ALLEZ BOO BAR

 For those interested on how to spend the nightlife at Ho Chi Minh City, this district specifically on a street named Pham Ngu Lau near De Tham is the answer.  It offers a variety of bars, restaurants and pubs that will suit the varied set of preference of the tourists and the locals.  Loud music, varied tourists of various nationalities all mingle and make friends with one another in this street.  Restaurant food servings range from italian, japanese, spanish, chinese and even its local cuisine.  

Tagged as the backpackers street, as there are various budget hotels in this street, it is no surprise that at night everyone seems to be wide awake and wandering for whatever activity they want to indulge into. 

On our first night here in the city, while so tired and exhausted for the days' activity, we had our dinner at one of the italian restaurants in the said street and tried their local beers as well, both the red and green Saigon Beer, which tasted like Pale Pilsen in the Philippines.  Now I wonder which one is the original beer. 

As for the food, all I can say is, it's bearable and not that remarkable.  It is something that will just feed your appetite, what is important while in this district is the feeling that you are in abroad as you get to see and meet various nationalities.  It is the company and the ambiance that matters here and not the food itself. 

In the year 2009, I was able to try the Vietnamese chicken noodles on one of the restaurants near the Orient Hotel, which unfortunately I could not remember the name.  And it tastes good.

Since staying in Vietnam is living like a millionaire, we had our chance of fine dining in Ho Chi Minh City.  On our second night stay in the city, we had our dinner at the Palace Hotel Restaurant as it is the nearest restaurant from where we came from, which offers free internet access.  The hotel is located at 56-66 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, Ho Chi Minh City and is a walking distance from the Boulevard Restaurant.  We had the whole day walking on the streets and wandering at almost all the museums in the city and so, we deserve to treat ourselves for this.  Like any other restaurant we visited, default order is the spring rolls.  And this time, I ordered my favorite Vietnamese chicken noodles as well.  Since servers are used to serving foreign customers, it is easier to converse with them in the English language and place our demands in a way that they can understand fully.  Names of the foods in the menu are so weird yet they are just simple brand names and  common food at that.  Lavie for instance is their mineral water.  Thus, it is important to ask from their friendly servers before placing an order.  As to the prices, definitely reasonable and cost of fine dining is like having a lunch in one of the fastfoods in the Philippines. 

spring rolls again...



Vietnamese chicken noodles

CAFE ROSY

For free internet access and comfortable lunch after hours of walking in the city to locate the various museums, our feet brought us to this restaurant named Cafe Rosy.  This is near the National Library and is a walking distance to the Ben Than Market and the various hotels, making this restaurant in the center of the busiest part of Ho Chi Minh City.  This restaurant plays Vietnamese songs as part of its ambiance and there is a stage where customers are free to perform.  I assume that they have good performers due to the number of customers that they have.