Saigon eats on plastic stools from 5am to 3am. This three-day route runs from Bình Thạnh's wet market to Cholon's wonton street, a Michelin-starred take on bánh xèo, and the 1938 café that still brews coffee through a cloth sock.
Bình Thạnh's 1942 wet market wakes at 5am: hundreds of stalls of rambutan, live catfish and banana-leaf packets. The food alley on the Bùi Hữu Nghĩa side sells bún mắm and chè from 6am; most sellers pack up by noon.
Michelin Bib Gourmand broken-rice joint on Đặng Văn Ngữ in Phú Nhuận, open 7am-9pm. The sườn nướng is a single pork chop nearly the size of the plate, charcoal-grilled and served with pickles, fried egg and scallion oil.
Chinatown's 1928 market, built by Chinese merchant Quách Đàm around a courtyard shrine. The ground floor is dried squid, star anise and herbal medicine; the outer food court runs hủ tiếu sa tế and bánh canh cua until about 6pm.
A dozen family stalls boil and fry mì hoành thánh along this one street from late afternoon into the night. Order it khô — dry noodles with the broth served separately — plus a plate of crisp fried wontons. Thiên Thiên and Hải Ký draw the queues.
Serving southern-style phở bò on Nguyễn Trãi in District 5 since 1970, from 6am to past midnight. The broth is sweeter and cloudier than Hanoi's, with a mountain of bean sprouts, sawtooth herb, lime and hoisin alongside.
A restored 1940s villa on Đặng Tất serving Vietnamese home cooking on hand-thrown pottery — tofu braised with tomato, pork belly stewed in coconut water, morning glory with garlic, and rice steamed in clay pots.
A second-floor 1920s warehouse loft on Ngô Đức Kế, among Saigon's first third-wave roasters. Vietnamese arabica from Cầu Đất and robusta from Đắk Lắk, brewed as siphon, Chemex or cold brew. Open roughly 8am-9pm daily.
Chef Peter Cuong Franklin's Michelin-starred dining room stands inside a working Tôn Thất Đạm market building. Tasting menus rebuild street food: bánh xèo tacos, a foie gras bánh mì, and a sea-urchin 'Đồng' pizza. Nhau Nhau cocktail bar sits on the roof.
Saigon's oldest café, opened in 1938 down an alley off Nguyễn Thiện Thuật. Coffee is made cà phê vợt style: grounds steeped in a cloth sock, then kept hot in clay pots resting over coals. The same family still runs it.
Đinh Công Tráng is Saigon's bánh xèo row, and number 46A has been frying turmeric-yellow rice crepes here since 1972. Each is loaded with pork, shrimp and bean sprouts; tear off shards, wrap them in mustard leaf and herbs, dip in nước chấm.
Held in the courtyard of a former French opium refinery on Hai Bà Trưng. Half-day classes open with a market walk, then cover three dishes and a dessert — usually gỏi cuốn, cá kho tộ and bò lá lốt. Tuesday to Sunday, morning and afternoon sittings.
Saigon's best-known craft taproom, on Lý Tự Trọng, pouring twenty-plus of its own beers — Kurtz's Insane IPA, passionfruit sours and a rice lager built for grilled fish. Vietnamese bar snacks until late.