Escape frenetic Sai Gon in Apricot Forest

Escape frenetic Sai Gon in Apricot Forest

A blend of Vietnamese, European and South American tastes attracts foreigners and locals alike to HCM City Rung Mai restaurant. Anh Thu finds herself at peace gazing out the window at Dong Khoi Street.

Rung Mai regulars often talk about the restaurant owner, Doan Minh Phuong, a famous movie director. But the director artistic credentials are not what is most striking about this restaurant.

What does grab one attention most is the unique blend of foreign and local cuisine, which uses not only European influences, but contributions from as far as South America.

Phuong name is familiar in the ears of Vietnamese moviegoers as her film Bride of Silence, a movie about Viet Nam, won international acclaim at film festivals in Pusan, Korea, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last year.

At Rung Mai (Apricot Forest) you can see that Phuong infused her love of character building into creating a charismatic restaurant.

Romantic music compliments tasty food alongside Chile best wines. The walls are adorned with art books, magazines and photographs in a very stylish manner. It clear that Phuong international background influences the trendy eatery.

I was seated a lovely window table in the corner of the restaurant overlooking the city oldest street, Dong Khoi, formerly the famed Rue Catinat glamourised by the French colonialists.

The houses and shops along the street outside reminded me of France, so that where I began my meal.

First, I ordered fresh champignons with garlic cream and Parmesan shaves (VND60,000 or US$3.75) as an appetiser.

Champignon is a white mushroom imported from France, and the dish used a strong, dry Parmesan cheese from Italy. Im ashamed to tell you that although the dish is for two, I finished the whole thing.

Then I moved on to Vietnamese food, to see how well Phuong worked flavours from back home.

As a second starter, I ordered my favourite local dish, wontons, which are typically steamed dumplings filled with minced pork and shrimp.

But Rung Mai wontons are different than those made from traditional recipes. The wontons here are fried and filled with roast duck, cheese and rau muong (water spinach), a common side vegetables from northern Viet Nam.

The dish, at VND58,000 ($3.65), includes only eight fried wontons with a few lettuce and left me a bit unsatisfied.

For my main course, I ordered the chicken scaloppini with pomelo sauce and pink pepper at VND127,000 ($8).

The scaloppini is an East-meets-West dish that uses Vietnamese buoi (pomelo) alongside popular Western ingredients like pink pepper. The spiced chicken was tender and delicious.

People who love homemade noodles should turn to the menu pasta section, which offers an array of Italian styles from VND75,000 ($4.70) to VND98,000 ($6).

Phuong and her staff also promise that the shrimp fra diavolo with linguine (VND98,000 or $6) is delectable.

The chef secret is to fry the fresh shrimp in wine to achieve a balance between sweet and sharp tastes.

The meal became even more interesting as I tried my first-ever glass of Chilean wine, a Merlot Apate from the popular Montes Alpha label. A large glass is served for VND88,000 ($5.50).

Rung Mai young waiters are trained in the ways of wine and graciously explained to me how the different wines are made.

Rung Mai menu offers more than 30 dishes ranging from VND32,000 ($2) to VND154,000 ($9.50) alongside 40 wines from France, Australia and Chile.

But despite the restaurant international flair, Phuong maintains a Vietnamese dymanic in Rung Mai atmosphere.

In fluent Vietnamese, Phuong explained to me that the restaurant gets its name by linking two Vietnamese traditions.

First, Phuong mother name is Mai, and Phuong paid heed to the Vietnamese tradition of honouring one parents.

"I first used my mother name, Mai, which also means Apricot, to name my restaurant," she said. "But I changed into Rung Mai (Apricot Forest)." The Apricot is a near-sacred symbol in Vietnamese culture, used in many ceremonies and rituals.