Urban Kitchen Bar, Saigon

Review

Saigon is so taken with the vintage, urban look, that the people behind Urban Kitchen and Bar, purpose-built the place from scratch in retro style. They’ve done a good job too - it’s a perfect size resto-bar space - small enough to be cosy when it’s quiet and large enough to kick on busy weekend nights.

There are the trademark industrial fittings - chairs, lighting and kerosene lamps as well as exposed brick and liberal use of steel.

Urban Kitchen is a bar and restaurant and doing a good job of both. There’s a well stocked liquor cabinet, wines by the bottle and glass, cocktails and a good selection of beers. Prices are in line with similar fancy venues around town.

By night, Urban Kitchen pulls a good crowd of young fashionable professionals - both locals and expats. It’s especially busy on weekends with DJs pumping out contemporary dance tunes.

The food menu has a gastro-pub feel to it. There are salads, burgers as well as a selection of western mains. We’ve eaten here several times now and it’s a good casual dining spot. They take their food seriously.

We’ve listed Urban Kitchen in nightlife as more than anything, it feels like a bar - but it’s open all day as a restaurant, has a brunch menu and a lunch menu as well.

Urban Kitchen has a perfect smoking area out front - but sadly, smoking is still allowed inside. It’s not ideal if you’re heading in for a late meal and it can be especially smoky when crowds descend on Friday and Saturday nights.


Disclosure
Rusty Compass reviews are always independent. We show you the stuff we think you should know about. That’s it. We’ve always paid our way at Urban Kitchen. No inducement, financial or otherwise was received to write this listing.