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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Central Mosque and Halal Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City

For Muslim travellers, this little information that I am going to tell you may help to find these services fast enough when you visit this city in the future. It is about a mosque and halal restaurants. Since there are few Muslims in Vietnam, certainly these services are important to the Muslim visitors. 

There are a few mosques in Ho Chi Minh City. This includes the one in Cholon, a mosque along Nguyen Van Troi Street and of course the Central Mosque.

The Central Mosque is located at Dong Du Street in Ho Chi Minh City. Dong Du Street is located between Dong Khoi and Ba Trung Streets. It is about one kilometre (to the north) from Ben Thanh Market. You need to follow Le Loi Avenue and turn right to Dong Khoi Street and look for Sheraton Hotel. The mosque is quite old and had staircases.

You can walk from the Market (A), follow the blue line to the Mosque (B). (source: google map)
  
Central Mosque at Dong Du Street. On the left is Sheraton Hotel.

  
The lady who is in-charge of vehicle parking in the mosque compound.

  
Posing for a picture with Jet Yau and Hana. Both girls are tourists from Malaysia.

This mosque is more than 40 years old. Behind it, there is a religious school and a canteen. The mosque design is like other mosques in India. There is a large "kolah" (rectangular pond) for people to use the water for ablution.

Opposite the mosque, there are a few restaurants offering halal food. One of the restaurants is by the name of Halal@Saigon. The restaurant is managed by a Malaysian lady who has a passion in running this restaurant. She has 25 workers. This is one of the restaurants in the city which has halal certificate from the authority.

  
Halal @ Saigon restaurant at Dong Du Street.

  
The pictures on the restaurant's wall.

  
The restaurant is narrow. It is only 12 feet wide. Therefore, to look wider, the operator hung many mirrors at the wall.

  
One of the visitors to the restaurant.

  
Nasi Lemak with "Rendang Ayam"(chicken with coconut milk), sambal, fried chicken, fried egg, anchovies and nuts and the vegetables. It cost VD100,000. It is delicious.

Other restaurant which offers Malaysian food (Malay food) is Four Seasons. It is located at Thi Sach Street, a street away from Dong Du Street. I did not have the opportunity to taste the food there as when I arrived   at the door, I found they were many patrons occupying all seats.

  
The Four Seasons (Empat Musim) restaurant at Thi Sach Street.

For those travellers to Ho Chi Minh City, these restaurants serve  good food and its location is accessible and strategic. The caution is, if you come with a large group, it is advisable to make reservation. If not you may not be able to eat there. You may have to find alternative food like bread or cake. Two slices of chiffon cake cost VD5000, a loaf of french bread cost VD5000 at the market. The cup of tea or coffee cost VD10,000. If you want to taste Vietnam's Pho, there are many Pho shops with the name of Pho 24. Look for vegetarian pho. Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup. It is called bee-hoon soup in Malaysia or Bakso in Indonesia.

Update march 2012: There is a new mosque at the Khoi Nghia Street, towards the river, by the name of Masjid ArRahman. For the restaurant: VN Halal 14, Pham Hang Thai, 100 metres south to Ben Thanh market.Open:11.00am -9.00pm. This double storey restaurant can accommodate  many diners at a time .Tel 0838 220.252 email: rid.wane@yahoo.com.vn; For those who like ready made halal food, try at Parkson food court level 5 or just try fish and chips at KFC around the city.

Situated near a busy road, 100 metres from Ben Thanh.
  
Rice VD10,000; chicken soup VD50,000; vege VD50,000.Drink bandung cinchau VD30,000.
  

D'Anjung stall at Parkson Food Court is also popular, serving Malaysian food.
  
 Happy travelling and tasting....

20 comments:

  1. Salam,

    Thanks for the info. My cousin and I will be travelling to this city next week and i was looking for some info on halal food.

    :)

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  2. Thanks for the info. I am in Saigon now. I need all that information. Thanks

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  3. Tq untuk info. Bookmark ur page. Next month ke sana.

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  4. nice and one of the reasonable places to eat Halal in HCMC, tnx for the post

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  5. we have to consider this place when we go to hcm this month

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  6. thanks for the input. will be noting this down. p/s: i think requesting/eating vegetarian pho at restaurants serving the typical ones with pork is still a no no for me. they still use the same utensils for cooking no? ~ please ponder about that before anything goes into our stomach

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  7. thanks for the info. will be noting this down. however i dont particularly agree on opting for "vegetarian pho" in the event the said place serves the normal pho with pork.well they normally use the same utensils for cooking no?ponder about it before anything goes into your stomach~

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  8. These is list of Halal restaurants including Vietnamese Halal food halalfoodhochiminh.com,Hope it help u travel easier

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  9. Halal@saigon now dont have a muslim chef.all chef from local vetnamese people.no muslim chef to monitor a progress in kitchen

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  10. The foods in those halal restaurants are very delicious, but im agree that the foods are cooking by vietnamese chef, so, its not as halal per say

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  11. I am traveling solo first time to Ho chi Minh city in first week of Februaru 2015 never been there; I am living in Brunei Darusalam and offcourse here is all halal.
    I like to know Halal restaurant and places where we can stay nicely although I am male but ask the HCM city is safe to travel.
    any one please reply my email on bravo_bn71 @yahoo.com
    it is highly appreciated.

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  12. What to know if the bread in the whole of Vietnam is halaal? Do the bakery use lard in making bread

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  13. What to know if the bread in the whole of Vietnam is halaal? Do the bakery use lard in making bread

    ReplyDelete
  14. What to know if the bread in the whole of Vietnam is halaal? Do the bakery use lard in making bread

    ReplyDelete
  15. What to know if the bread in the whole of Vietnam is halaal? Do the bakery use lard in making bread

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank you for sharing - its really hard to find a good halal food when in Vietnam.

    vietnam tour

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  17. Are you seeking some information on Burma? Check this out. The internet is not available everywhere in Myanmar, therefore, if you have to contact with your family in the hometown, you should prepare a cell phone with a prepaid card. Just in case you must use the internet, let go to the high-end hotels or restaurants, they may have the internet connection. To get around Myanmar, you can take a taxi, travel by plane, hire a bicycle or even a horse cart. To move among the districts in Myanmar, you can take a bus, that can help you save the cost, but it’s not really comfortable. Don’t forget to bring along a warm jacket, because that may be cold at night.

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  18. Are you ready to discover Myanmar? Do you plan what to buy in Myanmar? It is exciting to explore Bogyoke Aung San Market - the most popular in the heart of Yangon. Visiting Bogyoke Aung San Market, you will have a chance to buy many various items such as: handicrafts, foodstuffs, clothing, luxury jewelry, clothes and other goods.
    It would be more fun if you can make a plan for myanmar itinerary 2 weeks because you will have a chance to take part in pre-Thingyan festival, also called the Zay Thingyan which occurs on the 11th or 12th of April. Visitors will also do water splashing activity and, especially, traditional food will be donated by all shops like Monte Yay Paw, Thargu and Shwwe Yin Aye.

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  19. Thanks for sharing your experience. keep it up

    ReplyDelete