Best Pho in Saigon: 7 Bowls the Michelin Guide Lists
Where the broth is worth the taxi, what a bowl costs in 2026, and the hour each shop runs out.
Seven pho shops in Saigon hold a Michelin Bib Gourmand. For a first bowl, go to Pho Le at 413-415 Nguyen Trai in former District 5. A bowl costs 80,000 to 100,000 VND, and it opens early. For the alley experience, Pho Minh at 63/6 Pasteur, roughly 60,000 VND, gone by 10am. For chicken, Pho Mien Ga Ky Dong in former District 3, 55,000 to 100,000 VND, open 05:30 to 22:30.
The short answer
Pho is a morning food here. The broth is cooked overnight, the herbs are cut at dawn, and the best shops are close to empty by eleven. If you eat one bowl in Saigon, eat it before ten.
Nothing on this page is a ranking I invented. The seven addresses below are the pho shops on the Michelin Bib Gourmand list for Ho Chi Minh City, checked against the 2025 list. Where I add an opinion, it is labelled as one.
I have guests say the size before anything else, then the noodles, then the cut. Pointing at the bowl on the next table covers whatever the words miss.
What southern pho tastes like
Southern pho is sweeter than the Hanoi version and comes with a plate of herbs on the side. Basil, sawtooth coriander, bean sprouts, lime, and sometimes a slice of red chilli. You add them yourself, a handful at a time.
The broth is beef bone, charred onion and ginger, star anise, cinnamon, and fish sauce. It should be clear, not cloudy, and it should taste of beef before it tastes of spice. A bowl that arrives already loaded with herbs is a bowl made for tourists.
How it differs from the north
Hanoi pho uses fewer herbs, less sugar, and a narrower noodle. Saigon adds sugar to the broth and piles the table with greens. Neither is the correct one. They are two different dishes that share a name.
The seven bowls on the guide
These seven hold a Bib Gourmand, Michelin’s label for good food at a moderate price. The list was published with the 2025 guide. Two of the shops are in former District 1, two in former District 3, and the rest are further out.
| Shop | Address | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pho Le | 413-415 Nguyen Trai, former District 5 | 80,000 to 100,000 VND | A first bowl, beef |
| Pho Minh | 63/6 Pasteur, former District 1 | About 60,000 VND | The alley, an 80-year recipe |
| Pho Huong Binh | 148 Vo Thi Sau, former District 3 | Street price | A quiet local corner |
| Pho Chao | 52 Nguyen Cong Tru, Binh Thanh | Street price | North of the centre |
| Pho Hoang | 460 Nguyen Tri Phuong, former District 10 | Street price | Cholon side |
| Pho Phuong | 25 Hoang Sa, former District 1 | Street price | Near the river |
| Pho Mien Ga Ky Dong | 14/5 Bis Ky Dong, former District 3 | 55,000 to 100,000 VND | Chicken, all day |
Prices move. The three I could confirm in 2026 are Pho Le, Pho Minh and Pho Mien Ga Ky Dong. For the other four I give no number rather than an old one. A wrong price sends you to a shop with the wrong cash in your pocket.
How to order without Vietnamese
Point at the bowl on the next table and hold up one finger. That works in every shop on this page. If you want to say it, pho bo is beef and pho ga is chicken.
Then answer three questions.
- Size. Nho means small, lon means large.
- Noodles. The answer is always the same, unless you ask for none.
- The cut. Nam is the fatty brisket, tai the rare steak.
Two more words save a bad bowl. Khong rau means no herbs, if you do not want the plate. Them gia vi means extra seasoning, if the broth tastes flat to you. Both are polite, both are normal.
What a bowl costs in 2026
A normal bowl in a normal shop runs 50,000 to 80,000 VND, which is two to three dollars. The famous addresses sit above that. Pho Le charges 80,000 for a small, 90,000 for a regular and 100,000 for the special with everything in it.
Pho Minh asks around 60,000 and Pho Mien Ga Ky Dong spans 55,000 to 100,000 depending on what you add. Cash is still the default in most of these shops, so carry small notes and do not expect a card machine.
When to go, and when it sells out
Pho Minh is the one to plan around. The shop sells out by ten in the morning, and when it is gone it is gone. Arrive at eight and you eat well. Arrive at ten past ten and you queue for a closed pot.
Pho Mien Ga Ky Dong keeps long hours, 05:30 to 22:30, which makes it the safe choice on a late arrival day. Pho Le opens early and runs through the morning rush. None of these are dinner places in the way a visitor imagines dinner.
Weekends are busier, and Tet shuts a lot of small shops for a week or more. Family restaurants fill instead. If your trip lands on the holiday, check the shop is open before you cross the city for it.
The bowl Michelin dropped
Pho Hoa Pasteur at 260C Pasteur, former District 3, held a Bib Gourmand in 2023 and 2024. It came off the list in 2025. It is still open, still full at breakfast, and still charging 90,000 for a regular and 120,000 for a large.
A guide change is not a verdict on the food. Michelin rechecks, and a shop can fall off for reasons that have nothing to do with the broth. Locals did not stop going. On a weekday morning the tables are shared and the queue is short.
The list does not tell the whole story. Eat at Pho Hoa Pasteur and at Pho Minh in the same morning. One is a large, bright, busy room. The other is an alley with a pot and a family. Both are pho, and the difference teaches you more than any ranking.
Pho ga and the others
Pho ga is chicken broth, lighter and clearer, and it is what you want in the heat. Pho Mien Ga Ky Dong has made it for over 40 years, and the shop also serves mien ga, the same broth with glass noodles.
Two things change the bowl more than the shop does: the noodles and the broth temperature. The noodles should be soft but not gluey. The broth should be hot enough to cook the rare beef as you stir it. If the broth arrives warm, send it back.
Questions people ask
Is pho eaten for breakfast in Saigon?
Yes, and that is the best time. The broth is freshest, the herbs are cut that morning, and the shop is not yet full of people who arrived at noon. By eleven the best pots are finished.
How much should a bowl of pho cost?
Between 50,000 and 80,000 VND in an ordinary shop, and up to 100,000 in the well-known ones. Anything above 150,000 in a street setting is priced for visitors.
Which pho shop is best for a first bowl?
Pho Le at 413-415 Nguyen Trai. The room is large, the menu is short and the staff are used to people who do not speak Vietnamese. Order the special once, then decide what you want next time.
For the wider list of dishes and the streets that sell them, read our Saigon street food guide. Want to know which of these shops carries a Michelin label? The Michelin guide to Ho Chi Minh City sorts them by category.
Our Saigon Street Food Tour runs in the evening and covers more than ten dishes, pho included when the shop is open. It costs $57 and lasts about four hours.
Clara grew up just outside Saigon and moved to the city five years ago to study. She has been riding its streets ever since. Most evenings you’ll find her leading our night rides, usually with a bowl of snails waiting at the end. Everything in this guide is what she tells her own guests before the first stop.
