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171 Nguyen Thai Hoc, P. Pham Ngu Lao, Q. 1 (at btwn Tran Hung Dao and Pham Ngu Lao), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Vietnamese cuisine including local noodle soups. Confirmed open, Dec 2014.
Category: Vegan-friendly, Vietnamese
Reviews (18)
First Review by mybalo
Contributions +201
Just ok - Edit
The location is central and convenient if you're in the backpacker area. The food is ok, but nothing special, and you can certainly do better for the money elsewhere (and far better in terms of the sensational taste experience that other places in this city offer). Fine but nothing special and would certainly not return given the plethora of other - way better - options around.
Pros: Nice jackfruit dish, Centrally located
Cons: Poor service, Just meh food in a city that's a vegan paradise
Contributions +74
Expensive and unimpressive - Edit
Expensive by Vietnamese standard, food is touch and go. Small servings
Pros: Lots of options
Cons: Expensive , Small portions
Contributions +50
pretty taste free - Edit
I ordered the faux chicken with deep fried bread and the seaweed soup. it's not that tasty and quite pricey for what it is. but sitting on the floor is a nice touch. the black sesame milk is amazing!
Contributions +38
Small portions, expensive price - Edit
Ordered two dishes from the chategory "my favourites": the fried veggie crab meat and the fried chicken with buns. The portions were extremly small. We did not feel full when leaving. We got 2 salad leafs each, a red tiny red onion and 5 tiny fried balls of fake meat. The fried chicken were two very small "legs" and three small bread buns. It took long for the food to get ready and it all costed 120.000 VND.
The staff did not know any english, but there was no trubble to order because the menu was in english.
Over all we are not satisfied with the experience, when even the tissues costed 3.000 VND each. The floor seating was nice though.
Pros: Nice facility
Cons: price, size of portions, food did not taste much
Contributions +297
Nice - Edit
Had a mock meat dish and really enjoyed it. Returned for an equally good breakfast bahn mi.
(I can also testify that the food was a bit too sweet.)
Pros: Atmosphere (sitting on the floor), Wifi
Contributions +1040
Average place - Edit
Me and some friends found this place by chance when walking back from the park to the backpackers area. Nice floor seating upstairs and although I only tried the bun cha gio there, I thought the food was pretty average.
Pros: Location, Floor seating , Affordable
Cons: Average food
Contributions +18
Tasty... mostly - Edit
Some of the dishes here are quite sweet (as a previous reviewer has stated), the canh chua's (sour soups) and most of the goi's (Vietnamese style salads) being the worst offenders in my mind. The kho to (clay pot braised) dishes however are excellent; the young jackfruit one in particular is the best I've had in the city. Bo la lot (mock beef wrapped in betel leaf and grilled, served with herbs, lettuce, dipping sauce, and rice paper), most of the sauteed veggies (especially the morning glory), and pho are also good here, but bun Hue is disappointing. Most veg. places in Vietnam get really busy on first and mid. days of the lunar calendar ("fasting" days for lay Buddhists), but Sen gets super crazy, so I'd avoid it then.
Contributions +69
overly sugary - Edit
All the dishes I had were excessively sweet. Preparation style and flavors really reminded me of Vietnamese restaurants in San Jose, CA, and not so much of local food in Saigon.
Wood tables and windowside tables with a view of a downtown street, a significantly nicer setting than average, but not upscale.
English menu available.
Staff speak a little English.
Not a vegan restaurant, but can provide lots of vegan options.
Pros: English menu, above-average setting
Cons: not a vegan restaurant, overly sweet dishes
Contributions +39
Tasty and Flavourful - Edit
We had the veggie hotpot, sweet and sour veggie pork, and roasted veggie chicken with bun. All were very tasty with fresh ingredients and lots of flavour. There are three levels of seating, we opted for a table on the third level but there is also more traditional take off your shoes and sit on pillows seating on the second floor.
Pros: tasty, quick service , very reasonable prices
Cons: steep stairs
Contributions +132
Good but not great - Edit
It's a nice, quiet setting in an otherwise loud and busy part of town. The food is good but I've had much better in the city. The prices are reasonable too. As for the towel charge, I'm not sure why they charge for the service but if you don't want it you can simply refuse. Keep in mind that the charge is 3000 Dong, which is about $.15 at the moment.
Pros: Quiet, nice setting , Clean , Reasonable prices
Cons: Good but not great
Contributions +23
Great Spot - Edit
Very clean and great food. Small sit on the floor tables. Staff don't speak too much English. Menu in English though. Very nice food. Medium price. Wet towel charge was a downside. They also gave us the wrong bill, so make sure you check before paying. Worth the visit though.
Pros: Clean, Reasonable Price
Cons: Sit On Floor, Wet Towel charge
Contributions +26
the most interesting vegan cuisine - Edit
We had dinner here, the restaurant has three storeys and is quite popular.
We took one of the recommended dishes on the menu, along with a "standard" fried race in a pineapple (which was good), it was mock beef rolled inbouled greens, served with rice paper an greens. Seeing our stupified looks and hand signals (no english spoken here), the waitress wetted the rice paper and proceeded to roll the rolls with the greens and dipped it all in a miso like dip.
Everything tasted great, along with a wonderful avocado shake.
Highly recommended, though strangely they charge a 3000 dong fee for the wet tissue... but it too added to the feeling of an upscale majestic dinner.
Pros: excellent food, good value, friendly staff
Cons: no english spoken, wet tissue pricing
Contributions +76
Elegant but... - Edit
We ate here on our last stay in HCMC. Every breakfast we would buy our veggie baguette here and was very satisfied with it. On our last day, we finally decided to eat in their resto. At first, we were denied because according to them they are still closed but we came as per the opening hours posted at their door. They eventually let us in and we managed to order. The staff and can't speak English so we have to point our orders. We didn't worry because it's a vegan resto in the first place. I think it was the manager who came and greeted us, she's very pleasant and is the only one that can speak English. We ate, paid and went back to the park to kill time before we leave Vietnam. A few hours later, I experienced something weird in my stomach. I felt dizzy and throwed up after just a few hours. I do not know what we ate or what was on there but that's our last stop. Luckily, my partner didn't experience any of what I felt and was relieved that I did not felt it while on the plane and back to our country. A few hours after our arrival, i got this very high fever and could not eat. I decided to do water therapy and not eat anything solid. I got better after my water therapy and was very lucky to detoxify. I got traumatized after eating here and will now be very picky everytime.
Pros: near Pham Ngu Lao
Cons: Staff can't speak english
Contributions +233
Nice Food - Edit
I stay in HCM for a while and regular visit this place for lunch and dinner, in VN the moist tissue in the packet, that leave on the table, in every restaurant and cafe, if you use it, they charge for it. $1 dollar we can exchange for 19,500 dong, even if they charge you extra 5000 that maybe for something that you used that haven't take into account in the receipt, as a tourist, sometime take it easy, don't count every cents, this small restaurant serve good food and I will definitely come back again.
Contributions +43
Great fake meats - Edit
We visited Sen a couple of times whilst in HCMC. The noodle soups we had were served with vietnamese mint, dried banana flower, lime, and some slices of the hottest chilli I have ever tasted. All very fragrant and delicious.
We also tried some of the fake meat dishes which were amazing. I wish I could get this stuff at home!
The service was friendly, the decor very clean and tidy, and the prices quite good although we were charged for moist towelettes on the second visit.
Pros: great men selection, nice decor, friendly staff
Cons: charged for towelettes
Contributions +11
Sensational Food - Edit
The food is delicious. We were in HCM for about 6 nights and ate at this place about 4 of those nights. we just wanted to try everything on the menu. The meals seem to be made with love, they were so delicate, as well as being extremely flavoursome. The restaurant itself has a peaceful ambience and is very comfortable. We spoke to one of the owners and he was such a lovely man. I thoroughly recommend this restaurant for tryely delectable vegetarian food. My husband, who isn't vegetarian, loved the chicken drumsticks!
Pros: Healthy, tasty, affordable
Cons: no cons
Contributions +47
thik hai - Edit
this place was pretty sweet, not exactly what I'd call healthy (a little on the greasy side) but with a pretty wide menu mostly based on mock meats and quick service. Average sushi at best. It has a nice atmosphere up stairs and you can get baguettes out the front for 10.000 dong.
Pros: quick service, tasty, friendly
Cons: don't bother with the sushi
Contributions +108
First and last visit - Edit
I was thoroughly happy with my first visit to Sen Quan Chay until I was presented with the bill. They charged 5,000 dong more than what was printed on the menu. When I asked why, they said prices were higher at the market today. I had no problem with that, but said that if they were going to charge more they had to tell customers in advance. They disagreed. I told them that I would never return there, and I won't. If you do go, be sure to ask the price of each item you order in order to avoid surprises.
Pros: Excellent food, Good portions, Pleasant atmosphere
Cons: Dishonest pricing
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