Country Roads, Take Me Home

There’s nothing better than simple, delicious American comfort food from Grandma’s kitchen Food, like music and smell, can be a time machine. Your mom’s mashed potatoes, your favorite burger joint, or the waffles from the 24-hour café in your hometown; they bring us back to another time and place. The Wagon Wheel (200 Le Thanh … Read more

Morning Delight

Here’s where to start a day off right Eighteen months after opening Saigon’s first gourmet French burger bistro, the team behind Marcel Gourmet is back—this time for brunch and happy hour. Café Marcel (96 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D1) is serving a new menu of homemade and fresh breakfast favorites, as well as petite assiettes … Read more

Friends and Food

Friends and Food Great coffee, great food and great live music—Lêla Saigon has something for everyone The Vietnamese expression “lê la” is best translated “to go somewhere and hang out with friends.” But for its new namesake in the heart of Pham Ngu Lao in District 1, a more apt description might be “something for … Read more

Dine by the Waterside

A rustic riverside restaurant that majors in delicious Vietnamese barbecue. Perched conveniently on the northeastern shore of the Thao Dien peninsula, The River Restaurant (199 Nguyen Van Huong, D2) is District 2’s newest Vietnamese riverside eatery. With a fully-stocked bar and an expansive menu of Vietnamese classics (along with some new favorites), The River Restaurant is … Read more

Northern Comfort Food

Rice Fields brings regional Red River Delta dishes to Saigon Across the street from Bitexco Tower, up two flights of stairs and behind a curtain of hanging beads is Rice Fields – Homecooked Vietnamese Cuisine (75-77 Ho Tung Mau, D1). Here, in the heart of the city, hides a peaceful countryside oasis complete with murals of pre-1975 Vietnam and bordered by literal … Read more

My Little Tomato

Tapas take on a sexy new look and flavor with the arrival of Tomatito and its colorful award-winning chef, Willy Trullas Moreno The “Sexy Tapas Bar” Tomatito Saigon (First Floor, 171 Calmette, D1) is about to open in the heart of the new burgeoning bar/restaurant neighborhood south of Ben Thanh Market. As tradesmen hang drywall and run electrical and plumbing, I catch up … Read more

Who is Marcel?…

…and why are his burgers so delicious Marcel Gourmet Bruger (132 Calmette, D1,) occupies a small space on a busy street between a construction site and a Vietnamese spa, but step foot inside and you’ll swear you’ve fallen asleep and woken up in a Wes Anderson film. Subtle pink and orange furniture with natural wood accents are offset by a wall of … Read more