My immediate plan for my Vietnam trip was to eat nothing but Vietnamese. But not all plans push through. In this case, mom ruined it, in a good way. Haha! 

Mom brought me to a Chinese restaurant named Nha Hang Hai San Vi Ca, near the massage place we visited. If you haven’t seen my post about it, you can click here. The last time she visited Vietnam, she frequented this place with my younger sister, Reine. Both of them are Chinese food supporters, FYI. I didn’t like her idea until she semi-brainwashed me. Haha! According to her, the idea of bringing me to the same Chinese restaurant is to have the same experience as my sister’s. At least, we could talk about the same restaurant when we get back to Manila – that was her “excuse”. I know it was just her excuse for us to eat there, knowing her Chinese-food tongue. 🙂 Hence, we proceeded to Nha Hang Hai San Vi Ca. 

The place, Nha Hang Hai San Vi Ca, was unexpectedly packed. It seemed like a favorite Chinese restaurant in Ho Chi Minh. Seats were occupied by locals and foreigners like us. 

Typical Asian restaurants give complimentary appetizer. Good for impatient and hungry people. At least, they have something to munch during the waiting period. For this restaurant, a small plate of garlic peanuts was what we had.

Every time I order Hakaw, I remember my sister. When she was younger, she used to hate eating shrimps. Dad and mom even tried to force feed her. But now, look at her. She’s a freak about it, most especially for Hakaw or Shrimp Dumplings. Without any doubt, she ordered this dish too, when she went to this restaurant last year.

Appreciated this not so typical Hakaw served to us. Each dumpling was full of hot and fresh medium-sized shrimps. I adored it! For its price, VND 38,000, I can say SULIT! Or, value for money, for my foreign readers. 

It’s best to add chili sauce to any kind of dumpling you get. This is the counterpart of Japanese wasabi for Chinese. I usually mix chili sauce with soy sauce and lime/calamansi. 

Meat Dumpling with Crab (VND 38,000) was my favorite. For filipinos, most of us are surely fond of Siomai. Just take a look at train stations, food courts, and other public places with siomai stalls. It’s a hit in Manila. Back in college, I didn’t dig into those siomai stores in malls, my favorite was the one at Lair (our hang out place in Taft). The taste of this dumpling is similar to what I had in college, only better! The dumpling was not purely meat but with crab goodness. This added more flavor, which made it delectable and insanely good.

Szechuan Style Shrimps (VND 200,000) – I prefer my shrimps to be ‘clean’. The plate of shrimps made me spend more time removing the black line or the veins of the shrimps than eating it. Mom was so sweet for treating me like a baby and removing the veins for me. How selfless. 🙂 Guess the cooks were too lazy preparing the food. In addition, we weren’t able to appreciate the sauce mix anymore because we were too busy “cleaning” the shrimps. 

Visit Nha Hang Hai San Vi Ca if you happen to plan a trip in Vietnam. It’s just beside Saigon Square, a tourist spot/shopping mall in Ho Chi Minh. 

Cheers,