Baby Spoon Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

I was drawn to this restaurant seeing all the delicious omurice options on their menu. So when the giant portion of half & half omurice arrived in front of me, I was just so excited to take my first bite &... it was actually not a bad first bite. I was immediately hit with the richness of the demi-glace and the white cheese sauce mixed together. Now the sauces tasted like packaged/canned products rather than anything gourmet, but that didn't mean they tasted bad. I actually found them decently flavorful & pleasant.

But after the initial hit of the sauces, I was met with something unexpected. The fried rice inside was not the kind you'd usually find in the typical Japanese omurice, which would be a lot saucier—it was more like the Chinese-style or most likely the Thai-style fried rice (since they also serve Thai food here), which was a lot dryer. Also instead of chicken, they use some kinda ham or spam in the fried rice & there wasn't a lot in there—it was 95% rice. I didn't particularly mind it at first since it tasted alright, but the further I dug through this massive omurice, the dryer it felt since there was just not enough sauce to accompany the rice. The omelette was also cooked to be well-done so it didn't provide the velvety soft texture that would have helped balance the dryness of the rice either.

In the end, it wasn't bad by any means. I mean I finished the whole thing. But I feel like I didn't really eat an omurice particularly, but an egg fried rice in a slightly different form with some extra sauces. Again, not bad. With how big the portion was, it really would have helped if the fried rice was more like the typical saucy Japanese fried rice instead so it didn't feel so dry. I don't really think I wasted my money on this either since 129k for such a massive portion that could easily be shared among 2-3 people that is also decent-tasting is not bad, though a bit more protein would've been nice lol

The service was decent. I waited about 10-15min for my plate & the staff was attentive. It wasn't particularly busy when I went since I came in around opening time. There were enough visitors for it to feel lively without feeling too crowded or rowdy, which I appreciate. The space was small and felt kinda bareboned which I didn't mind, but I did mind how wobbly the table I sat at felt. I could barely rest my hands on there since it felt like it could topple over at any moment. I'm not sure how the other tables are, but mine probably need to get replaced soon.

Overall...

I was ready to write a review introducing the restaurant to everyone because I am a fan of omurice and hadn’t had it in a long time. You can see evidence of my good intentions in the first few photos, which I took carefully with a camera. However, once the food was served, I really lost my mood to the point where I didn’t want to take any more pictures. The last three photos I took with my phone just to keep a record.

My salad had a lot of dirt! I picked out two pieces with the most visible dirt to show to the staff. At first, they wanted to remake the salad for us, but I declined, because how could I be sure the new plate would be cleaner than the old one?

Throughout the rest of the meal, I didn’t see anyone coming out to explain or respond further. This made us lose our appetite. To be honest, even if the salad hadn’t had an issue, the food still wouldn’t have been good. We ordered two types of omurice that the staff recommended as the restaurant's best sellers. The Thai shrimp sauce was quite unusual but very bland. The tuna cheese version had a sauce that was both salty and sweet, while the tuna mixed in with the rice was too little and too crumbly, making it hard to taste. The salad had a dressing that was somewhat like Thousand Island—sweet rather than tangy and refreshing. The shrimp in both the Thai omurice and the salad was clearly frozen, lacking any texture or flavor.

It wasn’t until we asked for the bill that the staff came out to apologize for the salad and offered to give us a 50% discount on it. I knew that was all she could do with her authority and her distressed appearance, so I didn’t say anything further. But I certainly won’t return to this place. The owner should know that with hygiene issues like this, if I were harder, I could easily report them to the local food safety authorities for an inspection of their kitchen.

When I walked past their kitchen on my way out of the restaurant, I noticed it was a very small and cramped space. I felt sorry for their staff, having to prepare a large menu for a full capacity of over 50 people in such a working...

It was about 15% full when I came in (little after 5 pm), but about 90% full by the time I left, so this is a popular place.

A bit cramped and dark. By the time I finished, with all the people, it was pretty loud with chatter.

When I was ready to order, I signaled to the gentleman, and he got the attention of a waitress. She walked right past me and went to another table. I waited a few moments and signaled to the guy again. He got another waitress, and she walked right past me again. So I had to be more assertive and even said, "Excuse me." The second waitress did make her way back to me. Had she not, I was ready to leave.

I see tuna bolognese spaghetti in Ministop and think it's kind of strange, but may not be bad... never tried it, though. I saw it on the menu here. In my head, I pictured square chunks of tuna like that which might be on sushi, and decided to try it. It wasn't very expensive (110K/$4.35). Portion size was standard. I'm sure it tasted like it was supposed to, but I personally didn't care for it. It tasted like canned tuna (which I like on sandwiches), but mixed with the spicy bolognese, it tasted exactly like it sounds. It did have a little kick to it, if that's what you like.

I tried a tonkatsu (Japanese pork cutlet) omurice (omelet covered rice); 165K/$6.50. The size was good. The cutlet was a good size for a complement to omurice, yet the quality of the cutlet wasn't very high. A little over fried and dry. The meat, when I bit it, didn't break off easily, and it was a little tough of a chew. The rice (fried rice in this case) tasted ok. It was also a little dry despite all the gravy. I thought the rice was average, but the best of what I had.

8% VAT

When I walked out, I saw some of their pizza, and it looked pretty good. I kind of wish I...