More Eating and Shopping in HCMC
Of course, we couldn’t just up and leave Saigon after Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam Food Tour, so we spent another day hitting a couple of our favorite restaurants before we headed back to Japan.
The best restaurant was recommended by Luke and Lynne, called Mặn Mòi. When the Grab taxi dropped us off, we were in front of a brown stucco building with lots of vegetation hanging down the front. There are a couple of restaurants here on the second and third floors. One is vegetarian, but we went to the regular restaurant on the third floor.
Mặn Mòi describes itself as homey, authentic Vietnamese cuisine. Definitely so. The room is warm, with light brown concrete walls and wooden tables. Lots of rustic drawings and paintings hung on the walls. They sat us in a cozy alcove, and we worked our way through an extensive menu. There’s something for everybody here.
Look for my longer review in an upcoming post.
We had fried chicken wrapped in pandan leaf, fresh lettuce rolls with shrimp, flower salad with wild shrimp, and a classic bánh mì with pate.
Don’t miss the boutique on the first floor. There are all kinds of goods that you won’t find anywhere else. They don’t even mention it on their website, but after lunch, we were on our way out and had to have a look around. There were many unique items, including interesting coffee, essential oils, Tet (Lunar New Year) gift packages, and chopstick holders. But we couldn’t resist buying this beautiful “mouse.”
While you’re in a shopping mood, there are millions of bargains to be found in the stores around the city. From handmade lacquerware to the traditional áo dài dress, HCMC is bursting with goods you’ll want to stuff in your suitcase if there’s any room left. Just walk around and pop into the shops.
By the way, the áo dài dress you are thinking of buying because it looks so beautiful on Vietnamese women? It’s going in your closet next to the Mexican poncho, Japanese kimono, the lederhosen you tried on and bought in Germany, and all those other “cute” clothes you had to buy on various trips. And that’s where it will stay forever because you know it would look silly on you back home.
By the time we got to HCMC, we were pretty shopped out and out of suitcase space, but we always go to a small shop called Saigon Kitsch (43 Ton That Thiep Dist 1). There are three floors of propaganda posters, pottery, t-shirts, multi-color chopsticks, bags, and all sorts of eclectic stuff.
Okay, our time in Vietnam came to an end. It was time to pack up and go back to Japan for a few more adventures before we headed home to California.