The Best Places to Eat and Drink in Saigon

Ănăn translates roughly as "eat, eat," which doubles as a mission statement for a contemporary Vietnamese restaurant sitting inside Ho Chi Minh City's oldest wet market. Chef Peter Cuong Franklin, a Vietnamese-American who went from banking to kitchens at Nahm in Bangkok, turns street food references into a Michelin-starred menu. The building also holds a cocktail bar and a noodle joint, so the name is working overtime.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. The 50 #86 · Asia's 50 Best Restaurants

A chandelier of 1,100 suspended glass tubes catches the light above the dining room at this fine dining restaurant on the ninth floor of Le Méridien, run by Australian chef Sam Aisbett. The name is an Aboriginal word for flowing water, and the Australian thread runs through the room, from the paintings down to the bread course, where pan-fried dampers arrive plump and beer-enriched. It holds a Michelin star.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star

1. The 50 #61 · Asia’s 50 Best Bars
2. Difford's Guide Difford's Guide

1. The 50 #93 · Asia’s 50 Best Bars

Yellow walls painted to mimic a village house, blue shutters included, sit a short walk from Ben Thanh Market. This Vietnamese home-cooking spot earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand for the kind of food regulars perch on wooden stools to eat without glancing at the menu. The pancake with shrimp and pork, served in a bamboo basket, gets most of the attention. Portions run generous and friendly to sharing.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

The name is a dare and the room backs it up: raw brick, warm light, a towering back bar, and a heavy metal door that opens onto something that feels airlifted from Brooklyn into a Ho Chi Minh City colonial building. It's a proper cocktail bar, with barrel-aged mixes on the menu and bartenders who will skip the list entirely and write you a liquid prescription based on your mood. Old-school hip hop keeps the whole thing from taking itself too seriously.

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery
2. Difford's Guide Difford's Guide

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Wicker lampshades throw a warm glow over the high-ceilinged dining room at this Latin American restaurant in District 1, where the kitchen swings between Mexico and Argentina with tacos and empanadas that have pulled in a loyal following fast. The chef behind it has a Michelin Bib Gourmand to show for the effort. It reads relaxed but runs professionally, which is a combination rarer than it sounds.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

1. World Coffee Map Essential Coffee Shops in Ho Chi Minh City
2. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Guide for Travelers
3. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Map for First-Time Visitors

1. World Coffee Map Essential Coffee Shops in Ho Chi Minh City
2. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Guide for Travelers
3. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Map for First-Time Visitors

An 11-metre bar stretches across an industrial space on the second floor of a colonial apartment block, floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides pulling in the street below. Layla is a cocktail bar run by the team behind Summer Experiment, and the drinks lean heavily on botanicals and spice. The entrance looks a little rough around the edges, which only makes the room feel more like a find. Named a 50 Discovery by Asia's 50 Best Bars.

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. World Coffee Map Where to Drink Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City
2. World Coffee Map 10 Best Specialty Cafes & Coffee Shops in Ho Chi Minh City
3. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Map for First-Time Visitors

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

Down an alleyway in District 1, this split-level cocktail bar has the bones of a speakeasy and the energy of somewhere bartenders actually drink on their nights off. Raw industrial walls, repurposed metal wheels turned into lights, and frames of music legends stacked everywhere set the tone. The drinks are the real draw, and the team behind the bar clearly knows it.

1. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Guide for Travelers
2. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Map for First-Time Visitors
3. World Coffee Map Where to Drink Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A Lyon-trained French chef doing modern European fine dining in a quietly elegant room on Le Thanh Ton, the street Ho Chi Minh City has quietly handed over to this sort of thing. Private dining rooms make it a natural choice when someone has news to share over several courses. The cooking leans into precision and presentation, with classic French foundations pulled in a cleaner, more contemporary direction.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A pho shop near Ben Thanh that makes its rice ribbon noodles from scratch, which already sets a certain tone. The menu runs through the usual suspects plus shank, flank, oxtail, and ribs for anyone who wants to think about texture. Order the pho tho da and the broth arrives in a heated stone bowl, staying volcanic to the last mouthful, with beef and noodles served alongside so you control how much the heat finishes the meat.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. World Coffee Map Your Guide to Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City
2. World Coffee Map Essential Coffee Shops in Ho Chi Minh City
3. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Map for First-Time Visitors

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Antler chandeliers and dark wood wainscoting spread across the upper floors signal exactly what kind of place this is: a proper steakhouse, doing things the old way. The focus is grass-fed and grain-fed beef, much of it dry-aged well past three weeks, with house-made sauces that cover the range. The wood-fired mashed potato is quietly the dish people keep mentioning. End with whisky and feel no guilt about it.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A concrete counter faces an open kitchen on the third floor of a Mac Thi Buoi address, and the minimalist, Japanese-leaning room is spare enough that the food has nowhere to hide. The chef grew up in Central Vietnam and trained in Europe, and the tasting menu pulls that tension into something interesting. Named for three founders all born in the Year of the Monkey, which is either a charming origin story or a great excuse for the name.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. The 50 The 50 Discovery

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. World Coffee Map Where to Drink Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City
2. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Guide for Travelers
3. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Map for First-Time Visitors

1. World Coffee Map Essential Coffee Shops in Ho Chi Minh City
2. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Guide for Travelers
3. World Coffee Map 10 Best Specialty Cafes & Coffee Shops in Ho Chi Minh City

1. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Guide for Travelers
2. World Coffee Map Where to Drink Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City
3. World Coffee Map 10 Best Specialty Cafes & Coffee Shops in Ho Chi Minh City

1. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Guide for Travelers
2. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Map for First-Time Visitors

1. World Coffee Map Ho Chi Minh City Coffee Guide for Travelers
2. World Coffee Map Your Guide to Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City

1. World Coffee Map Essential Coffee Shops in Ho Chi Minh City
2. World Coffee Map Best cafes for reading in Ho Chi Minh City

1. World Coffee Map Essential Coffee Shops in Ho Chi Minh City

1. World Coffee Map Best coffee shops for work in Ho Chi Minh City
2. World Coffee Map Best cafes for reading in Ho Chi Minh City

1. Difford's Guide Difford's Guide