Saigon Oi! is my current favourite restaurant to go for lunch. In fact, I eat there at least 2-3 times per week. It's not just that this homey Vietnamese restaurant is only 2 doors down from my office (lazy me!), and air-conditioned, the main reason I go there is for their great clean, tasty and reasonably priced food. It's the sort of food you can enjoy everyday without feeling guilty!
Here are some of my favourites from Saigon Oi!
Sugar cane prawns with "Kanom Jean" (a kind of rice noodles). You can see the chilli, peanuts, etc on top. There is also the Vietnamese dipping sauce underneath. Mix it all up with your chopsticks and eat! A very light and refreshing dish. Some might find the sauce too sweet though. You can also have your "kanom jean" with other toppings eg. grilled pork marinated with lemongrass, beef, spring rolls, etc.
Vegetarian Fresh Spring Rolls - this is also rather gorgeous, and surprisingly filling due to the omelette and tofu. The sauce is thick and very yummy! I can just eat the sauce alone! They also have very good Fresh Spring Rolls with Prawns.
Deep fried Spring Rolls - This might be the only deep fried dish on the menu, and one of my favourite spring rolls in Chiang Mai! Very tasty, and deep fried so nicely - very crispy on the outside, and the pork filling so soft. Goes very well with the Vietnamese dipping sauce.
"Lad Na" - Rice noodles with eggs and Maggi sauce gravy, well, I think they use Maggi! Quite different from Thai style Lad Nas & very tasty and fragrant.
The Verdict:
A great place to go for simple, tasty and healthy Vietnamese food. The staff is lovely too, but they suffer a bit from staff shortage, so service can sometimes be a quite slow if there are a few customers.
The Rating:
The food: 7/10
The ambience: 6/10 (Nice clean restaurant, nothing fancy. You go there to eat.)
Value for money: 7/10 (Dishes are from 45 baht-around 75 baht for beef / prawn dishes)
Saigon Oi!
Shop 206/27 Meechok Plaza
Chiang Mai
Tel: 0815308224
thank you for this usefull article! i got to visit this place after reading this and yes, i got to love this restaurant! they are now serving grllled pork salad with richy home made salad cream, very very good taste. I bought some orders to share with my relatives, they all enjoyed. We will group there for our lunch or dinner soon. Once again, thank you very much
ReplyDeleteI've been coming to Chiang Mai to teach for a couple of months every year and had always made sure that I stop by here for lunch or dinner a couple of times a week. This is the place that I take my students and other guests when I have to entertain. They (Africans, Japanese, Americans, Canadians...) all seem to enjoy the home-style cooking. The food is authentic - and I'm speaking as a Vietnamese-American. I appreciate the fact that the owner does not use MSG. I also like the free ice tea. Yes, the service can be slow at times - but this is true of many places in Thailand.
ReplyDeleteMy favorites here are the Vietnamese pancake with shrimp, the spring (garden) roll, and the noodle with grilled pork.