HCMC Restaurant List Updates: February 2025
Bún chả blasphemy and flirting with death
Welcome back to an intended monthly and unintentionally lengthy* overview of my dining adventures here in Saigon. These regular updates are for paid subscribers and include places I’ve newly added to my HCMC Restaurant List, mentions of ones I’ve returned to recently, and anything notable from places I visit regularly enough to consider my Steady Dates. They all reflect my tastes, interests, and preferences and shouldn’t be thought of as an essential guide to city eats. Food is my passion, and I’m happy to write and share these memories, however unwieldy they end up being.
*These overviews are often longer than will appear in your email. If you’re a paid subscriber, please do click out to read the full post on the web and view all the photos.
I hope adding colour to the list each month makes it both more useful and more interesting. I’m happy that I’ve moved the bulk of the who/what/where/why of my eating adventures from Instagram to the newsletter. Having these posts be paid is not about gatekeeping. It is a small nod to the effort I might put into reading about and finding places and a fun thank you to paid subscribers given the more emotional nature of my other paid content.
At the end of every month, I post photos on Instagram of what you can read about below. If you don’t follow me there, here are the monthly visuals from Saigon:
February’s A tale of two… was about bún bò Huế. If you missed it, you can catch up by following the link below. Details on the shops are in the List Newbies and Repeat Visits sections.
My monthly eating has become more habitual, especially with my pizza habit, so not much to share. The high of a quiet, lazy lunar new year break coloured the month in not wanting to put much energy into straying from sure bets. I always say this, though, don’t I? The pull of the familiar is related to my age? And not remembering how many times I’ve said this obviously part of that. Please accept forever apologies (I am Canadian.)
There is nothing I feel the desire to opine about beyond, why has there been a mini boom of restaurants in Saigon making focaccia sandwiches? As much as I want one, I remind myself that I know how to make myself happy with my own sandwiches. And as they are my only cooking joy at the moment, I shouldn’t take that away from myself. If you live here and have been trying any, how are they?
Last month, I was pleased to share my Saigoneer article about Trần Pizza. This month, I’m not pleased to share that since that time, Trần has ceased operation at the location I wrote about. BUT back on the pleased front, a new spot was sought, found, and should open before the next update. Phew. I saw Hiếu last night at a pop-up he’s doing in the meantime. The new location, very close to the old one, is still under construction. If you’re around Saigon this week, I recommend you paying him a visit.
A quiet month means I’m not going to pick an MVP meal, but a trip to District 7 for a new taste was quite special.
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