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Saigon nightlife: qucina saigon
trendy restaurant in the heart of ho chi minh city.
right in the heart of saigon, literally under the saigon opera house, we discovered one of the most trendy, sophisticated and elegant restaurants we happened to visit lately. and we see a lot of restaurants, believe me.

this is our report about qucina saigon, this review happened almost incidentally, and luckily enough we did not leave saigon (where we plan to return very soon) without having put this restaurant to the test.

it all started while sipping a glass of wine at the qbar, one of the trendiest spots in saigon, a great place to start the night, as many people and reports told us while preparing the trip to saigon. if you want to find the qbar saigon it is really very easy, just ask the taxi driver to take you to the opera house. on the right side of the opera house you will see the big q of the qbar saigon, you cannot miss it.

what we did not know, and nobody of our informants told us about, is that opposite to the entrance of the qbar - on the left side of the opera house - you can find the qbar restaurant, called qucina saigon. if you don't want to walk out of the qbar and re-enter from the opposite side there is a shortcut, just access the restaurant from the qbar itself, they are connected, in every sense.

the restaurant itself is very elegant, but modern elegant, basic and warm at the same time. you feel immediately comfortable, and if you are lucky enough as we were to be accommodated inside one of the few private rooms you can enjoy your dinner, or lunch, comfortably sitting on a leather couch, surrounded by soft pink-and-blue lights, and enjoy the view on the restaurant, and on the other guests as well!

the staff is professional and polite, as usual almost everywhere in saigon. we cannot say the same thing about the european / american / australian guests which have - among others - also the bad habit of screaming and laughing loud, also when the general atmosphere of the restaurant would invite you to be quiet and enjoy the food and the music. but this has nothing to do with the restaurant itself, I was just digressing...

ann, the pr manager (and a very beautiful girl), kindly accepted to provide some background information about the restaurant. opened two years ago, qucina saigon (as the semi-italian name shows) started as an italian cuisine restaurant. several months ago the change in style and direction. they do not call it fusion, so we will not call it that way either, but a more modern, international cuisine, a bit of french, a bit of italian, with an eye constantly on the vietnamese cuisine (which is delicious as you probably already know). what we enjoyed particularly was the presentation of the dishes. very sophisticated, very original. all under the direction of fosto psora, the chef.

we started with a traditional cesar salad and a tuna tartar. delicious. followed by a dish (be careful because they serve very big portions) of fresh crab, prawn and tamarind noodle and qrolls (the qucina re-interpretation of the vietnamese rolls). of course a delicious warm baguette on the table.

fresh rose petals in a square glass of water give a delicate extra touch to our table, but red roses are literally everywhere, on every table. As ann told us before, the restaurant is exactly under the stage of the saigon opera house, which makes it quite a unique experience (have dinner or lunch under the main stage of the saigon opera house) and probably the only restaurant in the world with such an original location, as far as we know at least.

white wine and italian mineral water, and fresh mixed fruit in strawberry sauce and mint leaves close our lunch. everything was perfect, form the service to the quality of the food, to the timing. just the time for an espresso, it is time to go back to the hot saigon afternoon. next time we want to come here in the evening, first a (couple of) glasses of wine at the qbar, then dinner at qucina saigon. sounds like fun to us.

the restaurant is open six days a week (closed on sunday) and the kitchen is open until 11:00 pm, which makes it a nice place to start your nightlife experience in saigon, and probably one of the best places to meet interesting people in this amazing town (qbar is the place where you will want to start most of your nightlife experiences in saigon anyway).

the price is in line with the best restaurants in saigon, but at the same time extremely affordable for european standards, we paid about US$ 40 for all of the above.

qucina saigon
7 cong truong lam son. dist. 1
ho chi minh city (saigon), vietnam
tel: 8246325
fax: 824 6326