Hư Tiếu Nam Vang – Nhân Quán Sài Gòn – the winner!

Feb 112023

This year, Eating Saigon! is celebrating it’s 11th Anniversary!

Since 2012, Hai and I have dedicated ourselves to searching for and sharing the most interesting and delicious eating adventures we can find in Saigon (and occasionally in other areas of Vietnam). So, after all that hard work 🙂 , it’s always a special treat when we come upon a new favorite Saigon eatery. And, indeed, during this year’s post-Covid exploration of the city’s neighborhood restaurants and Saigon street food vendors, we, indeed, came across a winner!

But first, we had to suffer the terrible disappointment of finding Nhân Quán at 488 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, in District 3 closed and shuttered and clearly no longer in business. It had been our favorite hủ tiếu nam vang restaurant. 🙁 Major SAD.

So, what could we do, but console ourselves by “settling” for the second-best hủ tiếu nam vang in town at Đạt Thành .

We jumped on our bike, rode across town and sat down for our consoling meal.

Just excellent,! Still amazingly delicious! … Not bad for second-best in town.

Then, a few days later, much to our delight, we stumbled upon Nhân Quán Sài Gòn at a new location in the city! WOO-HOO!!

The hủ tiếu nam vang here was fresh and delicious – Large, firm, moist and fresh shrimp. Flavorful slices of pork liver. Tender and sweet ground pork. Pickled green onions. Fresh, al dente’ hủ tiếu noodles. And then there was that amazingly flavorful broth.

Both Hai and I prefer to order hủ tiếu nam vang served “khô”. That’s “dry”, meaning the sweet soup broth is served in a separate bowl from all the other ingredients. You dip into the broth or spoon the broth over the bowl of meats and vegetables “as you go”. YUM!

A side dish of fresh celery-tops-like green veggies and bean sprouts was served to complete our generously sized and scrumptious soup.

I ordered a rau ma drink to enjoy with my soup. I jokingly refer to rau ma as a glass of “freshly ground lawn-clippings”. But, in fact, it’s a fresh, light, slightly sweet and very satisfying drink that I often enjoy with most any breakfast or lunch meal.

So now, once again, Nhân Quán Sài Gòn claims its title as not only our favorite hủ tiếu nam vang restaurant, but now our overall favorite place to eat here in Saigon, as well … at least for this week 🙂