Desperately looking for a Chinese Restaurant.

I can't read Chinese so I don't know the dishes about which you're asking, but Chinatown (District 5 now) has been around since the 18th century.  There's a very old Vietnamese saying that if you can't find a Chinese product (food, merchandise, or medicine) in Chinatown, it doesn't exist.

Just by looking at the chinese words you typed in it already made my mouth water. I have live in China for 13 years and the food there still one of my favourite, Si Chuan food in particular. I have tried some chinese restaurants here, but the flavour/taste not even close (perhaps they cant buy certain ingredients here).

Part of your problem in finding the food you expect is that the ethnic Chinese, or Hoa, in Vietnam have been in the country for multiple generations, even centuries.  They also arrived from various regions of China.  Hence they seem to have blended into their own uniquely Sino-Viet culture. 

By contrast Chinese in other countries, particularly those who operate restaurants, are likely first generation immigrants.  So their restaurants usually reflect their own regional origins such as Cantonese (Hong Kong,) Shanghai, or Szechuan province.  I never ate at a "nice" restaurant in Cholon (D5), but I have eaten at a few storefront places.  I was always both disappointed and mystified by the fact that the dishes were not what I expected.  Maybe it was the use of nước mắm which I expect would be rare to nonexistent in true Chinese cooking, as the food always seemed exceptionally salty.

It’s true... my mum cooks Vietnamese food properly and Chinese food in hindsight was strangely eaten with a lot of nuoc mam growing up. It’s better than plain soy sauce.

San fu Lou is really good but has a really basic menu. It’s become quite successful and you’ll find branches all over saigon now. The original being near new world hotel.

There’s a restaurant in district 5 by the tower block that’s condemed and said to be haunted. I think they’re going to knock it down so not sure if it’s still there or remember it’s name.

Then there’s a famous one for dim sum inside an dong plaza but I’m not sure of that’s still there either. Another new development condemned to be kncocked down. Last time I went it looked a bit like a ghost town but the restaurant was still open and busy.

The only dim sum place that is 'decent' 5/10 is San Fou Lo. Don't think there's any moms and pops restaurant serving it that I know of. If anyone else knows of other locations do let me know. Good quality Chinese restaurants that are rival those in the U.S are hard to find in Vietnam. I'd been to Cho Lon area and the neighborhood near the Calmette bridge and the only Chinese dishes that were available were won ton noodles and roasted ducks. They were ok but not spectacular compared to what I had in the U.S. They used way too much MSG and overloaded with salts. I do hope Panda Express comes to Vietnam one day.

QuidProQuo wrote:

I do hope Panda Express comes to Vietnam one day.

I was ready to jump on you as unqualified to comment on Chinese food until I decided that I had better hit the link first.     Good one.  After all, as Vietnamese have shown their willingness to throw their money away at Pizza Hut, Burger King and MacDonalds, why not fake, sugar loaded Chinese food that has been sitting for hours in warming trays.

There does seem to be a consensus that the food in Cholon is too salty.  I guess it just is what it is.  If you want good Cantonese food, you may need to buy a ticket to Hong Kong.

I know more places in Hanoi despite there being next to no viet hoa or even mainland Chinese people tourist there’s. Been spending more time there past couple of years.

There’s a Tim Ho Wan now in Hanoi which i’m Surprised didn’t open up in Saigon first. Saigon usually gets everything first. It’s a Michelin started chain originating in Hong Kong. Their Char Siu bao is famous.

phikachu wrote:

It’s a Michelin started chain originating in Hong Kong. Their Char Siu bao is famous.

I find it hard to believe that a chain restaurant, even with a base in Hong Kong could be any good.   The big chain in the US, PF Chang, has a franchise in Honolulu but its customers are almost entirely tourists.   The Cantonese place considered by many to be the best in Honolulu, Fook Yuen, is owned by a Viet Hoa refugee.  Perhaps the fact that substantial numbers of Chinese in HCMC fled after 1975 is a big part of why the restaurant situation in Cholon seems diminished.  Those who would have been the best restaurateurs are living elsewhere.

THIGV wrote:

phikachu wrote:

It’s a Michelin started chain originating in Hong Kong. Their Char Siu bao is famous.

I find it hard to believe that a chain restaurant, even with a base in Hong Kong could be any good.

In 2010, Tim Ho Wan dim sum chain, specifically the Mongkok location in Kowloon, was the very first restaurant that received the one-star Michelin for a chain establishment. 

One star, in Michelin's definition, "denotes a very good restaurant in its category" thus Tim Ho Wan is a very good inexpensive dim sum chain restaurant among inexpensive Chinese chain restaurants that Michelin inspectors have tried. 

In addition, the award did not extend to all Tim Ho Wan's restaurants.  A few years after the first location was given its star, 3 more locations joined the rank, but as of this year, all but one (including the now closed original location), have lost their star --  although one of them received a Michelin Bib (a completely different consideration and much lower in prestige than Michelin Star.)

Michelin also gave out a star to two inexpensive food stalls in hawker centres (food courts) in Singapore two years ago.  We tried both of them last year, and I wasn't at all impressed.

Two things to consider:

1/ A Michelin one-star chain restaurant or one-star food stall is not comparable to a Michelin one-star restaurant.

2/ Tim Ho Wan in Hanoi isn't the same Tim Ho Wan that received (and lost) the Michelin star.  Different degree of freshness in the ingredients equals different (read: lower) quality.  Case in point: Tim Ho Wan in Singapore admitted that although they use the same recipes, the quality of their food is inferior to the one/s in Hong Kong due to the inferior ingredients.

When selecting ethnically specialized restaurants outside of the norm for the country they are in, I use what I call the "Chinese restaurant test."  It is actually pretty simple.  In a Chinese restaurant, outside of China of course. I look to see if there are tables of customers speaking Chinese.  If it is an Indian or Pakistani place, I look for people from those countries.  Of course this method won't work within the home country.  So having a lot of people speaking Vietnamese in a place in Vietnam means nothing.  It only works where the clients are expatriates themselves.  This test might work in Cholon but only if one had an ear for particular Chinese dialects especially Teochew .  Physically and in terms of dress, any Hoa customers would look too much like Vietnamese to be distinguishable and they could just as likely be speaking Vietnamese themselves.  Looking for Korean customers  should work to pick out a good Korean place in Vietnam as the language sounds a lot different than Vietnamese, being consonant heavy.

THIGV wrote:

When selecting ethnically specialized restaurants outside of the norm for the country they are in, I use what I call the "Chinese restaurant test."  It is actually pretty simple.  In a Chinese restaurant, outside of China of course. I look to see if there are tables of customers speaking Chinese.  If it is an Indian or Pakistani place, I look for people from those countries.  Of course this method won't work within the home country.

I do that.

Same here.

Guess i'm just a sucker for their clever marketing but I'm glad I found them. I live in the UK, dim sum can only be found in the cities and it stops at 4pm and there are no chains so it's a new experience for me to eat dim sum at 2am in the morning at their branch in Singapore. I've had it in every country they've opened a store now and yes it's not 100% consistent but good enough for me.

The hanoi branch is by far the fanciest one in terms of setting, amazing view from the lotte tower. It's actually quite posh up there but prices are still the same if slightly less than the rest of their branches in asia.