Last Night in Saigon/HCMC: Drinks at the Hotel Majestic and Dinner at Roadside Restaurant Vy Da Quan

Our last night in Saigon / HCMC was spent with drinks at an upscale historical hotel with a view, followed by some local entertainment on the promenade, and then dinner at the famous roadside restaurants in the Ben Thanh area. A great evening to finish off our trip to HCMC, Vietnam.

The Majestic Hotel in HCMC is a luxurious historical hotel located on the riverfront. This old grand dame has been around for quite some time and has undoubtedly seen major history unfold in the city. When you enter the lobby, the hotel’s aristocratic atmosphere and design evoke nostalgia, like you are being transported back to an important bygone era.

Interestingly, I checked the hotel’s room prices and they were not bad at all. We could have booked our stay here. But then again, I remember that I was looking for a hotel that has a room with 2 queen-size beds. We all prefer to sleep in 1 room and this kind of bed set up wasn’t very easy to find.

But I heard that Majestic Hotel Saigon has a nice alfresco restaurant cafe terrace. The terrace is on the roof deck and has views partly facing the Saigon River. We need to get there.

The ostentatious old-world glory lobby of the Majestic hotel.

We proceeded to the rooftop of the hotel and we took a table on the outdoor terrace. We were lucky to have good weather and we quickly ordered our drinks. My mom was craving something sweet so she ordered a banana float ice cream. My father went for coffee, while SisterJ and I had our choice of cocktails, a Cosmopolitan and Baileys inspired.

As we wait for our drinks to arrive, we enjoyed the gentle breeze and the views of the River Saigon. We thought that Heineken did well on posting those big billboards across the river for maximum brand exposure.

Someone is having a go. We haven’t touched our cocktails yet and my mother’s banana float ice cream is almost finished, haha.

We probably stayed for more than an hour here and when leaving, SisterJ and I took the grand staircase. My parents of course didn’t follow suit and they took the lift going down which was operated by a lift operator dressed in a fancy hotel uniform.

As we walked on the grand staircase, we can’t help but appreciate the lovely details on the staircase’s very well polished wooden hand and iron railings, and the lavish design on the carpet as well. The staircase is made of wood but each floor landing is dressed in carpet. It’s beautiful.

Outside of the hotel, we heard music playing on the Nguyen Hue Promenade, which is just around the corner. We inspected it, and true enough, there was some entertainment going on.

As part of the year-end festivities, a big stage was erected in the middle of the promenade and a section of the street was barricaded from traffic. People started to gather to watch and we found ourselves drawn to see the show as well. My parents didn’t bother so they walked to a bench that was just vacated, waiting for us to finish watching.

The Nguyen Hue Promenade that stretches from Saigon River to the City Hall was very well decorated and lighted for the festive season. It was a joy to stand there to watch the colours, the lights, the music, and the people. It was a very busy evening and although we were enjoying our jovial surroundings, our stomachs started growling. It was time to go.

The night before, I briefed the family that our last night’s dinner in HCMC will be a very local dinner event at a roadside eatery. I don’t think my mom was excited but at least she was willing to try.

We have passed by Ly Tu Trong and Nguyen Trung Truc streets where these roadside eateries abound. You can see people eating and drinking outside, street after street and corner after corner. This area is mostly frequented by locals and it seems to be very famous in the city. Every time we pass here, I get tempted to stop and sit down and order some food, haha.

We chose the corner restaurant, Vy Da Quan because it looks nice and has a lot of outdoor seating. The tables and chairs were quite low though so I felt like we were sitting in children’s furniture borrowed from the nearest kindergarten school. Perhaps the small size of the furniture allows them to pack more people in a small area. Asians are small, so it wasn’t an issue but the bigger-sized foreigners, they will have to learn to squeeze themselves into a small chair. Nevertheless, it was very busy here and we were liking the energy of the place.

We are checking out the menu first…

And my father made jokes and funny faces whilst waiting for our food. You can see my mom’s face, she was like, “Oh dear me, here he goes again….” Haha

And voila! That was quick, time to dig in.

We didn’t expect our food to arrive that fast. The cook worked very fast, we thought she was a wonder woman. The restaurant had so many customers and so many orders and this young lady cook just went through each of those orders in a flash. Her “wok” skills were amazing; she was a sight to behold! The kitchen was open and was just behind us, so we could see everything.

The food here at Vy Da Quan was quite good. It was obviously home-cook style and very tasty. Perhaps a bit salty though.

This is the amazing young lady cook. She was one heck of a show. She did all the cooking herself. She could whip up a dish in just a few minutes. Well done girl!

Suffice to say, we had a very good last dinner in HCMC. We were happy to have had dined here, at least for me. It was something different from the usual sterile restaurant places we have frequented. This was more down-to-earth, very local, unpretentious, and very suitable for Saigon.

I would love to visit Vietnam again in the near future, and I am eyeing the north. Hanoi is gently calling me and I will heed her call very soon.