43 Best Restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The centerpiece of this stylish, immensely popular Japanese-owned restaurant is not a sushi bar but a brick oven, and the focus here is Japanese-Italian fusion, targeted at the Vietnamese palate but equally loved by out-of-towners. You can opt for classic creations such as prosciutto margarita or something a little more experimental, like flower pizza (with edible blooms such as pumpkin, leek, and daylily), teriyaki chicken with seaweed or salmon miso cream. Italian-style appetizers and pasta dishes are also available, as is a cheese platter featuring handmade cheeses from the 4Ps' cheese factory near Dalat. Customers who can't get a seat will stand by the bar just for a slice of the mouthwatering pizza. Reservations should be made days in advance—yes, it's that popular. This restaurant is the original, with a growing number of locations in some of Vietnam's biggest cities.

Voted one of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2021, Anan Saigon puts a whimsically modern twist on Vietnamese street food. Talented Vietnamese-American chef-owner Peter Cuong Franklin is credited for pioneering Vietnamese fusion cuisine, often elevating Vietnamese flavors with French cooking techniques. The main restaurant is on the ground floor but also explore the upper floors to Nhau Nhau (third floor) for cocktails with an Old Saigon vibe, Pot Au Pho noodle bar (fourth floor), and the rooftop bar (sixth floor) for views of the neighboring wet market backed by one of Saigon's tallest buildings.

Always packed with locals, this narrow eatery serves up Ho Chi Minh City's best banh cuon (steamed rice flour crepes stuffed with minced pork and wood ear mushrooms) and an excellent version of the central Vietnamese banh beo (steamed rice flour pancakes topped with dried prawn). Just order the first three items on the menu and you'll be in foodie heaven in no time.

The name translates as opium poppy, and this chic little eatery is in a corner of the former La Manufacture d'Opium, the French-controlled opium refinery and warehouse. It offers contemporary Vietnamese cuisine with knockout flavors and a wine list that works with the local cuisine. The art deco interior is elegant, with wrought-iron chairs, cast-iron lamps, hand stenciling, and a leafy outdoor terrace. Standout dishes include mustard-leaf rolls; pink pomelo, squid, and crab salad; and soft shell crabs in green rice batter with passion fruit sauce. The kids' menu will also make mini foodies happy.

Classy surroundings, attentive staff, and amazing cocktails are good reasons to come here, but it's the mouthwatering pan-Asian food that's the highlight, regularly winning over meat lovers who have reluctantly accompanied their vegetarian partners and friends. The menu is full of health-conscious options, and the food is as visually appealing as it is delicious. Unlike traditional vegetarian places in Vietnam, Hum uses garlic and onion and serves alcohol.

Industrial chic meets art house tucked away in a colonial villa at this well-loved café. The food is reliably good, offering a range of contemporary café fusion fare including salads, sandwiches, cold cut platters, and Western favorites. Beautifully plated Vietnamese dishes include a very tasty caramelized pork and herb number and a solid broken rice with grilled pork. There is a second, larger restaurant with a bright upstairs retail space at 19 Le Thanh Ton.

An experience rather than a meal, La Villa serves elegant but not pretentious fine French dining on a quiet street in District 2's Thao Dien area. Whether you sit in the garden by the pool, surrounded by fairy lights and greenery, or inside in the airy salon, the attentive service and the cuisine add to the memorable experience. For an extra-special meal try the Menu Villa Gourmet, and for something extra-extra special ask for Chef Thierry's wine pairings from the extensive wine list. Don't miss the homemade Camembert Calvados (apple brandy camembert) from the cheese cart.

The concept of dining in pitch blackness, served by vision-impaired waiters, has been a huge hit since Noir opened its doors in mid-2014. The theory is that because sight is our dominant sense, if you take it away other senses are heightened, resulting in a more intense experience of the food's aromas and taste. Diners divest themselves of light-emitting devices such as mobile phones and order three-course Eastern, Western, or vegetarian set menus in a well-lit entry area before entering the blacked-out dining room. Noir's founders and kitchen team have extensive fine dining experience, which is evident once the first morsel is navigated through the darkness to awaiting taste buds. Identifying ingredients in the dark is harder than you'd expect. After the meal, diners learn the specifics of the dishes they've enjoyed.

If Top Chef ever came to Vietnam, it would likely look like Nous. With just eight seats surrounding an open kitchen once per night, this modern minimalist space is all about elevating Vietnamese flavors to fine dining heights. Tasting menus change every few months, but diners can expect familiar flavors and often local ingredients transformed into adventurous modern cuisine incorporating foams, gels, smokes, and cures. One meal might include a deconstructed banh xeo eaten like a taco and a sweet treat of lotus ice cream and longan shaved ice inspired by a humble street food dessert.

This American barbecue joint is wildly popular among locals, who love the tasty ribs, the craft beer, the cheeky menu, and the laid-back vibe. It was set up by an American, Australian, and French trio, who charm the local dining scene with shared plates, communal picnic-style tables, stripped-back surroundings, and reasonable prices. The most popular menu items are the ribs and the big, spicy Italian sausage, each including three sides. You can choose whether to eat with a knife and fork or chopsticks. A second outlet is at 47 Xuan Thuy in District 2.

One of the hippest eateries in town, the Racha Room serves up Asian-inspired fusion food as well as artisanal cocktails (prepared by a mixologist imported from Melbourne, Australia) in a small but groovy space, with exposed brick walls, graffiti art, and funky music. The place has proved a hit with locals, expats, and travelers alike for its bold flavors and overall grooviness, so reservations are recommended.

With a thriving indoor kitchen garden in the center of the restaurant, Secret House evokes the feeling of olden days Vietnamese countryside living; the home-style menu is short for a Vietnamese place, but every dish is reliably delicious with surprising attention to presentation. Schedule a visit early in your trip so you can return to try all the delicious dishes you couldn't fit in first time around. Food is ordered Vietnam-style, to be placed in the middle and shared. Do try to find room for the chao tom (pork and prawn grilled on sugarcane sticks).

A stylish lounge and restaurant on the banks of the slow-flowing Saigon River, The Deck is a place to spoil yourself with sublime seafood-focused pan-Asian cuisine, fine wines, and professional service. The beauty of the entry courtyard, with its tall trees, black marble pond, and potted lotus plants, is almost forgotten once you enter the restaurant, where the river views take center stage. The weekend Champagne brunches are sophisticated yet casual and the executive set lunches are perfectly suited to the business crowd.

World-class tea, cakes, pastries, and Australian café-style comfort food is served among antiques, objets d'art, and other treasures collected by globe-trotting chef and hotelier David Campbell. It's a very exotic feeling to be sitting on a vintage couch surrounded by beautiful things, using the free Wi-Fi and sipping top-quality TWG teas. High tea, brunch, or lunch can be served inside the antiques shop, on the terrace, or in the elaborate gazebo outside. The menu offers various baked goods, sandwiches, pies, and dishes such as lasagna and quiche. It's a great place to try Australian favorites such as lamingtons (chocolate cake with coconut), coconut ice, and sausage rolls, as well as European favorites like arancini balls.

Midway between the Reunification Palace and Notre Dame cathedral, overlooking the tall trees of April 30 Park, this is a great place to linger in exotic surroundings, whether for a meal or just a smoothie or coffee. The flavors are Mediterranean and Middle Eastern, the staff is attentive, and the location is prime. The appeal of Au Parc, in a restored colonial-era shopfront, is further enhanced by the children's playroom upstairs, which is supervised by a nanny on weekends from 11 am to 4 pm while brunch is served.

Slap-bang in the heart of the backpacker district, this gem of an Indian restaurant serves a great selection of curries, tandoori, tikka, vegetarian dishes, breads, and Southern Indian specialties. It's an unassuming, clean, and friendly little place, but if you don't feel like venturing out, they deliver throughout Ho Chi Minh City.

A no-frills, family-run institution, Banh Xeo 46A is the go-to place for one of southern Vietnam's most cherished culinary creations: banh xeo (literally, "sizzling crepe")—a crispy pancake made with rice flour, coconut milk, and a smidgen of turmeric, and filled with bean sprouts, onion, shrimp, and pork. Break off a piece and wrap it up in a giant mustard leaf along with a handful of herbs and greens, and dunk it in a fish sauce-based dip laced with chilies. The menu has been expanded to include other Vietnamese dishes but the banh xeo is still the star. There's a room with air-conditioning, but sitting outside and watching the food being made is more fun.

Down a small street near Ben Thanh Market, this cute little eatery serves cheap and cheerful Vietnamese food at its finest. The staff are friendly, the food is tasty, and there's a range of interesting and refreshing drinks and desserts. If you're into snails, its sister restaurant at 136/9 Le Thanh Ton is where to go.

Serving traditional Vietnamese dishes with an emphasis on healthy, environmentally friendly eating, Cuc Gach has succeeded in carving out its own niche in the city's dining scene. Set in an old French home that has received a modern makeover and is furnished with repurposed colonial-era furniture—including a wooden bed that's been converted into a dining table—this is Vietnamese with a green and design-y edge. Reservations are recommended but not essential.

There's a great atmosphere as well as great food at District Federal, the only place in town with a Mexican chef cooking authentic Mexican cuisine with fresh, high-quality local ingredients. Don't miss the Mexican drinks, including tepache juice, horchata, and frozen margaritas. You can stop by for drinks only, but the food really should not be missed.

Non-sports fans are fully justified in hanging out in Dtwo Sportspub just for the awesome pub grub, including classic burgers, fish-and-chips, Cornish pasties, and beef stew. There's also distinctly non-pubby grub, such as a cheese board, salads, and eggs Benedict. The TV screens broadcasting sports aren't too loud, so the non-sporty types can focus on the food, or a game of pool out back.

Just a few doors from the War Remnants Museum, this vegetarian restaurant is a calm oasis that starts to restore flagging spirits from the first step past the pond and lush greenery into the stylish interior. The fresh and healthy pan-Asian menu and the vibe are similar to Hum Lounge in District 1, but with a focus that's more on food than cocktails. Try the square spring rolls, the visually appealing rainbow salad with sesame dressing, and the wild vegetable soup.

Huong Lai serves traditional Southern Vietnamese home cooking with a very high feel-good factor—all the staffers are orphans and disadvantaged young people, given a helping hand by the philanthropic Japanese owner, who calls his enterprise a training restaurant. The interior is delightfully rustic, the service is friendly, the English language skills excellent, the food is authentic, and over the course of more than a decade, Huong Lai has launched more than 60 young people into careers in the five-star hospitality sector.

Catering to the young switched-on set, ID Café is popular with digital nomads, bloggers, locals, expats, and tourists alike. They come for its groovy interior design, high-speed Internet, coffee, and very tasty food, including several vegetarian options.

La Fiesta, run by the effusive American-Vietnamese couple Scott and Duc, will satisfy all your Tex-Mex cravings, whether it's for tacos, chili con carne, enchiladas, sangria, or margaritas. This place is popular with locals, expats, and tourists for its big portions, big taste, strong drinks, and great service all at reasonable prices. Vegetarian and vegan options are available. There's also a second location in the expat neighborhood in District 7.

This is a bright and clean vegan restaurant catering to local Buddhists, who are full-time or part-time vegetarians—some just forsake meat twice a month, on the full and half moon. An extensive range of fresh and delicious Vietnamese vegan dishes features on the menu, many using mock meat made from tofu, lentils, or beans (meaning there's actually no beef in a dish labeled, for instance, beef with pepper sauce). Not only is the menu in English, it also includes pictures, and the prepared dishes are as colorful as they appear on the menu.

A quirk of fate made the ever-smiling Nguyen Thi Thanh an international television superstar, yet fame has not wrought many changes to her humble food stand (although in a different location). The Lunch Lady, who famously served celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain on his No Reservations TV show in 2009, has a rolling menu of a different dish every day (which means no real choice). It's a great way to try street food local-style, on plastic chairs around low metal tables.

It's not compulsory to eat the fresh spring rolls/summer rolls or side dishes that are served once you sit down, but if you try one, you will be charged for the whole plate. Just wave them away if you don't want them.

Even today, long after the war, you couldn't guess this little pho shop's secret: in an upstairs room here, a resistance cell planned the Ho Chi Minh City attacks of the 1968 Tet Offensive. After a delicious bowl of beef or chicken pho arrives, foreign visitors are usually presented with a photo album and guest book. It's usually possible to visit the humble room (for 10,000d per person), which remains much the same—except it now has the grand title, Command Post Office of Subdivision 6 in the General Offensive and Uprising of the Tet Offensive in 1968. The name of the shop, by the way, means "peace soup."

Serving what is described as "redesigned" Vietnamese cuisine with a focus on fresh ingredients, the sleek and artsy Propaganda does nontraditional takes on traditional dishes, especially fresh spring rolls. You can avoid menu confusion by choosing the 510,000d or 580,000d discovery menu of four courses, three glasses of wine, and organic green tea. Midway between the Reunification Palace and the Notre Dame Cathedral, Propaganda is the perfect spot to recharge during a long hot day of sightseeing, while admiring some (you guessed it) wartime propaganda art.