Halal Food in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Hey ya peeps! I haven't managed to update much of my travels lately and I am quite behind in updating the blog unfortunately. I am trying my best, inshaa Allah and here's some of the places/ restaurants that I went to when we were in Vietnam, September last year. 

So before I left for my study leave last year, we decided to have a family trip to commemorate the occasion and this time it took us to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. There's plenty of halal restaurants and eateries, so there's absolutely no worry of you being deprived of your favourite food. Vietnamese food is absolutely delicious, there's a mix of sour and sweet, pretty much like Thai food, but a slightly toned down version than Thai food. I love, love, love their pho (a soupy noodle dish) and their seafood is also nice. So, here are some photos of the places that we went to:

On the first day we went to Tandoor. Usually most halal outlets would be located near Ben Thanh Market however, Tandoor was located slightly further from Ben Thanh Market, I think perhaps about 20 - 25 minutes walk from the market. Unfortunately, I am not able to pinpoint it's exact location, except perhaps, it's located near the area where the buildings have a slightly noticeable French architectural influence to it.

So, here's the address of the restaurant. 

Considering that it's an Indian restaurant, we ordered the usual Indian fanfare, briyani, chicken curry and naan bread. The food was delicious, and the service was good. However, price wise, it's slightly expensive. This is most probably due to the fact that most of their spices are imported from India, so there's a higher cost to it. However, if you're wanting Indian food in Ho Chi Minh, I'd absolutely recommend it. 

If you're interested in the restaurant, you could also check out their website click [here].

There's quite a steady influx of Malaysian tourists to Vietnam, I suppose, and there's plenty of signage written in the Malay language, such as the one in this photo. Vietnam is also famous for it's coffee, among them is the coffee chain Trung Nguyen, so you may want to try them out. To read about Vietnam and coffee, there's an article [here] by the BBC on Vietnamese coffee.

Malaysians definitely will not be deprived of their local Malaysian food when they visit Ho Chi Minh. There's plenty of restaurants and stalls offering Malaysian cuisine. The one in the photo above is Restaurant Halal Kampung Melayu located next to Ben Thanh Market.

Another restaurant that we visited was Salima Restaurant. I must say it served one of the best pho I've ever tasted. 

Seriously. 

It's located above a hotel, known as An Tam Hotel (hotel website is [here]), and to go to the restaurant, you have to walk past the hotel lobby and take the elevator to the first floor. Salima restaurant would be next to the elevator. 

We ordered pho. It was delicious. The soup was light, and the beef was fresh and sweet. Even the sauce (soy sauce with chilli) was also yummy. Pho is basically a rice noodle dish served with beef, beansprouts and some herbs. It's a simple dish, usually served hot and the combination of light flavours from the meat and herbs is definitely an unforgettable experience (at least for me it was, I'm still thinking of the pho I ate a year ago at the restaurant *drool*).

We also ordered prawn spring rolls. Usually you'd dip the spring roll into the sauce (which is sweet and sour) and eat it just as you'd eat sushi =).

Considering that there's a sizeable Muslim population in Ho Chi Minh, there are several mosques catering to the needs of the Muslim population. This is Jamia al- Muslimin mosque located behind Sheraton hotel. If you're interested to locate other mosques in Ho Chi Minh, there's some information from this website [here].

As it was lunch time, we decided to have our lunch at Halal Saigon, located right across the road in front of the mosque.

The food was okay, but unfortunately I don't remember this dish that I ordered. To check out their website, you can click [here]. 

Another restaurant which we visited is Warung 1 Malaysia Saigon. It's located near Ben Thanh Market and due to it's convenient location (and of course yummy food) I think this was the only restaurant that we went to twice.

Here's the menu. They had a lot to offer. 

The price was reasonable too. 

We ordered rice, soup and fish. And I must say, this is among my favourite too. The fish was absolutely tantalising. It's fresh, so you know how soft and sweet the fish is when it's cooked fresh. 

Steamed fish with soy sauce and herbs.

Clear soup. Both dishes are absolutely recommended. 

There were other restaurants along the road that we didn't get to visit such as Restaurant Hjh. Basiroh. 

And this Nasi Goreng Ayam food stall. You'll notice when you're walking along the street (which leads you to Ben Thanh Market), there's about maybe 5 -7 halal restaurants along the street. 

The Daun Restaurant is also among our favourite. It's not located directly along the pathway leading to Ben Thanh Market, but it's not far from there either. I think it's about maybe 10 - 15 minutes walk from Ben Thanh Market. 

Here's their address as well as social media sites. 

We ordered prawns and soup as well and it was absolutely heavenly. I would definitely recommend this restaurant for the ambience as well as good food. For more information on the restaurant, you can visit their website [here]. 

On our last day in Ho Chi Minh, we decided to try something different, so we went to Sahraan Restaurant which serves Egyptian food. It's also located not far from Ben Thanh Market, perhaps about 7 - 9 minutes walk away. 

I had grilled chicken while hubs ordered chicken fried with bread crumbs. The food was okay, however, in terms of price, this restaurant is also slightly pricey compared to the other restaurants. If you like, you can visit their Facebook page [here].

So if you're thinking of visiting Ho Chi Minh, the best place to stay would be somewhere near Ben Thanh market, as around the market there's plenty of halal outlets and everything would be within maybe 5 - 20 minutes walk, which is convenient. However just a word of caution, just like any city, there's pickpockets, thieves as well as fake taxis (this is very common in Ho Chi Minh unfortunately) so do take care of your belongings.

Happy traveling!


xoxo Mrs Fashionista

Halal Food in Seoul, Korea

Here's a follow up to my Halal Food Guide in Seoul (from the previous post Halal Food in Nami Island). Despite the plentiful list of halal outlets at Zabihah.com (there were about 20 listed in the website, by the way), most of the halal outlets are actually located in ONE place, that is in Itaewon. Thus if you're planning to visit Seoul, I do suggest looking for a place to stay in Itaewon as this would make it very convenient for your trip.



 

 

Unfortunately for us, we didn't stay in Itaewon, therefore we had to take the subway there.

 

 

Since you're in Korea, eat like the Koreans, no? Well, we really, really wanted to try some Korean food so on our first day we headed out to Murree which served Indian and Korean food. If you're planning a trip to Seoul and if you're planning to walk most of the time in you're trip, be forewarned that Murree is quite a walk up the hill from the station (I'd say it's a good 15 minutes walk uphill) so be prepared peeps!

 

 

However, we were definitely served good food and the Korean food is absolutely delicious as well, so I'd say it was worth the walk.

 

 

A friend of mine, Lorraine recommends this restaurant (unfortunately we were unable to dine there due to our hectic schedule) but if you like, this restaurant, Little India Seoul is located just opposite of Murree.

 

 

Another restaurant that we went to is Kervan, which offers a lunch set promotion which we tried on our last day in Seoul.

 

The promotion is only available during weekdays, so do take note!

 

 

One lunch set menu consists of salad, bread, soup and a main dish of your choosing (i.e. pasta or kebab rice) and tea. If you're on a tight budget (or on a diet) this menu could be consumed by two people =).

 

Another place that we went was Dubai (on top of Dunkin' Donuts), located right next to Kervan.

 

 

These were among the food that we ordered. The food was absolutely scrumptious, but among all the restaurants that we visited, Dubai is among the priciest. However, the food is absolutely delicious!

 

 

On our last night, we visited Mr. Kebab.

 

 

Here's the deco of Mr. Kebab.

 

Had some kebab beef with rice. Definitely delicious and it's way cheaper from Ankara Picnic (which is on the same row of Mr. Kebab but located right next to the Itaewon station's exit). FYI we had eaten at Ankara Picnic on our first day in Seoul but because we were extremely starving and it was raining heavily, we didn't manage to capture any photos of the place.  

 

 

Here's Seoul Mosque located on top of the hill at Itaewon.  

In Itaewon, there's definitely plenty of Halal restaurants, however, most of them offer either Indian food or Middle Eastern food so there's not much choice in terms of food selection (there were one or two restaurants that offered Malaysian food).

However there might be some circumstances where you might be at a place where it's quite challenging to find halal food. We did the next best thing by getting donuts at Dunkin' donuts or stopping by at Lotteria (Korean version equivalent to McDonalds or KFC) and getting some of their shrimp burger.

 

Our typical breakfast in bed since our hotel was located right next to Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts.

 

For more lists of Halal outlets in Seoul, I suggest you visit: Zabihah.com or alternatively you may also want to visit this site, Muslim Backpackers Seoul.

xoxo Mrs Fashionista


Psst: I'm actually very, very excited that we have a trip scheduled for Spring, 2014. Here's a hint, we'll be going to Doraemon land! Looking forward to listing more halal food outlets there =).

Halal Food at Nami Island, Seoul

We recently went on a trip to Seoul, Korea (hopefully I'll have time to write a few posts on my trip there) and here's my first post on a halal outlet located in Seoul at Nami Island (made famous by the Korean drama, Winter Sonata). 

Nami Island is a man-made island not far from Seoul, named after the late General Nami who was buried there. Although I am not really a Korean drama fan (nor am I a K-pop fan unfortunately) but since we were in Seoul, we decided to take a trip to the island. 

The island itself is rather small, you can simply walk your way around the island so it was definitely rather easy for us to explore the island. Previous googling efforts informed me that there is a halal outlet in Nami Island and we decided to check it out =). 

Since Nami Island is an island *duh*, there are two ways of getting to the island, one is via the ferry and another is using something like a cable car (I forgot the name of the contraption, sorry). The ferry ride (which we opted for costed KRW8,000 for tourists; make sure you have your passport with you when buying the ferry tickets). 

Anyway, back to the focus of this post, halal food at Nami Island. There's a few food outlets at the island but there's only one offering halal food. It's located adjacent to the Nami Library, so it's pretty much easy to find (psst: Nami Library is located in the middle of the island, walking there from the entrance of the island takes roughly about 15 minutes). 

Here's the library building. There's a musolla at the library for prayers, located at the first floor. The food outlet is not located inside this building, but rather adjacent to it. So you have to walk to the right side of the building and you can find several chair and tables, there's a small entrance to the restaurant. 

Here it is. The halal logo is pretty visible from the outside. I'm afraid I did not catch the name of this restaurant though.

The restaurant is decorated like a small cafe, there's the cashier and right next to it is where they prepare the meals. The menu is on the wall above the cashier along with the price of the food. 

Here's the kitchen where they prepare the meals. It's pretty much a small operation where the food is self-service, so after you've ordered, do be alert for your food as they'll call out once it's ready for pickup. 

The food is prepared in a metal box, where it's a hodgepodge of rice, spices, and the main dish and we have to shake the box before eating to make sure all the spices will be mixed with rice and its flavors absorbed by the rice. 

Here's how the food looks like after being shaken. 

The menu of this cafe is rather limited but we're happy with what they offer. After all, it is the only food outlet in Nami Island offering halal food, so we ate whatever they served. The prices of their food are from KRW 4,000 onwards (roughly about RM12 onwards) which is not that cheap compared to Malaysian standards, but we did find on our trip that food in Korea tend to be rather pricey (or maybe it's just a case of halal food that tends to be slightly pricey perhaps).

If you're interested to get to Nami Island, here's some info on how to get there [click here] and a blog post on the island [click here].


xoxo Mrs Fashionista

Halal Food in Phnom Penh

I was supposed to complete this post last year after my trip to Phnom Penh in September. Unfortunately, it's been left gathering dust since I came back. So here's a compilation of the halal food outlets in Phnom Penh that we found.

There are a number of halal outlets in Phnom Penh, and due to their dispersed location, it is quite difficult for one to vary the restaurants that one visits. We ended up visiting only three restaurants.

First up, Mamak's Corner. This restaurant is pretty easy to find because it is located near to Phsar Thmei. It's located at a very busy street, Street Kramun Sor and I guess it's one of those streets that you have to pass through in Phnom Penh because we seem to be passing by this restaurant a few times a day. They serve local Malay cuisine and if you're missing Malaysian food, it would probably be a good idea for you to drop by. On our visit To Mamak's Corner, we found that they serve what we call Nasi Campur here in Sarawak or Nasi Kandar in Semenanjung Malaysia. It basically means that they serve a number of pre-prepared food on a long table and you can pick and choose which dish you want to go with your rice. Unfortunately for me, being a lover of authentic Malaysian food, despite their efforts in preparing and serving Malaysian food, I find that the taste is a bit lacking but it's not that bad (although I still prefer food that is made and served in Malaysia, if you get what I mean). If you're interested to drop by or know more on the restaurant, you can access their website [here]. 

Restaurant Asmak 81. This is the restaurant that we frequented the most since our trishaw driver seems to have a liking to this restaurant. However I must say that he does have good taste. The food is absolutely wonderful and the ambiance of the restaurant is great (it's a quiet and relaxed atmosphere, by the way). It's located at Sangkat Phsar Thmei 3. I absolutely recommend this restaurant for those who like Asian food like Malaysian food or Thai food (their cooking is absolutely delicious). Here's a link to a review of the restaurant by Trip Advisor. 

Last but not least, Phnom Penh India located at Preah Sisowath Quay (it's right opposite the Tonle Sap river) and very easy to find. We finally got tired of Asian food and since we were passing by this road on a daily basis, we decided to stop by and try out some Indian food. The price of the food is slightly more expensive that Mamak's Corner and Restaurant Asmak 81 but the food is absolutely delicious. This is one restaurant that I would definitely come back for more. Although as the name of the restaurant suggests, they only serve Indian food. Alternatively you may also want to click [here] to find out more on the restaurant.

It's a tad unfortunate that we were only able to try out three restaurants in Phnom Penh but we were there for a conference and our time was rather limited. I would have to say it's not that easy to look for halal food here (unless you have a Muslim guide or driver) but we managed to find a few. 

xoxo Mrs Fashionista