Quan An Ngon
138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Quan An Ngon is a popular restaurant housed in a colonial building with a very extensive offering of Vietnamese dishes. If this is your first time visiting Vietnam, this restaurant features representative dishes from northern, central and southern regions. So it’s a one-stop shop to sample all these dishes at one go in an alfresco setting. The food served at Quan An Ngon is relatively inexpensive, while the portions were decent for family meal. However, the restaurant can be crowded with tourists.
The draw to Quan An Ngon is mainly the street-style vendor stations throughout the restaurant where you can see the food being prepared. That somewhat explains why there were so many tourists there. The live station setup offers a glimpse of how local Vietnamese food is prepared.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Grilled Blood Cockles with loads and loads of rau ram. Rau ram is my new fave herb. It’s kinda like basil but has a bit of of a bitter bite and cool minty-ness.
I had wanted to order a second portion of grilled blood cockles but it was sold out. WHUAT! At 730PM!?! *crushed*
Grilled Fresh Oysters with scallion oil, salt and lime dipping condiment, rau ram (yay).
According to my Vietnamese friend, rau ram is often paired with grilled food because the flavor cuts through any greasiness. Its medicinal properties also help to ‘cool’ what is believed to be the heaty element of certain foods.
Here I got schooled in the difference between Banh Xeo – a crispy pancake filled with beansprouts, and Banh Beo – steamed rice flour cakes with dried shrimp topping. I really liked the Banh Beo, it was pillowy, the dried shrimp topping was exquisite.
Not shown in pic, the Banh Beo was served with a few slices of cha lua (Vietnamese ham). Eaten with a drizzle of nuoc mam cham (fish sauce), every bite was exceptionally delicious and light. So I went ahead to order a second portion… but was told again that this was also sold out. Wtfgawddamnitz! *face palm*
Baby Clams served with Crispy Rice Cakes. This was one of my favorite dishes at Quon An Ngon. It’s so addictive to snack on. Anyone knows the Vietnamese name for this?
Beef Wrapped in Betel Leaves – a classic Vietnamese dish.
Meanwhile, my mom who’s a fan of shaved ice wanted to order chè (the Vietnamese term that refers to any traditional Vietnamese sweet beverage, dessert soup or pudding). Guess what? Yeah, sold out. :(
Unbelievable. Goes to show just how friggin’ popular this restaurant is. AIYOH. Come on, Quan An Ngon!!!
Deep-fried Quail
Whole Carp in Sweet and Sour Stew
There were so many items on the menu that we wanted to eat. So we ended up going back here three times. Quan An Ngon has multiple locations in Ho Chi Minh city, and twice we went to the location opposite Reunification Palace. This was because the cab driver made a wrong turn but that was okay.
We were able to try more dishes at the other location and it was less crowded when we went. Whoohoo!
Potato Starch Noodle Soup with Fried Eel
Deep Fried Spring Rolls
Bun Bo Hue (Spicy Beef & Pork Noodle Soup)
Pork Chop over Rice Vermicelli
In theory, we could’ve ventured out to sample the same food on the streets or go to other restaurants. But since our first visit to Vietnam was short, we decided Quan An Ngon was most convenient. And *burps* we could order different items since the Quan An Ngon menu was rather large.
If this is the first time you’re visiting Vietnam and not sure where/what to eat, I recommend checking out Quan An Ngon.
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