Vegan
Macrobiotic
Organic
Take-out
Vietnamese
Small, family-owned vegan restaurant. Emphasis is on food made with heirloom red rice including pancakes, noodles, tea, desserts, and crackers. No added sugar. Also sells macrobiotic packaged food and books. Reported closed September 2024.
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157 Dien Bien Phu Street, F15, Q Bin Tanh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
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Last update on 09 Sep 2024 by chiangzp
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Added by InnesPark on 08 Dec 2013
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27 Reviews
First Review by InnesPark
Gaynor1
Points +659
Super fresh - Edit
What a great place. Extensive vegan menu to choose from and so so delicious.
Read morePros: Fresh food , Simple, no fuss but lots of subtle flavour , Wide menu
Guest
AnttiRautiainen
Points +47
Nice surprise food - Edit
I ate some very tasty thing called "banana brown rice noodle sauce", which had nothing to do with banana or brown rice. I also ate some "Singapore style wok", but it had no any space, maybe bc of macrobiotic ideas.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2023-02-25
Guest
LoiDinh
Points +229
Oshawa way - Edit
No seasoning, no sugar, whole food, whole grain. What else the vegan diet eater expect? Specially, the food is delicious
Read morePros: Sell organic vegetables , Low price
Cons: Need to redesign the space soon
Guest
Greggco
Points +2264
Very nice - Edit
A great restaurant with a wide variety of dishes, all vegan and really good. They also sell vegetables, fruits and other goods 👍
Read morePros: Good and cheap
Guest
AmyG
Points +84
Lovely place - Edit
This is a really lovely, friendly place to go for food. The inside feels very calm compared to the craziness of HCMC streets. We really liked that the food was quite different from what we had had at other places and tasty healthy. We tried a selection of dishes and for me most of them were a bit on the bland side apart from the tofu wrapped in seaweed which was extremely salty and had a very strong seaweed flavour - it was very tasty.
Read morePros: Lots of vegan options, Nice environment, Friendly staff
Cons: Some of the food was a bit bland
Guest
Marilynmodiva
Points +1698
Lovely food, warm atmosphere - Edit
What we loved most about this place is that they use red and brown rice for everything here - meaning everything being healthier! Bonus! We had the salad rolls, which are wrapped in brown rice paper, two little steamed dumplings wrapped in banana leaves, Central Vietnam fried noodles and a small sour hotpot between the two of us and it was plenty of food. Everything was very tasty and came out quickly, and the staff there are super sweet and kind. I also like how they sell jars/bags of nuts, spices, condiments and all sorts for you to take home. Wonderful! Very good prices here, you will be very happy coming here to eat.
Read morePros: Lots of options, Good prices, Good portions
Guest
kittyeats
Points +210
Very Viet & truly healthy - Edit
They have many traditional Vietnamese dishes that are cooked more creatively in order to follow the restrictions of macrobiotics. The food is not lavished in oil, sugar, and condiments like usual Vietnamese vegetarian restaurants. Feel nourished and happy after eating. Love!
Read morePros: Truly healthy, wow price, homely & wholesome
Cons: Service is not the best
Guest
ShaniceFrankish
Points +45
Friendly staff & delicious food - Edit
Clean and friendly staff, calm and quiet space. Menu translated to English with pictures.
Read moreFried rice with seaweed is delicious and the fresh spring rolls are great, the peanut sauce served along side is what dreams are more of 🤤😍
Pros: Fresh, Pictures in menu, Great prices
Guest
minhnguyen
Points +1708
Real food - Edit
This place is amazing. Everything is made from brown rice. They use fresh ingredients to make food rather than mock meat which is usually found in chay places. The price is reasonable too. Their brown breads were lovely too. Wish I had more time in SG to explore this gem more.
Read morePros: No fake meat
Cons: A bit off the city centre
Guest
Roeland
Points +182
Amazing hospitality - Edit
I really enjoyed that! The food (tofu noodle soup) was a bit disappointing, I have to admit. However, they still deserve 5 stars because they were so nice to me, I left as a happy man😄
Read morePros: Hospitality and many options
Cons: Taste of tofu soup could be improved
Guest
GlendaVũ
Points +36
Best choice for macrobiotics in HCMC - Edit
Fresh vegetables, good flavors, quiet air.
Read moreI enjoyed myself when I came to this place.
It’s good for detox my whole body.
I love it.
Pros: Excellent food
Cons: Unfriendly staff
Guest
Veganwang
Points +323
Delicious food. - Edit
Delicious food. They have many choices to choose from. They are open 7am. Address on happy cow is correct.
Read morePros: They sell bread 🍞 , Sell Some crackers and nuts
Guest
RunEatWorld
Points +3581
Better the second time - Edit
Nice restaurant, good service, large menu in English with photos. We spent about 10 minutes deciding what to order, to then be told that there was almost nothing available, only 2-3 options per page (out of 12 per page). The 5 spiced fried rice was just steamed rice with nuts on top and zero spices. The nori wrapped tofu was strong in flavour and tiny in size. The Thai noodle soup was sweet and full of inedible lemongrass. The individual rice cakes were a gluggy, pasty consistency with no flavour except the fried shallot on top. I had to add soy sauce to everything to make it taste better.
Read moreThe second time the food was much better. Seaweed rolls with ginger, fresh spring rolls, seaweed fried rice, some sort of pasta with tomato sauce, steamed pumpkin were all great. I guess it'[censored] and miss, but I love the concept and what the owner is doing with brand.
Updated from previous review on 2017-07-03
Guest
VanVeganHanoi
Points +393
BEST IN SAIGON - Edit
Bravo Khai Minh for standing tall in a "MSG world". :)
Read moreThis humble place (it just looks like other typical grassroots eateries in Vietnam) serves you only natural food, maybe not the kind of MSG flavored veg dishes like in other chay places, so lots of people find this macrobiotic restaurant's vegan dishes "boring and flavorless" (!)
But as a 9 year vegan (nearly 100% raw vegan) I find the vegan food here amazing and I can taste the truest flavor of natural veggies, without any worries about MSG (this toxic chemical has been damaging asian people's health so much) in my food.
Bravo and just Bravo Khai Minh, thanks for being my only chay place everytime I visit Saigon.
Please keep doing your wonderful work! All of my respect,
HappyCow Ambassador of Hanoi
Updated from previous review on 2017-11-24
Pros: Great food, no msg for sure , Nice staff, Nice ambience
Cons: Honey
Guest
buboreka
Points +157
Hard to find but worth it - Edit
It was extremely hard to find this restaurant for us as the address points somewhere else on Google maps. The neighbourhood is not the nicest, but in the end the food made it up for everything. The portions are relatively small so order more dishes at the same time and arrive early (no later than 8pm). They also sell spices, teas, seeds and even toothpaste.
Read moreGuest
Refinnej
Points +595
cheap, healthy, and a great exercise in patience - Edit
I've been coming back here for more than a year now to enjoy my favorites, and the friends I bring enjoy it too. The portions are on the lighter side, but the cheap prices remove the guilt of ordering two dishes. (18k-30k)The staff is friendly, and can speak a tiny bit of English. Must try: Hu Tieu Kho (dried noodles) Gio Cuon (fresh spring rolls with killer sauce), Bi do sup (pumpkin soup), Com Sushi (sushi roll). I have always liked it here, and I understand that the place has its faults. When they're busy, it may take awhile to get food, and they're especially busy on the 1st & 15th of Lunar calendar. The hours are listed until 9pm, but I'm often turned away at 8:30 or given very limited choice from the menu. The waitress always recommends that I go earlier. Otherwise they stock a lot of their products on shelves for purchase, like red rice, and red rice paper.
Read morePros: cheap, delicious, healthy
Cons: kitchen begins to shut down at 8:30
Guest
Tim_nottingham
Points +7116
Good service and cheap, tasty food. - Edit
I was given a menu in English which was very fortunate as sadly my Vietnamese is non existent. There is a big choice of food and drinks on the menu and quite a range of vegan products on sale in the restaurant. I opted for traditional pancakes for starters and a brown rice noodle dish for main course. The lotus seed milk I ordered came hot which I wasn't expecting but it was a very pleasant drink.
Read moreThe food was very tasty and as I was eating the waitress gave me a bottle of Black sesame seed milk which was a nice touch. The bill was 72k dong for the 2 courses plus hot drink which I thought very cheap as it's a pleasant restaurant with good food. After my quest to try a new place everyday finishes I'll be returning here.
Pros: Good food , Good service , Cheap
Guest
taeb31
Points +120
In my opinion the best vegan place in the city - Edit
This joint has it all - high quality ingredients, it's 100% vegan, it's super cheap and it has awesome staff. you get a full meal for about 1,5 dollars and if you are willing to spend a little more, for about 4 dolars, you can get pancakes or crepes, soup, spring rolls and main course. everything is very tasty and original. i'm pretty sure you won't be able to get this variety of vegan food anywhere else in the city. must visit!
Read morePros: Prices & portions, Variety of food, Staff
Guest
Miggi
Points +2681
Unimpressed! - Edit
We tried this place because of the good reviews but weren't impressed.
Read moreWe'd been looking forward to trying the pancakes which were a starter. We ordered them but they never came and we had to ask for them to be taken off our bill at the end, which was not very easy as we don't speak Vietnamese.
We tried the turmeric noodles and red rice Udon noodles. The turmeric dish was OK. The Udon noodles were SO boring. Chewy noodles served in a thin soup that just tasted like water than veg have been boiled in once, with about 3 slices of carrot and some chopped spring onion or chives on top. It was like a homeopathic dose of veg - water with a vague, distant memory of vegetable.
It has a lot going for it as an idea - vegan, macrobiotic, worthy - and it seemed quite popular with Vietnamese customers working their way through large plates of red-brown rice - but it wasn't for us. I think it's the first time I've ever gone home after a meal and made myself a snack just to get some sense of flavour back in my life!
Pros: Vegan , Cheap
Cons: Didn't get dish we ordered, Dull, flavourless dish
Guest
Kimxula
Points +1185
One of my favourites in HCMC :-) - Edit
Khai Minh is a godsend for vegans and coeliacs in HCMC - just pure, wholesome, great food. Was so refreshing to be able to take my coeliac mom somewhere to eat where she didn't have to worry about gluten lurking everywhere as the menu, as far as I'm aware, doesn't have any mock meat dishes. I love that all the food is made with brown rice (even the banh xeo and banh beo)and it's the only place where I've had brown rice noodles, which really makes such a difference. The noodle soup with turmeric is also absolutely delicious and I'd highly recommend it :-)
Read moreIt's not got the cosiest of atmospheres and the staff don't speak English, but the menu is in English and whatever you choose, it's guaranteed to be of excellent quality. Morever, the food here is cheap, and I mean CHEAP. They don't skimp on portion sizes and I think the most expensive thing on the menu is 40,000 VND.
I've taken family and friends here and they have all said it's probably the best veg place I've taken them to, in terms of price and quality of food :-)
Pros: Pure, wholesome, good quality food, Sooo cheap!
Cons: A bit out of the way (nr. Saigon Zoo)
Guest
Sejhmet
Points +23
Nice food! - Edit
So happy that I discovered this place. The food is so cheap and delicious! One of the things that caught my attention was the menu says:
Read more"This menu is strictly vegan. This menu follows a macrobiotic diet. It only use natural ingredients. No sugar, no MSG, no additives whatsoer.
It is designed to bring the best nutritionalvalue to your body"
This words made me feel confident about the food I was eating. In vietnam, specially the Chay (vegetarian) restaurants use a lot of white sugar and MSG to mask the real flavor of the food, which is not very healthy at all...
Delicious food, the menu is in vietnamese and english both, but the waiter does not speak english.
They do sell some products as well... it would be interesting that the label of the products would be in english to know what it is...
Pros: Delicious food, NO MSG and sugar added, Cheap prices
Cons: They dont speak english (but engl menu)
Guest
EkaniLe
Points +16
nourishing Food and passionate owners - Edit
I've traveled 9 months in south east asia. I'm limited in what I can eat due to the" MSG," and GLUTEN used in most dishes and sauce. I love this restaurant because of the purity in their menu. The couple who runs this restaurant are passionate and caring. Very delicious meals. Plus you feel vital and happy that the meal is animal free.
Read moreI went to this place not expecting to make friends from France and Australia, we would meet up every other day to have lunch. What a great time that was.
They have the best brown rice noodles, banh xeo,soup, and tasty entrées.
This place made my stay in Vietnam extra special.
Guest
jdoyle221
Points +31
A True Healthy Restaurant - Edit
I come here often for many reasons. The food here is truly healthy for you and the owners are happy to tell you why. One of the few places in Saigon that I have found that uses brown rice. But the fact that it is healthy does not mean it doesn't taste good. Just the opposite, the food is fantastic and I just try anything on the menu and it is all good. The people that run the restaurant are so friendly and I often have them choose my food and they never disappoint. A couple times they will just bring out extra food for me to try, really nice and genuine people. After eating here I feel healthier, they make food the right way. Finally the price is very low especially for the incredible quality of food. This is certainly worth a visit while you are in Saigon
Read morePros: Healthy & Delicious Food, People who own the Restaurant, Price
Guest
JOHN125
Points +12
Khai Minh 1 Update - Edit
Phone 0989678129 not 09396...
Read more157 Dien Bien Pho - over Saigon River from District 1
Taxi cost about 60 - 100K Dong from Ben Than Market.
Meal 120K Dong with many courses and takeaway (for 1)
No English menu and some difficulty communicating but great help from Vietnamese customers (don't expect to see Westerner)
But they know "Happy Cow" and guessed where I had heard of them.
I left it up to them to bring whatever they thought
Cu Hu Dual (coconut plant in "hot pot") was highlight
Went well with Com Pham (plain red rice), but other customers had sushi with red rice etc.
With me the right food triggers a little prayer of thanksgiving with each mouthful - these two dishes had that effect.
Updated from previous review on Monday March 10, 2014
Pros: Food from , Non-Tourist experience, Interaction with other customers
Cons: Costs more to get there than meal, No Enlish menu
Guest
senseofvietnam
Points +67
Surprise Lunch - Edit
After reading the review of fellow members, I went to try out this restaurant. Is further from the city center but not too far. by the time I went in, it was pass 2pm so not many people. I thought maybe is a mistake. I look at their simple menu and order the banh xeo, and banh beo. Although nobody it took a little time before my lunch came. Is 5 or 6 pieces of pancake like omelet not look like the normal vietnamese banh xeo. That is big and yellow , the one Khai Minh serve is small, soft and brownish. No side vegetable and sauce. but as I dig into it, wow so natural flavor. Not much or no oil, it is soft and delicately delicious. No wonder it take so long, as I think the cook really make it with love. I am so surprise of the healthy food that I order a banh beo to go. Absolutely good and must come back for other dishes.
Read morePros: healthy, inexpensive, free tea
Cons: further from city center
Guest
little.thu
Points +96
Special restaurant - Edit
Khai Minh is a gem in HCMC. So far there's no eatery for macrobiotic fan (no GMS, no sugar, no pes, less oil). This family is the pioneer. Food is simple, but they make it with heart, so it's delicious, healthy and balanced. Try their pancake (banh xeo), tiny pancake (banh khot or banh beo). The whole grain drink is also a must try. If you want to totally take out the oil in the meal, you can also request them in advance.
Read morePros: cheap, delicious, healthy
Cons: time-consuming because the food will, be prepared when you order., not so many choices
Guest
InnesPark
Points +276
HCMC's healthy macrobiotic option - Edit
I have been coming to Khai Minh for lunch and dinner for several weeks and everyday the 'Com Phan' or dishes of the day are different every time, tasty and healthy. Some type of heirloom red rice is at the basis of most dishes.
Read moreAmazing value for $ and friendly service. Some English is spoken and there are pictures on the walls you can order from. An English menu is being developed.
Expect a lot of vegetables you might not even have seen before if you are not Vietnamese. A real find and a cut above the other restaurants in HCMC in terms of the healthy macrobiotic nature of the cuisine.
Three different sizes of mini-pancakes! And plenty of dried snacks, rice and menu items to take away..
Whilst you are eating they will surprise you with various foods to try that you haven't ordered :)
Pros: All macrobiotic, Great value. High quality. V cheap., Friendly atmosphere
Cons: No English menu., On a busy road
Guest
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