Serves meat, vegan options available. Small restaurant with a large menu featuring vegetarian dishes from around the world, especially Vietnamese, Tex-Mex, Italian, American. Previously fully vegetarian; reported serving meat as of Jan 2017.
Categories: Vegan-friendly, Western, Juice bar, Take-out, Vietnamese, Non-veg
23 Reviews
First Review by RachMeow
Contributions +79
So many options!! - Edit
Very wide variety of options. The curry was particularly great, though the fried spring rolls were filled with bean paste rather than the typical vegetables. Cost ~60k per dish, great value.
Contributions +73
The best food I had in Vietnam! - Edit
I have just got home from 10 days holiday in Vietnam. Being a strick vegetarian is very difficult in Vietnam as most dishes are made with meat or fish stock or fish sauce. Quite a few of the staff in this restaurant don't speak English. They can say "Hello, Goodbye and Thank you" but that's it! They are very friendly and eager to please but I recommend taking a phrase book just in case! The food I had here was delicious and very cheap. They do "backpackers" food which I didn't try, I went with the asian dishes. The sweet corn fritters with salsa, bitter green melon stir fry, rice and mushroom & some other black bean dish in a clay pot with a chilli (hot) sauce were all really good - even my meat eating boyfriend really loved the food and the great flavours. I had some really awful food while I was in Vietnam - by the end of my trip I was totally over steamed or stir fried veges with soya sauce. We went to this restaurant on our last night in Vietnam and it was so good - I wish all the food I had was this good. It only cost 170,000VND for all of the dishes we had and a few drinks.
Updated from previous review on 2009-06-07
Pros: Large Vege Menu, Very Cheap, Friendly Staff
Cons: Smoking inside is allowed!, Staff have limited English
Contributions +79
Convenient and Good Value - Edit
A ton of options haven't tried everything but the food isn't bad. Not amazingggg but I don't mind going back. Definitely a solid meal everytime though
Try the sweet and sour snake fish soup. Very unique to Vietnamese cuisine and quite authentic
Pros: Authentic Vietnamese options Good prices
Contributions +340
Good for a snack - Edit
We had the fresh spring rolls and a shake each. They were all tasty, a lot of the menu had milk and egg on it but the waitress understood when we said no egg.
Contributions +88
Serves meat, isn't all veg! - Edit
Been here twice now, the first time I thought they were all veg but the 2nd time they brought out a dead animal menu and told me they serve that too.
Decent veg food and an extensive menu though.
Probably won't eat here again because there are so many other pure veg and vegan places around.
Pros: Extensive menu, Decent food, Reasonably priced
Cons: Is not veg, serves dead animals and parts.
Contributions +108
Inaccurate map location, amazing Yam soup!!! - Edit
So sick of people uploading the wrong map location for restaurants on happycow-- the actual location is here https://goo.gl/maps/uRaLS7Te3wo
Decent chay (vegetarian) restaurant catered towards tourists.... prices range from 35k-60k per dish for Vietnamese food
The purple Yam soup is incredibly delicious
Note: there is another chay restaurant next door-- no idea how the food compares
Contributions +54
Would give it another chance - Edit
We ordered the glassnudels and fried spring rolls. I thought it was okay, but my bofriend was not a fan. The sauce did not taste very much, but the spring rolls were very crispy. I would go there again simply to see if something else on the menu is better, I do think it could be.
The great thing is that it served many types of food, not only vietnamese.
There were cheaper alternatives as well as on the more expencive side so no matter the price you're looking for, you will find something!
The staff was very friendly and inviting and the facility was clean and cool thanks to the AC.
Pros: light facility, a separate vegetarian menu, served many types of food
Cons: our dish did not taste much
Contributions +240
Delicious - Edit
It is a real vegetarian restaurant. The concept is great, two complete different menu cards. Perfect if you go with non vegetarians. They have vietnamese food, but mexican, pasta etc as well.
We tried 2 dishes, the BBQ, were you roll the mock meat with salad into rice paper and dip it into sauce. And the mock chicken with lemongrass chili sauce. We loved both, I could have given 5 stars if possible for a not-only veggie restaurant. Even I love the very small vegetarian family businesses, I enjoyed the choice you have there.
The dishes were 60.000 and 50.000 ding which seems normal for district 1 in Ho Chi Minh.
Oh and they serve beer as well ;-)
Contributions +29
tasty, good service - Edit
Nice meal although they do have a non vegetarian menu which might not satisfy everyone but lots of food for a good price. Took us a while to find it too
Contributions +689
Little Haven In All the Chaos - Edit
Don't be fooled by others catering to vegetarians by adding "vegetarian food" on their advertisement.
You're better off supporting a 100% vegetarian house that won't have animal products in the kitchen.
Just saying...
Pros: Close, Non Busy, Very Buddhist
Cons: Disco Noise, Hard To Find
Contributions +27
Consistent, tasty food with good variety - Edit
We have eaten here several times because it is close to our hotel and we have never been disappointed. Not the cheapest food you can eat in HCM but our family of 4 ate tonight for just over 200,000 vnd including drinks. Good sized portions, a little more than we have had elsewhere. They have western dishes but we only eat the Vietnamese food and have tried all sorts. I have eaten maybe 4 different soups and each was distinct and tasty.
Tonight the restaurant was full of Vietnamese people so I guess that says something.
Good service, friendly and relaxed.
Pros: Huge choice, Each dish has unique flavour, Friendly service
Contributions +17
Good value veggie food - Edit
Found this after a few average meals in HCMC. Very good and inexpensive. We went back two other times and every dish we tried was really good (although we stuck to vietnamese vegetarian items only, not sure how good the american/mexican stuff would be). The family who runs this is very sweet and very service oriented. We would just turn our heads and someone was there in a second asking what we wanted, cute. Beer very inexpensive and overall everything was a great value.
Pros: Good food, Great prices on food and beer
Contributions +11
Not sure that the kitchen is vegeterian - Edit
So this restaurant have a big vegeterian menu, lots of different dishes and the quality is good!
But- they have another menu- non vegeterian!
I didn't go in the kitchen so i'm not sure if they have saparate dishes or not... So if it's important for you, you should go in the kitchen and check (i only tried to ask the staff but their english was'nt so good...)
If dont mind about the kitchen and if they may cook meat there so you should definetly go, great vegeterian menu!
Pros: Huge vegeterian menu, Good food
Cons: Have a non vegeterian menu, Staff speak only basic english
Contributions +113
so so - Edit
It's ok, but not overwhelming
Pros: Lot of choice, clean
Cons: The taste is so so, Very noisy street, music bars all over the place
Contributions +35
Excellent Restaurant - Edit
I would strongly recommend this restaurant in this area. The food is great, with large portion (enough to fill up the stomach), and the pricing is not too expensive. There is also a lot of variety to choose from. The place is also clean, with nice decoration. During my most recent meal, I ordered an appetizer, a main course and Vietnamese coffee, and it came up to @USD5.00. Went to this restaurant 3 times within a week. Not all the staffs can speak English, though I find 2 staffs, including the owner, can speak some decent English. One just have to learn to speak a bit slowly.
Pros: Decent pricing, Good Food, A lot of variety
Contributions +16
Great Spot! - Edit
Enormous menu, great fresh food, friendly staff and well priced! Seemed to have quite a few locals as well.
Pros: Big Menu, Fresh, Clean
Contributions +50
Nice - Edit
This is the best of the crop in the Pham Ngu Lao backpacker district. It deserves the good reviews.
Food is good, service is good and friendly if you go back a few times.
It looks a bit like a 101 other little vego places in HCMC - look for 'chay' (not cháy with an accent on the 'a') in the name or window. But the food is a step up on nearly all I have tried and it is convenient to most people. It also means that it is quite cheap (not as cheap as a real local place) and has a bit more of an authentic 'feel' over the glitzy places.
Pros: Food, Convenient, Quasi-authentic feel
Cons: Not much
Contributions +37
Great vegetarian restaurant - Edit
We found this restaurant during our second day in HCMC. It's central in district 1 (the main backpacker area) just off the main road next to the park. The staff were extremely friendly and they offer a good menu. Note that it's not a vegan restaurant so they do offer cheese. We had sweet and sour chicken which was amazing. The sauce didn't taste too sweet, it was just right. The 'chicken' had a great texture and was very tasty. We also had a couple of portions of spring rolls. You get 8 per portion but they're probably less than half the size of a spring roll you're used to. My girlfriend ordered a salad with soya cheese but it's nothing like we've had back in Europe. The 'cheese' was a small dish (that you'd normally get soy sauce in) containing a thin liquid which looked like cream. It had a few chillies in it and wasn't really that nice - we left it. Other than that, it was a great place and we'd definitely go again. The restaurant was surprisingly busy for a vegetarian restaurant and the prices were average - we paid around $9 for a couple of big beers, a big water and the food I previously mentioned. I've attached a couple of photos of the business card if you want the address and a map with the location - the majority of places we've tried to find from this website all have slightly wrong addresses. It's not nice wandering around aimlessly with a big backpack in 30 degrees! :)
Pros: nice food, friendly staff, reasonable price
Contributions +95
Extensive Menu - Edit
A good find. This restaurant has a varied menu, lots of choice. The food was good and tasty. The owner is a very nice man and the staff are friendly and efficient (they don't hover over you while you eat). Will eat here again.
Pros: Inexpensive, Friendly service, Dog and cat
Contributions +98
Affordable and delicious - Edit
What can I say, we were in Pham Ngu Lao looking for a vegetarian restaurant. As we are looking, we saw this restaurant and immediately ate. The staffs are friendly and they have a cute dog and cat. We ate here almost everyday. I love this place and will definitely go back. :)
Pros: affordable, friendly staff, excellent food
Cons: smokers
Contributions +47
Yummy cheap veggie food - Edit
We actually went here looking for the other restaurant listed as on the same street, so were glad to find this one just opposite where the other one used to be.
We only saw a veggie menu so I can't say anything about what else they serve but we had a really good meal.
I had the crispy tofu to start - but its actually a huge amount of fried tofu with salad! It was yummy - and the plum chilli sauce was awesome too.
I had the Pho noodle soup which was great - although I could really taste the MSG!! My partner had fried noodles with vegetables which wasn't what he was expecting - it was noodles fried into a pancake shape - but it was yummy!
Cheap - and drinks reasonable too.
Hopefully we'll go back soon - it's a huuuge menu and I wanna try more!!
Pros: Delicious food, Vietnamese style food, Lots of tofu / other protein goodness
Contributions +13
My favourite veggie restaurant - Edit
I've been living in HCMC for 6 months and I go to this restaurant every week (I went every day before I got my own kitchen!). The food is simple and delicious. They serve Vietnamese food and also western food often with a Vietnamese twist. I can't seem to go past their tofu with lemongrass and chili! The veggie curry is also great as are their braised dishes. The staff are very friendly and will help you with the Vietnamese pronunciation of the menu items. It's also very cheap as well!
Pros: excellent food, good value, friendly staff
Contributions +53
Nice little place with a great vege selection - Edit
We ate at this restaurant quite a few times as it was close to our hotel and everything we ordered tasted great. The lemongrass 'chicken' was one of the best things I had in Vietnam. I also recommend the fried rice served in a coconut bowl. The young coconut flesh you can scrape from the inside of the coconut is a perfect complement to the rice.
The restaurant seemed fairly quiet every time we were there, but the staff were friendly and the service was very efficient.
Pros: quick and friendly service, tasty food, cheap
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