Quan An Ngon, Ho Chi Minh City

I'm glad we went to Quan An Ngon. It was fun and the place looks really nice, but if you're really into the food it is disappointing. The food was okay; just average. We had a lot of different items and nothing was bad, but nothing was great either.

If you will be in Saigon for only a short time, THIS is the restaurant you must dine at. Large selection of both traditional and street foods within an enormous. dining venue consisting of multiple indoor rooms on different levels plus outdoor seating. A short walking tour around the outer perimeter of the restaurant, past all the 'stalls' where the food is prepared is a bit of a culinary experience alone, perhaps something not to be missed in itself. Simple dining, yet with an unexplainable air of sophistication, perhaps merely the affect of the building it is housed within itself. Busy, frequented by both locals and an increasing tourist/expat crowd, it can be noisy at times.
I have read much about this restaurant over the last few years, there are many write ups/reviews on all the travel forums, so many in fact that I just could not believe it would be worth a visit. As often is the case, once a restaurant receives accolades from the likes of Lonely Planet and Frommer's, the service/quality goes down as the prices and patronage soar. This is what I had believed I would experience at Quan An Ngon. Well, I finally gave in and investigated the restaurant in Dec 2009 while living and working in Saigon and surprisingly, that was not the case. Food is exceptional, presentation is good, maybe very good in some instances, staff is friendly menu is quite large, decor and ambiance slightly festive but not over done and prices are actually on the cheap side for a restaurant of this quality in District 1, Saigon's premier dining area. For anyone traveling to or through Saigon, this is a must dining experience, especially if the length of your stay is limited. Rest assured the overwhelmingly loyal patronage this establishment enjoys by the locals is in no part attributable to the American or European Travel industry's or any popular travel forum's coverage.

Favorite Dish: Sugar Cane Prawns
Rice Paper.

This is a great restuarant, specialising in Vietnamese cuisine, so good infact we ate here 2 out of 3 nights and then tried the one in Hanoi (we prefered Saigon). The ambience was good, the service excellent, the waiters spoke English and will advise you what to eat and then how to eat it, need be. You can't come here and just have 1 meal each - you must order a variety of dishes so you can share like the Asians do. It is far more enjoyable and you get to taste a variety of food.

Favorite Dish: The Vietnamese crab, sweet potatoe and shrimp pancake, the fish soup and to be honest, everything we had was good, except for the drunken rice pudding. Generally speaking Asian desserts are not for Western palates - best stick to the delicious ice-cream.

This is a great restuarant, specialising in Vietnamese cuisine, so good infact we ate here 2 out of 3 nights and then tried the one in Hanoi (we prefered Saigon). The ambience was good, the service excellent, the waiters spoke English and will advise you what to eat and then how to eat it, need be. You can't come here and just have 1 meal each - you must order a variety of dishes so you can share like the Asians do. It is far more enjoyable and you get to taste a variety of food.

Favorite Dish: The Vietnamese crab, sweet potatoe and shrimp pancake, the fish soup and to be honest, everything we had was good, except for the drunken rice pudding. Generally speaking Asian desserts are not for Western palates - best stick to the delicious ice-cream.

This is a great restuarant, specialising in Vietnamese cuisine, so good infact we ate here 2 out of 3 nights and then tried the one in Hanoi (we prefered Saigon). The ambience was good, the service excellent, the waiters spoke English and will advise you what to eat and then how to eat it, need be. You can't come here and just have 1 meal each - you must order a variety of dishes so you can share like the Asians do. It is far more enjoyable and you get to taste a variety of food.

Favorite Dish: The Vietnamese crab, sweet potatoe and shrimp pancake, the fish soup and to be honest, everything we had was good, except for the drunken rice pudding. Generally speaking Asian desserts are not for Western palates - best stick to the delicious ice-cream.

Okay I guess I have to mark it under 'street vendor' as that's what all the chefs are. This is an awesome place for dinner or lunch, I'd read on here that it was a good place to eat, thought I'd ask our hotel manager where a good place to eat was, guess where he said.... that's right, Quan An Ngon. We ate here 4 times in 7 days, fanatstic food and service, if you don't knwo what to eat, just ask the staff, they will recommend something. It's special in the fact that you just rock up and they'll seat you within 10mins max. It has a buzzing atmosphere, not too lit up but not so dim that you can't see what you're eating.

Favorite Dish: My husband had the sugar cane prawn (shared it with me), was delicious, I had rice with pork and beef, another delicious dish, then again we ate here 4 times, I can't remember what else I had but all the food was fantastic. Have to try the ice-cream in young coconut...... that was awesome, and the fresh fruit shakes too (I liked banana), try not to eat fruit in Vietnam, when you get home you'll be sorely disappointed, we got home and found the fruit here bites. I like all the dishes, can't really pick a favourite. Just pick something, if you don't like it, order something else, it's so cheap you can afford to... I don't think you'll not like it though.

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A novel idea has bought together the local street vendors in a hygenic and regulated restaurant. The prices are still very cheap, the food is fantastic and the atmosphere is very quaint. Highly recommended.

This place is in front of the old Presidential Palace. Good selection of viet cousine. Place is clean and the staff are accomodating, avoid the rush of lunch crowd if possible. We ate lunch here while waiting for the Palace to open in the afternoon. Write down he name of the palce and show it to the taxi driver.

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Most food are prepared in open concept kitchen. A lot of locals eating at the restaurant too. 3 of us ordered Vietnamese pancake, spring rolls, grilled prawns, crab meat soup, cuttlefish, noodles, beer, fruit juice and the vietnamese desserts. Cost only US$15.00. As we had no idea what to order, the waiter recommended most of the dishes.

Favorite Dish: Spring rolls and dessert.

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food: very Vietnamese - from starters to dessert, it serves cuisine famous around vietnam

ambiance: pretty crowded
especially during weekends since both locals and foreigners go here to eat

surroundings: they got all corners covered specializing in diff aspect of the Vietnamese food.
i saw one corner that only cooks all the varieties of Pho (noodle soup) by the way, make sure that you get a table already.

the menu doesnt not have pictures, just description of what is included in the dish you will order. so it might not be as what u imagine it to be.

a friend had pineapple ice cream, it was vanilla with 2 pineapple slices a tthe side. go figure! or if we just didn't read the menu well! hahaha! also other desserts are sweet but will be hot (i guess im just program to always expect cold dessert!)

Favorite Dish: the Vietnamese rice paper! it is a must try for the foreigners.
they have different sets arrange for this,
if you are vegetarian, you get to have all the greens you want
or if you want meat with the greens, then a choice for pork, chicken, or beef
and their waitresses are nice enough to even demonstrate for you HOW to wrap and eat this.
the sauce can be spicy. but you need this to soften up the wrap.
or else its a battle betweeen the teeth and the hand.
but no matter who will win, you will end up with an unwrap food! scattered on your plate!
c",)
happy eating!