Chef’s Choice

Kasen offers a more traditional Japanese dining experience through an omakase, hinged on warm rice and pristine fish Those who are already taken with Japanese cuisine will find plenty to be impressed with at Kasen (101 Le Thi Rieng, D1), a new venue serving up a contemporary sushi you will rarely see in Saigon. Kasen’s menu offers next-generation sushi, a pared-back, subtler form of the popular dish … Read more

Like No Other, This Sushi Is

The popular Chiyoda Sushi brand in Japan is now making its mark in Saigon Thanks to its sizeable Japanese expat population, Saigon is blessed with countless fine sushi restaurants, and it’s rare for a new one to power through the stiff competition, but with 25 years of experience behind various sushi restaurants across Tokyo, new … Read more

Restaurant Review: Sushi Rei

At an unassuming square building, pleasures lie within Sushi, it’s both a magical and a terrifying word. In the past several years in Saigon sushi has risen to enormous heights where it has given birth to some bad sushi food carts and mediocre sushi chains popping up like weeds in places like malls. California rolls, … Read more

Restaurant Review: Sushi Dining AOI

Most everyone knows what sushi is and that it comes from Japan. What many probably don’t know is that the original sushi, called nare-zushi, originated in Southeast Asia somewhere along the banks of the Mekong. Nare-zushi is still prepared today in Japan, but bears little resemblance to what is recognized internationally as sushi. A man … Read more

Respect the Old, Create the New

The Japanese have a saying: On-ko-chi- shin, meaning “ask old things” to “know new things.” The Confucian proverb encourages taking lessons from the past and learning from the wisdom of the ancients in order to forge new paths. From an outsider’s perspective, Japan is all about the new. Japanese culture with its obsession towards perfectionism … Read more