Western grocery stores in HCMC?

Hope somebody can answer you. I've tried twice in the past 6 months and haven't had a good replys yet.

There is a modest sized western market in the Phu My Hung neighborhood.  On the outside of the Sky Garden complex called Veggies.  They have a lot of western food.  Prices are reasonable.  I don't think they have tropicana, but plenty of other things.  Not sure about Buffalo sauce either.  Hey, get a recipe and make the stuff from scratch!!  I know, not the same without high-fructose corn syrup. 

Stop in.  They are very friendly!

Good luck!

Thanks for the help guys

I prefer to make my own buffalo sauce; I just figured since I couldn't find ready to use buffalo sauce easily, it'd be much harder to actually find the ingredients to make the final product.

I will definitely check out the supermarket next time. Thanks again!

@the doov, would they happen to have macroni&cheese in a can??

try looking from any of the two shops in Ham Ngi street District 1 near the market.Sorry I cant remember the name. They are selling western stuff.Or you can go to Gourmet Shop along Hai Ba Trung D1 near Hyatt Hotel.
I hope you can find what you are looking for.

Thanks Anna, will definitely check those stores out

was shopping for some species today at Citimart Zen Plaza along Ng Trai Street District 1 and saw 3 packages of buffalo sauce .you should grab it before it runs out. hahahaa.it cost about 47,000 vnd if im not mistaken.

Haha thanks! Just might have to head down there after work..

Citimart in D2 has a good selection of western foods, the stock changes fairly regularly though so can be a bit hit n miss at times.

Have you tried Annam Gourmet (18 Hai Ba Trung, D1)? Don't let the "gourmet" fool you--it's a good place to get regular Western herbs, spices, condiments, whatnot. I've found most of what I need there when I crave my American comfort foods. Although it seems that they don't restock that often--I went there 4 times in the past month before they had fresh thyme.

I have not but if a westerner like yourself recommends it I will def go! I'm still really new here - just moved here about 6 weeks ago so I don't know my way around. My office and house are actually located right outside of HCMC in Binh Duong as well, so I don't have access to the city everyday which makes it hard for me to access stuff when I'm really craving American food which includes (dry aged beef, buffalo wings and a good thin crust pizza)

If you live in Binh Duong, then the Annam in D2 is probably closer: annam-gourmet.com/our_stores
I hear that it's bigger so perhaps you'll find more things.

We haven't been here long either (8 weeks), but eating out all the time with an 8-month old is not ideal so we find ourselves cooking a lot more. Your talk about wings and pizza have got me craving it! By the way, if you end up making your own Buffalo wing sauce, Big C has a huge selection of hot sauce. No Frank's, which seems to be the favorite of recipes on the web, but lots of others.

Good luck with your search!

Lotte mart is a large Korean supermarket here in hcmc (those who have already done time in Korea will know this). It has a good western food and korean food section. there are 2 in hcmc. i am going to try Veggies today i think. I'm veggie so that is attracting me. Co-op mart does not have everything in am looking for. I am hoping for some Philadelphia cream cheese and water crackers!

I was hoping there was a Carrefour or Costco here cause they tend to have more organic food items, but alas none yet in hcmc.

JVo18, try this store. I've never been there. Just heard of it. Like cooking western food too.
phuonghahamnghi.com/default.html

Hi!

Tropicana juice is everywhere even in the side street vendors..It's also available at any convenience store..  ^_^

Sappire

hirevictoriateacher, I found Philly cream cheese in Citimart once but then never again.   Come back & post if you find it again cuz now I'm craving it.

An Phu Supermarket, District 2... and just across the street there's an Anam Gourmet Market as well, you might find almost anything there

I have a fisher and paykel dish drawer. Where can I buy dishwashing powder? I love in district 1

JVo18 wrote:

Hey all, I've been looking for American grocery stores in the city. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Mainly I'm looking for stuff like buffalo sauce to make buffalo wings, tropicana orange juice - pretty much any food from America. I've gone to metro a few times, but they really didn't have what I was looking for. Thanks for the help!

METRO is German, therefore, you might not find the full choice of American stuff

Phương Hà Shop next to Như Lan Shop on Ham Nghi Street, Dist. 1

I have been living here for over 4 years.  Best places to find western or American food to munch on or cook with are:1) Veggdy's located in D-1 corner Le Thanh Ton, also located in Phu My Hung(D-7), 2) Phuong Ha Grocery on Ham Nghi, 3) next door to Phuong Ha is Thai Hoa Grocery, 4) Annam Gourmet Shops in D-1, D-2 and Phu My Hung (D-7), Citimart in D-1 on Le Thanh Ton at Gardenview Apartments.  I find most evrything I need or enjoy from the States at one of these places.  Sometimes you can locate a few things at either Lotte Mart or Co-op Mart.

Good Luck,
George

Old topic, but hopefully I could still help

1. Veggies (Le Thanh Ton and Thi Sach): WAY OVER PRICED!!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS. I only go there when I cannot find what I'm looking for at other places, or to get Arugula (rocket) for salad.

2. The supermarket at Saigon Pearl, Nguyen Huu Canh, 1st floor: Very good selection of Dry grocery, imports and canned products.

3. Metro: Some good cheese, foie gras, meats, common food stuffs. But it's the only place I find Fresh Thyme/ Rosemary/ Sage... best price on imported Fruits

4. Giant at Crescent Mall: Good selection with some western food made by local company --> good price

5. Phuong Ha and Thai Hoa on Ham Nghi street, 30 meters away from Nhu Lan: Almost anything American!!! Great selection of spices, canned/ bottle products, dry food stuffs.

6. Annam Gourmet: Like the name suggests: gourmet food (as far as pricing goes), a little high in pricing but still way better than Veggies, since they import most of their stocks and Veggies buy from them!!!

Have fun shopping!!!

anhhoaile1 wrote:

5. Phuong Ha and Thai Hoa on Ham Nghi street, 30 meters away from Nhu Lan: Almost anything American!!! Great selection of spices, canned/ bottle products, dry food stuffs.

For such small stores, they do have quite an impressive selection, not only American but also European dry food.

The only thing that bugs me with them is that they make feel like a criminal by following me literally step-by-step during my entire visit.

anhhoaile1 wrote:

2. The supermarket at Saigon Pearl, Nguyen Huu Canh, 1st floor: Very good selection of Dry grocery, imports and canned products.

That's Central Mart. Good place to get a couple things like Hershey's dark chocolate bags, American chips like Doritos, US Wines, Merlot, Zinfandel, etc.
Beware of their bags though...



Also, there is another store you can go to while at Saigon Pearl. 24/24 in the parking basement. Open 24 hours (unless the guy in the middle of the night steps out) and has a few nice selections.

Anatta wrote:

The only thing that bugs me with them is that they make feel like a criminal by following me literally step-by-step during my entire visit.

Good judge of character?? They are even more suspicious of guys wearing strange hats from Can Tho.

Jaitch wrote:

Anatta wrote:

The only thing that bugs me with them is that they make feel like a criminal by following me literally step-by-step during my entire visit.

Good judge of character?? They are even more suspicious of guys wearing strange hats from Can Tho.

Surely spoiled my plan to get a five-finger discount on a couple beef jerky bags, so that I can find a good excuse to break my vegetarian eating habit.

Great.  Maybe I can find some baking soda at one of these stores. 

I can only find baking soda at the local pharmacies.  It comes in little packages, and the salespeople always laugh when I ask for it because it is marketed as a femenine hygiene product.  Viet Nam...

Central Mart at Sai Gon Pearl. Nguyen Huu Canh Str, Binh Thanh Dist:)

Aquameo wrote:

Great.  Maybe I can find some baking soda at one of these stores. 

I can only find baking soda at the local pharmacies.  It comes in little packages, and the salespeople always laugh when I ask for it because it is marketed as a femenine hygiene product.  Viet Nam...

What would the women use the baking soda... forget. I'm sorry I asked.

anhhoaile1 wrote:

3. Metro: Some good cheese, foie gras, meats, common food stuffs. But it's the only place I find Fresh Thyme/ Rosemary/ Sage... best price on imported Fruits

4. Giant at Crescent Mall: Good selection with some western food made by local company --> good price

5. Phuong Ha and Thai Hoa on Ham Nghi street, 30 meters away from Nhu Lan: Almost anything American!!! Great selection of spices, canned/ bottle products, dry food stuffs.

Metro tends to observe EU law, their "foie gras" complies with EU definitions, there are some VN products of the same name. Their cheeses are good and the variety is increasing.

Metro is also the wholesaler to several supermarket chains for certain foodstuffs, I saw a buyer from Giants in Metro the other day. Seemingly with a single store suppliers won't drop ship.

Giants is a store I frequent as it is local to my HCM office. I also found it interesting how they set it up from new. A friend is the national "professional shopper" for VietNam and routinely surveys stores all over VN for a survey company.

Giants is still finding it's way as far as products are concerned. It still has some lines it started with and they haven't moved at all, whilst other lines have expanded,

There is a very good selection of Western sauces (Aisle 11) including salad, BBQ, all the locals. They carry several varieties and grades of Olive Oil, now. There is also a very good selection of dried herbs, too.

The management is also responsive (their head office is in Binh Thanh, the executive that started the project is now handing over to a younger guy). I make use of the Comments forms and have requested canned soups (good for making other dishes) and now they have a wide selection of Campbell's soups.

The Giant's range of coffees is one of the widest in a supermarket. You have to look carefully, The cute marketing woman from Nescafe is in weekly moving her products to the optimum shelves, Giants staff are young and don't stop her.

Giant's has a very wide range of fresh vegetables, stored in coolers (just beyond the entrance opposite the meat counter).

The problem is they only label in Vietnamese, so you either take a dictionary or know your VN vegetables.

Meats I avoid in all stores except for one. Giants meat presentation is poor - looks like it was hacked off some cow. The section smells, too.

They also have a fish department, which also smells. It features fish on ice, fresh live fish and recently deceased fish. One sub-manager told me they throw more dead fish away than they sell live fish.

There are frozen prepared meals - not TV dinners - which are really good bargains and give you a great meal without the fiddling around for VNese condiments.

Caution: Giants uses selling tricks. They stick red labels on certain stocks that aren't moving - THESE ARE NOT SALES ITEMS - they are regularly priced.

Co-Op (City owned) are a reasonable general supermarket. They also feature English aisle labelling which helps. The layout of stores is very individual. They have a decent selection but the range of products is determined by each manager. The dummy who manages their store in Q3 (Nhieu Loc) doesn't stock block cheese yet there are over 41 Foreigner families living in the high-rise above.

Their store on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia has an extremely responsive management and one more than one occasion they have phoned other stores and had my needs shipped over.

The Co-Op in Q7 on Nguyen Van Linh is filthy and smells. It is also unsafe. And very compact. I even dislike buying boxed products there - check for rat teeth marks.

The Cong Quynh branch of Co-Op is  always crowded and has very poor parking. It is clean, though. Very strange layout.

Ham Nhgi Street stores are operated by some very sharp operators, they respnd to customers. They now stock lots of Indian / Pakistani herbs and spices. Only negative is that their prices are about 10% higher than most VN stores.

Also on Ham Nghi is the Nhu Lan Restaurant and Delicatessen. They are actually not only a bakery but also a meat processing company (plant on Hai Ba Trung in District 3).

Meats are fresh, both VN-style (thick layer of fat wrapped around the meat) and Euro-style (no fat layer). They have several ranges of cheese products, too.

Nhu Lan is also noted for it's BBQ products. They also make custom birthday cakes and have a great real fruit drink bar.

Whilst you are there, try the restaurant, it's just like home cooking.

Off Ham Nghi, the Ben Thanh side of the above stores, on Ton That Dam there is a street market. They have an eclectic choice of products. Don't recommend the meat (open storage) but they do have dog meat. Good pricing, too.

On the corner of Ton That Dam and Ham Nhgi Street there is a coffee bean store. Wide variety, fresh beans. Recommended.

Lotte Mart (two branches Q7 and Q10) are Korean owned, priced about 10% above other supermarkets.

The Q7 store doubles up as a exercise area. If you park (free) out the back, then walk to the end of the building, enter, then shop for vegetables, the round trip is just short 0.7 kilometres.

I buy my meat and fish ONLY from Lotte Mart (3/2 Street) Q10. Sweet smelling sales display areas, real live body fishmongers and butchers on hand to help you with choice or even custom cut meat.

They have better quality vegetables, too. Most everything else is over-priced by about 10%.

Lotte Q10 specialises, also, in Korean and Japanese foodstuffs.

If you go that way with a VNese speaking person, go to the nearby Nhat Thao Street market. a gourmet's paradise with fresh foods from all over VN. 5-Star hotels shop there, too.

Pricing is local pricing, they don't target Foreigners.

Food poisoning

Food poisoning in VietNam kills. 

In the first three months of 2012 there have been 16 serious cases of food poisoning across VietNam, affecting 360 people, 254 of whom had to be hospitalised, with three reported fatalities, announced the VietNam Food Administration.

Note these are the serious cases, not individuals.

That's why VNese house wives are so picky. Follow their lead!

Jaitch wrote:

Food poisoning

Food poisoning in VietNam kills. 

In the first three months of 2012 there have been 16 serious cases of food poisoning across VietNam, affecting 360 people, 254 of whom had to be hospitalised, with three reported fatalities, announced the VietNam Food Administration.

Note these are the serious cases, not individuals.

Source? - ignore missed it

Food poisoning kills everywhere.....

in 2010 in the UK there were over 84,000 cases of food poisoning. that's reported cases as in hospital!
(Source UK NHS)

Canada estimates over 11 million cases each year!
(Source Canadian Food inspection Agency)

Source, LBF? Read your quote ... last line. It's only for three months and involved death/hospitalisation (same thing with FV)

I know I may be late in response but good pizza can be found at Le crespo in d1290 lý tu trọng.quân 1they have awesome brick oven pizza. I have been on the hunt for a month for good pizza. They are the best so far and at good price too!

Hello there mikebrown,

Well indeed this topic is from 2011 - 2012. Yet, thank you for your participation on this thread 

You are most welcomed to participate on more recent threads on the Ho Chi Minh City forum.

Cheers,
Bhavna

is it a thin crust? good base? where else have you tried that was no good?

You think they would let me bring in a bottle of Frank's Buffalo wing sauce? If so I'd bring it for you!

Maybe times have changed but I see baking soda everywhere. The brand name I see most often is  Arm and Hammer from USA. Crescent Mall Giant grocery store has it as do the little import shops in district 1 by the big tower.

try US Mart on 329 Trần Hưng Đạo, Phương Cô Giang, Quận 1. It's smaller than all the others, but supposedly be US products.