Nomad Quynh wanders into the Citadel and finds out why a new Vietnamese restaurant can make its mark in a crowded market.

A few days ago, I took a foreign partner out for lunch, and decided to give Citadel Saigon a try. This place is one of the newest Vietnamese restaurants in HCM City, aiming to serve traditional Vietnamese cuisine with no MSG and using only fresh, quality ingredients.

Its location, Lane 74 Hai Bà Trưng, District 1, is well known among city foodies. It is one of those special downtown places with many nice old French buildings that have been renovated several times, but still manage to maintain the original French architectural style. It is especially lively at night, with some of the most well-known and long standing restaurants in town, like El Gaucho, The Refinery and Hoa Tu. The new kid on the block is to the left of The Refinery.

The beautiful French colonial building, quiet and spacious with big windows that bring in a lot of sunlight, did not fail to impress. It reminded me of the old Sai Gon, and we learnt there was once a real citadel here in 1790. The first floor is an outdoor area with no air conditioning, suitable for cool days or in the evening. It was lunchtime, so the staff suggested that we go upstairs, which we did, climbing up a quaint wooden staircase.

A pretty waitress showed us to our table and gave us the a la carte as well as set lunch menus. VNĐ180,000 per person gets you a starter, a salad, a main course with soup and rice, and a dessert. A good offer, especially when you get to choose from many options. We decided to take two different sets.

For starters, he chose the crab spring roll, while I went for the shrimp and pork one with fried vermicelli. He also got the green mango salad with dried shrimp, while I opted for the pomelo salad with chicken. These dishes were brought to us on the same plate, with two spring rolls in each portion, which made it easy to share. My shrimp and pork roll was very tasty – the outer layer of fried vermicelli was perfectly crispy and not too thick, while the inside tasted fresh and flavourful. My partner’s crab rolls were also good, but I would prefer their crust to be a bit less thick.

I preferred my partner’s choice of salad, however. The pomelo chicken salad was not bad, but not as good as the mango with dried shrimp, which was very fresh and tasty with several different, complimenting flavours.

For the main course with soup, I chose braised basa fish in clay pot and sour soup with pork ribs, while he got the caramelized pork plus spinach and crab soup. Both main courses were really good. I am normally not a big fan of fish, but this is definitely one of the best fish in clay pot dish I’ve had in a Vietnamese restaurant, flavourful with just the right balance of different spices, not overdone, like it is at many other places. When I invited my partner to try it, he was reluctant at first, saying he was already quite full. After taking a bite, he asked me if he could finish the rest.