Of my 10 dinners in HCM, dining at An Vien must have been one of my favourites as I had dinner twice here. Prices are considered high here but nevertheless worth every single cent paid. An average person would probably spend about RM50 having a decent meal here. Do try to bring more people along to be able to savour more of their very delicious dishes. Pictures below are of dishes we tried the 2 times we were there.
Located in a little alley, I believe, it's not hard to get the taxi to bring you there.
The restaruant settings were nice and elegant - totally in line with the top notch food they serve!
Deep fried fish cakes. Superb!!! Dont know why they don't serve it with any chili sauce on the side but nevertheless deep fried till crispy brown.
The crab meat glass noodle - probably one of the better ones I've tried. Not too salty, just the right amount of crab meat and served with lots of greens.
This has got to be one of my favourties - grilled pork and accompanied with crispy rice cakes.
This is apparently the right way to eat it - make a hole in the middle, stuff the tender pork in between and bite into it. Yum!
Also indulge yourself in these rice cakes - topped with something that tasted like shrimps (I can't remember exactly the viet name for it), but do look on the first page of the menu and look for the last dish!
As mentioned earlier, back in KL, the sugarcan prawns never come with greens and rice paper rolls. In Vietnam, i was informed, it's a norm.
The soft shell crabs were juicy, meaty and just fantastic. I'm not too big a fan of soft shell crabs, but they're nothing like some of the scrawny, over fried ones we get here!!
We only had dessert once - which was the coconut caramel (can't remember if it's exactly what it's called) - it's taste's very similiar to chendol, just that it comes in a pudding form and good enough, it was not served too sweet!
Overall conclusion: I love this place. Both times I was stuffed after dinner! And a must visit if you're in HCM - even if you're on a budget trip...
Address: 178 Hai Ba Trung, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tel: 824-3777
The weather was kind to us on Friday, allowing us to make a visit to Disney Sea even with the typhoon warnings.
The place where dreams come true! I felt like a kid again at the Disney Sea Halloween themed park!
View of the house of terror!
We waited all day for the Mysterious Masquerade. where apparently, to secure seats for the show, you have to go through a lottery process!
Pictures speak for themselves. There really is nothing much to describe about Disney. Though we did not get to sit on most of the terrifying rides due to the super over hour long queue, I thoroughly enjoyed myself!
Stayed with mom's friend for a night before moving to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the family the next day. On the very first night, I had what would have been one of the best tasting unagi rice which can be eating just with rice, with some accompanyments or with o-cha soup base. And yes, they have the best deep fried eel bones! Yum! ( Will do a write up on this restaurant pretty soon - regrettably, I forgot to take the address only the phone no - but it's walking distance from the Takorozawa station)
Nicely decorated, a little Victorian, was my first impression of this place as we made our way to the first floor as G was already packed. There's a lady on the G floor that entertains you with music from a instrument that somewhat resembles an er-hu.
Just 2 of us, there was really not a lot we could order, so we settled mainly for dishes from their special menu. Noticed that most dishes in special dishes would have some lemongrass in them.
We had the mussels with glass noodle next. Rather tasty and they were very generous with the mussels. We thought a bit too generous ...
A range of services are offered - from facial to massages and packages. I wanted to try the 1 hr ginger massage (USD 16) but the lady there cautioned that it may be too hot and suggested the hot stone at USD15 (which is more or less like the prices of a decent massage in KL). Tea and ginger sweets are served while the lady recommends you one of their many services offered.
Strangely, they had 2 people in the room all times during my massage, one to position the stones and help around and the masseur herself. She did a good job the whole 1 hour and pressure was just right (they would ask you before hand). It's probably one of the better hot stone massages I've tried. The best - they have that hot little beanie case they put to cover your eyes, totally relaxing. And if you tell them to focus at problem areas (back, shoulders e.g - they actually do listen)
You could opt for either ala carte or the set menu. We opted for the cheapest set (USD 15++) on the 1st floor. Ground floor serves Vietnamese food mainly, we were told whilst 1st floor is Western/ French.
A post looking place with professional waiters/ waitresses, we sure hope the food would be as good as the place looks.
Then we could choose between sea bass or beef. Although, we had ordered the beef bedium rare, it came out a tad too cooked, but nevertheless, the gravy was delicious. Beef however, was not as tender as we'd expected it to be.
Frofiterols for dessert. Best of the lunch! Topped with chocolate sauce and accompanied by ice cream - the perfect way to end a delightful Saturday lunch.
