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| Mandarine - 11A Ngo Van Nam, District 1 |
For those of you following our blog since we arrived in Saigon, you could be forgiven for thinking we don't eat Vietnamese food that often.
Over the last five weeks we've dined at many non-Vietnamese restaurants in Saigon because (1) we didn't have a huge range of international restaurants in Hanoi so we're making up for it now by over-indulging and (2) our housekeeper cooks us tasty Vietnamese meals most nights of the week, so why would we bother eating it out?
Tonight we celebrated with a lavish dinner at Mandarine - voted by many of our friends in Saigon as among the best Vietnamese restaurants in the city.
Mandarine - on Ngo Van Nam in District 1 (the geisha girl street that also houses the fabulous French restaurant La Cuisine) is contemporary Vietnamese at its best, showcasing the country's most popular dishes from the north to the south.
A 3-storey venue with wooden floors and modern Chinese/Vietnamese decor, this restaurant suits both couples and large groups.
The menu is ridiculously extensive. If you haven't been in Vietnam long you're best to go with the one of the many set menus, starting at US$33 per person. But, if like us, you know your Vietnamese cuisine it could take a while to order!
Eventually we decided on the banana flower salad with beef and the grilled scallops in the shell with peanuts for entrees, and stewed caramelised pork with a side of rice as well as Hanoi's famous grilled fish (Cha Ca) as our mains.
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| Banana flower salad |
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| Grilled scallops |
Cha Ca was one of my favourite dishes when we lived in the north and I'm happy to say this version lived up to my very high standards (although it was slightly sweeter than the Hanoi dish). It is also one of the few dishes on the menu that the restaurant staff cook at your table. Delicious!
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| Cooking our Cha Ca |
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| Cha Ca |
We topped off the meal with chocolate mousse for me and Vietnamese kem (ice cream) for Rob.
At just under 2 million VND (around US$100) including tax, this is not the cheapest meal by Vietnam standards. But, if you take into account that almost half of the bill was for the drinks (3 wines and 3 beers) the cost of the food is good value for a restuarant of this very high standard.
At just under 2 million VND (around US$100) including tax, this is not the cheapest meal by Vietnam standards. But, if you take into account that almost half of the bill was for the drinks (3 wines and 3 beers) the cost of the food is good value for a restuarant of this very high standard.
As an aside, the service was outstanding! Highly recommended.
Mandarine - 11A Ngo Van Nam, District 1
Nine years has certainly gone fast! For a laugh, here's a few pics of us from the early years (well, at least from the time we bought a digital camera in 2004) on a backpacking trip around Thailand and Singapore.
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| New Years Eve 2005 - Koh Samui, Thailand |
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| Riding the cable car in Singapore - January 2005 |
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