Doobie Doo Bar—the “disco izakaya” that landed in Ho Chi Minh City: a night of Showa retro × sake × oden

A famed Singapore bar team opened a "disco tavern" in Saigon

118 Pham Viet Chanh street, Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City. On this street where craft-beer shops and local eateries cluster, "Doobie Doo Bar" quietly opened. The sign reads "Disco Sakaba (disco tavern)." Teams from famed Singapore bars — Apollon/Am-bar, Mobomoga, Hearth, and Sakemaru — gathered to build a space multiplying Japanese tavern culture by the exhilaration of disco.

While calling itself a "tavern," this isn't just an izakaya. Sake brewed with flower yeast, hand-made oden, and a groove flowing from the turntable — three elements melt together into one night.

Singapore × Japan × Vietnam — three countries' nights cross

バックアップするシンガポールのバーチームは、アジアのバーシーンで確かな実績を持つ。Apollon/Am-barは東京・銀座の名バーの系譜を引くシンガポールの人気店。Sakemaruは日本酒に特化したバーとして知られ、Mobomogaはアジアの素材を使ったカクテルで注目を集める。Hearthはクラフトカクテルの名店だ。

Doobie Doo Bar, which these four teams handle jointly, is, so to speak, a crossover base of Asia's bar culture. It shows that Ho Chi Minh City's nightlife scene is layering, from listening bars likeCOI listening barto tavern formats like this.

Sake selection — flower yeast and phantom rice

Doobie Doo Bar's true worth lies in its sake curation. Rather than a house sake, it carefully selects only labels with a story.

Amabuki's flower-yeast series is a unique method brewing with yeast isolated from flowers in nature such as strawberry, sunflower, and cosmos. It's a label with many core fans even among Japanese sake lovers, but this is probably the only place you can drink it in Ho Chi Minh City.

Snacks — "gakko cheese" and "kitsune banh mi"

The food menu, billed as "Otsumami," is based on Japanese tavern dishes with Vietnamese tastes added.

• Gakko cheese spread: a spread combining Akita's iburigakko (smoked pickle) with cream cheese. It goes without saying how well it pairs with sake
• Kitsune banh mi: an item with sweet-savory simmered fried tofu tucked into a banh mi baguette. The national foods of Vietnam and Japan meet inside a single bread
• Oden: an authentic version prepped from the broth up. Daikon, egg, and fish cakes are central

"Kitsune banh mi" is a gem that lets you experience the food-culture journey of France → Vietnam → Japan → Vietnam again in a single bite.

Local reaction — "Pham Viet Chanh has evolved again"

Since opening, talk has spread centered on the resident foreigner community.

• "I thought Pham Viet Chanh was a craft-beer street, but a renowned sake spot opening here — the potential of this street is astonishing" (a Singaporean living in Vietnam)
• "To think there's a bar in Saigon where I can eat oden and drink flower-yeast sake. One less reason to go back to Japan" (a Japanese businessperson living there)
• "The music sense is good. It especially livens up on DJ event nights. Young Vietnamese customers have been increasing too" (a local food influencer)

What Japanese travelers should know

Pham Viet Chanh street is about 2 km southeast of the backpacker district of Bui Vien. It's about 10 minutes by Grab or bike taxi. Local seafood eateries and banh mi stalls line the surroundings, so finishing dinner locally and then capping it at Doobie Doo Bar is probably the best flow.

The article on Thao Dien, a fierce café battleground for 2026A route enjoying the Thao Dien café-hopping introduced in it during the day, then switching to bar-hopping in Binh Thanh district at night, is also recommended.

Changes in Ho Chi Minh City's bar scene

Ho Chi Minh City's nightlife is rapidly diversifying, from the conventional rooftop-bar and club focus toThe Pickerwhisky-specialty bars like it and tavern formats like Doobie Doo Bar. Behind it are young Vietnamese returnees who've touched the bar cultures of Singapore and Tokyo, and the cross-border exchange of bartenders from around Asia.

Just as the 2023 landing of the Michelin Guide energized fine dining, if the number of Ho Chi Minh City bars chosen for Asia's 50 Best Bars increases, nighttime tourism demand should rise further.

Basic information

Summary — a night where sake, oden, and disco meet

Doobie Doo Bar splendidly pulls off the seemingly contradictory attempt of making the delicacy of sake and the heat of disco coexist. Drink flower-yeast sake, nibble oden, and before you know it your body is swaying to the groove — try spending such a night in Ho Chi Minh City.

Source

• @saigon_anchan – Doobie Doo Bar introduction post
• Jovel Chan – New Restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City
• National Litographic – Saigon Japan Town Night Guide