Vietnamese Lunch @ Sai-Gon Vietnamese Dishes, Tenjin, Fukuoka

 

Being able to finally be working at Tenjin has its perks and this place has been one of my new lunch spots during the lunch hour breaks. It has been a while since I have brought Vietnamese food into the spotlight, considering how many of them live here in Fukuoka. So, I now bring you Sai-Gon Vietnamese Dishes or Sai-Gon in short. 

Check out the menu!

You may notice that there is a spelling variation and I believe it is intentional so as to no to be confused with the old name of Ho Chi Minh City. But what is not confusing is that this place serves great home style classics at very very reasonable prices. With a menu which boasts entrées going from 1000 yen and lower, it s such a bargain. This is such a live saver for the lunch community here who are a bit tired of just eating chicken and rice bentos during their only reprieve between office hours. 

Points for the bowl

One of my favourites is the noodles with fried spring rolls. The spring rolls, made and fried fresh to order is served alongside a bed of rice noodles, which is a rarity in Japan. Not only that, the noodles served here are mainly round and not as flat as what pho tends to suggest. Being a dry noodle dish, condiments is key and a nice slashing of sweet and spicy sauce provided a refreshing kick that wakes up the senses. Thai food it is not, but it does taste rather close. The mince and veggies from the warm and freshly fried rolls combined with the cold noodles and spicy sauce is definitely a must try. At 870 yen, this was such a bargain. 

Hot and steamy

If you do want some traditional pho noodles, they have that too and under various varieties. As I am pretty familiar with beef and chicken pho, I opted for the less well known meatball one. The meatballs were also freshly made during the cooking process and as such are not the typical hard and chew ones that some places use as though they came out from a frozen packet. As such, the mince tends to fall apart but i actually like it that way as it shows it is super fresh. The grainy bits of mince made eating interesting and it is loaded with carrots and wood ear mushroom giving it a nice bite. Come to think of it, it is similar to the spring rolls, but the cooking technique is so different you can treat it as a different dish entirely. The clear soup was comforting without being too heavy and the noodles were just mainly a vessel to transport flavour. Also at 870 yen, you cannot go wrong with this. 

Actually very good. 

But if you want some rice they have something too. Although it is called Vietnamese gyudon in the menu, it is more of a mixed rice platter covered in some corn starch gravy. It may sound something dull and unappetizing, but it was rather good. Beef, seafood and lots of veggies were stir fried and then slathered into a corn starch gravy before being laid onto a bed of rice. Americans may at first glance see this as a chop suey rice bowl, and they may not be wrong as it is somewhat similar. It looks the part. However, despite being a simple looking dish, this was a go to order if I need something to keep me going after 1pm if I am running on fumes that day. Again, 870 yen. How is the owner making a profit?

Front of the house

It should be noted that have a grand menu and they do serve dinner as well. I had their ban xeo a few years ago and I can say it was quite incredible. Maybe I should visit this place again at night some time. but for now, this is one lunch spot that you need to check out especially if you are running on a budget. Fancy a go? Then the address is as follows:

3 Chome-6-24 Tenjin, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka, 810-0001