One in a series of posts about our favorite places in Vietnam."Favorite" is the wrong category for this discussion. Pizza in Vietnam should be regarded only for its medicinal value in cases of mild homesickness. Bread and cheese are two ingredients too uncommon in the cuisine here to expect them to be done well. And there's so much cheap, terrific, fresh Vietnamese food that for the same money, you could try 3 neighborhood cafes until you found a lunch you liked. So why bother?
Well, because sometimes after a certain number of weeks of unfamiliar experiences--good or bad--on a hot day when the honda om drivers seem particularly relentless, you crave the sensation of something familiar on the tongue. And if you're familiar with the sensation of room service pizza from the Executive Suites off I-80 in Erie, Pennsylvania, you're in luck. You can get that here.
I had days like that a few times (Ilene has more patience) and tried a couple pizza places. By no means did we make a comprehensive tour, and we never did get around to Annie's, which is touted in the guidebooks and online forums as the best in town. We did try a place that we were told was the favorite of Vietnamese kids. In fact it was the only time on the whole trip we ever had to wait for a table. But it was terrible. I can understand why the kids were so eager to squirt ketchup on it.
The place that I tolerated the best is called Cappuccino's, at 86 Bui Vien. Service is super slow (I assume because the toaster oven can only hold one pizza at a time), and the only patrons are tourists, so it's a good a place to practice your English.
Pictured are the Greca and the Tres Colores. They weren't that bad, and after one or the other of them, I could leave with my belly full and ready to take a fresh run at life in Saigon.
-Robert
