Four the last four years, one of my main staples for dinner was grechka, buckwheat barley. It was an inexpensive protein easily bought in Kazakhstan and China. When I moved back to Saigon, Vietnam, a month ago, it never crossed my mind to bring some grechka with me from Shanghai. And yes, I really missed it especially with my Japanese curry.
Luckily yesterday, in the Foodies in Saigon Facebook page, CCCP Saigon posted that they now offer grechka at their restaurant. Today I decided to visit CCCP Saigon Restaurant to buy some grechka and try their Russian cuisine.
CCCP Saigon is located at 48/1 Nguy?n B?nh Khiêm in District 1. You can easily find it with Grabbike. You can easily see the restaurant from the street, it is quite near to Dien Bien Phu street.
Oddly enough, when you enter CCCP Saigon, you walk into a familiar dark environment typical for many of the Russian restaurants I visited back in Kazakhstan. Immediately the waiting staff came to greet me but I confused myself. Since I was in a Russian restaurant, I wanted to speak Russian. I asked for grechka but the waitress was confused. Yes, I wanted to say “? ??? ???? ???????”. Instead I asked in English and Vietnamese.
I sat at my table and decided to order some pelmeni and Russian beet salad. I really needed some comfort food and oddly, pelmeni was in my head. I did see some borscht on the menu but I figured I will try it next week. My Russian beet salad came first. I was impressed, it tasted exactly like the Russian beet salad I ate many times during my five years in Kazakhstan.
Then my beef pelmeni came. Yep, it was good. It brought back memories of the Russian woman in Taraz, Kazakhstan, that fed us “nearly to death” with her pelmeni. It was that good.
I was a bit full so I did not try any dessert but I will in the future. Overall, I was quite impressed with CCCP Saigon. It will be one of my weekly visits now for food that I miss from Central Asia.
Finally, I collected my bill and four grechka. Mission accomplished.
The four grechka came to around 700,000 VND which I think is fair. I can use one bag in about two weeks as part of my after workout meals. For the pelmeni, Russian beet salad and coke, it cost under 250,000 VND. Well worth it to me.
According to the owner on Facebook, they offer Ukrainian dishes as well. I will definitely try them as well.
Give CCCP Saigon a visit.
CCCP Saigon, 48/1 Nguy?n B?nh Khiêm, District 1, HCMC (address is accessible in Grab.
