Nha Tu Cuisine, a restaurant with a simple hometown flavor

1 About Tu House

Address: 129/4 Vo Van Tan, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone number: 028 3930 5069

Opening hours: 09:00 – 15:00, 16:30 – 22:00

Nha Tu is a restaurant specializing in serving traditional dishes, imbued with the flavor of Vietnamese family meals. Starting out as a small restaurant but always constantly improving, striving to create its own color, Nha Tu has become a familiar address for gourmets in Saigon. Notably, in 2024, Nha Tu was named in the Bib Gourmand list voted by Michelin. This is a recognition of the quality that this restaurant has maintained for 7 years of construction and development. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to travel to Saigon, do not miss this delicious food address.

2 The brand story of Nha Tu

Tu Dang is the owner of Nha Tu and Nha Tu Garden restaurants. She is writing inspirational chapters, completely different from her life 10 years ago. Starting in the F&B industry with no knowledge, Tu built Nha Tu from scratch and with a passion for her hometown dishes.

With a small amount of savings, she started building the restaurant. From the overall design to every brick, every light bulb, Tu managed it all, even the initial promotional articles were written by her. In the first 6 months after opening, Nha Tu was still empty of customers. Tu cried countless times during the long nights when she fell asleep on the restaurant chairs. There was a day when she invited her old colleagues to Nha Tu to visit, initially to eat and drink together, but it ended up turning into a crying party that surprised her colleagues and they didn’t understand why.

But Tu can forget sadness very quickly. She cries, then laughs. Even when questioned by friends, “Who told you to give up a stable job to pursue this arduous path!”, she is not discouraged. “Let life beat you up, beat you up, the more it beats you, the more attractive you become,” she replied cheerfully.

Although she is outgoing on the outside, when it comes to work, Tu is extremely serious. She loves food and loves Nha Tu. She wants all the staff to share that passion. Once, she got angry and used her hand to sweep all the kitchen utensils to the floor when she saw that the staff did not pound the onions and garlic by hand to make the flavor better but chopped them to save time. Her seriousness is also shown in the way she treats each guest, especially the meticulous and thoughtful Japanese guests. It is her dedication that has created a special bond between this group of guests and Nha Tu, they account for nearly 50% of the restaurant’s regular customers.

Nha Tu’s relationship with Japanese customers began when Tu met a Japanese customer who was confused in front of an oyster hotpot. Seeing the customer struggling, Tu came to serve her wholeheartedly, not only instructing her about Vietnamese vegetables, Tu also did each step by himself – putting the ingredients into the hotpot, waiting for it to boil with stories and scooping out the broth for the customer to enjoy. That customer happened to be a famous Japanese food blogger. After that impressive experience, she wrote an article describing her experience at Nha Tu and almost immediately, Nha Tu welcomed a large number of Japanese customers. “Japanese people never believe in the media or regular advertising, but they really believe in direct reviews like this,” Tu shared.

3 Taste of home at Tu’s House

3.1 Nha Tu’s love for Vietnamese cuisine

Anyone who has ever entered Tu’s House feels something very special: the harmonious combination of tradition and unique creativity in each Vietnamese dish. With a free and honest soul, Tu has brought customers unforgettable culinary experiences.

Tu has always been attached to Vietnamese cuisine, despite having many opportunities to experience luxury restaurants both at home and abroad. At Tu’s House, diners can easily feel the familiarity and closeness from the first moment they step in. The cozy space, not too sophisticated but full of Vietnamese character, allows people to put aside all distances to enjoy a carefully prepared meal together.

The dishes at Nha Tu are inspired by the everyday rustic dishes that Tu discovered during his travels, but are added with a little creativity and love. One of the most popular dishes at Nha Tu is the oyster hotpot. The fresh, delicious oysters are carefully prepared, sweet and juicy, combined with herbs and rich spices, making it difficult for diners to forget that special flavor. In addition, the chicken hotpot with sweet and soft chicken, fragrant perilla leaves in sweet and sour broth is a great choice for cold days.

Snack dishes such as crispy rice with pate or stir-fried mussels with rice paper are also indispensable. Crispy crispy rice combined with fatty pate creates an interesting and delicious contrast, opening up stories at the dinner table. Stir-fried mussels served with rice paper, a very familiar dish of Hue people. Bringing plump and firm mussels, stir-fried with onion, garlic and rich fish sauce, eaten with crispy rice paper is really delicious! In particular, family dishes such as boiled cabbage with salty fish sauce and boiled eggs, stir-fried intestines with sour cabbage, squash soup with fresh shrimp or crab soup with jute are all prepared from fresh ingredients, carefully selected from Vietnamese sources.

3.2 Pure Vietnamese ingredients

Nha Tu wants to help Vietnamese farmers, so we always try to find the best quality sources. In addition to Vietnamese ingredients, Nha Tu only imports necessary products such as green mussels from abroad to ensure the best quality. The fresh mussels, without mud or sand, are processed by the chef with very Vietnamese ingredients such as cinnamon leaves, pepper, chili and fish sauce, creating a unique dish that still retains traditional features.

What is special when coming to Nha Tu is the wine cabinet located right at the reception desk. Tu is a wine enthusiast, likes to combine wine with dishes to enhance the flavor. Although traditional Vietnamese dishes are not usually combined with wine, coming to Nha Tu, diners will experience this interesting and new thing.

3.3 Dedicated, professional service

Another unique feature at Nha Tu is the way the staff treats guests. Tu especially instructs the staff to remember and call guests by name right from the first time. She wants to create the feeling that Nha Tu is like a second home for everyone, where everyone is warmly welcomed and taken care of. According to Vietnamtravelio, it is this friendliness and professionalism that has made many people become regular customers, always wanting to come back to experience the cuisine and cozy space of Nha Tu.

4 Attractive menu at Tu’s House

Above are the interesting things at Nha Tu that Vietnamtravelio travel guide wants to introduce to you. Hopefully you will soon have the opportunity to come here to enjoy cozy and delicious family meals.