11A Ngo Van Nam, Dist. 1.

Tel: 822 9783

(Fine Vietnamese dining in traditional style. The 2001 Guide Fine Dinning Award winner)

11 Le Thanh Ton, Dist. 1.

Tel: 823 7694

(Royal dinning

Set menu of 9 dishes: US$ 15 to US$ 50

A la carte: US$ 3 to US$ 20 per dish)

29-31 Ton That Thiep, Dist. 1.

Tel: 829 9244

(Reminiscent of colonial times.

Set menu: US$ 12 to US$ 20

A-la-carte: VND80,000/dish)

138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Dist. 1.

Tel: 829 9449

(Authentic Vietnamese food in traditional Vietnamese style. Reasonable prices: VND 8,000 to 40,000/dish) 

4 Nguyeb Thiep, 

Tel: 3822 0496

Located un the heart of the vibrant business and entertaiment distric, Lemon Grass is an ideal place with genuine Vietnamese food in a cozy seting.

Nam Ky Khoi Nghia

Tel: 38233340

Windsor Saigon Hotel

193 Tran Hung Dao, Dist. 1

newly opene

29 Le Quy Don, Dist.3.

French and Vietnamese cuisine.

Live Vietnamese music perFormance every night from 8:30pm  

31 Thai Van Lung, Dist 1

Tel: 3825 8465

Delightful restaurant   in a picturesque garden setting, serving excellent French food.

1st floor, 139 Nguyen Thai Binh

Tel: 3821 4049

Best French cuisine and flavours of Asia   

72 Nguyen Hue, Dist. 1

Tel: 805 1203

147 Bis Hai Ba Trung, Dist. 1

Tel: 827 3778

Newly opened  

Behind Opera House Lam Son Square

Metropolitan building 

253 Dong Khoi

Chain popular for its  best location, snacks and cappuccino

218 B Pasteur

Tel: 3932 0674

Popular Vietnamese coffee place.        

7 Lam Son Square, Dist. 1

Tel: 823 3479

28 Le Loi

Tel: 3822 8472

The reference for Jazz music, offering daily live show

Caravelle Hotel

19 Lam Son Square, Dist. 1.

Tel: 823 4999

(Panoramic views and live entertainment 

opening for lunch with the most scrumptious and freshest Garden Greens', Bread Works', and Dessert's menu)

Black Cat 13 Phan Van Dat, D1, HCMC. Fresh and juicy beef patty. Try their jumbo burger at US$15. 

Barbecue Garden , 135A Nam Ky Khoi Nghia - Quan 1. HCMC ☎+84 8 823 3340. Located 100 m from Ben Thanh Market, behind the General Sciences Library. US$5-7 range. The restaurant is a barbecue specialist with both Vietnamese and International recipes. 

Lion City Cafe & Restaurant, 45, Le Anh Xuan, District 1 (Opposite New World Hotel), ☎ +84 8 3823 8371. 7PM-3PM. The biggest chain of Singaporean restaurants in Vietnam, all ingredients imported. 100% Singaporean food with a head chef and owner from Singapore. US$3-8.  edit 

Papaya by Chi Nghia , 68 Pham Viet Chanh, Binh Thanh District (near the Zoo). Small place specializing in northern style Vietnamese cuisine. Run by the chef/owner, who has 25 years of experience with Sofitel hotels, cooking and presentation is 5 star quality. From US$2-5 and upwards. Very clean, and nicely decorated. 

Hoa Mai Coffee #43-45 Do Quang Dau Street. ☎+84 8 836 8310. Located in a fun, up and coming area, just off Phan Ngu Lao, between Phan Ngu Lao Street and Bui Vien Street. Restaurant downstairs, on the second floor is a comfortable bar with pool table. International food and local dishes. Around US$2-5. Fresh fruit shakes, spring rolls, vietnamese noodles and pasta. 

Huong Dong Recently moved a bit further from the centre, to 68 Huynh Tinh Cua. A modest, open-air restaurant serving mostly southern country-style food. The name literally means "scent of the fields". It's a place where families and groups of friends gather, drink a lot of beer, eat a lot of food, and make a bit of noise. You might need a few beers to get up the courage to try some of the more exotic offerings, including field mouse, whole frog, pigeon porridge, and coconut worm. A whole char-grilled ga ta (local style free-range chicken) is 170,000 dong, head and feet included. A wide variety of other meats and seafood is available for 50,000-80,000 dong. Quirky English translations of the long menu add to the spirit of adventure. 

La Sen Restaurant (Nha Hang La Sen), 30 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, Phuong 6 - Quan 3. ☎ +84 8 930 6682. opening hours 9:30AM-11PM. Clean medium-priced restaurant serving food from the regions of Hue, Saigon and Hanoi. Just in the centre of district 3. Friendly service, full A/C, 2 floors and room for about 100 persons. 

Lemongrass, 4 Nguyen Thiep Street. Near the Opera House. A very touristy Vietnamese restaurant. Most dishes are in US$4-6 range, although some seafood items are more expensive. Daily business lunch US$3++ and weekly special dishes. Expanded to a twin outlet on 14th floor of Palace Hotel Saigon, 10 min away from the first outlet. Same menu, same price. 

Ngoc Suong Marina,19C Le Quy Don, is a restaurant specializing in seafood. Fish salad and clams cooked in white wine. 

Quan An Ngon. Two different restaurants operate with the same name within a few blocks of each other, one at 160 Pasteur Street, and the other (recently reopened) on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia across from the Reunification Palace. Set in atmospheric old French villas, with similar menus Vietnamese food, including regional specialties prepared in numerous independently-operated food stalls around the perimeter. (The name literally means "restaurant of delicious eating".) Both are popular and both tend to be jammed at peak hours requiring a wait for a table. The one on Pasteur has dozens of kerosene lamps burning for "atmospheric" decoration at night, so if you have asthma or COPD or feel you got enough pollution already, better to try the other one. 

Quan Nuong, 29-31 Ton That Thiep. A delicious, reasonably-priced open-air barbecue restaurant on the roof above Fanny's ice cream parlor and the Temple Club (see splurges below). Every table has a grill in the centre, and the menu includes a variety of meats and seafood which you can grill yourself. Try the bacon wrapped salmon & the beef wrapped cheese skewers. They also serve a variety of mostly southern-style salads and noodle dishes. It's very popular and often fills up by mid-evening. 

Sushi Bar, with four locations: corner of Le Thanh Ton and Ton Duc Thang in Q1, about six blocks northeast of the Opera House; on a large alley full of restaurants off Ton Duc Thang by the river and near the Legend Hotel; on the food-court floor of Zen Plaza on Nguyen Trai; and in the Saigon Court apartment building on Nguyen Dinh Chieu. Probably the best sushi value in Saigon. They serve a larger and more interesting variety than the typical American or European sushi restaurant, at half the price. Draft Tiger beer is 24,000 dong. Very popular, so you can expect to wait during the middle dining hours. 

Spice, 27c Le Quy Don in Q3. Largest and most visited Thai restaurant in HCM. Mostly local Vietnamese and expats as it is out of the tourist area. Authentic Thai food prepared by the two Thai chefs. Food is fresh and served within minutes. Tom yam kung and papaya salad, spice shrimp or Bangkok briany: fusion of Thai with other cuisines. Seating over 200, in A/C, al fresco or Thai style on floor mats. Delivery available to all districts. Top floor BBQ. 

Une Journée à Paris, 234 Le Thanh Ton St. Q1, 100 m from Ben Thanh Market. Authentic French 'boulangerie, patisserie, et salon de thé'. French petit dejeuner at 50,000 dong, with egg/bacon 100,000 dong. 

Wrap and Roll, 62 Hai Ba Trung. A growing chain. Wrapped Vietnamese fusion food in a modern minimalist setting. Try the desserts. Beer and a meal should cost less than US$10. 

Splurge

Au Lac do Brazil, 238 Pasteur, between Dien Bien Phu and Vo Thi Sau. Just to prove that Saigon has everything, here is a Brazilian-style churrascaria (all-you-can-eat restaurant featuring barbecued meat), with live Latin music Tuesday to Saturday. They also have a new outlet in Sky Garden II, Phu My Hung, Dist 7. It's a larger and less crowded one with usually better service. Price US$30+per person. 

Co Ngu, on Pasteur just before Dien Bien Phu, Q1. Nice Vietnamese and Asian-fusion food in a Villa setting, with indoor and garden seating. Popular for business groups. Prices higher than average for Saigon, but a better value than you will find in the tourist section of town. 

Hard Rock Cafe, part of the Kumho Asiana Plaza complex, which is located at 39 Le Duan Avenue, Dist. 1. The usual American burgers and grill dishes. Around 290,000 dong for a burger meal. Good service and friendly staff. They also have live bands on selected evenings. Great choice if you are craving Western food, and want to pick up some memorabilia from the Rock Shop. 

Huy Long Vien, 99 Nguyen Du, across from the Reunification Palace. Chinese food from Peking Duck to all you can eat dim sum. It's big and fancy inside with an ancient China 'theme'. There's also some a guy who pours tea out of a long kettle while perForming Kung fu poses. 

La Habana, 6 Cao Ba Quat, Q1, two blocks northeast of the Hyatt and opera house. Outstanding Spanish and Cuban-style food, including a large tapas menu. Also one of the few places in Vietnam that makes really good cocktails. 

La Hosteria, on Le Thanh Ton a few blocks east of the Hilton. A gourmet Italian restaurant with excellent home-made pasta dishes in the range of 125,000 dong and main dishes 150,000+. 

L'En tete, 1st floor, 139 Nguyen Thai Binh, Q.1 (at the junction with Calmette). Excellent French restaurant in a area not normally associated with high dining. Great for a leisurely dining experience, good food with main courses ranging from 150,000-450,000 dong. open 5PM-midnight, 

Pomodoro's, Decent small Italian restaurant on Hai Ba Trung, a block from the Hilton and around the corner from the Sheraton and Caravelle Hotels. Delicious lasagna is their specialty; the pizzas are a bit oily. Dinner of 2 starters, cocktails, 0.5 litre carafe of wine, mains and deserts for roughly US$50 but with poor service. 

Tân Nam, 60-62 Dong Du, Q.1 (A few doors from Sheraton Saigon). The ground floor is open-air, the upper floor has A/C. Rather expensive and mediocre food, around US$10/person but they will park your motorcycle while you eat, and wander around the waterfront. 

Temple Club, 29-31 Ton That Thiep, Q.1 (first floor, with an ice cream parlour below) has a 1930s ambiance with separate bar, restaurant, and lounge area sections. The food is fair but most people come to soak up the atmosphere. 

ZanZBar Restaurant & Bar 41 Dong Du Street, Q1 (diagonally opposite Sheraton Hotel) has modern casual-upscale feel with extensive range of international & Vietnamese cuisine (plenty for vegetarians to choose from). Eclectic crowd comprised of local Vietnamese, local expatriates and visiting tourists. Wine-by-glass and cocktail menu. At night the lit up columns create a great ambience. 

D'Nyonya Penang Restaurant, 58 Dong Du Street, D1 (Beside the Mosque and Sheraton Hotel), ☎ +84 8 6678 6044, [20]. Malaysian owned, authentic Malaysian cuisine and local Vietnamese menu.  edit 

Four Season Restaurant, 2 Thi Sach Street, D1, ☎ +84 8 825 7186. Vietnamese and Malaysian cuisine.  

Halal@Saigon, 31 Đông Du, District 1 (Opposite to the Indian Jamia Mosque, near Sheraton Hotel), ☎ +84 8 3824 6823 (Vietnamese), +84 8 38274602 (English) (info@halalsaigon.com, fax: +84 8 38274603), [21]. 10AM-10PM. Vietnamese, Malaysian and vegetarian cuisine prepared to Halal guidelines. Has a Malaysian owner and there are several Malaysian staples on the menu, however it is primarily Vietnamese, with a wide range of dishes from around the country.  

Lion City Cafe & Restaurant, 45 Le Anh Xuan, District 1 (Near Ben Thanh market opposite New World hotel), ☎ +84 8 3823 8371, [22]. 7PM-3AM daily. Certified halal, serves halal food on 2nd floor.  

Pro döner kebab, 169 De Tham, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, Distr.1, ☎ +84 8 2200 5959. Turkish place with good service serving real doner kebabs, halal style.  

Vn. Halal (Muslim Food Restaurant), 14 Pham Hong Thai, P. Ben Thanh, Q 1 (near Ben Thanh Market), ☎ +84 8 3822 0252. Malaysian cuisine and Vietnamese food.