Thanks to another poster with the title 'Hanoi Restaurants' I have a small list of restaurants and two I've booked, for Hanoi.

So I thought I'd be cheeky and try the same for HCMC ;-)

In Hanoi I've booked The Ly Club & The Green Tangarine. I have Bun Bo Nam Bo & New Day, plus a couple of others mapped out as well.

Would love some suggestions, I've looked at Quan An Ngon, The Temple Club and a couple of roof top bars but nothing is <i>jumping</i> out at me like the Hanoi ones did.

We dined at "Temple Club" in July 2010. It was by far the best meal we had in HCMC. The decor is really "old world" Vietnam.

Our favorite restaurant in Hanoi was the "Wild Lotus".

What type of food? Vietnamese only?

Sorry should've specified I guess. Yeah as we aren't there that long we would like to eat Vietnamese or as in the case of The Green Tangarine, maybe some 'fusion'?

Thanks

By the time we got to HCMC we were ready for something other than Vietnamese food (which we do love) so we had very good pizza (Hostaria) and very good Indian (Tandoor).

We enjoyed Xu in HCMC.Also ate at Quan An in both cities and the one in Saigon is more upscale,in a colonial era building Ngon.
We loved the Ly Club in Hanoi and ate there twice.

We ate at both Quan Ans too and were not impressed (we were impressed with the concept, but not with the food).

The Blue Horizon Hotel recommended Nha Hang Ngon, a local landmark a few blocks away at 160 Pasteur Street. Interesting concept of many kitchens in a big colonial building, with your dishes coming as they're prepared. We liked it--an experience well worth having.

Thanks will check them out, yay.

I wasn't impressed with the temple club, I found the service indifferent. The restaurant in the Park Hyatt is fabulous and I am a fan of quan an ngon in HCMC we LOVED it. The chilli beef there is to die for. ( BTW we had the Vietnamese sampler at Green Tangerine which was fab)

<<< The restaurant in the Park Hyatt is fabulous >>>

We didn't eat (or stay) there, but we did go in to see it, and the public areas are gorgeous.

D says the Martinis he had at the park hyatt are some of the best he has had. We were lucky enough to stay at the park hyatt and it was lovely. The Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi is still one of my favourite hotels though.

Thanks again. I have spent today researching and mapping restaurants and suggestions for Hanoi. So I am now moving onto HCMC and Siem Reap. I will look up all your suggestions.

Here are some other non-Vietnamese restaurant suggestions:

Park Hyatt restaurant is called Square One. Very good
El Gaucho (Argentinian Steakhouse) 1 minute walk from Park Hyatt
Reflections - 3rd Floor of the Caravelle Hotel (excellent rib eye)
Elbow Room - American comfort food. Very good
Golden Elephant - Best Thai food in town. 3 minute walk from Park Hyatt
New York Steakhouse & Winery - 10 minute cab from Park Hyatt
Tandoor (mentioned above)
Pizza 4P's has been getting good reviews. Have not been yet

The best new rooftop bar in town is called Chill. It's located on the 26th/27th floor of the AB Tower (next to the New World Hotel). Great views, but expensive drinks (designed by the same people that did Scirocco in BKK).

I'd also recommend a drink at the Saigon Saigon Bar on the 9th floor of the Caravelle Hotel. Be noted that a Filipino Band starts playing around 9pm, so can get a bit loud.

Have fun!

That's great thanx!

HappyTrvlr, if you happen to come back here, thanks for Xu, it looks exactly what I was looking for. Do you know if we should book before we leave or just get hotel to book on arrival? Tahnks again.
AD

You don't need to pre-book Xu before getting to Saigon.

Aussiedreamer- we had our Christmas (Eve) dinner at the Green Tangerine & thoroughly enjoyed it. Food good, beautifully presented & a very festive atmosphere. In Hanoi we also ate at Koto (Know One, Teach One), an enterprise which provides hospitality training, education, housing etc. for street kids/orphans/abused kids and similar. Food was really good, and my reason for mentioning it is that they have recently opened a similar restaurant in HCMC & it may interest you to follow this up. There is a website you can google. There is a Melbourne connection in that the founder is Melbourne Vietnamese, and the courses & accreditations for graduates are allied to RMIT Uni in Melbourne.