Entree Kibbles: Quince Saigon - A Fine Dining Restaurant @ Ho Chi Minh City [Vietnam]

It's always preferable to have something good for our last dinner in a foreign country, and we decided to end our Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) trip with a bang at Quince; a fine dining restaurant in district one!

Main highlight was supposedly to be these wood-fired ovens which I didn't even notice when I was in the the restaurant, and only saw them when I exited. That crackling fire was so hypnotizing...

As an atas restaurant, there would be two guarantees here; top-notch service with a maître d' who speaks better English than I do and a wood-classy interior design. Lighting was a bit too dim and orangey for photo-taking though.

Decision making time. Always in a dilemma when faced with too many choices, and some items were priced at at more than S$100 each. As with most menus in Vietnam, please do remember to add three zeros to the pricing.

After much deliberation from the four of us, let's start the review!

Black Truffle Manchego Cheese - three years ago, you wouldn't see me having cheese as starter before a main, but things changed after a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas!

Can't say I know much about the different types of cheese to give a detailed review; I can only say this cheese was strongly flavored, not to the extent of being truffle intense. As usual, figs chutney is a perfect for any cheese! Bread was warm and nice too!

Spicy Salmon Nori Taco - despite its over-the-top plating, where the edible part took up only about 20%, this started with the crunch of seaweed and then came the creamy spiciness that popped with seafood goodness. Not bad although I could make do without the nori taco.

Hummus & Merguez - my first taste of hummus was at IstanBlue Meze & Grill and I remember they were usually served plain with just bread. The hummus here had, in the middle, some meat with herbs and spices that were cooked till edges had turned crisp.

Unbeatable when eaten with the puffy, wood fired naan!

p.s. only one piece.

Not So Mashed Potatoes - the name made us curious and what surprised us more was the way it was served. The waitress started using a spoon to vigorously blend the mixture; like a human, stand mixer!

For someone who doesn't like mashed potatoes, this had a texture more like potage and you do find min cubes of potatoes; not smooth, and definitely not well mashed. However, I enjoyed this more than typical mashed potatoes. Buttery, rich and it's so enticing to have whiffs of truffle in every spoonful.

Israeli Spiced Lamb Rump - medium done, the taste was gamey and despite being Israeli spiced, it reminded me more of Turkish spices. Served with a roasted red pepper dip known as muhammara sumac.

Bavette D'Aloyau - essentially a 500-day grain fed Australian wagyu beef steak at medium-well doneness, this was well grilled on the edges with a pinkish middle that I thought was more medium doneness. Nevertheless, this didn't disappoint.

BBQ Kerguelen Toothfish - another gimmicky show to justify the price of almost S$60! And if you think the fish was the main star, you are so wrong.

The soup that was poured over the toothfish was unimaginably delicious; a Marseille style fish soup, it was richly packed with flavor like lobster bisque and I am more than happy to exchange the toothfish for more of the soup! p.s. toothfish was good too although it didn't blow our mind away, unlike the soup.

Aged Barbary Duck Magret - dry aged for a week and in pretty thick cuts, this overwhelmed us by how good it was! It was meaty with a crispy skin that reminded me of Peking duck! By itself, the meat was amazing yet not exceptional enough.

The accompanying mostarda di frutta was the deciding moment; like a fruity, sour-plum compote 101% perfect with the duck meat! There was also this weird vegetable called endive that had the crunch of cabbage and was delicious with the duck jus (some viscous red wine sauce). Without a doubt, this was the best dish of the might!

Complimentary Dessert - I think sweets might be a better description since each of us was gifted three miniscule gummy bears! Not for kids though as they contained alcohol; white was margarita, brown was espresso martini and green was gin basil. I loved the green one!

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Unquestionably the best meal we had in HCMC and the most expensive too since it cost about S$321 for the four of us. Even after we exited, we were talking about returning in our next trip and the dishes that warranted a reorder would be the Not So Mashed Potatoes, BBQ Kerguelen Toothfish and Aged Barbary Duck Magret!

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