Dulce de Saigon — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

A very aesthetic restaurant with such an inviting menu—everything on there looks amazing—but did it live up to the hype? Ehhh... Not quite.

Went there in a group of 4 at around 6pm & the place almost didn't have any tables left as the seating area was not that big, but we managed to secure the last free table at that time. We ordered 2 sandwiches & 3 sweet items to share among ourselves which totaled up to almost 900K. Safe to say that this place is quite pricey. The portion size is pretty good though as 1 sandwich can be shared among 2 (Vietnamese) people, is quite packed with filling & even comes with a side of chips. Plus, all the desserts are shareable too. But the important question is how was the taste?

Everything was alright. Nothing blew our socks away. I got the chipotle chick & it was pretty decent. The focaccia was crunchy on the outside and decently airy and light once bitten in further. The veggies & all the proteins are evenly distributed in a perfect ratio to make every bite a complete experience. Again, they didn't skimp on the filling... but they did skimp on the sauce. I love chipotle mayo & the chipotle flavor was definitely there throughout every bite, but I just wish there was more of it. Not just for the flavor, I wish there was more of it so the entire sandwich didn't feel so dry.

Now, the one cool thing about this place is that you can customize your sandwich to your liking so you can easily remedy the dryness by adding extra sauce. But unless it's aioli or yellow mustard, you have to pay extra for the sauces. The sandwiches are expensive as is so I would rather that they come standard with the proper sauce ratio already. My friends who got the Italian also mentioned the same thing. They also said that theirs was too salty. It seems like there is a bit of a balancing issue with these sandwiches though that might be just our orders as these are assembled to order (which does come with a bit of wait time, just fyi).

Onto the desserts. I'll be honest, I mainly wanted to come here because I saw that they had tres leches on their menu. It's not a common dessert item here in VN, but it is one of my all-time favs so I was so looking foward to trying it at this store. But it was not available when we went. I'm not sure if they'd removed it from their menu or if it's a rotating menu item, but that was a bit of a letdown. We decided to try other items that piqued our interests instead. The only one we all enjoyed was the devil's food chocolate cake. Mainly because it was not too sweet thanks to the dark chocolate flavor & because the ganache did have a really nice thick buttery texture.

The other items were just a little too sweet for us, especially the cookie. I kinda wish this place (& all other places that serve soft chewy/gooey cookies) offer to reheat the cookies up for you but that probably would've made this cookie even more diabetically sweet lol The banana cheesecake sounded really good on paper as the description mentioned that it was meant to resemble the flavor of the traditional VN banana ice cream (something I absolutely love), but only the frosting on top tasted remotely like that when eaten separately. The slice when eaten as a whole just tasted like overripe bananas though (& not the nice traditional VN banana kind either). Some of my friends even said it tasted like artificial banana flavoring. And that's the one big downside about these desserts: They all tasted kinda artificial. For a specialty dessert shop, that is a big letdown.

There are many things to like about this place: the aesthetic, the vibe, the space, the free water, the customizability of the sandwiches, the variety of the dessert lineup, etc. But ultimately, it just didn't quite deliver when it comes to the actual food. I might come back for the tres leches if it ever reappears on the menu... maybe, but idk. For how pricey this place is for the quality, it might not be worth it.

Overall...

Dulce de Saigon is my favourite dessert shop in HCMC

I’ve been here on multiple occasions and have tried more or less everything by now 😂

I’ve had a cookie cheesecake (9/10), berry apple crumble (8/10), basque cheesecake (6/10 - a bit too eggy for me), carrot cake (6/10 - a bit dry and the cream cheese tasted like it was mixed with something), cinnamon roll (9/10 - I would have ordered another one if I had the stomach for it haha), croissant (10/10 - nailed it, super crispy and flaky on the outside but buttery and slightly chewy on the inside).

Drinks-wise, I’ve had the strawberry matcha (9/10), the special mocha (10/10 - my fave drink), and the hazelnut latte (9.5/10).

Apart from the food, what stands out is also the service. The service staff at the front of house are friendly and warm. I’ve also been fortunate to meet the owners and they’re nice as well!

The ambience of the place is nice to relax and even when it’s crowded, it’s not noisy which is nice if you are looking for a place to do work or enjoy a cuppa coffee in peace.

I’ll definitely keep coming back as I still haven’t tried their brownies and a few other drinks! I’d highly recommend you come down to try this place out...

I tried the New York Cheesecake and the burnt cheesecake - with a very different verdict. The New York Cheesecake seemed to be quite old. The cream cheese was pretty solid, not fluffy, the outside was already yellowish. Definitely not a recommendation in that state. If my suspicion is correct, cake that old shouldn't be sold anymore! The burnt cheesecake on the other hand was delicious! Fresh cheese flavor, light, pretty fluffy and creamy for a burnt cheesecake, which is usually a bit more dense. That one is highly recommended. The price in general was fair with 77k each (cheaper in the shop, 70k each). Ordered via Grab, so no picture.

UPDATE: The owner of the place is actually very nice and I got a replacement for the unsatisfying slice from the other day. The Burnt Basque Cheesecake is still my absolute favorite, the eggy creamy deliciousness is hard to compete with. The NY Cheesecake is a bit too dense for my taste and the dough just not crispy or flavorful enough. Also it has a bit too intense lemon flavor for a NY Cheesecake. But quality was excellent now, so the last time was probably just a tiny glitch. Thank you for the excellent...