Texas Barbecue

[Huong and Phung 0]

Wayne's Texas BBQ is decent. In Texas it wouldn't make the list, but for that far from home it's pretty good. Breakfast is Good to very good there. I agree with some of the others, Al Fresco's has very good ribs. The nacho's are some kind of rice chip instead of corn chips. I ate them anyway. I would recommend it. Although, I only ate there because Chinh wanted to. I think she was worried that I would grow tired of Viet food. I don't ever see that happening. It is awesome!!

True, that's what I was gonna say. How are we gonna grow tired of the food we love? I'm Vietnamese and I will not find myself sick of vietnamese food. I was thinking as I read through these posts, why are we leaving America and go to Vietnam and eat the same old BURGER and STEAK? heheheh We should be eating "chao long, bun thit nuong, bun bo hue, etc". All the vietnamese traditional foods are good. Oh yeah, don't forget to try all the unthinkable like: .... uknow. The exotic foods. I tried them but oh well, I was too drunk to tell the different. hehhaahhaha I love "ruu de" in vietnam. It's tasty and goes well with all the foods.

[Dai. 7]

Wayne's Texas BBQ is decent. In Texas it wouldn't make the list, but for that far from home it's pretty good. Breakfast is Good to very good there. I agree with some of the others, Al Fresco's has very good ribs. The nacho's are some kind of rice chip instead of corn chips. I ate them anyway. I would recommend it. Although, I only ate there because Chinh wanted to. I think she was worried that I would grow tired of Viet food. I don't ever see that happening. It is awesome!!

True, that's what I was gonna say. How are we gonna grow tired of the food we love? I'm Vietnamese and I will not find myself sick of vietnamese food. I was thinking as I read through these posts, why are we leaving America and go to Vietnam and eat the same old BURGER and STEAK? heheheh We should be eating "chao long, bun thit nuong, bun bo hue, etc". All the vietnamese traditional foods are good. Oh yeah, don't forget to try all the unthinkable like: .... uknow. The exotic foods. I tried them but oh well, I was too drunk to tell the different. hehhaahhaha I love "ruu de" in vietnam. It's tasty and goes well with all the foods.

+1 for thit cho

HAHA Just kidding.

For me since I've been here over a year I eat Vietnamese food almost everyday during lunch because my wife either cooks it or she goes out and get something from a local joint.. But for Dinner we gotta mix it up and have variety sometimes we eat out in saigon on certain nights and we eat all kinds of international foods from Korean, Brazilian, Chinese Dim Sum, Italian, Mediterrean and I found a place that grills kangaroo meat. I am lucky that my wife is open to try new things and we always find new restaurants to try every so often. If you guys want to know certain cuizines in saigon, I can tell you about certain places owned by foreigners so it's pretty authentic. Best streak I found in Saigon is Amigo Streak house right next door to Duxton Hotel on Nguyen Hue street. Their meat is imported from US and it taste like Prime aged beaf. It's no ruths chris but it's pretty decent for Vietnam, The prime ribs just hits the spot after you been away from US steak for so long like I have.

[Huong and Phung 0]

Hey DaiVN, you stay there for more than a year now? Dang, how did you manage to cope with the weather in Vietnam though. Well, I guess the longer you stay the more your body get use to it. I was there for two months. The first month was hard for me but the month after that, I was doing pretty good and better than my wife. I wasn't complaining about the heat but my wife just keep on complaining how hot it is for me to live there. She's more worry about me breaking a sweat than to worry about herself. Plus, I get dark really easy. Most people come back to vn will get some tan but I just get DARK. ahhaha Very easily.

Did you guys go bowling in Vn, Dam sen, Suoi Tien, Nha trang, Vung Tau? I guess you guys did since you're there more than a year. Anyone goes to Vinh Ha Long yet? I haven't been there. Maybe next time I will visit the North.

[Dai. 7]

Hey DaiVN, you stay there for more than a year now? Dang, how did you manage to cope with the weather in Vietnam though. Well, I guess the longer you stay the more your body get use to it. I was there for two months. The first month was hard for me but the month after that, I was doing pretty good and better than my wife. I wasn't complaining about the heat but my wife just keep on complaining how hot it is for me to live there. She's more worry about me breaking a sweat than to worry about herself. Plus, I get dark really easy. Most people come back to vn will get some tan but I just get DARK. ahhaha Very easily.

Did you guys go bowling in Vn, Dam sen, Suoi Tien, Nha trang, Vung Tau? I guess you guys did since you're there more than a year. Anyone goes to Vinh Ha Long yet? I haven't been there. Maybe next time I will visit the North.

Yep, Since the beginning of February 2008 and here until my wife gets her visa. Weather in VN is hot but I got use to it. I have no problem sweating, Plus most of the time I am in our condo or at work where we have air conditioning, If we go out I usually just wear shorts and a t-shirt to deal with the heat. Me and my wife go out to beaches and Island in Vietnam and Thailand a lot too and we get dark but whenever we get back we stay indoors for certain amounts of time so that our skin gets light again.

We've been bowling couple of times at superbowl near the airport and couple of the malls have bowling alleys like in Parksun in district 1. It's ok, I get bored of bowling really easy cause I took a class in college and it just make bowling boring for me. Been to Suoi Tien couple of times cause it's close to our condo and we've been to Dam Sen Twice. It's alright, we don't have the urge to go anymore. There is a new park in Binh Duong called Dai Nam and it's suppose to be really big and suppose to be way better than Dam Sen and Suoi Tien but I tend to think they are all the same when it comes to Theme parks in Vietnam. We have much more fun at the parks in Thailand so we usually hold off until we make the trip to Thailand. Nha Trang we went last year when Vietnam had their national independence day on April 30 and we had an ok time. All of my in laws went and it was pretty cool we got to spend time with each other. This year we were thinking about going to Phu Quoc island but scared it's going to be crowded for this years holiday. Vung Tau, we've been there several times and don't really like it, sorta boring out there but it's close. On our honey moon we went to Ha Long Bay. The cruise ship we went on was really awesome. We took a 3 day cruise on the jasmine boat, which is the top of the line in Ha Long at the time (I don't know if any company came out with something better) and they took us all around the bay and did various fun activities. We will never forget the fun we had on that cruise. Ha Long City and Hanoi on the other hand, I don't quite care to go back to those places. My opinion just get off the plane have the car take you too the cruise boat 3-4 days after go back to the airport and fly back.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Re. Vietnamese food, I think a lot depends on what you grew up with, and what your taste buds consider to be good. I'm 50 years old, and have eaten mostly foods which are popular and available in the US. I like Mexican and Italian food because the flavor is robust and appealing. Same with a good western barbecue. I've found that Asian and French foods have one thing in common, and that is the flavor tends to be very subtle. However, the flavor of French foods tends to be very appealing, making you savor each bite to get all of the flavor out of the food. Asian foods, on the other hand, tend to have flavors that, while subtle, are not very appealing. If they had the same flavors, but were much stronger, I wouldn't be able to eat them at all.

I've also noticed that a lot of Asian foods strengthen the flavor by adding very hot peppers, rather than herbs and spices. I don't care for food that bites back!

Texture is also a big deal for me. I love the texture of steamed snap peas. On the other hand, boiled snap peas have no appeal to me whatever, and they don't taste much different from the steamed ones. Some pho noodles have the texture of phlegm, which is why I gag on them.

I've managed to find some Vietnamese foods that I can eat and enjoy, but haven't found anything that makes my taste buds party like a plate of cheese enchiladas or gnocci bolognese. My options are also limited, because I really hate fish. I eat only Vietnamese food when I'm in Hue because I love my fiancee, and it makes her happy. I'd eat dog poo, if I had to, to make her happy. But I doubt I'll ever really like Vietnamese food. On the other hand, she doesn't much care for western food. Once she comes to the US I figure we'll probably have one meal a day where she eats what she likes and I eat what I like.

I'll never eat Japanese food in Vietnam again. Small portions of bad tasting food at high prices, served by rude Japanese girls. Uggh.

[Jack & Xuan 0]

Yeah I ate there twice.. Me being from Texas, I wasn't too impressed. the 1st time I ate there the ribs were kind of dry wasn't too good, 2nd time I at pulled pork sandwich, it was decent but not something I crave to go eat again. In my opinion I like going to al fresco's on dong du street right across from the sheraton hotel. Their ribs are better, the burgers are really good, pizza there is pretty good being made from scratch, and the customer service is outstanding. It seemed more foreigner friendly than Texas BBQ place even though the owner, an American, was around, the employee didn't seem to pay attention as much as al fresco's employees did. Plus al fresco has more people and you can't go wrong with a crowded place in Vietnam. My wife's family motto is if it's packed full of people then it's gotta be good. I think that could be very true in Vietnam. Texas BBQ didn't really have that many people there when I went. It has a good location though. The one thing that stood out to me at Texas BBQ was that they had DR. Pepper! That's the only place in Vietnam that I know has Dr. Pepper. They are the only one's that import it I think.

Great tip on "Al Fresco's". I got a cheeseburger and it was fantastic. If anyone goes make sure you are hungry (which I was). The burger is about 1/4 pound after it has been cooked and the burger comes with lots of stuff on it. There was an egg(which I thought was a bit strange but ok), lots of bacon, tomato, cheese, and some other stuff. Xuan and I got the same think because she did not know what to order. She could only eat maybe 1/8th of her burger and had to eat it in pieces at that. So I eat the rest. Don't want to leave a bad impression of a waistful American after all

Again, Great tip

[Dai. 7]

Yeah I ate there twice.. Me being from Texas, I wasn't too impressed. the 1st time I ate there the ribs were kind of dry wasn't too good, 2nd time I at pulled pork sandwich, it was decent but not something I crave to go eat again. In my opinion I like going to al fresco's on dong du street right across from the sheraton hotel. Their ribs are better, the burgers are really good, pizza there is pretty good being made from scratch, and the customer service is outstanding. It seemed more foreigner friendly than Texas BBQ place even though the owner, an American, was around, the employee didn't seem to pay attention as much as al fresco's employees did. Plus al fresco has more people and you can't go wrong with a crowded place in Vietnam. My wife's family motto is if it's packed full of people then it's gotta be good. I think that could be very true in Vietnam. Texas BBQ didn't really have that many people there when I went. It has a good location though. The one thing that stood out to me at Texas BBQ was that they had DR. Pepper! That's the only place in Vietnam that I know has Dr. Pepper. They are the only one's that import it I think.

Great tip on "Al Fresco's". I got a cheeseburger and it was fantastic. If anyone goes make sure you are hungry (which I was). The burger is about 1/4 pound after it has been cooked and the burger comes with lots of stuff on it. There was an egg(which I thought was a bit strange but ok), lots of bacon, tomato, cheese, and some other stuff. Xuan and I got the same think because she did not know what to order. She could only eat maybe 1/8th of her burger and had to eat it in pieces at that. So I eat the rest. Don't want to leave a bad impression of a waistful American after all

Again, Great tip

I'm Glad you liked it man, I take it you ordered the BHP burger. Man I think the egg makes it taste pretty good. It was different for me the 1st time I ate it too but man it grew on me and my wife. My wife never finishes it either but that because I usually order quesadillas or some sort of appetizer. You should try the ribs there the next time you go.. They're finger licking good.

[daboyz 36]

Yeah I ate there twice.. Me being from Texas, I wasn't too impressed. the 1st time I ate there the ribs were kind of dry wasn't too good, 2nd time I at pulled pork sandwich, it was decent but not something I crave to go eat again. In my opinion I like going to al fresco's on dong du street right across from the sheraton hotel. Their ribs are better, the burgers are really good, pizza there is pretty good being made from scratch, and the customer service is outstanding. It seemed more foreigner friendly than Texas BBQ place even though the owner, an American, was around, the employee didn't seem to pay attention as much as al fresco's employees did. Plus al fresco has more people and you can't go wrong with a crowded place in Vietnam. My wife's family motto is if it's packed full of people then it's gotta be good. I think that could be very true in Vietnam. Texas BBQ didn't really have that many people there when I went. It has a good location though. The one thing that stood out to me at Texas BBQ was that they had DR. Pepper! That's the only place in Vietnam that I know has Dr. Pepper. They are the only one's that import it I think.

Great tip on "Al Fresco's". I got a cheeseburger and it was fantastic. If anyone goes make sure you are hungry (which I was). The burger is about 1/4 pound after it has been cooked and the burger comes with lots of stuff on it. There was an egg(which I thought was a bit strange but ok), lots of bacon, tomato, cheese, and some other stuff. Xuan and I got the same think because she did not know what to order. She could only eat maybe 1/8th of her burger and had to eat it in pieces at that. So I eat the rest. Don't want to leave a bad impression of a waistful American after all

Again, Great tip

I'm Glad you liked it man, I take it you ordered the BHP burger. Man I think the egg makes it taste pretty good. It was different for me the 1st time I ate it too but man it grew on me and my wife. My wife never finishes it either but that because I usually order quesadillas or some sort of appetizer. You should try the ribs there the next time you go.. They're finger licking good.

I've never been to Vietnam, but I noticed in Paris and Amsterdam they seem to put a fried egg on everything. Every hamburger I had there had a fried egg on it. I ordered a pizza in Paris, and it had a fried egg as well. Not sure why.

[Huong and Phung 0]

Yep, Since the beginning of February 2008 and here until my wife gets her visa. Weather in VN is hot but I got use to it. I have no problem sweating, Plus most of the time I am in our condo or at work where we have air conditioning, If we go out I usually just wear shorts and a t-shirt to deal with the heat. Me and my wife go out to beaches and Island in Vietnam and Thailand a lot too and we get dark but whenever we get back we stay indoors for certain amounts of time so that our skin gets light again.

We've been bowling couple of times at superbowl near the airport and couple of the malls have bowling alleys like in Parksun in district 1. It's ok, I get bored of bowling really easy cause I took a class in college and it just make bowling boring for me. Been to Suoi Tien couple of times cause it's close to our condo and we've been to Dam Sen Twice. It's alright, we don't have the urge to go anymore. There is a new park in Binh Duong called Dai Nam and it's suppose to be really big and suppose to be way better than Dam Sen and Suoi Tien but I tend to think they are all the same when it comes to Theme parks in Vietnam. We have much more fun at the parks in Thailand so we usually hold off until we make the trip to Thailand. Nha Trang we went last year when Vietnam had their national independence day on April 30 and we had an ok time. All of my in laws went and it was pretty cool we got to spend time with each other. This year we were thinking about going to Phu Quoc island but scared it's going to be crowded for this years holiday. Vung Tau, we've been there several times and don't really like it, sorta boring out there but it's close. On our honey moon we went to Ha Long Bay. The cruise ship we went on was really awesome. We took a 3 day cruise on the jasmine boat, which is the top of the line in Ha Long at the time (I don't know if any company came out with something better) and they took us all around the bay and did various fun activities. We will never forget the fun we had on that cruise. Ha Long City and Hanoi on the other hand, I don't quite care to go back to those places. My opinion just get off the plane have the car take you too the cruise boat 3-4 days after go back to the airport and fly back.

Wow, you're so lucky to be with your wife while you guys waiting on her visa. I guess you're working overthere? That's really cool man. I wish my work can be over there so I can be with my wife. Anyway, yeah the Theme Park in Binh Duong was great. When I was there, they're not finished with it yet but did open to the public for what they've done. I heard that it's so big. It suppose to be gigantic. People said good thing about it but we didn't get to go. At the last 2 weeks of our time together, we don't want to go anywhere but to stay with each other and do things around the house. It was nice though because being where there are many people make us have less romantic time. I guess next time when we come back to vn, we going to try Ha Long Bay. Thanks for all the info.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Dai Nam is pretty cool, and don't worry about crowds - it was practically deserted when we went there. It really IS huge, and there are gas powered shuttles that will take you from one part of the park to another. There's even a zoo in the back of the property that's pretty nice. Yes, they were still doing a lot of construction when we went in January.

The landscaping is really great. Check out the landscaping in this moat under a walkover bridge:

These man-made "mountains", complete with waterfalls, remind me of Disneyland:

This building is styled like an enormous golden dragon:

Watch out for the concrete dragons, though. They can get pretty vicious!

My friend Van says that a lot of people who lived in the area are pretty pissed off about the park. Apparently, hundreds of families were "displaced" to make room for the park, and now it hardly gets enough visitors to justify it's existence. The day we were there they weren't even running the rides because of the lack of people. Kind of sad, really. It's a beautiful place.

[Dai. 7]

it's sums up all theme parks in Vietnam. Only days worth going is Tet and maybe this weekend on their independence day or any other holiday where people don't work. I think those days get a good amount of people in... I still have no desire to go though.

[RalphandHanh 1]

I have looked for this in this site but for some reason the search will not direct me to it. I am sure it has been talked about. Anyone know the address to the Texas Barbecue that some have talked about in HCMC?

Thanks

Its so funny.... we just came back from Pho Quoc island and we didn't feel like cooking so I was asking Hanh about this place. And Bingo.. I checked out the forum and here it is We are going tonight and maybe check out Al Fresco's another day. Maybe I will see y'all there

[Mike n Huong 1]

I would have to agree, Al Fresco's has very good food. When I would go visit my wife, we would go there almost every other day. She realized that I would not be able to eat Vietnamese food every day, so we mixed it up. Ribs, Nacho's, Pizza, and Steak were among the great food that we always get. Of course you have to get extra Jalepeno peppers with the nacho's.

If you do go there make sure you get one of there frequent guest cards. I can't remember how they work, but after you buy so many meals I think you get a free one. Good beer also.

I can't wait to go there when we visit next time!!!

[chuckandkim 0]

I love to eat, especially good foods! Nothing wrong with a good juicy burger or a rare-cook steak.

However, If I travel 10,000 miles to VN, burst my butt on tiny airline seat for 24hrs and some, that last thing I want is a burger, pizza, spagettie, pizza, KFC chicken, hotdogs or tacos/nachos. I eat these every week, month, year. Don't like, don't hate, but they don't give me an URGE to seek for place to taste it when i'm in Saigon. I can't justify paying $10 for a wanna-be burger or BBQ ribs by some nobody who think he can cook a better burger than me! Nor I justify to pay $25 for a piece of meat that has been frozen and traveled as far as I am to be on my plate (US steaks) as some suggested. Not about money, it's all about GOOD TASTE baby! I would feel cheated on my part, my effort!

My motto on eating out: when you're, order what you CANNOT make at home or avoid dishes you can have everyday at the dinner table.

So list of things I want to eat when i'm in Saigon:

Bún Bò Huế

Bún Chả Cá

Bún Than

Bún Riêu

Bún Thịt Nướng

Mì Quảng

Mì Gỏ 2 dzắt (has to be served by a chinese man with a Noodle Cart - Xe Hu Tieu Mi)

Phở Tái Nạm Gân Vè Dòn (the thin sliced steaks are unbelieable in VN)

Bánh Canh Giò Heo

Bánh Canh Cua

Bánh Bèo

Bánh Khọt

Bánh Cuốn "Tây Hồ" (near Đinh Tiên Hoàng)

Tàu Hủ Nứơc Gừng

Chè Trôi Nước

Nghêu Sò Ốc Hến Cua (mussles, clams, escargots, stonecrabs)

Rau Muống Xào Tỏi (this is the exception, I can make this at home but I will order everytime I go out, just too much effort to plug and prepare this dish)

Lẩu Dê

Dê Nướng Chao

Tôm Càng Nướng

Bánh Hỏi Thịt Quay

Phá Lấu

Cháo Lòng

Cháo Huyết

Cháo Vịt

Gỏi Vịt

Tiết Canh Vịt

Nước Mía

Nước Chanh Giây

YUP, that's all folks.... Anyone suggests anything else, add to the list. BTW, Thịt Chó is NOT on my list, have no desire for it!

Well truth is, after about three weeks of eating all these great foods, I'd def. want a philly cheesesteak by the time I get back home. So just like anything else, too much of a good thing will be bad! All thing in moderation...

[Dai. 7]

Gotta have banh xeo man!