Business lunch is defined as “a meeting to discuss business matters at lunch”.
Choosing a lunch location shows ingenuity, and understanding, and helps you score points with your partners – an important “soft” skill that cannot be mentioned on papers or contracts.
Below are some unique culinary experience suggestions for meetings and receptions with partners on the occasion of the new year.
1. P’ti Saigon
P’ti is a restaurant with an intimate, close “Festive dining” style. If your partner is a fun-loving person who loves parties but is no less luxurious, P’ti is the place that possesses all those elements.
P’ti restaurant space
- 850m2 wide and designed by famous French architect – Reda Amalou, who designed The Nam Hai Resort (Hoi An) and Six Sense (Con Dao).
- The restaurant has 2 areas: indoor and outdoor, with the bar in the center.
- The head chef is Mr. Sakal Phoeung, a Frenchman of Cambodian origin. He has been with Sofitel for 15 years, worked at Michelin restaurants, and served former French President Francois Hollande.
- Combining the romantic and sophisticated cuisine and culture of Provence, the south of France with the excitement of the coastal city of St Tropez, each dish here is meticulously decorated like a work of art.
The menu at P’ti Saigon
- P’ti Saigon is a model combining a lounge bar (drink bar) with a restaurant, serving Mediterranean-style dishes, accompanied by an extensive wine list.
- Dishes are made from fresh seasonal ingredients, most notably seafood, and elaborate desserts.
- Cocktails to try: Mojito, Caipirinha, Bloody Mary, and P’ti signatures.
- The restaurant serves lunch from Monday to Friday, with a menu that changes every day.
- The lunch menu has 2 options: a 2-course set or a 3-course set (appetizer, main dish, and dessert).
Prices on the menu
200,000 VND +/set of 2 dishes, 250,000 VND +/set of 3 dishes
2. CTY Kitchen + Bar Company
Just opened at the beginning of this year, CTY immediately became an ideal address for “business lunch” for 2 reasons.
Firstly, the central location right at Centec Tower is convenient for travel. And second, the space is spacious, intelligently designed like an open “meeting room” filled with natural light, comfortable, evoking inspiration and creativity.
Space at CTY
- CTY is built according to the Kitchen + Bar model: combining a restaurant with a bar, serving a variety of dishes, and paying equal attention to drinks.
- Transitional design, coffee for work during the day, chill at night with cocktails and music.
- It doesn’t have to be a business lunch, CTY is also very suitable to stop by for a few cocktails or beers after a day of work.
- The lighting system is cleverly installed, with relatively pleasant light and enough privacy.
Menu at CTY
- Includes: Vietnamese “fusion” dishes, coffee with cakes, cocktails, and a wine cabinet of 200 bottles of wine/champagne/sparkling…
- Selected and advised by the world’s leading coffee experts, coffee at CTY mainly uses premium Arabica beans. You should try a glass of Espresso to feel it.
Recommended dishes:
- Mushroom Risotto: a vegetarian dish but full of nutrition, rich in texture and umami flavor, very typical of CTY’s style.
- Chicken Katsu Sando: fried chicken with a crispy outside, and succulent inside, served with attractive soft homemade bread and a small salad. This portion is quite large, you should consider it before ordering.
- Hoi An Chasu Noodle: Hoi An’s Cao Lau noodles, combined with Chinese char siu and homemade sauce.
Address: Alley 145 Hai Ba Trung, Ward 6, District 3 / Centec Tower, Floor G
Lunch service time: 07:00 until late evening
3. Vietnam House – Vietnamese cuisine under the hands of chef Luke Nguyen
To make delicious traditional Vietnamese dishes in a modern “fusion” style, the chef must have a very high understanding of flavors and processing methods.
Luke Nguyen is a Vietnamese chef who brings that new and unique variation. Your partner (and maybe you) will be surprised to enjoy the delicate harmony of traditional dishes, blown into the soul of Western cuisine.
Accompanied by attentive 5-star standard service, Vietnam House turns lunch into a luxurious culinary experience but still has a strong national impression.
Space at Vietnam House
- A villa with ancient architecture was built in 1910, located on the front of Dong Khoi Street.
- Luxurious space, elaborately decorated, with private rooms.
What’s delicious on Vietnam House’s menu?
- Traditional dishes are prepared with high-quality ingredients, using modern cooking methods and delicate, sophisticated decorations. For example, goi cuon is made with pan-fried salmon, rolled with green mango, and dill, and decorated with (edible) flowers and salmon roe.
- Signature dish: braised beef. Use mashed bean sauce with laksa leaves and truffle mushrooms. Australian beef is stewed tenderly with pho broth.
- Lunch set includes 2-3 dishes/set with appetizer, main dish, and dessert.
- Main dishes for lunch include: Hanoi bun cha, brown rice with fried chicken thighs served with pickles, and crispy fried seabass stir-fried with bell peppers served with pandan leaf rice.
Address: 93-95-97 Dong Khoi, District 1
Open time:
Lunch: 11:30 – 15:00
Dinner: 17:30 – 23:00
4. La Villa – French dishes in Thao Dien Villa
For the French, enjoying is an art. Meals are not simply to fill the stomach but are a time to chat and sometimes last for hours.
If you have plenty of time and your partner is a picky eater or not used to eating Vietnamese food, La Villa is the ideal destination. In addition, the fact that the restaurant only serves limited lunch from Thursday to Saturday also makes this option score points.
Space
- Restaurant owner – Thierry Mounon is a Frenchman, and also the restaurant’s chef. He came to Vietnam more than 20 years ago. At that time, Thierry had spent nearly 10 years working as a chef at Michelin restaurants in Europe.
- La Villa has a romantic French-style space with dining tables outside in the garden, indoors, or next to the swimming pool.
- It is one of the French restaurants that is highly appreciated by food lovers and you should always make a reservation before visiting.
Menu La Villa
- The lunch menu is only served at 11:45 – 13:30, from Thursday to Saturday.
- Each lunch set includes a main dish, accompanied by a side of 3 pieces of cheese or dessert of apple cinnamon cream tart/Babaa au Rhum Agricole cake.
- Thursday lunch served: Le Homard à L’americaine – handmade clamshell pasta with lobster, spinach, and garlic salad.
You will also love the premium steak (250gr portion for lunch set). L’entrecote is grilled to medium rare, using imported Black Angus beef from an organic farm.
The menu of wine, champagne, and cheeses here is extremely rich and worth trying.
Side dishes (such as toast…) are diverse and can make you feel full before eating the main dish.
Address: 14 Ngo Quang Huy, Thao Dien, District 2
Open time:
Lunch: 11:45 – 13:30 | Thursday – Saturday
Dinner: 18:30 – 21:30 | Monday – Sunday
5. Hum – Vegetarian restaurant that will make even meat lovers fall in love
Going on a vegetarian meal to discuss work is a good idea when the right person and situation are right. If your partner says they’re “bored of meat” and wants to eat something frugal, take them to Hum – a vegetarian restaurant with a green space, fragrant with herbs.
Hum brings satisfaction to both taste and sight and evokes a feeling of elegance and comfort – everything you need to make your business conversation go smoother.
The space at Hum vegetarian restaurant
- With the main spirit: “tranquility comes from within”, Hum is covered with trees and flowers, green like an oasis.
- There are 3 restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City with 3 different spaces.
- Hum Lounge & Restaurant in the center of District 1: brings a modern breath with a bar, large windows, sculpted wooden walls with lotus motifs, and a small lake.
- Hum Cafe & Restaurant District 3: located on the foundation of an old French villa, has a small lotus pond with modern Vietnamese paintings as its highlight.
- Hum Garden & Restaurant District 2: located in a villa, using plants to separate the space.
Menu
- Rich with: snacks, appetizers, salads and ‘…hum’ style salads, main dishes, rice dishes, green vegetables, water dishes, and desserts.
- Use fresh, local ingredients and say no to MSG (genetically modified).
- Sophisticated, beautiful, environmentally friendly decoration, using banana leaves instead of paper packaging.
- The flavor of the dish is light, not too seasoned, and the portion is just right.
You should try:
Que Son cassava noodle soup mixed with spicy sauce: a Quang Nam specialty dish that was in danger of being lost and was restored by Hum. Chewy cassava noodles, combined with spicy sauce and herbs.
Da Hien vegetable salad (typical of the Northwest): uses wild Da Hien vegetables, carrots, zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, and truffle oil.
Address: No. 2 Thi Sach, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1
32 D10 Street, Thao Dien Ward, District 2
32 Vo Van Tan, Ward 6, District 3
Opening hours: 10:00 – 22:00
