Mặn Mòi, Tao Đàn - 34 Võ Văn Tần

a nice change from street food, this is the best in restaraunt experience & food we’ve had during our honeymoon stay in HCMC! all the staff are absolutely lovely & made us feel extra special celebrating our honeymoon. the food is honestly amazing, we ordered a huge range so come hungry! highly recommend reserving a table in advance to avoid wait times, if you prefer a cooler space request indoors rather than outside as it’s only some fans around the balcony space. beautiful store on the ground floor with a range of items from local artists & vendors. we will certainly be re-attending on our next visit!

This restaurant is one of a kind as it is a combination of a café, restaurant and souvenir shop. The food is very good and caters to the southeast asian palate. The taste of the dishes is also very local with a lot of herbs and spices. It is definitely worth going into. The souvenir shop on the first floor also provides local Vietnamese products that seems to have good quality. Their menu has English and photos. They accept cash and local and foreign credit cards.

A charming spot in Ho Chi Minh City! The exterior is already eye-catching, with greenery spilling over the building, and stepping inside feels like entering a cozy artsy hideaway. The interiors are beautifully designed with earthy tones, arched doorways, vintage tiles, plants, and lots of thoughtful little details. It feels warm, creative and full of character, very Instagrammable yet still comfortable to dine in. Food wise, everything we ordered was delicious. The fried spring rolls were especially good! Super crispy on the outside with a flavorful filling inside. The field crab hot pot with beef shank was comforting and fragrant. I’m not sure what goes into the broth, but once we dipped the vegetables in, the aroma and flavor really came through. The only small downside was that some pieces of the beef shank were a bit tough to chew. Overall though, the flavors were rich and satisfying. We also had the green jelly with coconut milk and syrup for dessert, which was light and refreshing, a perfect ending to the meal. All in all, this is a restaurant that’s truly worth trying. If I’m back in HCMC I’d definitely return

If you are looking for top tier service and atmosphere, this is the place to go. All the servers were attentive. Food was delicious and I highly recommend the pork jowl and shrimp in onion. Book reservation in advance as I saw walk-ins getting turned down. Restaurant is at upper level while on the ground floor was a souvenir shop.

My fiancée and I found this restaurant on TikTok and honestly it was very underwhelming. Upon arrival I was very impressed with the aesthetic from the outside. It gave a very Studio Ghibli vibe, though having all the restaurants on separate floors confusing. Entering the lobby I was met with a pleasant and calming aroma, but felt confused having to traverse a touristy boutique just to go to the restaurant. Then you are escorted to the elevator which we had to wait for and honestly felt slower than having to just taking the stairs. Yet when you are done your meal you are expected to take the stairs, which luckily I did not drink otherwise may have been an issue. The restaurant is well furnished and the ambiance was great. A very relaxed atmosphere where you can have a conversation and enjoy a meal and drinks. This is about all the positive things I have left to say about the restaurant. Onto the food, we ordered vermicelli with beef, Rambutan salad with fried snake head, and Duck 2 ways. Unfortunately they ran out of vermicelli, so we decided to replace that with crunchy sticky rice with chicken and wild mushrooms. The rambutan salad was lacking flavour and was already soggy, despite having fried fish and noodles inside. They provide rice crackers to provide texture but this made it even more bland. Just when I thought I couldn’t have a dish with less flavour, along comes the sticky rice. Despite being cooked with wild mushrooms and chicken broth, we couldn’t taste anything. There was no salt, no umami, nothing. I will give credit to the textural contrast of the dish, and while better with pickled lemongrass and garlic and crushed peanuts, it was disappointing to say the least. Finally we had the duck cooked two ways, pan fried and grilled with galangal. They serve it on a hot plate, which I give points to for presentation. However if you have had duck before you know this can easily overcook the breast turning the meat gamey and tough, which happened in moments. The meat, to no surprise, is under seasoned but at least they give you some sort of green salt and sauce to go with it? Not that I knew what they were since after dropping off the plates we were not told what it was so we just tasted it ourselves. The salt was herbal and the sauce had some acidity with was nice with the richness of the duck, but this was the final nail in the coffin. Though I myself tried to find the positives in the meal, my fiancée was not happy at all. We are both Vietnamese, though hailing from Canada we were hoping for an elevated authentic dining experience instead we have to settle for another TikTok letdown. Goes to show you what happens when you follow the trends. Maybe the food we ordered wasn’t what they specialize in, or the chefs had a bad day but it would be hard for me to want to give my time, energy or calories for this restaurant again.