Ngọ Môn-Vietnamese Cuisine — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

Follow @bredgyeats for more food pictures!

I’ve been here once, and I’ll visit time and time again to quench my thirst for their Banh Ram It. These delightful tapioca dumplings are decorated like a natural wonder, resting on a bed of crunchy golden breadcrumbs and are an explosive burst of shrimp and pork. The wrapper is remarkably bouncy and chewy, delivering an addictive elasticity that contrasts wonderfully with the crunchy crispness of the breadcrumbs. In addition, the delicate discs of steamed rice flour are topped with aromatic shrimp powder, mung bean paste and crackly bits of pig skin – slurp it up in one bite. Finally, undressing the banana leaf reveals a soft and supple dumpling with a smooth rice flour base, carrying a subtle richness and chew of minced pork and shrimp powder, when gentle whispers of garlic and banana leaf aroma round out the bite. It wouldn’t be Vietnamese food without this indispensable condiment: fish sauce. Dip, drizzle, or drown almost any food in liquid umami for a transcendent experience, and these three are no exception.

Banh Bot Loc (8.25/10) - So sad how scarce these tapioca dumplings are, I don't know how much longer I can rave about its chewy texture and umami filled shrimp and pork filling, along with a subtle banana leaf aroma.

Banh Nam, Cha Tom (7/10) Another creative way of using rice flour is this flat steamed rice dumpling in banana leaf again, this time topped with some baby shrimps, with a very soft and smooth texture. Rounding out the appetizers is cha tom, ground-up shrimp compressed into a savoury sausage.

Banh It Ran (9/10) My new favourite addiction is back, slimmed down with a bit more make up. The mochi rice balls envelop a shrimp filling along with a sweet fried crouton crust, giving a chewy and salivating sweet and umami bite, especially when combined with some fish sauce. Too bad there were only four pieces, which I had to share.

Xoi Bong Ga Nuong, (7.75/10) - Next are some grilled chicken skewers coated in sesame, amplifying the roasted notes of the sesame while developing that flavour of the chicken. The crispy sticky rice has a nice contrast of a crispy outside and a soft, slightly glutinous texture, and served with pickled onions and a sweet soy sauce.

Banh Khoai Thuong Tu (8.75/10) - To end it off was another thing I couldn't get enough of, a crispy egg omelette with a perfect balance of a crackly crust and a soft interior. Each bite is a umami bomb in your mouth, with a bite of fish balls, shrimp and the unforgettable sesame dip that's loaded with minced meat for even more savoriness, and served with fresh herbs and lettuce to wrap around.

Follow @bredgyeats for...

Staffs are friendly but not professional and helpful. They interrupted the conversation between me and my friend everytime they served the dishes on the table, it’s okay to serve but not when customers are talking, they should excuse them first and serve the food. I asked them to pack my food bc we ordered too much and didn’t finish it. This is the very first time that I was told to pack the food by myself even though I was dining in a pretty fancy and pricey restaurant, to be honest, I don’t mind pack the food myself, but it shouldn’t happen in a restaurant. Another thing I was very upset and unpleasant is that the parking attendant, I was about to ride my motorbike down the road, he called two taxi for another group of customers and he just let the taxi blocked my way, I asked him to tell the taxi driver to move backwards or forwards so that I could ride off but he just ignored me. THIS IS WAY TOO RUDE AND DISRESPECTFUL, I even tipped him some money because it was raining heavy that day. I was standing in the rain with my motorbike and had to wait there for pretty long time until two...

My friend invited us to this restaurant serving authentic Vietnamese cuisine from the central region, and it was fantastic!

The food was light, refreshing, and delicious. The restaurant was clean, and the staff were kind and helpful. They spoke English too, which made it very foreigner-friendly.

We stayed for over two hours, just enjoying a long chat without feeling rushed at all. The prices are a bit higher than other restaurants in the area, but because of that, it's not crowded, and you can have a nice, quiet conversation.

I'd definitely recommend it to any friends visiting the city...