OKRA FoodBar — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

The phở beef tartar is something you must experience at least once if you come to OKRA. As the name suggests, it’s beef tartar, accompanied by (what I’d assume) disks of cassava chips as a transporting vessel. The chip was crisp, neutral in profile to counter the flavour chorus that is the tartar itself. The spice blend gives you the experience of phở without eating the real thing. Cinnamon, star anise, a slight prickle from the cardamom, mellowed out by the creamy, full-bodied beef (can I say that beef is full bodied? Or is that a wine-only term? Eh whatever). Instead of painting a picture, it sings for you the abstract experience of what phở is, a surprisingly faithful rendition of a pillar in Vietnamese Cuisine. All in all, it was some damn good beef tartar (I haven’t had that many beef tartar though, so take this with a grain of salt). For the final round, we got the octopus. Honestly? I liked it. Last time around, the grilled octopus was paired with an apple concentrate/jelly type thing and some other sauce (it was a long time ago, my memory is not that good) that got me super excited as it strikes a perfect balance between all flavour dimensions. This time around? Less so. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a fantastic dish and would certainly please the taste buds of many (cmon, how can you hate slightly smoky, brushed with char, perfectly grilled octopus), but it still was not memorable enough. Maybe it’s a me issue? The Michelin label kind of just put me in a mindset of “I need to be wowed”, so perhaps I set my expectation tooooooo high. Honorable mentions: try the home-made ginger ale. If you are a ginger hater, it might just convert you.

TL;DR: All in all, a 7.8/10 (yes I give very specific ratings, the numbers speak to me in...

This weekend we finally made it to Okra here in Thao Dien! We have walked past it so many times and always said we would visit but never got to it.

Dont let the small appearance on the outside fool you as it is much bigger on the inside. We decided to order almost everything from the appetizer menu to share between the 3 of us and that was in the end the best choice as you get to sample a little bit of everything.

I have visited many restaurants in this city over the years and do consider myself having quite good and refined taste so it is safe to say I can guarantee you to not be disappointed with their food.

We ordered in total about 8 dishes and let me tell you EVERYTHING on EVERY plate was so good. Everything from the bacon mousse they sprinkle on the oysters to the tomato jam that they serve is so good you cant stop eating it!

🐙The octopus was so tender and melted in your mouth while the pork chop was so crispy on the outside while still keeping its moisture on the inside. 🐟Their seabass cevice was like a vietnamese lotus stem salad but with the cured pieces of delicious white fish. Very fresh on top of a sesame cracker. 🌽Their spin on bắp xào (street corn) is something you can not miss either!

They've taken regular dishes and turned them into the 5 star versions they so do deserve to be.

I highly highly recommend for everyone to check this restaurant out!

Oh and have a Tắc-tini! Best cocktail I've had in a while!

No picture provided as I completely forgot to take any photos due to enjoying my...

Dinner at OKRA FoodBar, Michelin Selected 2025 🤤

Loved the ambiance and the food! We got:

SUBTLE (appetizers)

Halong Pacific Oysters (all you can eat 360k) They do all you can eat oysters promo (2 hrs) on Thursdays!

Tuna Crudo (260k) Tomato-dashi vinaigrette, citrus, capers, allium oil, tobiko

Thai Grilled Okra (160k) Tom Yum, cashew-coconut pesto, crispy onion, dried shrimp

Street Corn (160k) Cilantro, Parmesan, chili, brown bourbon butter, pork floss

Pho Bo Tartare (240k) Minced raw beef and quail egg, sa te aioli, puffed beef tendon, salt & vinegar taro chips

Grilled Octopus (340k) Chipotle-romesco sauce, baby zucchini, green olives, golden raisin

Cro-aage (205k) Crispy crocodile bites, pickled daikon, wakame, tartar sauce

SUFFICIENT (mains)

Menchi Katsu Burger (320k) Gouda cheese stuffed, deep fried beef patty, remoulade, cabbage jam, Shokupan

Bone In Pork Chop (490k) Rosemary-dashi gravy, furikake, pickled okra

Faux Kho Flap Steak (695k) 5 spice soubise, Bo Kho vinaigrette, charred baby carrots, mushrooms

DESSERT

Sweet Potato Donut Holes (140k) Spiced-whipped cream, miso-coconut caramel, chili salt

Chocolate Mousse Parfait (150k) Citrus-chocolate mousse, pineapple compote, spiced whipped cream, lime ash

COCKTAILS

Pink Drink (220k) Rose Myrtle Gin, Strawberry, Mint, Orange Liqueur, Lemon,...