MAM Restaurant Saigon

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Hello and welcome back my Hive travelers. Today we are going again into the cradle of cuisine - Vietnam. One might be overwhelmed by the abundant food presented in Ho Chi Minh City. After all delicious food is ready to be enjoyed at every corner. While eating outside can be a turbulent affair, you are spoiled for the choice of restaurant dining. In this MAM Restaurant Saigon Review, we will take you through the MAM Restaurant, which is a great example that caters to all senses in the light of Southern Vietnamese cuisine.

We loved every part of Hoi An inspired entrance.

What About MAM? 

Let’s start with the name of the restaurant MAM, or MÂM to be exact, which means a serving tray. Throughout Vietnamese history food trays brought families together for a shared meal. In many homes, food is still enjoyed in the same manner and MAM restaurant is celebrating this tradition refinedly. The previously mentioned simple three-letter word has a few extra meanings. One is a playful way of saying eat and the other is fermented fish.

Wine is the perfect companion for a delicious meal.

MAM Restaurant Review

Ambiance

It is not only food that is refined here at MAM restaurant. The ambiance itself can be described that way as well. Wooden large format, Mahagonny parquet and yellow walls are a perfect match. If you add shiny black furniture and lighting in the right spot, you get a lovely ambiance. Perfect for every romantic dinner or simple meal.

Rattan chairs look gorgeous and are a joy to sit in.

Appetizers

Food came out as it is in the name – on the mam (tray). We started our Saigon feast with vegetarian spring rolls made of sweet pumpkins and aromatic herbs. In sync with tradition, we got a lip-smacking peanut dipping sauce on the side. Next on the appetizer list was the nutritious Malabar spinach and shrimp soup. Its wholesome taste was based on the rich stock, later spiced with freshly ground black pepper.

Vegetarian spring rolls made with sweet pumpkins and aromatic herbs.

Malabar spinach and shrimp soup

Mains

The kind waitress delivered us the mam with all four dishes that formed our main meal. As the tradition instructs, we shared all four with great pleasure. Stir-fried pumpkin blossoms with crisp fried garlic were particularly desirable with their snappy texture. One can say that they rivaled the succulent BBQ Mekong shrimps. However, the garlic-seasoned rice vermicelli with shrimp, mushrooms, and vegetables were gone all too soon. However, the crispy rice noodles with steamed Panga fillet were a true delight. Both were spot on with the intense spicy sauce and refreshing salad.

Mam means serving tray and is proudly used in the restaurant after which it was named.

Stir-fried pumpkin blossoms with crispy fried garlic

Crispy rice noodles with Panga fillet

Rice vermicelli with shrimp, mushroom, and vegetables

Desserts

We went bananas to satisfy our sweet tooth. First, we focused on the frozen whole banana slices with coconut ice cream. No wonder this simple treat is people’s favorite! So creamy and sweet and good for you, especially on a steaming hot day. As it turned out the frozen bananas go perfectly with caramelized ones. We put the combination to the test with our second dessert – the banana cake. On one hand, we had a lovely sticky mouthful of banana bits and a firm refreshing banana on the other. Simply delicious. 

Traditional Vietnamese banana cake

Frozen banana slices with coconut ice cream

MAM Restaurant Saigon Review Card

Final Thought

From the beginning to the end, we were in good hands. Capable hands that respect tradition and present it in a very tasty manner. Of course, it is easy to enjoy simplicity when core ingredients are at their prime state and treated with great care. Something so common in the past is slowly getting out of reach in the present. Hopefully, not all is lost and people share our enthusiasm for real food with a lengthy record. That is why we warmly advise you to embrace simplicity and enjoy every mouthful. 

For this rice wine-based digestif we saw essential oils in citrus peel catch fire.

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