Pubs come in all shapes, sizes and styles and we’ve put together five of them located in Saigon’s Districts 2, 4 and 7 that will not only quench your thirst, but keep you happy and amused in the process.
From an Asian-style walking street concept to massive pizzas to vego burgers all with great beers, we’ve pretty much got you covered.
Who’s up for #QuickBeers?
Hem Chill
Somehow the crew at Hem Chill in Saigon’s District 2 have done what many can’t – got the mix right!
It’s an eatery with a concept inspired by the walking streets of Asia that caters for the appetites and lifestyles of the diverse mix of people who come to hang out and chill, eat and drink an amazing array of “Asian-fusion” delights, washed down with some of the best views in the city!
Find out more about Hem Chill – Seoul Street at https://www.facebook.com/hemchill.d2/
Hem Chill is at 13 Đường số 49B, Thảo Điền, Quận 2, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
BiaCraft Artisan Ales
Whoever coined the phrase, “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, then it must be a duck!” clearly had no inkling that Beyond Burgers would one day become a thing.
A Beyond Burger, according to the company that makes them – Beyond Meat – is “a burger with taste so rich and texture so meaty, you won’t believe it’s made from plants.”
So these days, if it looks like a beef patty, smells like a beef patty and tastes like a beef patty, check with your waiter because it might not actually be a beef patty.
Saigon’s BiaCraft has been serving up their No Bull Burger for a while now, their vegetarian burger with a Beyond Burger patty.
Known for having Saigon’s most extensive line-up of craft beers from Vietnam and around the world, including their own value-for-money brews, BiaCraft is where meat lovers and vegetarians can now unite over a burger.
What a funny world we find ourselves in.
Find out more about BiaCraft Artisan Ales in District 2 at https://www.facebook.com/biacraftxt/
Bia Craft Artisan Ales (D2) is at 90 Xuân Thuỷ, P. Thảo Điên, Q2, HCMC
YoBe Craft Beer
What’s better than catching up with a mate on a Sunday afternoon over a few quick beers?
Not much, just as long as you get the selection of venue right. And this one is just right.
YoBe Craft Beer is a pop-up style hangout plonked on the corner of a quiet residential street by the banks of a canal in District 7.
Oh no siree, YoBe (an unusual portmanteau of yoga and beer…hmm) is not what you think it is.
There are no Porsches, gold chains and souped-up strollers pushed by families that look straight out of a fashion catalogue here.
This is a no fuss local flip-flop and shorts affair where you can rock up to the door on your old Nouvo without fear of embarrassment, sip some of the best craft beers in town at some of the best prices anywhere with your feet up on an old car tyre while you wait for the late afternoon monsoonal storms to roll in.
Ommmmmm!
Find out more about YoBe Craft Beer at https://www.facebook.com/Yobecraftbee
YoBe Craft Beer is at
No. 92, Street 41, Tan Phong Ward, District 7, HCMC
Saigon Craft Bar
These days you can get your hands on a frothy craft beer just about anywhere, hell, you can even get them at your nearest convenience store down the street.
How times have changed so quickly!
But at the end of the day, there really is no substitute for your local watering hole.
Sitting outside on the steps in front of a convenience store swilling cans out of plastic bags ain’t really a good look, is it?
With 27 taps pouring quite possibly the biggest line-up of craft beers in Saigon, perhaps even in all of Vietnam, Saigon Craft Bar in District 7 is the real deal.
Craft is taken seriously here with beer quality and customer service at the fore.
This lively venue also acts as a testing ground of sorts, where local craft brewers offer up a keg or two of a new batch for tasting before it’s fully launched onto the market.
Now that’s something that should get the craft beer geeks out there frothing at the mouth.
For the rest of us, the menu here is like you’ve died and gone to craft beer heaven, what more could you want?
Well, there’s the pizza.
Just look at what people are saying about it:
“This is coming from one who has eaten an F*ton of pizza in Saigon. If Saigon Craft stopped selling beer today and ONLY sold pizza from now on, it would still be the go to place for a meal. (Errr let’s hope they don’t stop selling beer.) What makes the pizza so good is they control the fat factor in a way that allows the ingredient flavors to punch through. I prefer adding their chili oil to taste for the ‘drip factor’” – Anh Rac Roi, foodie, muso, linguist, scientist, raconteur & craft beer lover
Find out more about Saigon Craft Bar at https://www.facebook.com/saigoncraftbar or http://saigoncraft.com.vn/
Nông Trại Khoai District 4
I grew up on a farm. But not quite like this one.
Nông Trại Khoai loosely translates to potato farm in English and while I am indeed a spud when it comes to my linguistic abilities, I know a good bar for a #QuickBeers when I see one.
And, I’ve seen one in Nông Trại Khoai in District 4, the third instalment of the popular “simple ruin bar” concept, a ramshackle hovel that you’d expect to see on a windswept beach or in a soggy swamp down by the Mekong.
It’s cool.
This quaint little watering hole set back off one of the busiest thoroughfares in the once terrifying neighbourhood made infamous by the Binh Xuyen, a bunch of river pirates from the Rung Sac (present-day Can Gio Mangrove Forest) who rose to prominence as revolutionaries and eventually built their own officially recognised army to pester the French colonialists, follows on from their original venue in Binh Thanh District.
There’s also one in District 2.
On the menu is an assortment of local mass-produced beers and well-priced craft frothies for the connoisseurs.
One that caught my eye, however, was Lowen Pils, a crisp and frighteningly cheap pilsner brewed by “beerhemoth” Sabeco, but apparently has its roots in Quy Nhon, a quaint coastal city in Binh Dinh Province in central Vietnam.
At around VND25,000 a pop, it’s perfect for #QuickBeers right around knock-off time when the peak hour traffic begins shuttling back-and-forth at a great rate of knots and the sun dips below the temple grounds across the street.
If only those waves of traffic were actually real ones rolling in from the ocean and lapping at my feet.
The beach is the only thing missing here.
Nông Trại Khoai District 4 is at N44 Cư Xá Vĩnh Hội, Hoàng Diệu, Ward 6, District 4
Find out more about Nông Trại Khoai District 4 at https://www.facebook.com/khoaiquan4
*****#QuickBeers videos are short 13 second time lapse glimpses of the best Saigon venues (unsponsored) in a simple, no-fuss and easy to consume way. Who’s up for a quick beer? Keep an eye out for more!*****
Credits
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