• 4
• great first meal in HCMC

We arrived at An Lac Chay after over 22 hours of travel from the east coast of the US. I had researched vegetarian friendly places extensively prior to our trip (thank you, Happycow.net!!!) as I wanted to be somewhat prepared prior to hitting up four different southeast asian countries. Imagine our surprise when I was told by the manager of our guesthouse (the amazing Chan of the Bich Duyen Hotel) that An Lac Chay was just a short walk away. It's location is a bit unusual as it's upstairs above a pizza place. You literally walk through Margherita and up a very steep staircase (it's more like a ladder). We got there around 8 or 9 in the evening and managed to score a nice table on the balcony overlooking the busy street below. Our food was an excellent selection of mock-meats and vegetables. A small bowl of bird's eye chili's was offered as a condiment and nearly ended the entire vacation as my husband and friend crumpled under the heat. We washed our meal down with plenty of Tiger beer before bar hopping late into the evening. On another note: we returned to the mexican-cantina style place next door for lunch the next day following a tour and they were offering essentially the same An Lac Chay menu (probably from the same kitchen) as well as Mexican food and pizza from Margherita.