Food and drink — Travel Ideas– tax –

Pho is not the only noodle you can eat in Ho Chi Minh City. There's dry hu tieu (hủ tiếu khô), bun rieu with crab and tomato, and bun bo Hue from the central city of Hue — here are three bowls chosen from personal experience, along with tips on how to adjust the flavors to your taste.

A beer costs around ¥100, a kilo of tomatoes around ¥200. Prices in Ho Chi Minh City are genuinely cheap — yet when you look back at the end of the month, your spending hasn't dropped as much as you'd expect. A resident breaks down exactly where the line falls between cheap and expensive, with real 2026 figures.

A celebrated Singapore bar team opens a "disco sakaba" in Saigon — 118 Pham Viet Chanh Street, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. On this street packed with craft beer bars and local eateries, "Doobie Doo Bar" has quietly opened. The sign reads "Disco Sakaba (...

A temple of “molecular pho” has appeared in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. On December 21, 2025, a counter restaurant with just 14 seats, “Pot Au Pho 2.0,” opened at 91 Ton That Dam Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. It's helmed by P.., chef of Anan Saigon, the first to earn a Michelin star in Vietnam..

Dinh Van Kien, a young man from Son Tay Thuong commune in Quang Ngai province, turned the vocal technique he learned at the Hue Conservatory into “a storyteller of cuisine.” At three stilt-house restaurants built from bamboo and natural materials, he's turning gong music and the Co Tu people's mountain table into a tourism resource.

On the site of “New Saigon,” beloved for about 40 years in Denver's Little Saigon, the five Nguyen sisters will open the Vietnamese restaurant “Re Tre (bamboo root)” in summer 2026.

At Le Méridien Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City on May 10, the traditional ao dai and modern cocktails cross paths in a 10-hour straight-through “Saigon Ao Dai Cocktail Festival 2026.” We report on this new landing point for nightlife.

Korean chicken major BHC announces its first entry into Vietnam. Partnering with Singapore's Hao Open Foods, it plans 50 shops in 10 years across Hanoi, HCMC, and Da Nang. We break the news on the contract details and a competitor comparison.

In 2026, the 100th anniversary of Michelin's star ratings, the announcement ceremony for the 4th Vietnam edition will be held in Hanoi on June 4. We break the news on the selection lists for three cities, guest-chef information, and three-year trend data.

In Quang Tri province, 64 people were hospitalized from banh mi food poisoning. April saw consecutive cases—62 in Nghe An, 108 in Vung Tau. The causes are salmonella contamination and room-temperature storage at street stalls; a safety guide for travelers is included.