L’Olivier at Sofitel Ho Chi Minh delivers outstanding French food :)

KT had previously mentioned that the French restaurant at the Sofitel Ho Chi Minh (L' Olivier) was good. I had to convince Mark though as we were initially planning to eat at the Vietnamese Pho chain – Pho 24..everyone who has been to HCM raves about the pho here. Mark relented (prob due to my insistent whinning :)) so off we trotted to try out the place.

We got ouselves a nice seat in the 'false' alfresco area. The menu was a simple 2-pager listing the soups, starters, fish and seafood , meats and dessert. We ordered 2 starters to share – an eggplant salad and fish soup. The salad was really yummy – I thought the grilled eggplant was done just right as it did not taste squashy and the emmental cheese which accompanied the salad was delightful . Quite disappointed with the soup which came at the recommendation of the nice waiter..it had a generous helping of seafood (huge prawn and mussel) but the stock tasted bland :p

I stuck with a safe main of grilled scallops and it came beautifully served on top of turnips and accompanied with some asparagus. It was just delicious. Shared 2 scallops with KT. KT went for mushroom risotto..that guy can really eat. He had already consumed 5 bread portions before his main arrived and yes, the risotto was good – albeit a bit rich for my liking :p


Mark's beef steak and it was huge! Came with a stack of french style French fries..I tasted a bit and it was not bad..Mark said his S$40 steak at Esmirada (Orchard Parade hotel) was the best he has had but this one here was pretty good too.

We were too stuffed for dessert although KT kept on saying that it was really a must try..oh well, guess this will have to be left for the next visit :)