Hanging Out In Ho Chi Minh City

Le P'tit Bistrot de Saigon

View Photos (3) Image © 2000 Dick Pirozzolo

If you are looking for casual conversation, good food, and a chance to meet the people who are coming to Vietnam to explore for oil, run ad agencies, open dress shops, or make films, then visit the Q-Bar and LeP'tit Bistrot. Both spots have clearly captured "in-place" status in Saigon.

After running a hotel in Phnom Penh, Jean-Marie Bertron came to Saigon to open a casual bistro where French visitors could enjoy good food in a relaxed atmosphere. Bertron has more than succeeded with the creation of Le P'tit Bistrot de Saigon at 58b Le Thanh Ton Street in Ho Chi Minh City. The mood, with its small tables and mahogany bar, is distinctly French.

There are current copies of Paris Match on hand and patrons include Louis Le Duc, a movie director now making a feature film on the life of Dr. Alexander Yersin who headed the Institute Pasteur in Nha Trang and pioneered immunization against the bubonic plague which swept Indochina at the end of the 19th century.

Bertron explains, "When I came to Vietnam I found that all the French restaurants in Saigon were high style. Since there were no casual places, I decided to open a bistro that doesn't need a fixed menu and can serve what we can buy fresh every day. This is a big help, especially since there is no cold storage at the markets in Vietnam.

"On a typical day, Le P'tit Bistrot served a delicious lunch consisting of a tender, rare steak with a black pepper sauce and perfect French fries. Dessert was a French version of apple pie a-la-mode that consisted of a baked apple in a sweet pastry shell with vanilla ice cream. With an imported San Miguel beer, the bill came to less than $12.

As an added touch, Bertron parks his 1940's vintage Citroen out front. The cars were once commonplace in Saigon and now are restored by area mechanics and body shops. They sell for between $6,000 and $9,000. Bertron bought his for $6,000, air-conditioning included.

Even though most of the patrons are French, visitors from other countries are entirely at ease at Le P'tit Bistrot. Betron says, "I hate it when people judge others by their passport.

"The late night crowd can be found at the Q-Bar, tucked below the City Theater at 7 Lam Son Square. It was started by Los Angeles photographer David Jacobson and his girlfriend, Phuong Anh Nguyen, a California-Vietnamese. The Q-Bar, with its decor right out of Southern California, is the kind of place where Vietnamese, Americans, Japanese, Thais, Australians, French, Canadians, Norwegians and Indonesians meet and drink until David decides it's time to close for the night.

David prides himself on the fact that this is "a conversation bar. There is no pool table, no dart board, no television." With the biggest selection of single malt scotch in Saigon, he relies on good alcohol, good music that ranges from Ella Fitzgerald to rap, and good conversation.

If David had lived 50 years ago he would have been Rick in Casablanca's Cafe American. David greets newcomers with a handshake and introduces them around. "Nguyen is here. She's from Cambodia and opened a boutique in Saigon with some money she saved up. She really has a great sense of style," David says as Nguyen finishes parking her red Honda and walks into the bar.

The conversation ranges from a discussion about how Q-Bar manager Thuy was featured as a model in a New York Times Sunday Magazine fashion feature on Vietnam and didn't even get a credit line, to bar prattle with an Asian twist. "There are no good men," declares an Australian oil company personnel manager.

David tends to the little details that really matter. For an American hankering for a cheeseburger, the Q-Bar can't be beat. And unlike the other restaurants in Vietnam that serve an orangish, overly sweet, fake ketchup from Indonesia, David presents every burger with the perfect accompaniment - the genuine article - Heinz Ketchup.

Due to the steady influx of international businesses and tourists, many bars and cafes are thriving in Saigon. These little havens are well worth exploring.

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Published on 4/1/95