Quan Nem Restaurant
Another one of my favorite restaurants that offers a variety of spring rolls, nem ran. I really like spring roll dishes in Vietnam. Yeah, as usual I forgot the name of the dishes I ate at Quan Nem. Essentially, I placed some lettuce in my bowl followed by white noodles, then I added the spring roll and finally topped it off with some fish sauce.
(Nice menu)
(Six air conditioners keep the restaurant nice and cool)
(Our meal – ~100,000 VND for two people)
Though the meal may not seem alot, trust me, it filled both my friend and I up. Give it a try.
Quan Nem
Address: 15E Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1, Saigon
The Spring Rolls you had are called Cha Gio, not Nem. Nem is sour, fermented pork pressed into a sausage shape. The best coming from Thu Duc, Saigon.
The name Quan Nem can mean Cafe/Restaurant – Delicacies – Choice Dishes.
I meant to right nem ran and nem Saigon which are the names for cha gio in Hanoi.
On the resteraunt topic:
You know where the BEST cheeseburger in Vietnam can be found? Tan Son Nhat airport, by the departures gates.
I know it’s not really related, but every American NEEDS to know where to get a good burger.
@Craig: And everyone wonders how Americans get so fat! 🙂 Actually, the best cheeseburger I have had in Saigon is at a place called Black Cat.
Another vote for Black Cat’s burgers. Hands down the best in town.
My only problem with Black Cat is that the quality is not consistent. Sometimes it is good, other times it is bad. Hence I do not go there very often. That has been the problem with many of this owner’s restaurants.
At one time Expats used to joke that the quality would go down when he left Saigon but return when he got back in 🙂
When I am in Saigon, looking for a cheeseburger is not high on my list. But when I am waiting to board the plane for home after a 3 week stay, the cheeseburger is calling! The airport’s burger is not very “American” tasting either. The seasoning in the beef is very strong, and delicious.
Please keep adding reviews Kevin. I hope to hit a few of them as soon as my family and I can get back to Saigon
i like how u put the trademarks on ur images now :D…what program can do tha?
I just added a text with Gimp, an open source version of Photoshop. I am catching my images among some Vietnamese sites now, many times with no credits.
To do that with a bunch if images at once, you might want to check out Phatch. I haven’t tried it personally yet, but looks like it’s the way to go.
http://photobatch.stani.be/
@Craig: Sure thing, when do you return to Saigon?
@Urko: New program for me. I will take a look at it. I just want a program that will resize and add the copyrights automatically. Plus I got a bunch of old photos that I want the copyright listed.
I am thinking about moving away from Creative Commons since people seem to be abusing it now.
Creative Commons is very flexible. I am sure you can find some different version of it that will suit your needs.
I don’t think the problem is the license, but people simply ignoring that there is a license at all for your content.
You could move to absolutely no reuse permitted, and still people will ignore it, don’t you think?
Phatch is supposed to do exactly that. Looks fantastic, and has amazing reviews, and even works in Windows (ugh!).
Yeah, I agree. I will take a look at the other CC versions. Essentially, I want to be able to contact a websites web host to remove images for people who added them without my permission. Many times they just copy the URI location of my images.
Let me see if I can get it running on Gentoo this weekend.
Kevin,
LOVE the restaurant reviews. I will keep them in mind when I come to visit. For me, the best way to know a culture is through the food. Keep up the good reviews.
Thuy Lan
Okay Thuy Lan but as of now, I do not eat out much, not even for lunch. I decided to cook at home until inflation gets under control and prices start to stabilize. Still, I plan to eat out twice a week so I will bring my camera along.
Do you have a Facebook? I never use MySpace at all anymore.
Kevin,
I don’t have a facebook page. I was thinking about getting one, but…
Also if you could do reviews on street food and the cost. $=cheap, $$$$=most expensive.
What is the exchange rate for VND and USD?
The forex rate for US$ > VNDong has been fluctuating wildly lately in the gold shops,(the best places to exchange), I was able to get VND16,300/$ recently and the rumors are that the rate could go to VND17,000 sometime soon.
The VN government meddles so much, and so maladroitly, in the economy that amazing forex opportunities occasionally crop up and quickly disappear.
@Thuy: I am not a fan of street food per se though I like the vendors in my alleyway. With inflation, I suspect the quality of the street food will go down too. Someone mentioned how street vendors could possibly make money with the current price of rice being so high. I would tend to agree.
I also learned that my eggs I used to get from street vendor may not be real eggs. They look and taste like eggs though 🙂
As Clifton mentioned, the exchange rate is rumored to hit about 17,000 VND this week. Not a good sign for the local people but for expats, it means our dollar will go farther again.
What do you mean that the eggs are not real? Are they powdered eggs? So you wouldn’t suggest eating the street food?
Clifton: Thanks for the exchange rate info. I will keep that in mind. I’m just happy to know that the USD is worth something 🙂
Yep, powdered eggs, soy beans, not sure but they are not real 🙂