Saigon Kitchen + Cà phê sits along Rizal Avenue in Taytay, Rizal — a Vietnamese and Thai resto-café that's easy to walk past and hard to forget once you've eaten there. We went for the soul-warming spicy seafood laksa and the fresh spring rolls. The egg coffee was something we had never encountered before. We ordered it on a whim, and it was nothing like what we expected. This place is part of why Feed the Curious exists.
Is This What Vietnam Feels Like?
That was the first thing that came to mind before we even walked through the door.
The exterior welcomes you with a street vibe: light-coloured walls warmed by string lights, a blend of green and yellow, and illustrations and patterns on the facade that anchor it. The latticed window and wall illustrations of Vietnamese food tell you exactly where you are before the menu does.
Inside, the yellow greets you first. Yellow rattan chairs pull you toward the center of the room. A neon sign reading Saigon Kitchen in cursive glows on the left wall. The rest of the space is white walls and greenery with monstera leaves, spider plants, hanging pots filling the corners and lining the edges. Pendant lights hang from exposed ceiling beams, casting a warm glow evenly across every table.
A bicycle is parked inside the café, placed thoughtfully enough that it simply feels like it belongs. Vietnam, at least the version built by travel shows and secondhand images, is a country of bicycles weaving through rice paddies and narrow streets. Seeing one here completed the picture.
The Laksa and the Spring Rolls
I have tasted cheap laksa and what I assumed were genuine ones from Vietnamese restaurants around the city. Each visit came with its own version of the same question: Is this what it is actually supposed to taste like? Walking into Saigon Kitchen + Cà phê, I was curious to find out what their take would be. Surprisingly, this one was different from the ones I had tasted before. Creamier and deeply flavourful, its spiced coconut milk broth is rich and aromatic. It is filling without being heavy.
The fresh spring rolls arrived as the lighter half of the order. Rice paper, shrimp, vegetables, noodles, the kind of thing that resets the palate between spoonfuls of laksa. The presentation was so fresh and clean that you find yourself wondering how they manage to serve it that way at night. They came with a peanut sauce that rounded everything out without taking over.
Together, the two made sense. One warm and filling, one fresh and clean. This is the kind of meal that sits well, light enough to feel good about, satisfying enough to leave happy, and enough left on the menu to give you a reason to come back.
The Egg Coffee (And Why We Almost Didn't Order It)
Being coffee enthusiasts, we would not leave without ordering. As per usual, I ordered the Americano, always the safe call, the one I come back to every time. She was the braver one that night, ordering the egg coffee, or Cà phê trứng as it is properly called, which, according to a quick Google search, is a Hanoi speciality dating back to the 1940s.
Neither of us had tasted egg coffee before. We were not sure what to expect, except that there would be egg in it somewhere, and that felt like enough to make us hesitate. We imagined something raw, something that would remind you too much of what it was made from.
It did not. It was creamy, dense in the way a good dessert is dense, with the coffee underneath doing just enough to keep it from tipping all the way into sweet but strong. She genuinely liked it.
What You'll Spend, and Why It's Worth It
For an occasional weekend out, expect to spend around 500 to 600 pesos per person. That covers a bowl of laksa, a dish to share such as the spring rolls, and a large coffee. The bowl is generous, big enough to share comfortably, though we each ordered our own anyway. Drinks land somewhere between 99 and 165 pesos depending on what you pick and how big you go, and there is plenty to pick from: coffee, milk tea, tea, juices, milkshakes, soda, and flavored beers.
If you want to be practical about it, the serving sizes work in your favor. Even the banh mi comes large enough that ordering one of each and sharing across the table lets you taste more of what Saigon Kitchen + Cà phê has to offer without overspending.
Why Saigon Kitchen + Cà phê Never Really Left Our Minds
We left Saigon Kitchen + Cà phê full and with smiles on our faces. The food is nourishing in the way that only happens when everything on the plate is made with love and purpose. Nothing felt rushed. We were already talking about coming back to try what else the menu had to offer before we even stood up to leave.
This one is also memorable for reasons beyond the food. It was one of our first date nights, and she brought me into her world — the kind of places she finds, the things she notices, the way she moves through a space. Somewhere between the laksa and the egg coffee, we started talking about documenting it all. That conversation is what became Feed the Curious.
Saigon Kitchen + Cà phê is located at 27 Rizal Avenue, Barangay San Isidro, Taytay, Rizal. It is easy to miss, and we mean that literally. If you are riding the jeep, you have to keep your eyes on the window, or you will go right past it.
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