especially important here in childhood pressures. When children learn Gardens magazine offers “11 Ways to Help Vietnam where I have children as young techniques for self-health, relaxation, and Your Child Chill Out.” I have chosen the as three-years-old coming to class after inner fulfillment, they can navigate life's following five as most relevant to children being up until midnight or later. challenges with a little more ease. Yoga at here in a multicultural society: an early age encourages self-esteem and De-Stress Technique: Deep Breathing bodily awareness with a physical activity Do Relaxing Activities Taking deep, belly-filling breaths sends that's noncompetitive – improving their A recent survey revealed that more than an all-clear signal to the nervous system concentration and sense of calmness half of seven- to nine-year-olds studied that triggers the relaxation response. “The and relaxation. By doing yoga, children were stressed out. You can't eliminate all heart beats more slowly, blood pressure exercise, play, connect more deeply with stress but you can help your child manage comes down, and the muscles release the inner self, and develop an intimate it in a healthy way. Play in the park, take tension,” says Susan Biali, M.D., the relationship with the natural world that a yoga class, meditate – any activity that author of Live a Life You Love. surrounds them. you two can do together to relax. Shana Meyerson, the founder of Mini How to teach it: Have your child sit or lie Yogis (miniyogis.com), a yoga studio in Make Family Meals a Priority down and coach them to breathe in and Southern California that offers classes for Studies show that sharing a meal together out of their nose so that their belly fills kids, believes that yoga builds self-esteem keeps kids and parents connected and with air and empties again. For a younger and self-respect. "A child's yoga practice communicative, which in turn makes kid, coach them to fill their belly like a is a rare opportunity to experience play children more resilient to the negative balloon as they breathe in and then let the and focus without worrying about being effects of stress. If dinner is usually a no- air out as if they’re blowing water from wrong," she says.
84 85 The List
Atexpats is Ho Chi Minh City's first truly comprehensive insider's guide for foreign residents - website launching 2013
Educationteaching science and math in English. accommodate an increasing need Smartkids education 6 - 6A - 8, 44 Street, D2 for American education for both local An international childcare centre provides hibsvietnam.com residents and expatriate families. kindergarten and pre-school education for SSIS enrolls over 850 students in SCHOOLS [children] children between 18 months and six years Early Childhood – Grade 12 from over Kids Club Saigon old. A fun and friendly environment, the Early childhood centers in Phu My thirty-three countries in a spacious six- ABC International School school focuses on learning through play. Providing a caring and nurturing Hung offering creative play-based hectare, well-equipped campus. 1172 Thao Dien Compound, D2 atmosphere for all its students, the programs for children ages 2 to 5. 78 Nguyen Duc Canh, D7 ABC International School offers Known for unique facilities, experienced 5413 0901 3744 6076 a combination of both British staff, high-quality learning resources, www.ssis.edu.vn www.smartkidsinfo.com and international educations and and small class sizes qualifications. 79/7 Pham Thai Buong, D7 SCHOOLS [ADULT] Saigon South Campus 1 (Primary & 27/3 Ha Huy Tap, D7 Secondary) 5412 5944 Cetana PSB Intellis International #2, 1E Street, Khu Dan Cu Trung Son, Binh www.kidsclubsaigon.com College Hung, Binh Chanh PSB College offers a suite of 5431 1833 /34/35/36 Kindermusik internationally-recognized diploma [email protected] The center is a music, movement and programs from business, marketing, www.theabcis.com English-language program for children hospitality to finance. from birth to 7 years. Each lesson 144-146-148 Le Lai, D1 Australian International School (AIS) promotes early literacy and English www.psbcollege.edu.vn The Australian International School is an language acquisition, social skills and The International IB World School with three world class more. Kindermusik programs aligh with School Ho Chi Minh City RMIT International campuses in District 2, HCMC, offering an standards and/or requirements for the (ISHCMC) international education from kindergarten US, UK, UE, TESOL Pre-K and IB Primary University Vietnam The most established RMIT Vietnam offers programs from to senior school with the IB Primary Years years. school in Ho Chi Minh business and management to design and Programme (PYP), Cambridge Secondary Ground Floor, Crescent Residence2, D7 City is celebrating 20 micro engineering. Programme (including IGCSE) and IB www.kindermusik-vietnam.com years of success in 2013. 702 Nguyen Van Linh, D7 Diploma Programme (DP). 090 709 9480 ISHCMC is the only school in HCMC Xi Campus (Kindergarten) with full accreditation to teach all 190 Nguyen Van Huong, D2 Universal English Center L’atelier three IB programs to students from UEC was founded in 2009. Now with Thao Dien Campus (Kindergarten & Classes include spelling and grammar 2 to 18. ISHCMC is fully accredited Primary School) tuition after school, monitoring for the 600 students drawn from 17 different by both the Council of International nationalities, the class is served by over 35 APSC Compound French education program, preparing Schools (CIS) and the New England native English speaking teachers who are 36 Thao Dien, D2 for official tests (DEFL, DAFL, TFL, IB), Association of School and Colleges committed to providing a culturally diverse Thu Thiem Campus (Kindergarten, Primary, and Vietnamese lessons, including (NEASC), two of the most prestigious and engaging classroom atmosphere. Middle & Senior School) extra-curricular activities during the international accreditation The center offers a wide range of classes East-West Highway, D2 holidays. organisations. ISHCMC has 975 from beginner levels through IGCSE, 3742 4040 33/19 Quoc Huong, D2 students from over 50 different SAT, IELTS, TOEFL. UEC also provides www.aisvietnam.com 3744 6844 nationalities enjoying support to students aspiring for a place in www.latelier-anphu.com recently upgraded international schools. facilities. R4-55-56-57 Hung Gia 5, D7 Montessori International School of 28 Vo Truong Toan, D2 5412 3300 Vietnam www.ishcmc.com www.uec.edu.vn The school seeks to enable all its pupils to achieve their fullest potential by providing them with a nurturing VLS Vietnamese Language School Imparting genuine fluency in Vietnamese and stimulating environment, and by being sensitive and responsive to since 1994, VLS is one of the city’s best- their individual needs. Their curriculum organised and most professional training is designed based on Montessori centers devoted to the Vietnamese methodology and practice, and is language, with classes for all levels. British enhanced with a variety of programs. R4 -28 Hung Phuoc 2, Le Van Thiem, D7 International 42/1 Ngo Quang Huy, D2 3602 6694 School (BIS) 3744 2639 Inspected and www.montessori.edu.vn approved by the British Government, Saigon Star BIS provides a British style curriculum Noah's Club for an international student body Providing high quality care & education International from pre-school to Year 13. The School for kids aged 1-6 in District 2 . Various Saigon Star is a student focused school is staffed by British qualified creative & fun programs, beautiful and trained teachers with recent UK international primary school outdoor space with a warm family experience. Fully accredited by the offering high quality first class Council of International Schools and a feeling and more. provision. Specializing in the British member of FOBISIA, BIS is the largest No3, Duong so 4, Nguyen U Di, D2 National Curriculum, all of the class international school in Vietnam. 3744 4709 teachers hold international teaching An Phu Primary Campus [email protected] qualification. In the early years 225 Nguyen Van Huong Street, D2 program, a Montessori specialist works 3744 4551 Renaissance International closely with the main class teachers [email protected] to ensure a high rate of progress. The School Saigon school also provides specialists for An Phu Secondary Campus Opened in 2008, The Renaissance 246 Nguyen Van Huong Street, D2 children requiring extra International School Saigon offers 3744 2335 support with ESL. [email protected] programs from Early Years to secondary Residential Area No.5, Tu Xuong Primary Campus curriculum, founded on the International Thanh My Loi Ward, D2 43-45 Tu Xuong Street, D3 British System. The four buildings on 3742 STAR / 3742 7827 3932 0210 the school’s one-hectare site include www.saigonstarschool.edu.vn [email protected] a 350-seat auditorium, a computer www.bisvietnam.com resource centre, gymnasium and 25 m swimming pool. Vstar School Horizon International Bilingual School 74 Nguyen Thi Thap, D7 Vstar School provides education from A bilingual school, HIBS opened in www.rissaigon.edu.vn Grades 1-12 in a spacious 30,000m2 2005 and applies 100 percent of the environment including a sports field and Vietnamese national curriculum, MOET, Saigon South International School swimming pool. as well as providing students with an Founded in 1997, Saigon South Him Lam Residential Complex, Nguyen intensive English program along with International School seeks to Huu Tho, D7
86 The List
Atexpats is Ho Chi Minh City's first truly comprehensive Health & Beauty insider's guide for foreign residents - website launching 2013 11E Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 1st Floor, 65 Le Loi, D1 35 Ly Tu Trong, D1 ladieswear 3910 3877 3914 7464 6276 2730 www.umbrella-fashion.com Anupa Eco Boutique Fit Misa Collection The boutique has been converted into Caters to women in their 20s. Well-known for tailoring bespoke ao Valenciani Oi’s Pick an eco-boutique which houses the 44 Luu Van Lang, D1 dias. Highly respected Vietnamese designer complete Anupa leather collections 67 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 whose collections are featured in ELLE and semi precious jewelry as well as Gaya 3829 4007 Vietnam and Vogue Vietnam. up-and-coming eco designers both A high-end shop that sells cocktail and 098 330 0469 1F/12 Saigon Centre, 65 Le Loi, D1 locally and internationally such as ready party dresses by French-Cambodian 3821 2788 to wear mens linen shirts, ladies cotton designer Romyda Keth. Gaya has Ngan Private Collection 090 785 5788 dresses, chicken leg watch straps, specializes in home interior products. A collection of multi-brand fashion bamboo glasses and scarves with 1 Nguyen Van Trang, D1 labels created by one of Vietnam’s pendants. 3925 1495 highly recognized fashion designers. menswear 9 Dong Du, D1 Dedicated personal styling consultant www.anupa.net / facebook: anupaluxury Kelly Bui available for those in need of their own Anna Vo Fashion Boutique Launched in April 2010, the shop sells stylist. A popular designer currently in Saigon, Axara Paris - Saigon Center the most recent collections by the 23 Ly Tu Trong, D1 Anna Vo produces seasonal collections Axara may have seduced the whole brand. The collections shown on the 6290 9391 inspired by her time in Europe and world, but its 2010 launch in Vietnam website are the same as those in-store. Vietnam as well as aiming to be both at the Vincom Centre is still making B1-24, Vincom Center, 70-72 Le Thanh Phuong My beautiful and functional. The boutique headway with modern young Ton, D1 A ready-to-wear fashion designer also carries pieces from her mother Vietnamese women entranced by its 3936 9386 currently working from Ho Chi Minh Thuy Nga’s collections as well as high romantic, glamorous designs. City, producing feminine pieces using quality imported accessories. Each 65 Le Loi, D1 Khai Silk high quality fabric such as silk organza collection includes both menswear and 3914 7655 Khai Silk is a favorite among local and lace using expert tailoring and womenswear. celebrities for its high quality tailoring, construction which has earned her 23 Dong Khoi, D1 Banana Shop fabrics and service. frequent coverage in the country’s top 6675 4013 Banana Shop provides everything a 81 Dong Khoi, D1 fashion magazines. girl needs to be noticed in Ho Chi Minh 3822 2856 81 Le Thanh Ton, D1 An Phuoc City. Whether it be undergarments, 09 7271 7788 An Phuoc Garment Manufacturing was shoes, bags, or jewelry, Banana Shop Kiwi Fashion established in 1992 with 50 workers and delivers with unique products from Kiwi offers contemporary designes Shin 40 sewing machines, specializing in Hong Kong and the United States. at an affordable price.It was founded Vintage style ladies fashion, clothes manufacturing for exporting enterprises. 128 Ly Tu Trong, D1 by former Vietnamese model Kim and accessories by local designers. Now it has transformed itself into a 3829 0061 Hong Phung and houses the latest 122 Ly Tu Trong, D1 garment export company featuring fashion trends exclusively designed by 090 935 2369 handmade clothing and shoes. Josphine Geralda, one of the leading Bebe 182 Hai Ba Trung, D1 The shop sells its brand of women’s designers in London. Sifa Fashion clothing and apparel, dresses, 74C-74/1 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Known for selling office wear for jumpsuits, shoes and bags. 3824 8214 women. Bonjour A fashion boutique at the Vo Van Tan/ 1st floor, Saigon center, 65 Le Loi, D1 3822 1191 192 Ly Tu Trong, D1 Cao Thang T-intersection providing an 3914 4011 3825 0618 exhaustive range of one-off fashion La Bella pieces and accessories with both a A Vietnamese fashion shop that Cao Vinh Fashion Song - Valerie Gregori McKenzie modern and vintage feel. Prices are Specializes in formal Western-style carries dresses, skirts, tops and a large French bohemian chic designs that affordable for both men and women shirts, Cao Vinh is distinctive if for selection of bags and purses. caters to sophsiticated women. and come in a range of sizes to suit nothing else than its simple, intriguing 58-87 Pasteur, D1 75 Pasteur, D1 most customers. website allowing customers to specify 3823 0172 3824 6986 446 Vo Van Tan, D3 design elements. 9am - 9pm 69 Pasteur, D1 Sophilita 3824 5645 Lyn Around A simple Italian fashion brand with Massimo Ferrari Boutique 090 817 9129 This is the Saigon branch of the several branches in Vietnam, Sophilita Italiana - Americana fusion brand of international high-class fashion label mainly sells office, street, and casual, impeccable quality and style. Collections Cashew Lyn Around. It is famous for its girly girl womenswear. are available as ready-to-wear and/or Fashion shop chain with 4 boutiques in and street style. 15C Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 made-to-order. Sizes from 39 - 47 D HCMC. Specializes in women clothes 1st Floor, Saigon Centre, 65 Le Loi, D1 6275 9019 and E widths and accessories. Designed by their 3821 6575 available. Run by an Italian Spanish own designers. Familiar brand in HCMC Suite Blanco American himself, master tailor Luis catwalk and Vietnam fashion industry. L’Usine Suite Blanco is a Spanish company Antonio Torres fits and consults all 38 Ly Tu Trong, D1 The central retail space offers famous specialized in the design, production, of his customers himself. Suits are 6683 9669 fashion brands from around the world distribution and sale of all types of the best fit and quality in Vietnam. All with full rotating stock. accessories and clothing for the shirts, suits and trousers are fully bench Diva Silk Boutique First Floor, 151 Dong Khoi, D1 modern woman and man looking for made and the fabric selections are to Diva is all about silk, oriental glamour, 6674 3565 the latest trends at affordable prices. die for. If you’re hunting for briefcases, luxury, and a feminine charm to match. The chain now has 240 shops spread in wallets, and accessories look no further. The products in this little shop comprise Maison de Bunga 15 different countries including Vietnam. Massimo Ferrari carries all types of bags both locally-woven first-grade silk Maison de Bunga is a specialty Vincom Center A, 171 Dong Khoi, D1 and accessories for the man and the garments and those imported from women’s clothing store specializing in lady. Brands carried are Maison Takuya Thailand. designers with floral motifs, hats, bags, Thuy Design House and Orobianco from Italy. Luxury quality 146 Dong Khoi, D1 and other accessories. A popular Vietnamese ready-to-wear and designs are simply gorgeous. 3822 7153 81 Pasteur, D1 designer creating seasonal collections 42A1 Tran Quoc Thao, D3 3943 0990 using high quality materials with a www.massimoferrariboutique.com Esprit minimalist design aesthetic. Thuy’s Hong Kong-based lifestyle apparel friendly boutique carries a range of te x pats Mango Maschio Shop brand offering affordable casual Mango is a Spanish fashion design shapes and silhouettes that are often Colorful retro men’s fashions, one of the streetwear from a two-story shop in the company with over 2,000 stores worn by the city’s fashion conscious. quirkier fine-quality local fashion stores heart of downtown HCMC. around the world. Ho Chi Minh City is 151/6 Dong Khoi, D1 in the central area. 58 Dong Khoi, D1 home to several of its branches. Mango www.facebook.com/thuydesignhouse 168 Ly Tu Trong, D1 3827 6085 sells fashion clothing for women 3829 2975 including dresses, skirts, tops and Umbrella Eva Gopa accessories. This fashion label caters to a higher Mizada Office fashion, street-style fashion, and Unit 2F-11, 2nd floor, Icon 68, 2 Hai Trieu, D1 end market with tailored bags to Since its inception in 2004, Mizada has
©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 evening dresses for women. 6266 2111 accessories. become one of the leading luxury
87 fashion brands in Vietnam. Mizada Get Fit Gym the 15th and 16th floors of The Landmark Center Medical International caters to both women and women with Located on the 3rd floor in the H3 serviced apartments, and offers a fully Center Medical International is an products such as T-shirts, jeans, coats, Building, this international-standard, equipped gym, rooftop swimming pool, outpatient clinic fully-equipped scarves, and much more. gym offers a steam bath and sauna, and a squash court. It also features to provide international standard 105 Le Thanh Ton, D1 yoga, kickboxing, rumba, salsa, male and female changing facilities and comprehensive and specialized medical 6673 4199 merengue, cumbia and reggaeton saunas. services. All physicians are either classes. 5B Ton Duc Thang, D1 French or Vietnamese. San Sciaro Manhattan 384 Hoang Dieu, D4 3822 2098 1 Han Thuyen, D1 Fashionable, smart menswear from 6261 6169 [email protected] 3827 2365 the Viet Tien Garment Company, specializing in garment manufacture K1 Fitness & Fight Factory The Crescent Wellness Club Columbia Asia Saigon Clinic and trade equipment since the mid A well-known brand name founded by Overlooking The Crescent complex’s Beautiful international clinic a short 70’s. a group of professional kickboxers and lagoon, this multi-purpose and distance from the cathedral, with 1st Floor Saigon Tax Trade Center, 135 now present in France and Southeast organically designed fitness and exemplary standards of healthcare for Nguyen Hue, D1 Asia, including Montpellier and Phnom wellness centre offers an array of walk-in patients. 3864 0800 Penh as well as here in Saigon. modern facilities including a state-of- 8 Alexandre De Rhodes, D1 090 316 6364 14 Duong 38, Nguyen Thi Thap, D7 the-art gym, group fitness classes, yoga 3823 8454 091 833 7111 sessions, a squash court, swimming Veston Huy Hoang pool, steam bath and nutrition bar. David Shepherd Chiropractic Clinic Men’s tailored fashions, specialising in Nicky's Zumba® Fitness Studio 3rd Floor, Crescent Plaza, DSCC provides Chiropractic care suits. Expect to Pay: $200 and upward They offer Zumba®Fitness, Yoga, Cross 105 Ton Dat Tien, D7 for patients using state of the art for a suit, fabric included. Obviously, the Fit, Pilates Personal Fitness, Nurtition 5412 1277 physiotherapy equipment imported better the quality of fabric, the higher the Advice and Hip hop kids, Aerobic kids, from USA. DSCC is managed and price. 70% of customers are foreigners. ZumbAtomic®. X-Rock Climbing operated by American doctors who use 65 Pasteur, D1 Available at: Panorama-Fitness (206 Tran With two locations in the city, this wall modern and advanced technologies 3822 4609 Van Tra, D7), Fit & Fun Club (Sky Garden 2, in An Phu stands at 26 meters. The techniques to ensure safe, gentle, and 090 865 4988 D7), Cyril&you (49a Xa Lo Ha Noi, D2), and center offers nine levels from beginners effective treatment. Sommerset (8 Nguyen Binh Khiem, D1). to hardcore. 41 Noi Khu, Hung Gia 3, D7 5410 6242 093 406 0735 or 6680 7226 503A Nguyen Duy Trinh, D2 www.saigonchiropractic.com gyms [email protected] www.xrockclimbing.com www.zumba-saigon.com Ais Sports Complex Diag Center International Yoga Club Situated in Ho Chi Minh City, Diag Open to the public, the center has a Nutrifort Fitness Yogo fitness center for both men and 25m swimming pool, basketball court Center International is a diagnostic Aiming to be the voice of health and women and an astroturf play area. Inquire about testing center, which consists of a team fitness in Vietnam, Nutrifort provides 18 Street Number 2, D2 special packages. of thirty Vietnamese staff, and operates clientele with proper tools and teaching 3897 6786 APSC Compound, 36 Thao Dien, D2 methods to keep the mind and body under French medical biologists and assisted by a group of Vietnamese 3744 2549 fit and healthy. Clients also learn about clinics medical technicians trained in France. www.aissportscentre.com nutrition to nourish and maintain their 146 An Binh, D5 health. American Chiropractic Clinic 3838 1551 Amaryska Kamionko 2B1 Chu Manh Trinh, D1 American Chiropractic Clinic is a Private fitness trainer, assisting in full chiropractic, physiotherapy, and foot body workouts, toning & strength Family Medical Practice Rex Health Club care clinic in the Heart of Saigon. We With a nationwide operational advantage, training for females. Sessions often at This spa was designed for both men are staffed by American and French- they provide international standard clients’ homes or at their designated & women, integrating traditional trained Chiropractic Physicians and medical services in a safe, professional gyms. Vietnamese, Indian, and Chinese herbal Vietnamese Physical Therapists. and welcoming environment. 0902271830 remedies and techniques. Situated on 161-161A Hai Ba Trung, D3 95 Thao Dien, D2 personalfitnessathome.blogspot.com the rooftop of the Rex Hotel, it features 3939 3930 3744 2000 two outdoor swimming areas. www.acc.vn www.vietnammedicalpractice.com Body By Jovie 141 Nguyen Hue, D1 Body By Jovie is a boutique personal [email protected] training center and yoga studio, catering Animal Rescue & Care 8am-6pm Monday-Friday, 8am-2pm Saigon River Club Abandoned and wild cats and dogs can Saturday to individuals demanding diversity, Located in Ruby Tower at the Saigon be adopted or fostered from their online challenge and results. It specializes in one Pearl, Saigon River Club is equipped database. ARC also organizes several on one session and also offer a full range with the very latest in fitness Hanh Phuc International Women & of classes such as yoga, TRX suspension animal welfare education and low-cost Children’s Hospital technology. It has a fully-equipped Hanh Phuc International Hospital aims class, belly dancing, Zumba and outdoor spaying campaigns. sauna and steam room and a large to be the leading private healthcare boot camp. 31-44 Thao Dien, D2 outdoor pool with jacuzzi. provider for women and children in Riverside Residence, Nguyen Luong www.arcpets.com Ruby Tower, 92 Nguyen Huu Canh, Binh Vietnam. Designed and managed up to Bang, D7 Thanh Singaporean standards, the 260-bed 5417 1946 An Phu International Clinic 3514 9009 Hanh Phuc Hospital aims to provide [email protected] An international standard clinic a comprehensive range of quality 7am - 9pm (Weekdays) and with a full range of specialist and Star Fitness Bitexco modern medical equipment with a healthcare services to women and 7:30am - 7pm (Saturdays) Located in The Manor Tower, this gym children with a personalized touch and is not only a fitness center it includes dedicated team of professors, doctors, experienced nurses. in a warm and friendly atmosphere. California WOW other specialized classes such as yoga, 2nd floor Saigon Trade Centre, 251A Luong Dinh Cua, D2 The first and largest international belly dancing, kick boxing, zumba, body 37 Ton Duc Thang, D1 6660 6602 fitness company to open in Vietnam. toning, and so on. 3911 1860 Provides world class fitness services Level 1, 91 Nguyen Huu Canh, Binh Thanh www.dakhoaanphu.com and products in a state-of-the art 5-star 3514 0255 Institute of Traditional Medicine fitness and entertainment facility. Family Medical Practice Established in 1975, the Institute With a nationwide operational advantage, 126 Hong Bang, D5 Spa InterContinental & Healthclub of Traditional Medicine is a holistic they provide international standard 28-30-32 Le Lai, D1 Guests will have access to a 20-meter research and teaching hospital. Patients 5 Nguyen Tat Thanh, D4 outdoor lap pool complete with a medical services in a safe, professional are treated using traditional medicines, sundeck, a 160-square meter spacious and welcoming environment. some of which are produced by the Christina Eberlin Yoga Teacher fitness centre with the latest generation 95 Thao Dien, D2 institute itself. Some doctors speak Christina graduated from Virajati 300hr cardio and resistance equipment, plus a 3744 2000 English and/or French, and acupuncture yoga teacher training in Thailand. She personal program of fitness classes. www.vietnammedicalpractice.com lessons are on offer. is offering private yoga classes and 3rd Floor, InterContinental Asiana Saigon [email protected] 273-275 Nguyen Van Troi, Phu Nhuan group classes. For more information Corner of Hai Ba Trung & Le Duan, D1 8am-6pm Monday-Friday, 8am-2pm 3844 5954 you can reach her at 3520 9999 Saturday [email protected] [email protected] Lotus Clinic or 093 849 2461 8am – 9:30pm Lotus Clinic was established in 2007 as
Australian Clinic & Pathology te x pats Diagnostics the first Japanese medical clinic in Ho Cyril And You Thien Nga (Swan) Club The Australian Clinic, Pathology & Chi Minh City. French physical instructor Cyril Fitness club that has training equipment Diagnostics (ACPD) is comprised of a Lancaster Bldg , 22 Le Thanh Ton, D1 specializes in sports conditioning, and a 25sqm swimming pool medical outpatient clinic and associated 3827 0000 resistance training and senior training 751 Xuan Thuy, D2 pathology laboratory. The clinic hosts along with designing a personal fitness 3899 0012 highly trained and experienced medical International SOS Medical Care program to fit your needs. Thao Dien, specialists. Located in the city center, the clinic D2; 094 777 1326 The Health Club 273 - 275 Ly Thai To, D10 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a www.cyril-and-you.com The Landmark Health Club is located on 3834 9941 year providing routine and emergency A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
88 healthcare services as well as on-site Elite Dental and Vietnam. The clinic regularly hosts laboratory and radiology services. With an atmosphere more reminiscent visiting dentists from many other nails Languages spoken include Japanese, of a luxury hotel, this is one of the countries. Korean and French, among others. largest high-quality dental clinics in 27 Nguyen Trung Truc, D1 167A Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D3 HCMC, established to answer expat 3825 7485 3829 8551 demands for superb dental techniques and professional staff. hospitals Perfect Skin lab 57A Tran Quoc Thao, D3 More than just a spa, this District 3933 3737 1 venue is a genuine skin lab that Cao Thang Eye Hospital The CT International Eye Hospital is one caters to each customer’s unique European Dental Clinic of the few dedicated, comprehensive eye Offering state of the art technology, characteristics and needs. The lab institutes in the country. Internationally competitive pricing, and supreme is the latest concept developed by recognized staff diagnose and treat the quality, this dentistry is truly dedicated Classic Nails Dermal Essentials, the elite distributor entire spectrum of conditions of the eye, Located near Ben Thanh Market, to their patients. for Dermalogica, a skin care system including complex problems such as Classic Nails is a professional salon researched and developed by The 17-17A Le Van Mien, D2 diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachments, with staff who are trained and International Dermal Institute in 091 874 9204 or 090 955 1916 macular degeneration, glaucoma, and experienced in designing complicated Vietnam. www.europeandentalclinic-asia.com cataracts. pattern. The salon only uses materials from reputable companies and always 1st floor, unit 9-10 Saigon Center, 135B Tran Binh Trong, D5 update with the latest colors. They 65 Le Loi, D1 090 588 6086 also have sofas with a massage 3910 0372 German International Dentistry German International Dentistry offers function and adjustable posture for the Cho Ray Hospital customer’s comfortable and relaxation. excellent consultation services from Cho Ray Hospital is the largest 4 Phan Boi Chau, D1 Stamford Skin Center experienced, international dentists so The Stamford Skin Centre has grown healthcare service in Vietnam, providing 3825 7047 that you can make informed decisions full priority service for expatriates, with 9am - 8pm to include qualified specialists who about your dental care. treat general diseases of the skin such a staff including 696 doctors and 1350 1489 Nguyen Van Linh, D7 nurses. as acne, eczema and other forms of 3776 3777 201B Nguyen Chi Thanh, D5 dermatitis, rosacea, psoriasis, and skin Kelly Pang Nail salon established in 2004 as a cancers. Grand Dentistry Columbia Asia International Hospital small nail salon in Phu Nhuan, Kelly 254 Dien Bien Phu, D3 Grand Dentistry is an upscale dental - Gia Dinh Pang has gradually become known as 3932 1090 office located in the ground floor of Skilled and experienced doctors a training center and professional nail 090 845 3338 Sunwah tower on Nguyen Hue street. offer exceptional medical care at care facility throughout Vietnam. It is noted for being very tourist/expat affordable prices with the latest in 214C Nguyen Trai, D1 Uc Chau Cosmetic Surgery friendly. This dentistry features English medical technology. Patients benefit This central clinic performs speaking staff and expatriate dentists. from advanced medical diagnostics, OPI Nail Spa Nguyen Hue straightforward cosmetic treatments, Ground Floor Sun Wah Tower, treatment and personal care. Providing a full range of official products including enhancing the nose bridge, 115 Nguyen Hue, D1 1 No Trang Long, Binh Thanh and services of the OPI brand. breast enlargement, eyelid folds, and 3821 9446 103 Nguyen Hue, D1 wrinkle removal. DialAsie International Hospital 25 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 Minh Khai Dental Clinic A specialist centre in kidney treatment French/American/Swiss managed for the expat community, DialAsie is a spas 2212 3396 2212 3398 clinic with well-maintained international- fairly well-reputed international hospital standard equipment. of nephrology & dialysis, offering Victoria Health Care International 199 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Nguyen Cu medical consultancy in renal diseases, Trinh, D1 haemodialysis, and paraclinical Clinic examinations. Victoria Healthcare offers the highest 3925 3399 253 Dien Bien Phu, D3 standard of healthcare, based on American and European practices, and Naomi Dental Clinic A full service dental clinic under the offering compassionate and efficient FV Hospital direction of Japanese dentist Dr. FV Hospital is a Vietnam’s only service with the greatest respect for the Nakashima Mikio. internationally accredited healthcare patient. R4-45 Hung Phuoc 4, D7 facility. A wholly foreign-owned general 79 Dien Bien Phu, D1 5410 3937 hospital offering a wide range of Indochine Spa medical and surgical services under one Nestled in Vietnam Family Medical Practice Saigon Smile roof, equipped to care for patients from the heart International clinic located in the Manor consultation and diagnosis through to of Saigon, With a group of experienced doctors Indochine spa will bring you back to an complex, within easy reach of high- the completion of treatment. and professional staff trained to do ancient time with peaceful melodies rollers living around the Saigon Pearl teeth cleaning, dental work and other 6 Nguyen Luong Bang, D7 and aromatic scents. With our skillful area. The sister clinic is located beneath teeth enhancing procedures. therapists, Natural products with Diamond Plaza. 96 Tran Nao, D2 Saigon International Maternity French formulation and high class Ground Floor, 91 Nguyen Huu Canh, Binh 6674 4255 Hospital J.S.C. cleanness environment, Indochine Thanh 8am to 8pm A private-owned hospital specialising spa provides your senses with natural energy. Indulge yourself for a unique 3514 0758 in maternity, this was the first hospital to meet the Hotel-Hospital international and amazing experience. Saint Paul standard in HCMC since the year 2000. 69 Thu Khoa Huan st., D. 1, HCM Saint Paul has facilities all over Ho Chi 63 Bui Thi Xuan, D1 3827 7188 dental Minh City, and with the slogan “slight, [email protected] exact, and painless,” the doctors at www.indochine-spa.com.vn Saint Paul aim to please even the most Traditional Medicine Hospital Open: 10:00-22:00 2000 Dental Clinic Trung Tam Implant This hospital is a major medical centre fastidious patients. Established in 1999, 2000 Dental practising the essence of that millennia- 50 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 Clinic now has 65 dentists serving old exploration into the rhythms of the An Nam Spa 3835 6159 3 locations offering the full range of human body and its connection to the Housed in a beautiful nine-story dental care, including surgery, implants natural world which firmly belongs to building with different areas for men and women, guests can enjoy and extractions. Smile Dental Center this region. Quality dental care with whitening, a panoramic view of Saigon while 125 Le Thi Rieng, D1 179 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D3 cleaning, and orthodontic services. calming their senses in a relaxing 3925 6501 Japanese equipment and techniques. sanctuary. Tu Du Hospital 26-28 Dong Du, D1 173 Ton Dat Tien, D7 Tu Du is a large state hospital Dang Luu Dental Centre 5413 6635 Dang Luu Dental Centre offers the specializing in maternity, women, and Dermal Essentials full range of dental services, including children’s diseases, family planning, and Dermalogica, a Los Angeles-based Starlight Dental Clinic many other areas. Highly experienced implants, crown and bridges and teeth Award-winning quality care and company, is a revolutionary skin whitening. Orthodontic services are also doctors and staff provide affordable treatment system. Call Dermalogica’s personal service in clean premises, care. provided. Some of the dentists have therapists for a complimentary Face offering general dentistry, whitening 284 Cong Quynh, D1 been foreign-trained. Mapping consultation.
te x pats and cosmetic surgery, implants, 108 Pasteur, D1 34 Phan Dang Luu, Binh Thanh orthodontics, pediatric, and preventive Vu Anh International Hospital - dentistry. Obstetrics Eden Spa Digital Dental Clinic 2 Bis Cong Truong Quoc Te, D3 Luxurious hospital facility offering Extremely central, Eden is located Digital Dental Care draws on well- 3822 6222 modern care in a comfortable setting. in a quiet niche off Nguyen Hue in known Korean consistency in service The hotel also provides 12 VIP rooms the commercial center. Owing to its standards and precision equipment to Westcoast International Dental Clinic for patients seeking 5 star medical expertise in skincare and first-class offer a truly world-class service in the Large, international team of dentists services featuring garden access and relaxing atmosphere, Eden has the Phu My Hung area. and support staff from Canada, designer furniture. gumption to claim a number-one spot
©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 R4-35 Ton Dat Tien, D7 Australia, Japan, France, Italy, Thailand, 15-16 Phan Van Tri, Go Vap in the discerning Japanese market.
89 19-25 Nguyen Hue, D1 Vietnamese, French, Cham, Hindu, and contemporary spa that has two Zest Massage 3821 3815 Asian cultures. Luxury spa and gym double and five single treatment Famous for its fish pedicures, Zest, 097 810 6868 located at the Rex hotel. rooms, each with a private bathroom, located in the outer western region 6F, Rex Hotel, 141 Nguyen Hue, D1 a foot reflexology area, and luxurious of District One, serves up some fairly 3825 1812 changing and shower rooms. dynamic Thai massage. Combining the fresh, local traditional 60 Bui Thi Xuan, D1 La Maison de L’Apothiquaire herbs and plants, an ambient lighting, This unique spa is situated in an soft scents and soothing sounds artfully-designed villa and offers with the best of international brands, home & furnishings guests many therapeutic body and Spa InterContinental offers guests skin treatments. The luxurious villa the professional spa expertise and AA Deco Company AA Interiors provides high-quality also provides a yoga studio, enclosed a truly sensory experience. 3rd Floor, fabrication and fit-out services for garden, and many exclusive skin care InterContinental Asiana Saigon products. hotels, residences, spas, and so on Corner Hai Ba Trung & Le Duan, D1 Flamingo Spa 64A Truong Dinh, D3 throughout the city. Also sells many Flamingo Spa is an 3520 9999 100 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 well-known furniture brands. authentic Thai spa [email protected] 1st floor, 103 Ton Dat Tien, Tan Phu, D7 219 Nguyen Van Thu, D1 where all ingredients 8am – 9:30pm used are imported from Thailand. Guests AkzoNobel Decorative Center arrive in a clean and Thann Thann provide a range of natural hair Dulux Paints specialist with attractive friendly atmosphere for an optimal and skincare products formulated central-city showroom/store. relaxing experience. Men, women and 91-93 Nguyen Hue, D1 couples are welcome, and they offer a from botanicals derived by combining wide range of massages along with a the art of natural therapy with modern 3915 3491 sauna, jacuzzi facilities & VIP rooms. dermatological science. 13B Le Thanh Ton, D1 Level 2, Saigon Centre, 65 Le Loi, D1 Authentique 3822 1074 An interior decorating shop featuring 091 243 9601 Vietnamese traditional styles with a [email protected] Thalgo La Beaute Marine Thalgo is on the cutting edge of spa small showroom in the busiest area of Maison Mikio Boutique Salon treatments, and is renowned for its the city, District 7’s Premium Boutique Salon. products and skilled therapists. 71/1 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 Glow Two floors providing full beauty 40C Ly Tu Trong, D1 3823 8811 A boutique day spa located in the heart services nestled in a quiet residential of the city. In this relaxing, peaceful area in Phu My Hung’s Garden Plaza Canada Home Deco Company atmosphere, guests can enjoy a full The Body Shop 2 Complex. Equipped with a café, A global manufacturer and retailer of Established by an expat Canadian range of massage/treatment options. nail bar, 2 VIP rooms, and a spacious naturally-inspired, ethically-produced couple in 2003, Canada Home Deco Kim Do Hotel, 129A Nguyen Hue, D1 massage room - this boutique salon is like no other in Ho Chi Minh City. beauty and cosmetics products. The specializes in distributing high-quality Garden Plaza 2 Complex Body Shop offers many kinds of blankets, pillows, bedspreads, and Golden Lotus Foot Massage Club 8 Tôn Dât Tiên, Quân 7 skincare products, makeup accessories, cushions. Sauna 5412 4773 hair & body care products, perfume, and 158 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Fully-featured massage establishment bath milk. with pool, steam room, and hydraulic MiMi Clinic & Spa 87 Mac Thi Buoi, D1 massage located in trendy Thai Van Catherine Denoual Prestige Spa for celebrities holding Supplies blankets, pillows, mattresses, Lung. Various salt scrubs, and high-end frequent beauty events – and therefore tablecloths, cushions, and other luxury beauty products imported direct from one of the best-known local brands in The Prime – Spa For Men American skin treatments for men linens to reputable hotels, spas, resorts, Korea are available. medical aesthetics for over 10 years in from top brands such as Dermalogica and individual consumers. 15 Thai Van Lung, D1 HCMC. and Lab Series. Equipped with 15C Thi Sach, D1 32 Dong Khoi, D1 imported machines from Europe. 090 387 6666 HP Oxygen Spa The spa has five therapy services, A safe haven from the dust and smoke Gomo of the city offering an array of body/ Miu Miu including basic skin care, professional Typical of the large furniture skin treatment options, including Spa with an elegant and charming skin care, intensive therapy, eye warehouses in North America and advanced skin care, an eye lightening décor, offering facials, body therapy, body therapy – and a Prime Europe, Gomo sells contemporary items process, body massages, hair care, and massages, and manicures. Pervaded special service package. for your home and office. foot care. by exotic oils and aromas, the staff 192 Le Lai, D1 7/30B, Road 13, Binh Hoa Ground Floor, Yoco Building, provide counsel on unique skin-care Thuan An Town, Binh Duong 41 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 products from Thailand and around Tri Siam (0650) 376 5115 the world in English, Vietnamese, Well-respected salon on the edge of www.gomo.com.vn Huong Sen Spa and Japanese. town, offering manicures & styling. Located in a charming old French villa, 4 Chu Manh Trinh, D1 76C Hai Ba Trung, D1 Lam Bui Natural Home Goods Huong Sen Spa is a natural green oasis 6659 3609 Founded in 2004 by a team of with skin, face, and body treatment Xuan Spa intrepid entrepreneurs, Lam Bui services. Moc Huong Spa One of the most luxurious spas in Ho Natural Home Goods is a large, Moc Huong Spa Chi Minh City, Xuan is located inside 21S Nguyen Van Troi, Ward 12, Phu Nhuan well-stocked home goods store with is supported the five-star Park Hyatt hotel. Services by top-ranking specialty old-style furnishings and include packages such as Urban Retreat Jasmine Spa professional decor items. Package, Apricot blossom – Mai, Experienced staff utilize exotic physiotherapists Unit 16-17, 2nd Floor, Saigon Centre, 65 Bamboo, and more. skincare products to comfort guests who combine Eastern with Western Le Loi, D1 2 Lam Son Square, D1 in this cozy urban sanctuary, which techniques resulting a full body 3914 3553 has has a large, loyal following wellness. Reasonably priced with a that swears by its friendly and wide range of services that include Yuan manicure, pedicure, facial, both body Despite being labeled as a foot Mosaique Decoration professional service. Mosaique Decoration takes all the and for your complete well being. massage establishment, Yuan actually 45 Ton That Thiep, D1 9C Ton Duc Thang, D1 unique beauty and craftsmanship of has a full range of services. Customers 3911 7118 usually make appointments. Yuan is Vietnam and adapts it to contemporary Korean Style Sauna home décor. Mosaique offers unique Sauna and massage that serves mostly Oasis Salon & Spa especially geared towards Japanese The original Oasis spa & beauty salon, lighting design, decorative embroidery, Japanese and Korean men - some of expats. this venue offers a full range of services silk quilts, and other home accessories. the more discerning expat clients. For a 15B8 Le Thanh Ton, D1 at competitive prices. Full hair care, delicate touch. Ground Floor, Saigon Centre, facial, massage, nail spa, beauty care & 65 Le Loi, D1 15 Thai Van Lung, D1 waxing services. Yuri A full-range Korean beauty salon in the 1st & 2nd Floor, 45 Nguyen Hue, D1 L’Apothiquaire - Saigon South Lotte complex, with a chief focus on Premium Housewares This Japanese/French style spa is an beautiful hair styling. Providing high quality kitchenware and Saigon Spa accessories, Premium Housewares exclusive distributor of organic French Recommended inexpensive spa 3rd floor, Lotte Mart, 469 Nguyen Huu presents its products in more than 70 skin care products, and other exclusive treatments with a full spa menu. Tho, D7 products from around the world. 3775 2990; 093 481 8085 countries worldwide. 1st Floor, 47 Dong Khoi, D1 te x pats 1st floor, 103 Ton Dat Tien, Tan Phu, D7 77 Pasteur, D1 5413 6638 Sense Spa Yves Rocher Botanical Beauty Spa Sense Spa is a massage, skin, and body A famous international botanical Red Door Décor La Cochinchine Spa care haven with a plethora of high-end cosmetic brand with a full range of A well-known furniture store in Ho Chi imported creams, lotions, and serums. products, The Botanical Beauty Spa Minh City offering products such as Located in the Rex Hotel, this luxury 54 Dong Du, D1 Center combines the expertise of its interior/exterior decorations, artwork, spa and fitness centre combined beauticians with the efficacy of Yves handicrafts, glass ceramics, garments, with a swimming pool and bar has a Spa InterContinental Rocher treatments. and textile materials. particular style that is a combination of Spa InterContinental is a 16-18 Hai Ba Trung, D1 31A Le Thanh Ton, D1 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
90 BusinessIMAGE BY mai huyen chi & Tech
91 FEATURE
Sooner or later, every visitor to Vietnam has that moment of realization. The trigger might be the casual ring of a bicycle bell signaling a mobile massage. Or the late night tap-tap-tapping of a noodle seller. Or a woman wanting to measure your weight and height in the park. Or riding Inside the along and seeing an entire pet shop loaded onto a bicycle. It's the realization that the working world here is oftentimes completely and utterly foreign to us. As outsiders looking in, the seemingly endless gamut of jobs often World of Work evokes emotions ranging from amazement to A glimpse into the working lives admiration, concern to compassion. It may even make us question our own fortitude. "If I of everyday Vietnamese had to, would I be able to do that for a living?" But more often than not, the light turns green, Text by James Pham Images by Mai Huyen Chi the person walks on by, we get distracted, and life goes on. Stay another year or two and you might get actual glimpses into the everyday lives of the Vietnamese. An offhand conversation with the lady who sells che on the corner or
92 Watermelon farmer ‘In the future, rice fields will get smaller, and more and more land will be used for industry. When that day comes, there won't be any more farming. Our kids' generation will have to leave the village.’ - Farmer, Gia Lam
with a friendly barber or perhaps the man for the University of California. students had heard about the class and the who delivers water may reveal tantalizing things we'd be doing, so they were more or snippets into a world most of us could never Where did the idea for this book project less open to it. hope to understand. Compounded by the come from? language barrier, accessibility issues and even A lot of these stories are on the original concepts of personal space, most of us rarely GS: I think I've always been interested in project website. Why not take it down once get beyond the surface and into the lives of talking to people. In Vietnam everyone the book was published? the millions of hardworking men and women wanted to talk to me, too. Oh my God! It's who surround us daily. a white guy and he speaks Vietnamese! GS: Actually less than half of the stories in A new book, It's a Living: Work and [laughs]. People were so happy to invite me the book are online [www.projectkieman. Life in Vietnam Today, aims to do just into their homes and tell me their stories. I'm wordpress.com]. People keep asking me that. A collection of 67 interviews and 59 doing a similar project [here in Singapore] why I don't do a Vietnamese version of the photographs, the book offers a look into and others have said that people won't be as book. Publishing in Vietnam would be more the lives of people ranging from a goldfish open as in Vietnam. complicated and this is really more of a peddler installing aquariums and a business The project was actually for my labor of love for me. I want to put up all the school graduate selling shoes on the sidewalk university students – 85 students interviews in Vietnamese if I can, though. But to high-level managers and marketers. The participated, conducting 150 interviews some people don't understand the purpose stories are at once insightful and mundane, over two years. The American students of the website. Two-thirds of the comments and at times, even heartbreaking. Oi talks were more open to these sorts of are people wanting to apply for a job. For to Gerard Sasges, the editor of It's a Living: experiences than the Vietnamese ones. The instance, our most popular story is of a Work and Life in Vietnam Today, who spent class consciousness in Vietnam is strong worker at KFC and some of the comments are 10 years in Vietnam conducting research, where some think: I wouldn't normally like: How can I get this job? I really want to writing, and directing a study abroad program talk to that person. But that said, all my work at KFC. [laughs]
93 Clockwise from left: Pawnshop owner; It's a Living: Work and Life in Vietnam Today cover, Gerard Sasges
The book includes stories of Vietnamese living abroad. Why?
GS: Well, two reasons. First, I wanted to make the argument that they're Vietnamese whether they're living inside or outside the country. Second, I wanted people to think about how the experiences of Vietnamese in America are different but can be surprisingly similar. Placing two factory workers side by side, one in Vietnam and one in Houston [Texas] was kind of neat. Objectively speaking, I'd rather be the factory worker in Vietnam than in America! Which stories most affected you and why?
GS: There's a story [of aViet Kieu woman] who had a laundromat in Orange County [California] but it captures a lot of the difficulties Vietnamese-Americans have faced in the US, how hard they've had to work and the kinds of sacrifices they make for their kids. Another one is the story of an electric appliance repairman who makes USD150 a month and yet finds joy in what he does. That was a really inspiring story for me. much stress on education, but they're also very job, is worthy of our respect and our time. aware that without connections, you can't get These are the two ideas that have inspired our The interviewees often commented that anywhere. In Vietnam, we have this wonderful project, and that shape every interview we do. interaction with customers is what made combination of optimism and realism that I hope that people will walk away having their jobs joyful, like the che seller who coexist. Is university education filling actual more appreciation for the menial, everyday is moved by a “hello” from customers or needs or just training a bunch of managers, jobs. These stories happen to be from Vietnam the school security guard who's happy to because everyone wants to be in business but you could do exactly the same project give advice to naughty children. Was that or work in an NGO? I don't know, but how anywhere and just be reminded how hard surprising to you? different is this story from the US, for example? so many people have to work. Luckily, I That said, I was having a tea on the street and don't have to work hard in the same sense as GS: It was. One of my reasons for doing this talking to the seller. She's living in a one-room many of these people. When I was younger, project was that my students were all going apartment in the Old Quarter, no money, I had some pretty crappy jobs. I worked in a off to start their work lives. At the end of the divorced, yet her son is going to the Foreign factory for six months which was all I could semester, we talked about what we learned Trade University, the top school in Hanoi. It's take before going crazy. We should all really about work and what's important and what's still impressive that that sort of ability exists. respect these billions of people who are doing not and I'd like to think the students came away That's pretty amazing. jobs that make our lives possible. We often from the project with a deeper understanding forget that. about the things in life that matter. What do you want the public to take away from this book? It's a Living: Work and Life in Vietnam Today A common view throughout the interviews is available in paperback on Amazon or as an is of education being the savior of children GS: First is the idea that our work is an e-book on iTunes (scan code). born to hard laborers. What's your take on important window on ourselves and our the educational system in Vietnam? Is it the world; it’s what we do to survive, and most answer? human beings will spend the greater part of their waking lives doing it. Second is the idea GS: It's really funny because people put so that every job, and every person doing that
94 LEGAL EASE legal Column
Dear Hadrien, I am an American citizen living and working in Ho Chi Minh City. I want to know what I should do if the unthinkable happened to me... How A member of the Paris Bar, Hadrien Wolff has been practicing can I create a will to ensure that if I die here, law in Vietnam for six years, currently as a partner of Audier & Partners. He specializes in banking and corporate law, regularly the savings that I have in my Vietnamese advising major foreign banks and assisting foreign investors in setting up joint venture companies with Vietnamese partners in bank account will go to my family in the US? sensitive sectors such as media, power and natural resources
Generally speaking, civil matters and transfer of your assets, Vietnamese in your will you may stipulate that those involving a foreign element, such as law, like many other legal systems around savings should be distributed to your inheritance from a person not residing in the world, makes a distinction between family in the US. Under Vietnamese law, his or her country of citizenship, can be “testate inheritance,” which applies when it is explicitly provided that foreigners complicated. a person has made a will, whereby that with a lawful foreign currency resource The first step to answering your question person called the “testator” decides to are entitled to remit their foreign currency is to determine which law is applicable to whom his or her assets will be transferred abroad. Assuming that you have a lawful the inheritance. As an American citizen to when passing away, and “inheritance source of money in Vietnamese dong living in Vietnam, there are two legal at law,” which applies when no such will and that you complied with all your tax systems to consider: Vietnamese law and has been made or when an existing will obligations, your money may validly be US law. The application of one or the other is unlawful. In the latter case, Vietnamese converted into US dollars and remitted to depends mainly on the territory where the law provides guidance on how to the US should your will so provide. will has been written. distribute the assets between successors. Please note that the situation would be Assuming that the assets subject to your As a testator, you can make a will to a bit more complicated if your inheritance inheritance are, for most if not all, located express how you would like to bequeath also includes immovable property. in Vietnam, the entities and people that your property that is located in Vietnam. Without going into too much detail, shall proceed with the transfer of your Among other things, you will have the when foreign citizens inherit immovable assets in accordance with your will are right to appoint “heirs”: to determine to property in Vietnam, as a general rule in Vietnam and governed by Vietnamese which parts of your assets those heirs the property must first be sold and the law (such as your bank). As a matter will be entitled to, to reserve a part of designated heirs can only inherit the of practice, they will be more likely to your assets as a gift, to designate heirs corresponding value. accept and apply Vietnamese law to your to perform certain obligations, and to It is important to know that under inheritance than any other law. appoint a custodian of your will (e.g. a Vietnamese law, certain heirs are To avoid any risk of confusion and notary public), as well as a manager and a protected. This means that regardless of challenges by such Vietnamese entities and distributor of your assets. your will as a testator, any minor children, people of the validity of the choice of US law Now what should a will look like? In adult children incapable of working, your as the law applicable to your inheritance principle, a will must be made in writing. father, your mother and your wife or (on the ground that the will was created in Under Vietnamese law, you are free husband will be entitled to claim a certain the US), we advise that your inheritance is to choose whether you want the will portion of the inheritance. Furthermore, governed by Vietnamese law, which implies to be witnessed or not and whether or a husband and wife may choose to jointly creating your will in Vietnam. not you would like it to be notarized or make a will regarding their shared assets. In a situation like yours, the Vietnamese certified. In either case, a will must clearly At the same time, certain people are Civil Code provides that the law of the specify: the date on which it is made, the excluded from inheriting, such as those country of your citizenship (e.g. US law) full name and place of residence of the having seriously breached their duty to will determine your legal capacity to testator, the full names of the people or support the deceased. create, change and revoke a will but that organizations entitled to inherit an asset So, if you want to be sure that your Vietnamese law, however, will rule on the or any specific conditions that those family in the US will receive your savings matter of the form of the will as well as the individuals or organizations would have in case anything were to happen to matter of the change and/or the termination to satisfy in order to inherit an asset, the you, making a will in Vietnam would be of the ownership rights over your assets. asset to be bequeathed, its location and the advisable. Even though it is not required The legal capacity of a person appointment of people to perform certain under Vietnamese law, I would further determines whether he or she may make obligations regarding the asset and the suggest you visit a notary public who can binding amendments to their rights, duties content of such obligations. Furthermore, help you prepare your will in accordance and obligations, such as getting married or a will may not contain abbreviations with the law and who can notarize and merging, entering into contracts, making or other symbols and if a will consists keep custody over it for you. If there gifts, or writing a valid will. You will need of several pages, each page must be is ever a dispute regarding your will, a to obtain confirmation from a competent numbered and bear the signature or the notarized will could make proceedings US lawyer that you indeed have legal fingerprint of the testator. before a competent civil court of Vietnam capacity to write a will but, until then, you much easier. In the meanwhile, please stay can assume that you are capable to do so. Movable Property healthy and safe! The savings that you have in your If you have any legal questions you want Distribution of Assets Vietnamese bank account qualifies as answered, send them to legal@oivietnam. As for the matters of the form of the will movable property located in Vietnam and com
95 The List
Atexpats is Ho Chi Minh City's first truly comprehensive Business & Tech insider's guide for foreign residents - website launching 2013 China Consulate Myanmar Consulate property and casualty insurers, banks 39 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 50 Sam Son, Tan Binh insurance products include universal 3829 5009 5449 2425 life insurance, term life, whole life, riders, Asia Commercial Bank www.vn.china-embassy.org/eng/ www.gmas.com.vn and global personal accident. 442 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D3 Mon-Fri: 8.30am - 11am Mon-Fri: 9am - 12pm; 2pm - 5pm; Sat: 9am 21st Floor, 115 Nguyen Hue, D1 39290999 - 12pm China Consulate - Commercial Office AIG Vietnam Bank of China 39 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 New Zealand Consulate AIG’s presence in Vietnam dates 19th Floor, 115 Nguyen Hue, D1 3823 1142 235 Dong Khoi, D1 back to the 1920s, although modern 3821 9949 [email protected] 3822 6907 operations began back in 2005. They www.hochiminh.mofcom.gov.cn Mon - Fri: 8.30am - 11.30am; 1.00pm - offer a wide range of personal and Citibank 5.00pm commercial insurance products. 15/F Sun Wah Tower, 115 Nguyen Hue, D1 Cuba Consulate 9th Floor, Saigon Center, 65 Le Loi, D1 3824 2267 45 Phung Khac Khoan, D1 Nordcham 094 801 6318 3829 7350 12A Floor, Bitexco Building, 19-25 Nguyen Baoviet Insurance Corporation Mon-Fri: 8am - 11.30am; 1.30pm - 4.30pm Hue, D1 BaoViet is now the leading financial Commonwealth Bank 3821 5423 insurance group in Vietnam with more 65 Nguyen Du, D1 Denmark Consulate www.nordcham.com than 145 branches across 63 provinces. 3824 1525 115 Nguyen Hue, D1 23-25 Thai Van Lung, D1 012 1861 8695 3821 9373 Norway Consulate Mon-Thu: 8.30am - 4.30pm; Fri: 8.30am 21-23 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D1 BHNT Great Eastern HSBC - 3pm 3822 1696 Life assurance & financial plans for Metropolitan Bulding, 235 Dong Khoi, D1 [email protected] customers of various age groups. 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They charge a flat rate 3825 1888 the best suitable solution. The company is VND175,000 per hour. Mon-Fri: 8am - 12pm; 2pm - 5pm independent and Vietnam-based. 7300 4487 (7300 GIUP) Sweden Consulate IBC Building, 3rd Floor, 1A Me Linh Square, 8A/11 Thai Van Lung, D1 [email protected] Italy Consulate D1 3823 6800 www.giup.me 81 Nguyen Huu Canh, Binh Thanh www.insuranceinvietnam.com 08 6258 6473 Mon–Fri: 8am - 12pm; 1.30pm - 4.30pm Mon-Fri: 8am - 12pm; 1pm - 4pm Liberty Mutual Insurance Switzerland Consulate Liberty Mutual is a 100% US-owned consulates 42 Giang Van Minh, D2 Japanese Consulate general insurer licensed to provide 3744 6996 261 Dien Bien Phu, D3 insurance services directly to Australian Consulate-General 08 3933 3520 47 Ly Tu Trong, D1 Vietnamese individuals and state- 8.30am - 11.30am; 1.15pm - 4.45pm Thailand Consulate owned enterprises as well as motor 3521 8100 77 Tran Quoc Thao, D3 Mon-Fri: 8.30am - 12pm; 1pm - 5pm insurance. Kuwait Consulate 15th Floor, Kumho Asiana Plaza, 39 Le 24 Phung Khac Khoan, D1 The Czech Republic Consulate Duan, D1. 3812 5125 Belgium Consulate 3827 0555 28 Mac Dinh Chi, D1 105 Duong Van An, D2 [email protected] 6281 8001 Mon-Fri: 9am - 4pm The UK Consulate LIG Insurance 9am - 11.30am on Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 25 Le Duan, D1 The company provides property 3829 8433 and casualty insurance, along with Laos Consulate customer relations management and Cambodia Consulate 93 Pasteur, D1 automobile claims support services and 41 Phung Khac Khoan, D1 3829 7667 U.S. Consulate General Ho Chi Minh long-term insurance to individuals and 3829 2751 Mon-Fri: 8am - 11.30am; 1pm - 4.30pm City Mon-Fri: 7.30am - 11.30am; 2pm - 5pm 34 Le Duan, D1 corporations. Malaysia Consulate 3520 4610 Unit 809, 8th Floor, 115 Nguyen Hue, D1 te x pats Consulate General of Canada 2 Ngo Duc Ke, D1 3821 9968 10th floor, The Metropolitan, 235 Dong 3829 9023 Ukraine Consulate Khoi, D1 [email protected] 22-24 Nguyen Van Thu, D1 McLarens Young International 3827 9899 Mon-Fri: 8am - 11.30am McLarens Young International is a Mon-Thu: 8.30am - 4.30pm global claims service provider that helps Mexico Consulate insurance our clients achieve timely and equitable Chile Consulate 215 A-B Hoang Van Thu, Phu Nhuan claims resolution. 79/1/1 Phan Ke Binh, D1 3844 5520 ACE Life Insurance 9th Floor, Yoco Building, 41 Nguyen Thi
3910 2903 Mon-Fri: 8am - 3pm One of the world’s largest multiline Minh Khai, D1. 3821 3316 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013
96 Prudential Vietnam Unit 704, 7th Floor, Sunwah Tower, 115 application of physical and intellectual & relocations, with 128 offices in 78 Prudential Vietnam is one of the Nguyen Hue, D1. 3821 4432 scale to benefit trading, innovation, and countries, they can move you to/or leading life insurers nationwide, also new communication services to bring from any location worldwide. providing a variety of financial solutions, Phuoc & Partners Company competitive advantage to clients and 5th Floor, Lafayette De Saigon, 8A Phung with over 200 customer service centers, Phuoc & Partners is an independent companies. Khac Khoan, D1 branch offices and general agency and law and consulting firm with integrated Level 6, 111A Pasteur, D1. 3821 2233 www.agsfourwinds.com business partner offices. legal and tax practices. The firm enables Unit 25F, Saigon Trade Centre, 37 Ton Duc clients to reduce their administrative S3 Studios Thang, D1 overhead and focus on core business Allied Pickfords The first international calibre, One of the largest and most respected activities. full-service production house and providers of moving services worldwide, 3910 1660 Room 1602, Level 16, Centec Tower, studio in Vietnam, S3 is designed AP assumes complete responsibility information technology 72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, D3 to accommodate commercial photography, film & video productions for all moving services through a single Asia Pacific Solutions PricewaterhouseCoopers and events. point of contact. A software development and IT support District 1. 0122 5141 848 service company, services include PwC boasts a thorough understanding 1K Ngo Van So, D4. 3941 1179 developing all kinds of engineering of the transitional economy of Vietnam systems and implementing software and a wide knowledge of policies Asian Tigers solutions. and procedures covering investment, real estate agencies Pan-Asian moving firm with a perhaps Suite 1201, 12th Floor, 111A Pasteur, D1 tax and accounting, and consulting unrivalled level of experience and 3825 1041 throughout the country. Colliers International Vietnam expertise in packing, storing and 4th Floor Saigon Tower, 29 Le Duan, D1 Globally, Colliers International is a moving a family’s treasured belongings NTT Communications Vietnam leading commercial real estate services throughout this region and beyond. 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Services include English direct from the MD Jeff Tran. recognized practice areas include brands. The team regularly share VietnamWorks (which posts about 200 29 Huynh Van Banh, Ward 17, Phu Nhuan Corporate, M&A and Finance. branding insights at red.tm/blog. new jobs per day) and Navigos Search 3995 6117 Level 7 - Room 702, 81-85 Ham Nghi, D1 10 Phan Ngu, D1 (the leading recruitment firm in Vietnam). 3820 0169 130 Suong Nguyet Anh, D1 Logitem Viet Nam Logos Law Firm [email protected] | www.red.tm Warehousing, shipping and Logos HCMC Office offers Odgers Berndtson Vietnam comprehensive legal services in a transportation, 100% Japanese owned. Saatchi & Saatchi - The Lovemarks A global firm specializing in the 23 Tran Nao, Binh An, D2 wide range of subject areas for foreign recruitment of senior level executives, Company 3744 2281 investors in Vietnam through highly This world-class international the firm employs experienced
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©2013 A L istings C op yr ight ©2013 business and corporate activity. The focus of GroupM is the intelligent Global leader in international removals 3840 9330
97 Faces & Places
20 40 20,000 ISHCMC celebrated their 20 years of educational The final celebration to honor The HCMC leg of the heavy metal concert success this school year. 980 students and 40 years of diplomatic relations RockStorm saw 20,000 headbangers fill up the teachers attended a cake cutting ceremony between France and Vietnam was Military Zone 7 stadium. From veteran bands in December 2013 on the school campus to a spectacular lighting show at the like Wall, Pentatonic, and Microwave Generation commemorate the occasion and acknowledge Reunification Palace created by image to younger ones like Black Infinity, KOP, and long-serving staff members and students. artists from the Spectaculaires group. Oringchains, the music was loud and pumping.
images provided by ishcmc IMAGEs bY adam robert young IMAGEs bY NGOC TRAN
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