Halal Food in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Hey ya peeps! I haven't managed to update much of my travels lately and I am quite behind in updating the blog unfortunately. I am trying my best, inshaa Allah and here's some of the places/ restaurants that I went to when we were in Vietnam, September last year. 

So before I left for my study leave last year, we decided to have a family trip to commemorate the occasion and this time it took us to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. There's plenty of halal restaurants and eateries, so there's absolutely no worry of you being deprived of your favourite food. Vietnamese food is absolutely delicious, there's a mix of sour and sweet, pretty much like Thai food, but a slightly toned down version than Thai food. I love, love, love their pho (a soupy noodle dish) and their seafood is also nice. So, here are some photos of the places that we went to:

On the first day we went to Tandoor. Usually most halal outlets would be located near Ben Thanh Market however, Tandoor was located slightly further from Ben Thanh Market, I think perhaps about 20 - 25 minutes walk from the market. Unfortunately, I am not able to pinpoint it's exact location, except perhaps, it's located near the area where the buildings have a slightly noticeable French architectural influence to it.

So, here's the address of the restaurant. 

Considering that it's an Indian restaurant, we ordered the usual Indian fanfare, briyani, chicken curry and naan bread. The food was delicious, and the service was good. However, price wise, it's slightly expensive. This is most probably due to the fact that most of their spices are imported from India, so there's a higher cost to it. However, if you're wanting Indian food in Ho Chi Minh, I'd absolutely recommend it. 

If you're interested in the restaurant, you could also check out their website click [here].

There's quite a steady influx of Malaysian tourists to Vietnam, I suppose, and there's plenty of signage written in the Malay language, such as the one in this photo. Vietnam is also famous for it's coffee, among them is the coffee chain Trung Nguyen, so you may want to try them out. To read about Vietnam and coffee, there's an article [here] by the BBC on Vietnamese coffee.

Malaysians definitely will not be deprived of their local Malaysian food when they visit Ho Chi Minh. There's plenty of restaurants and stalls offering Malaysian cuisine. The one in the photo above is Restaurant Halal Kampung Melayu located next to Ben Thanh Market.

Another restaurant that we visited was Salima Restaurant. I must say it served one of the best pho I've ever tasted. 

Seriously. 

It's located above a hotel, known as An Tam Hotel (hotel website is [here]), and to go to the restaurant, you have to walk past the hotel lobby and take the elevator to the first floor. Salima restaurant would be next to the elevator. 

We ordered pho. It was delicious. The soup was light, and the beef was fresh and sweet. Even the sauce (soy sauce with chilli) was also yummy. Pho is basically a rice noodle dish served with beef, beansprouts and some herbs. It's a simple dish, usually served hot and the combination of light flavours from the meat and herbs is definitely an unforgettable experience (at least for me it was, I'm still thinking of the pho I ate a year ago at the restaurant *drool*).

We also ordered prawn spring rolls. Usually you'd dip the spring roll into the sauce (which is sweet and sour) and eat it just as you'd eat sushi =).

Considering that there's a sizeable Muslim population in Ho Chi Minh, there are several mosques catering to the needs of the Muslim population. This is Jamia al- Muslimin mosque located behind Sheraton hotel. If you're interested to locate other mosques in Ho Chi Minh, there's some information from this website [here].

As it was lunch time, we decided to have our lunch at Halal Saigon, located right across the road in front of the mosque.

The food was okay, but unfortunately I don't remember this dish that I ordered. To check out their website, you can click [here]. 

Another restaurant which we visited is Warung 1 Malaysia Saigon. It's located near Ben Thanh Market and due to it's convenient location (and of course yummy food) I think this was the only restaurant that we went to twice.

Here's the menu. They had a lot to offer. 

The price was reasonable too. 

We ordered rice, soup and fish. And I must say, this is among my favourite too. The fish was absolutely tantalising. It's fresh, so you know how soft and sweet the fish is when it's cooked fresh. 

Steamed fish with soy sauce and herbs.

Clear soup. Both dishes are absolutely recommended. 

There were other restaurants along the road that we didn't get to visit such as Restaurant Hjh. Basiroh. 

And this Nasi Goreng Ayam food stall. You'll notice when you're walking along the street (which leads you to Ben Thanh Market), there's about maybe 5 -7 halal restaurants along the street. 

The Daun Restaurant is also among our favourite. It's not located directly along the pathway leading to Ben Thanh Market, but it's not far from there either. I think it's about maybe 10 - 15 minutes walk from Ben Thanh Market. 

Here's their address as well as social media sites. 

We ordered prawns and soup as well and it was absolutely heavenly. I would definitely recommend this restaurant for the ambience as well as good food. For more information on the restaurant, you can visit their website [here]. 

On our last day in Ho Chi Minh, we decided to try something different, so we went to Sahraan Restaurant which serves Egyptian food. It's also located not far from Ben Thanh Market, perhaps about 7 - 9 minutes walk away. 

I had grilled chicken while hubs ordered chicken fried with bread crumbs. The food was okay, however, in terms of price, this restaurant is also slightly pricey compared to the other restaurants. If you like, you can visit their Facebook page [here].

So if you're thinking of visiting Ho Chi Minh, the best place to stay would be somewhere near Ben Thanh market, as around the market there's plenty of halal outlets and everything would be within maybe 5 - 20 minutes walk, which is convenient. However just a word of caution, just like any city, there's pickpockets, thieves as well as fake taxis (this is very common in Ho Chi Minh unfortunately) so do take care of your belongings.

Happy traveling!


xoxo Mrs Fashionista