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[teacherkev]

Hello All,
While I enjoy a bowel of Pho or a Banh Mi as much as the next person, I'm used to a balanced, healthy diet. Unfortunately I do not have access to a kitchen, so cooking is not an option, at least in the short term (1-3 months). While I'm happy to explore the various cafes, restaurants and street stalls. I wanted to reach out to any others who may have already gone through the trial and error process, or stumbled upon that gem of a place. Does anyone have any recommendations preferably in and around Dist 1, that offers either healthy local fare or food from other Asian and/or Western nations? I would prefer a name rather than anywhere along a particular st.
Thanks in advance

[toiyeuthitmeo]

Try www.eat.vn and www.vietnammm.com

These are really handy websites where you can order from tons of restaurants across town, no credit card, just pay cash when they deliver.

Pretty reliable and a great range of options.

Off the top of my head, Ben Style is a healthful food delivery-only business owned by a Canadian teacher / bodybuilding champion. All of the food comes with nutrition info and some of it unfortunately sacrifices flavor for health, but there are some gems on the menu. 0906912730.

[skarper]

Eating long term in restaurants and street stalls/cafes will damage your health.
Especially in Vietnam but even in Western countries.

Excess salt, lack of vitamins and many other problems.

2-3 months is not so serious, but a year or two and you will really feel a difference.

[mark_in_saigon]

food can be pretty difficult here, though it certainly is cheap. My gf is vegetarian, so, much of the time, we tend to go to the few places that can accommodate her. Some of it is quite good, inexpensive, and seems cleaner (and safer) than meat eaters places. I have no moral problem with meat, but am moving towards vegetarianism (just while living in VN) based on the unsanitary way meat is handled here. The closer you look, the worse it appears. Their standards are appalling.

Her favorite place in HCMC is the Loving Hut, it is in 3, right off CMT8 about a block from the park. Best to go close to the meal runs, otherwise they serve the food at whatever temperature it has settled down to, although you can get food cooked up fresh too, which is more likely to be hot. They have a lot of items that are on display so you can see what you are getting.

There is also a chain called Pepperonis (also part of the chain is called Al Frescos), some of those are in 1, one or two of those have a buffet that is about 5 bucks, a true all you can eat. They get a lot of foreigners in there. One of them is in the backpackers area. Some of it is really pretty good, seems clean enough, and is a fairly good substitute for western food. Pizza, lasagna, salad, forget what all. Maybe not as good as what you would get back home, but you would not get it for 5 bucks back home either. Some of the high end buffets here are just totally ridiculous, like 25 bucks or some crazy amount.

[teacherkev]

That was quick thank you very much for the replies, I'm scanning over the websites and will check out the recommendations, there was a Loving Hut near me in Hong Kong.

I've also been thinking about becoming vegetarian too. Not that I've taken any action on it yet, some further reading on the matter is required. Once again thanks.

[DNK]

On eatvn is Hoa Khai. It's a vegetarian restaurant that's pretty clean and healthy. Good prices, too.

Annam Gourmet Grocery on Hai Ba Trung (another in D7-PMH, but it lacks the salad bar and cafe) in the central area has a salad bar that's phenomenal though a bit pricey. Well, there's a lot of dairy available, but as an American that's what I'm after. It CAN be quite healthy if you avoid the dairy and deserts. They also have a wide selection of Western ingredients, though without a kitchen you'll be more limited in what you can buy - but premixed Western salads, some varieties of leafy greens, western spices, and other ingredients are available if you want to mix it yourself (as the premixed is way more expensive per kg than any of the ingredients, which makes no damn sense).

But they have oats, granola, cereal, etc, you can eat cold of course, plus a really great bakery and deli, where you can get sliced meats, tons of cheeses, and the only stuff that resembles "bread" in town (and great cookies, also a supreme rarity). Basically, you can get all the ingredients for home-made sandwiches there.

Point being, start there.

Chi's cafe has a decent salad offering, too, and you can add chicken to it for about 25K. The rest of the food is well above average in terms of health, too.

I'm not sure how unhealthy the local places are, assuming you eat like a local and get a meat, rice, soup, and vegetable dish. High sodium isn't such an issue when you sweat 3 pounds each day, either (if it's really that big an issue to begin with), and I have to imagine fish sauce, for all its horrid taste, has to be quite healthy with a great Omega-3/6 ratio.

I think the food here - outside of the "Western" food sold in Bui Vien - is way healthier than American restaurant food at least, though home-cooked will always be best (usually).

Oh, there's a lot of sushi around for a decent price. That's pretty clean, healthy stuff I think. "The Sushi Bar" has a bunch of locations, and it's decent stuff. So long as you don't get fried stuff, it's as healthy as can be.


@mark Which park? Tao Dan or the burning monk one? Could you be a little more specific?

[Mattingly]

[Dekadan]

For some reason my reply was in the wrong thread. Here it is:

When I was living there, I started to have some problems because of the food I ate. I found that vegetarian food was less likely to give me issues, probably for the reasons that MIS