Korean restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City
The K-wave is catching Vietnam by storm, with K-dramas boosting everyone’s interest in Korean culture as well as appetites for Korean food.
Fortunately, Ho Chi Minh City is filled with a great number of restaurants that dish out everything from kimbap to bulgogi barbecue. To get yourself fully acquainted with Hanguk cuisines, check out our roundup of some of the most popular Korean restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City.
1. GoGi House – dine in a hanok-themed space
Image adapted from: GoGi House
At first glance, GoGi House looks like a hanok, a traditional Korean home, with wood-bedecked ceilings with an exposed ventilation system, pastel yellow wall with a wooden shade, and hexagon-shaped windows with traditional patterns.
Image credit: GoGi House
GoGi House offers an all-you-can-eat buffet for VND399,000 (~USD17.56), featuring 14 meat dishes from honey-marinated beef short plates to high-fat pork chucks. A variety of fresh-tasting salad and bibimbap, a rice meal featuring minced meat, an egg, seasoned vegetables, and chili pepper paste, are also included in the buffet.
Image credit: @gobihouse.official
Hot pot wise, you can choose from three different types of hot pot, including kimchi, bulgogi, and kimchi sausage.
Cap your buffet on a sweet note with complimentary ice-cream, fruit tea, panna cotta, or caramel.
Address: Saigon Garden, 99 Nguyễn Huệ, Bến Nghé Ward, District 1, HCMC
Opening hours: 10AM-10PM, Daily
Telephone: 1900 6622
2. Buk Buk – affordable BBQ buffet from VND129,000
Image credit: @choudiangi
At Buk Buk, you can fill up your belly without burning a hole in your wallet with buffet sets from only VND129,000 (~USD5.56) per person.
This set comes with four dishes including pork shoulder, pork belly, kimchi-wrapped pork belly, and eggs fried with kimchi. Once you’ve had your fill, round your meal off with a complimentary dessert.
If you’re feeling generous, check out the VND239,000 (~USD10.30) buffet set, which comes with three meat dishes, two side dishes, and two hot pots. Pair your grilled dishes with some beer for a smooth finish, which comes as a freebie with two bottles of Heineken.
Address: 347 Lê Văn Sỹ, Ward 1, Tân Bình District, HCMC
Opening hours: 10AM-10.30PM, Daily
Telephone: 1900 234546
3. Galbi House – 6 locations across Ho Chi Minh City
Image credit: GALBI HOUSE
With 6 locations across Saigon, Galbi House is a favourite Korean BBQ brand among locals. Featuring four different buffet sets ranging from VND239,000 (~USD10.53) to VND369,000 (~USD16.26), Galbi House lets you enjoy a spectacular diversity of pork chops, cuts of beef, and banchan.
A great offering of banchan
Image adapted from: GALBI HOUSE
What’s more, Galbi House’s kimchi is marinated in ceramic vases for natural fermentation and an extra depth of flavor as well as crunchiness. For this reason, you’ll find that the kimchi here is fresh, packed with flavors, and good to pair with any main dish.
Address: multiple locations across the city. View location list here.
Opening hours: Mon-Sat, 9AM-10PM I Sun, 9AM-2PM, 2PM-5PM
Telephone: 028 3535 4143
Galbi House’s Facebook page
4. Yoogane Chicken – specializing in dak-galbi
Founded in Seoul in 1961, Yoogane Chicken dishes out scrumptious dak-galbi, a popular Korean spicy stir-fried chicken dish.
If you’re here for the first time, try the restaurant’s Signature Yoogane Chicken (VND160,000, ~USD7.04). Good for two diners, this tasty dish is served on the spot.
First, a waiter will toss a heap of chicken bites marinated with gochujang-based sauce into a cast-iron pan, alongside a mixture of kimchi, scallions, and toppoki. After that, the chicken will be stir-fried with other ingredients until it becomes aromatic and spicy with kimchi flavor.
You can eat the dish by wrapping chicken bites and kimchi in a vegetable leaf, or eat it with white rice (VND15,000, ~USD0.64) to balance the taste.
Image credit: Yoogane Việt Nam
The restaurant boasts roomy dining spaces with table booths, suitable for families or group diners.
The restaurant opens till 10PM, so save this address for a day when you need a late-night chicken fix.
Address: S36 Sky Garden, Phạm Văn Nghị Street, District 7, HCMC
Opening hours: 10AM-10PM, Daily
Telephone: 028 5410 1937
5. Dolpan Sam – BBQ grill on stone plates
Image credit: Dolpan Sam
At Dolpan Sam, you can have your BBQ grilled on a huge stone grill plate, known as dol-sot pan. What’s unique about these made-in-Korea stone plate grills is that they have an in-built draining system to help eliminate residual oil while grilling, making for a healthier cooking experience.
Image credit: Dolpan Sam
Compared to other BBQ buffet restaurants, Dolpan Sam offers a smaller menu at competitive pricing, perfect for those who want to dine on buffets but have smaller appetites or budgets.
You can choose from the VND179,000 (~USD7.71) set, the VND219,000 (~USD9.44) set, or the VND299,000 (~USD12.88) set.
Each set boasts a selection of ten to fifteen grilled dishes, such as salmon fillets, pork collars, bacon, tokbokki, and squids.
Image adapted from: Dolpan Sam
Dolpan Sam has ample seating space and sophisticated decor. Each table is outfitted with a smoke extractor with a vent to draw smoke so diners can have a cleaner grilling experience.
Address: 156 Phan Xích Long, Ward 7, Phú Nhuận District, HCMC
Opening hours: 10AM-10PM, Daily
Telephone: 1800 1277
6. K-bop Vietnam – a collection of toppoki and K-pop merch
Ramen topokki, fried cheese stick, kimbap, pork cutlets
Image adapted from: @have_some_bite
Founded by a devout Kpop fan with a passion for Korean pop culture, K-pob Vietnam is a small restaurant dishing out a wide variety of Korean comfort foods and also a get-together place for Kpop fans.
Even though the menu extends to over 30 dishes ranging from topokki, to ramyeon, to omelet rice, the real star here is topokki, a chewy rice cake with a lightly sweet flavor.
Topokki is normally served as the side dish in other Korean restaurants, but here it’s the main player with its own range of flavors. You can slurp over a steaming bowl of ramen topokki (VND40,000, ~USD1.72) or feast on a decadent treat of topokki laden with mozzarella cheese (VND50,000, ~USD2.15).
Image credit: @vyvyle._
Before your meals arrive, you can feast your eyes on a selection of Kpop knick-knacks such as idol pin-ups and albums.
Address: 25 Trương Định, Ward 6, District 3, HCMC
Opening hours: 11AM-10PM, Daily
Telephone: 028 7300 7698
7. King BBQ – over 100 buffet dishes from VND349,000
Bibimbap
Image credit: KingBBQ – Vietnam
One of the most popular buffet brands in Vietnam, King BBQ attributes its success to its secret selection of marinated sauce made by renowned chef Park Sung Min.
Image credit: KingBBQ – Vietnam
Its special collection of sauces include red bell sauce, Guang Yang sauce, teriyaki sauce, salted sauce, spicy pork sauce, garlic sauce, tenjo sauce, and the signature King BBQ sauce.
Image credit: KingBBQ – Vietnam
The buffet at King BBQ, which is from VND349,000 (~USD15.04) per person, comes with over 100 dishes ranging from grilled dishes to hot pots to desserts. The meat dishes include briskets marinated with bell pepper, beef short plates slathered with Guang Yang sauce, Japanese eels, to name a few.
Meanwhile, a broad array of iconic Korean crowd-pleasers from seafood pancakes (VND139,000, ~USD6.12) to deep-fried squids (VND95,000, ~USD4.18) await at the a la carte menu.
Address:
- King BBQ Saigon Centre, Level 5, 65 Lê Lợi, Bến Nghé Ward, District 1, HCMC
- 208 Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa, Ward 6, District 3, HCMC
- B3-10B, Vincom Center, 70-72 Lê Thánh Tôn Street, Bến Nghé Ward, District 1, HCMC
Opening hours: 11AM-2AM, Daily
Telephone: 028 3821 6799 I 028 6299 1939 I028 3993 9486
8. Seoul Deli – featuring authentic gogi-guksu
Seoul Deli, a Korean-run restaurant in Phú Mỹ Hưng, is an ideal place to have authentic Korean food.
Highly recommended by the staff, gogi-guksu (VND150,000, ~USD6.46), a hearty and delicate Jeju-originated noodle soup dish, is perfect for any time of the day. Featuring silky noodles at the base, thinly sliced pork slices with high fat content, finely ground garlic, and heaps of scallions on top, this filling dish is completed with scoopfuls of milky pork broth.
Image credit: Tén Tén
Aside from steaming noodle dishes, you’ll also find an extensive offering of kimbap, from the meaty and savory bulgogi kimbap rolls (VND149,000, ~USD6.42) to the flavorful salmon salad kimbap (VND135,000, ~USD5.82).
Address: Seoul Deli, S43-1 Sky Garden, Phạm Văn Nghị Street, District 7, HCMC
Opening hours: 6AM-10PM, Daily
Telephone: 090 247 12 88
Korean restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City
Korean cuisine is loved across many parts of the world, including Ho Chi Minh City.
Whether it’s a satisfying bowl of tasty bibimbap or sizzling pork chops marinated with traditional sauces, there’s something for every Korean food lover in town.
Also check out:
- A foodie’s 24 hours in Saigon: 17 dishes to try
- 10 Hong Kong-themed restaurants in Saigon
- 9 places in Saigon for both sweet & savory crepes
- 17 must-try dishes in Saigon’s Chợ Lớn
- Đợi Một Người: a hilly venue where you can walk on the water
Cover image adapted from: @gogihouse.official and GALBI HOUSE
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