Great Foreign Restaurants
Black Cat
Saigon is a fantastic city for people dedicated to eating out regularly.
The range of restaurants of offer is astounding, so much so that, if you are up to it, you could sample a different national cuisine everyday of the month if you wanted to.
Sometimes though, I just hunger for something that reminds me home.
And for me that means either a pizza, chips, or a hamburger.
And when I want a hamburger their is only one place to go in my mind, and that is a little restaurant by the name of "Black Cat".
Hidden away on Phan Van Dat five minutes walk from Me Linh Point Tower, Black Cat sells the largest most delectable burgers in all Saigon .
To be more accurate they probably sell the most filling and delicious burgers anywhere!
For a lot of restaurants in Saigon the meal you are actually served bears little resemblance to what you see in the picture on the menu, but whenever I eat at Black Cat I always leave feeling that I got more than I actually paid for, which is a rear feeling indeed in Saigon.
This is because Black Cat burgers are absolutely sumptuous; they are big, tasty and jam packed with ingredients that spill out the side.
Part of the reason that the burgers at Black Cat are so good is that they hand make all their breads and meat patties to ensure quality.
The result of all this attention to quality is that Black Cat offers the best deal for burgers in terms of both quality and quantity anywhere.
Consequently it is little wonder then that CNN ranked Black Cat one of the top ten restaurants in the world.
And for those with an extra sized appetite (although I have never attempted it), Black Cat also offers a monstrous 1.4 kg Bacon Cheese Burger.
This huge burger consists of one 500gram patty, four slices of cheese, six slices of bacon, three tomatoes, one onion and more. All these ingredients are then packed into one jumbo sized toasted sesame seed bun.
Think you could HANDLE IT?
Last time I heard only one person has ever managed to finish the burger, but no matter whether you can or you can't, they will put your picture on the wall for trying.
The price of a burger at Black Cat ranges from between 60,000 to 90,000 dong. Black Cat's Vietnamese cuisine is a bit cheaper. One Vietnamese dish will generally cost between 30,000 and 40,000 dong.
Black Cat
13 Phan Van Dat, Dist 1
Tel: 829 2055
Honorable Mentions
Creperie & Cafe (Click here to read more)
Five minutes walk from Diamond Plaza, Creperies & Cafe is a quiet and comfy restaurant right in the heart of district one that serves exquisite food.
This Brazilian barbeque restaurant is definitely for those who love eating meat and nothing else.
This is because at Au Lac Do Brazil they serve a Brazilian style churrascaria, which is basically an all-you-can-eat 12 course selection of barbequed meats.
Pacharan
Continuing the Latin theme, Pacharan Tapas & Bodega is a fantastic Spanish style restaurant in the Heart of Saigon.
Located on the corner of Hai Ba Trung and Le Loi in District 1, this amazing four story restaurant has a delicatessen on the ground floor, a restaurant on the second floor, and to top it off, a cocktail bar licensed to serve drinks until 2a.m. in the morning on the rooftop.
This makes Pacharan a great place to drink and dine no matter whether you make Pacharan the beginning of your night out, the end of your night out, or the main event of your night out.
The Tapas menu starts at about 50,000 VND a dish, and features Spanish Cheese and cured hams. Roasted suckling pig, sea bass and fillet of veal can be found on the main menu.
When you visit Pacharan a must try, according to my uneducated palate, is the "Solomillo sobre cama de rucola y manchego", or in English "grilled steak on a bed of roguette & manchego cheese shaves."
I love meat and I love cheese, and put these together in such a sumptuous manner and the result is a delight.
Not mention that Pacharan also boasts a 100% Spanish wine list, with approximately 90 different wines.
And if you have been to Cambodia and are wondering why the name Pacharan sounds familiar, this is because the restaurant has a very popular sister restaurant in Phnom Penh by the same name.
97 Hai Ba Trung, Dist 1
Tel: 825 6024
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