Where to Eat in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

There’s never been a better time to be eating in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s bustling southern metropolis of 10 million people. Now at the watershed between history and modernity, HCMC — known as Saigon to locals — is quickly emerging as one of Asia’s most dynamic dining destinations. 

Saigon’s cuisine is shaped by its proximity to the Mekong Delta as well as historic Chinese, Khmer, French, and American presences. Culturally, the Saigonese are known to absorb and localize outside influences as a way of adaptation. While Vietnam’s northern capital, Hanoi, is more purist, Saigon embraces novelty. It’s here that French baguettes became banh mi sandwiches — and where food shortages led cooks to invent com tam, a classic dish made with shards of “broken” rice.

Today, a new, young generation of chefs is cultivating a restaurant scene that fuses the Vietnamese palate with modern innovation. And in recent years, the outside world has become increasingly aware of Vietnam’s evolving culinary identity. Since 2023, the Michelin Guide has awarded seven stars in Vietnam, including three in Saigon. And the Vietnamese cocktail landscape now regularly earns nods from the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list.

Yet, for all its progress, Saigon hasn’t lost sight of its traditions. It’s still as easy to find iconic streetside staples as it is to book multi-course tasting menus. To help you plan your dining itinerary, here’s where and what to eat in Ho Chi Minh City right now.

We recommend starting with the classics: Saigon street food. Here, as in Vietnam, many street food vendors have become multigenerational institutions — each serving their own time-perfected takes on a single specialty. Dishes are typically served quickly and affordably, either on sidewalk-facing plastic stools or at no-frills canteens.

At Bánh mì Huỳnh Hoa, open since 1989, that’s the namesake banh mi — prepared here with heaping scoops of fresh mayo and savory house pate. Go during off-peak hours as lines tend to spill out onto the street. For another typical lunch dish, broken rice, Cơm tấm Nguyễn Văn Cừ has been serving its soulful version of the southern staple since 1989 as well. Here, it’s served with shredded pork skin, a steamed meat-and-egg casserole, and a heaping pork chop — which is twice as large as the average.

While pho is Vietnam’s most famous noodle soup, it’s originally Hanoian. For a specifically Saigonese noodle soup, try hu tieu — a Chinese-Cambodian-influenced dish of tapioca-rice noodles, pork, and shrimp. It can be served with broth or dry with soup on the side. Open around the clock, 24 hours a day, Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang Thành Đạt makes a great stop after a night out on the town.

Authentic Vietnamese flavors go beyond street food. For a contemporary but still traditional take on regional Vietnamese fare, try Mặn Mòi, which has several locations. Here, fried rolls, grilled meats, and homestyle soups are artfully presented, while the decor leans toward a tropical lushness ideal for date night. An on-site boutique sells candles, oils, teas, and other local artisan goods.

Meanwhile, at Anan, Saigon’s first Michelin-starred restaurant, chef Peter Cuong Franklin turns banh xeo into tacos and infuses pho with truffle and Wagyu beef. Opened in 2017, it’s notably set in a narrow tube house in one of Saigon’s last remaining wet markets. Franklin has also opened Nhau Nhau, a cocktail bar, and Pot au Pho, a noodle soup-focused concept, in the same building.

Finally, there’s the latest guard of restaurants blending global techniques with local ingredients — largely led by chefs who’ve traveled abroad and returned with new knowledge. These include Nephele, a coastal-inspired tasting-menu restaurant where the Australia-trained chef Francis Thuan (formerly chef at Esta) works with local ingredients like tropical fruit and Phu Quoc pepper. On a recent night, Thuan served wood-fired duck with fermented plum and a dessert of jackfruit ice cream with toasted rice.

And Ciel, another sleek prix-fixe spot opened in 2024, weaves Vietnamese flavors into a minimalist Japanese- and Scandinavian–inspired setting. Chef Viet Hong staged in Copenhagen, Barcelona, and Tokyo before returning to his hometown in Saigon to open his long-awaited restaurant, which challenges fine dining conventions with dishes like abalone rice and a dessert of sweet potato, honey, and black truffle.

Cultural mashups notwithstanding, the term “fusion” would fail to encapsulate the rapid, organic culinary evolution at play across Saigon — where global chefs are inspired by the bounty of Vietnam and local chefs are increasingly fluent in international culinary languages. Whether you’re sitting on a plastic stool or at a chef’s counter, Saigon’s gastronomic landscape has never been more reflective of the city itself: eclectic, layered, and always in motion.