Push open the wooden louvered doors of Sai Gon Xua and you’ll feel like you’re stepping into early 20th-century Saigon: ceiling fans flicker, rattan furniture and brass chandeliers against the mottled brick walls, and old photographs hanging on the walls of the Mekong River capture the fireworks of the Mekong River. Named “Old Saigon”, this restaurant replicates the French colonial architectural style and connects Vietnam’s mixed-race cultural genes with a single table of dishes.
Colonial and native palates blend
Sai Gon Xua’s signature dish “Lemon Roast Beef Salad” epitomizes the essence of Vietnamese cuisine with fish sauce, which is a crispy green papaya, charred roast beef, served with fish sauce, lemon juice and millet spicy. Another dish of “French Herb Roast Chicken” has a colonial stamp: the chicken skin is crispy like a duck confit, but the spices are made of Vietnam’s unique Jin Bu Chang and lemongrass, and the side dish is a Provençal chowder of roasted potatoes and onions.
The temperature of the home kitchen
Like a family restaurant in the alleys of Ho Chi Minh City, the food here is full of handmade feel. Freshly steamed and freshly wrapped with pork, shrimp or vegan fillings, the dipping sauce is available in both lime juice and sweet and spicy sauces, perfectly replicating the soul of Vietnamese street food. It is recommended to pair it with a cup of drip coffee, the sweetness of condensed milk is balanced by the bitterness of dark roasted beans, and it is like seeing a coffee stall on a street corner in Saigon in the afternoon.
