TINTO x PASTA CLUB Not so Italian — Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

I’d been wanting to visit Tinto for a couple of months since my friends went and told me to come and try it. Long story short, it did not disappoint. When you walk in from this typical Thao Dien street everything seems to disappear and you know you’re somewhere good. The decor is modern and artistic and the service is great. The service was so fast! Maybe almost too fast.

My wife and I being Latin American have always loved Peruvian cuisine and of course Japanese so we were excited to try it all! We started with oysters and they were incredibly fresh and tasty. They are accompanied by soy sauce, lemon and wasabi. We then ordered a platter of a variety of sushi cuts. The salmon melted in my mouth which is how I gauge my sashimi. Very good and 2 more oysters were included to boot!

The artistry that goes into every dish is incredible. From concentrated sauce drops to even some very small details like leafs and even popcorn! My wife ordered the ribs and I ordered the flank steak. The ribs were really good. My only wish was that my steak hadn’t come over a sauce. This sort of forced me to have to have each bite with the sauce underneath. Steaks should come alone and sauces on the side for you to dip into. However, the steak was not just great but incredibly priced!

All in all, you need to come here. We had an amazing cocktail to start our night and a great bottle of wine to accompany us on our journey through the meal.

Big shout out to the service staff. They were as...

As I heard a lot about Tinto, it was time to give it a try. The reservation process was not easy. I send an email but did not hear back for 48 hours so called them. Upon arrival I was disappointed to find that they were trying to sit us facing the street on bar stools where there was an open window, meaning you would pick up the noise and dirt level directly from the street. As I did not accept that we were offered bar seating facing the kitchen. Actually that turned out to be good fun. We tried dishes from all sections of the menu and found some I would say interesting dishes and some really outstanding food. Mostly the sauces on each dish were the stars of the show. It turned out that the simplest dishes were the best. Piri piri chicken was great and so was Fish and Chips. My favorite would have been the pumpkin and coconut brûlée if it would have been a little more cold. Service was really attentive, whenever we needed anything it would be there in no time, having said that we had to ask meaning they were really active but not proactive. I will gladly give it a 5 star rating even though I was more thinking of 4,5. Will return and see if and how they...

In the words of Anton Ego, "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy... But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new!"

My girlfriend and I had the new menu on a Sunday evening. We were early so the place was quiet and unassuming. But the service was immaculate.

Our waiter recommended me the pork jowl risotto, a dish that hid in the middle of the menu, with no chef's hat, and no thumbs up. So it blew me away when it arrived, with a very modest but bold use of Italian orzo, Chinese XO sauce and Southeast Asian dried shrimps. The pasta was spicy, acidic and umami-packed, and the jowl was sweet, savoury and very tender. It was clearly a thoughtfully composed and beautifully balanced dish, and by a landslide, one of the best dishes I have had in my life.

The portions were spot on, especially with the complimentary wine, an extra pint of Sapporo and the Panna Cotta to finish. My partner had the Tom Yum Pasta, the scoop Tiramisu and we shared the focaccia, which she thoroughly enjoyed. The only shame was that it was our last night in Ho Chi Minh, otherwise we would've come again. And again!...