Folks, looking for suggestions for the "best" Vietnamese and French restaurants in Saigon along with Pho.

We are only there for 2 days so want to hit the highlights if at all feasible over the few meals we have.

I know this is subjective but I am certain there is some sort of consensus out there for us to tap into.

If not specific restaurants then areas where there is generally high quality level of food where we can just explore and pik at our whim since we do not mind being adventurous.

Bonus for anyone who can recommend a great dessert/bakery option both local and Western, if they exist. Thanks all in advance.

SBS

One of the very good restaurants I ate in in Saigon was Mandarine - wonderful atmosphere and delicious food.

There's another restaurant where the food is good, but the whole dining/ordering experience is unique. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of it. When I get home later I will look it up and get back to you. It's unique in that you walk around, pick out what you want to order from various little "kitchens" and then the waiter brings it to you. Many locals eat there and it's rather a challenging event!!

Lolo is probably thinking of Quan An Ngon, which is my favorite Saigon restaurant. A must!

ekscrunchy - you're right - it is Quan An Ngon and is wonderful.
SBSM - It is truly an experience not to be missed!!
My husband and I walked around sniffing and peeking at all the good food - we ordered what we thought would be sufficient and returned to our table with an order slip which we handed to the waiter. He came back to us shortly and told us to eliminate something as we ordered way too much food. We didn't know what to take off, so he helped us out. What was served to us later was so good, and just enough food.

I will third the choice of Quan An Ngon. If you are there on a weekend don't miss Lang du Lich Binh Quoi where they serve 80 kinds of Vietnamese food in a beautiful garden about 45 minutes by bus from the center of the city. It's bus #14 but you can also taxi, and you do need to taxi back since the bus stops running.

We love Vietnamese food, but we didn't have the energy to take on Quan An Ngon. We walked through it twice -- fascintating yes, but seemed too overwhelming without some local guidance.

Because we were doing research for a high level client visit, we actually visited just about every restaurant in the guide books and ate at quite a few. We found many to be less stellar than described. A little down at the heels as it were. I'd put Vietnam House and Temple Club in that category.
I thought Mandarin and Lemon Grass were just okay.

My all time favorite was Bun Ha. Bright, bustling and really well prepared dishes.

More in the fusion direction, Xu was quite good. The Vietnamese restaurant in the Park Hyatt also gets high marks, but we didn't try it as we didn't want to stay in the hotel.

I'd go back to Fanny's for the ice cream for sure.