Maxim's Nam An Vietnamese Restaurant, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

We wanted to try a proper Vietnamese restaurant on my firm's trip to Vietnam. Maxim's Nam An Restaurant was also a recommendation from a friend, who'd lived in Ho Chi Minh City for a year.


There was hardly anybody when we arrived at the restaurant for a Sunday lunch (which was a bad sign). The good thing was that we managed to snag a coveted booth seat, complete with romantic silk curtains.


One bad thing about this fairly upscale restaurant was the dated air-conditioning. It just wasn't efficient enough to handle the soaring temperatures, so the restaurant ended up being a tad stuffy and warm.


We first ordered the Cha Gio (VND 130,000), Hue-style deep fried spring rolls stuffed with pork, crabmeat, glass noodles and black fungus. We loved the fresh meat fillings and crispy rolls. 




We also got the Bo Luc Lac (VND 140,000), sauteed diced beef in a tomato and oyster-based sauce. The medium-well beef was very robust and full bodied (The Professor would love this), although we would have preferred the beef to be more tender. It turned out a little too chewy for my liking. The dish was served with chips, possibly a French influence. 



The Thit Nuong (VND 130,000), grilled pork, was very bad. The pork was dry, tough and totally unpalatable. We didn't finish this.




The Ca Dieu Hong Nuong Muoi (VND 180,000), grilled red snapper with salt and chili, was well done, mostly because the fish was fresh, delicate and flaky.





This wasn't somewhere we'd go back to again, mostly because it was overpriced and underdelivered on the quality of the food. I guess that was why the restaurant was almost empty on a Sunday afternoon.

Maxim's Nam An Vietnamese Restaurant
13-15-17 Dong Khoi
District 1
Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam
Tel: 829 6676
Open daily from 7am to 12midnight

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