September 18-20, 2007
Cuisine: Vietnamese, Vegetarian

492 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street
District 3, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: 088356161
Website: none

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Boiled Water Spinach (3,000 VND)

Braised Tofu with Vegetables (5,000 VND)

Stuffed Eggplant, Tomato, and Bitter Melon (5,000 VND)

BBQ “Pork” – “Thit” Heo Quay (10,000 VND)

Stir Fried Cabbage (3,000 VND)

Canh Chua (5,000 VND)

Sauteed Green Beans and Carrots (3,000 VND)

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I’ve been going to lunch at Giac Duc at least twice a week for the past two weeks. I’m on a vegetarian kick because I need more veggies in my diet and less refined flours and meat. Plus, it’s totally delicious.

My three favorite dishes at Giac Duc are the BBQ “pork,” sauteed green beans, and canh chua.

The BBQ pork is hands-down the best mock meat dish ever! The taste is spot-on and the texture is unbelievably thit heo quay-like. We’re talking mock fatty pork skin! How do they do that? I think it may involve tapioca and science.

The green beans are prepared simply with butter, salt, and plenty of black pepper. With vegetables this fresh, it doesn’t take a lot to make them tasty.

The canh chua is spiced nicely and brimming with tomatoes, bean sprouts, pineapple, bac ha, and okra. I really could (and sometimes do) eat canh chua every day.

My only complaint about the eatery is that the price of the food seems to change every time I dine there. When I ate at Giac Duc with a fellow Viet Kieu, the price of the BBQ pork was 5,000 VND, but when I dined with The Astronomer, the price jumped to 10,000 VND. WTF, right? I don’t mind being gouged a little because I’m a foreigner, but at least be consistent about it.

I’ll keep coming back for the “pork.”