Ốc Oanh — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

I read so much about the famous Seafood Street so decided to venture out and see what the hype is about. We travelled there in a grab car and were dropped off at the welcome gates.

The street is a collection of restaurants without outdoor seating, some busier than others. A lot of restaurant’s seating extend out onto the pavement meaning that you have to walk on the road. It was an interesting challenge to try and look for a candidate restaurant whilst keeping an eye on the motorbikes wizzing by and not get hit.

We eventually came across Oc Oanh. It is a large seafood restaurant with water tanks housing lobsters and other seafood. There was a lady grilling prawns on charcoal. A cooking station that looks like where they cook chilli crab. Well, with so many people (mostly locals), it must be ok so we settled for this restaurant.

The staff all work really hard and are friendly. The tables are turned around really quick. As soon they someone leaves, a few waiting staff literally swam around table to clean everything up and 1 minute later it is occupied again.

The restaurant is certainly an experience (mostly good).

Let’s start with the food since that was the purpose of the visit. Most table have similar dishes. We opted for lobster, solenidae fried with vegetables, snail, clams, octopus and congee with oysters. This is all for 2 people. It was certainly plentiful. Everything was fresh, well cooked and flavoursome. The lobster was very meaty and tasted amazing. The price was just over 500 vnd. Back home just the lobster alone is already more than the price of the meal and it wont’t we so meaty. Food wise, it is 5*

Here, you will eat like a local. The table and chair resembles more plastic version of the kids range from Ikea. It is ok. It is not uncomfortable but you are very low and after the meal, it was certainly an effort to get up again.

Toilet facility is functional. That is all I can say. I didn’t see a wash basin either.

As mentioned earlier, the workers are hard working and service is very good. They call out to each other in a loud voice. In western culture and as one do not understand what they are saying, they maybe mistaken as arguing but they are simply communicating.

It was certainly an experience, a good one. The food was wonderful. I would highly...

Ốc Oanh was one of my favorite places to eat in Saigon. Located along Vinh Khanh Street in District 4, this area is known for having some of the best street seafood in Ho Chi Minh City. Nicknamed “Seafood Street”, there you’ll find several blocks of sidewalk restaurants serving different types of seafood. Alex of Inspitrip took us to Ốc Oanh which is the most famous restaurant on this strip. Luke Nguyen featured this place as well on the second episode of Street Food Asia. We enjoyed this place so much that we ate here twice and it was packed on both nights.

One of the things that Vinh Khanh Street is known for are its snail dishes. According to Alex, sea snails are popular among the Vietnamese but they’re difficult to prepare at home, which is why nearly every restaurant on this strip serves them. Ốc Oanh serves several varieties cooked in different ways. The ones pictured here were cooked in coconut milk and called ốc len xào dừa. They were so good we wound up ordering them again the next night.

This had me salivating. Octopus and squid, especially the tentacles, are among my favorite foods so I had to get an order of this grilled octopus dish which I believe is called bạch tuộc nướng sa tế. Served with a green sauce, the octopus was spicy and delicious and surprisingly tender considering its hefty size.

Here’s a devilish-looking plate of crab claws with chili-salt (càng ghẹ rang muối). The guy preparing it was mixing them so vigorously it looked like he was literally smashing that chili into the crab. This looked to be a popular dish here as well. Many tables ordered it, including a version made with sea snails.

Aside from the food, what I loved most about Vinh Khanh Street was the atmosphere. You’re literally stuffing your face with delicious seafood on a sidewalk buzzing with activity. Here’s a quick timelapse of my chili crab claw against a backdrop of motorbikes and pedestrians. If you like seafood, then you need to have a meal here. You can check my post on Vinh Khanh Street for more pictures and...

Delicious and food's quality seems good, taste might quite strong and a bit spicy to you. The worst experience and waiter with attitude: At first, a guy keeps sitting in his chair and listening to our order, his sit is on the other side of the way lol. You will have to guess if he gets your order or not by his face's expression. Secondly, another guy bring a dish and held it out front of my friend (instead of putting it on the table) and says: here! (nè!) Lol, all of us suddenly stopped for a second and take the dish. Finally, we order a dish of Caramel Flan and a guy with Bluetooth headset on his ear refused and tell us to find a right waiter to order like it is none of his business (yes, he is waiter and Caramel Flan stall is not to far from us). Not to mention when I give a guy at parking lot my motorcycle and notice him not to write a ticket's number on the tall-windshield without forgetting to explain that it will leave some scratches on this plastic material which will be visible on my sight, he ignores me and keeps writing on it. Guys, if there were only me and him, I swear I will slap on his face. Imaging his "signature" will always be with me on any road...but lol I knew this situation before assembly windshield on my motorcycle so I already put protection film on it, lol. It was a long time since our last visited here because of bad service and look like it worst than before. Price is expensive with a roadside stall but is fine for me because this is my last lol. Maybe I will come back in a few years but not too soon. Good luck to you guys, come give it a try, you might not face any problems if just focusing...