Chinatown in Saigon – 3 must eat dishes!
Ho Chi Minh City's Chinatown, located in the heart of District 5, seems quiet in the morning but buzzing at night.
Vietnamese people have a funny quote. "The best food is Chinese food, the best woman is a Japanese woman, and the best house is the Western House." So what's Chinese food? What makes it so attractive? Today, Onetrip will discover the answers in a very “Onetrip” way: a Chinese food trip to Chinese-owned restaurants right in the heart of this dynamic little Saigon.
Roasted duck
Chinese city signatures
… Great toast!
We started our tour with a very famous Chinese dish: roasted duck. We don't really know what roasted ducks will taste like in China, but if they presented their food like the picture below, wouldn't you just run in and order it right away? One trip for sure. Yes! restaurants near me for dinner
Signature of Chinese city
Roasted duck!
In Vietnam, people come to these types of stores to take the roasted ducks, so most of them don't have tables and chairs for customers to sit on. They only have a huge glass shelf where they can hang yummy roasted ducks inside.
It is interesting to observe how they make ducks. Five steamed ducks are hung around a huge pot of clay that is already lit inside. Then, in about 30-45 minutes, we have the best duck in town. Don't you know why these ducks have such a delicious, crunchy orange look? The reason is that they are grilled with honey. Sounds exciting, right?
Onetrip restaurant showed you in the video that it is very old and has been in business for over 60 years. Their ducks are tender, juicy and delicious and are served with a special pepper sauce. That's why they have crowds even from early morning to evening, even if they don't market. The former owner was born in China, who came to Vietnam, married a Vietnamese woman, and opened this restaurant. His daughter now runs family businesses for her.
Read more: The unspoken rules of Cho Lon (Saigon City of China)
We usually eat roasted duck with dumplings or sticky rice. But we think you might just enjoy the duck yourself because its taste is so amazing that you never want to stop eating it! There is another positive side red kitchen for this grill. It's clean and completely open so people can see everything that is going on inside. You don't have to worry about food quality, Onetrip always shows you the best.
General information:
Name of the restaurant: Vit kai Quoc Ky
Address: 471 Tran Phu Street, Ward 7, District 5, HCMC
Opening hours: 7am - 10pm
Handmade fresh noodles
Chinese noodles
What to add to your bowl of noodles?
The next treat is no less special: dried char sui noodles. Onetrip takes you to the family noodle shop, a small alley where they have a super special way to dry their noodles. Let's see this.
The first impressive sight you see as soon as you enter this store is an old wooden trolley made by the first owner. For 70 years, her daughter has never wanted to replace it with a modern trolley, so she's just trying to fix it when something breaks.
Here you will find all kinds of noodles cooked in different ways. Everything from char siu to wonton noodles served as dry or noodle soup. And each of them is the ultimate mess in Chinese. You know that noodles are so special when they get chewed. Even if we eat them slowly, they will never become lame.
While staying here, we ordered two bowls of dried char sauce noodles and have them attached again. The chef made the preparation of the noodles so easy, but in reality it requires a lot of finesse. They just throw the noodles in the boiled water for a moment, then pull them out with a big rake. They then use a large chopstick to knock the rake so that the noodles pop up and down until they are dry. What a skillful technique. Watch this video.
Char siu pork savory taste, mixed with crunchy shrimp crackers and oyster sauce, creates the perfect combination in your mouth. Noodle soup is also delicious, so even when customers order dried noodles, they usually want a bowl of soup. The soup is salty and sweet at the same time. In the bowl you can taste the delicious smell of pork and green onion.
Char siu pork savory taste, mixed with crunchy shrimp crackers and oyster sauce, creates the perfect combination in your mouth.
The restaurant opens very early in the morning and does not close before 1:00. The place is always crowded with people leaving with big smiles and bags of delicious noodles. Onetrip couldn't just enjoy this delicious meal, so we decided to share fantastic places with our future customers.
General information:
Name of the restaurant: Thieu Ky
Address: Le Dai Hanhi Street 66/5, Ward 7, District 11, HCMC
Opening hours: 7:00 - 1:00
