Best Ramen in Saigon: Where to Eat in 2026

Updated4 September 2026 · original article published 7 September 2024

Here is the thing nobody tells you about ramen in Saigon: most of the best of it is on one street. Thai Van Lung and the lanes around it in Ben Nghe make up the city’s Japantown, and five of the nine bowls below are within a few minutes’ walk of each other. You can do a ramen crawl here without getting on a bike.

Nine counters, all checked as trading in September 2026, with addresses and prices. Expect to pay 100,000–220,000₫ for a bowl.

1. Yukichi Ramen

Japantown, District 1 · 12–2pm, then 5pm–2am

The one that stays open until 2am, which makes it the default after a night on Bui Vien or a late finish at work. Tonkotsu shoyu is the order, and the Max Full Topping version at 220,000₫ is the most expensive bowl on this list and the one most worth it — egg, extra chashu, the lot.

Order: Tonkotsu Shoyu, max toppings, after midnight.

2. Ittou Ramen

8/8 Le Thanh Ton, Ben Nghe, District 1

Wooden, minimal, and small enough that you will queue. That’s usually the sign you’re in the right place. There is no theme and no concept here beyond doing a traditional bowl properly, and the limited seating keeps the turnover honest.

Order: whatever the standard bowl is. Don’t customise it.

3. Danbo Ramen

8a/7b1 Thai Van Lung, Ben Nghe, District 1 · 50,000–150,000₫

The best value ramen in central Saigon, and a distinctive Hakata-style broth that regulars will argue about with you. Bowls start at 50,000₫, which is street-food money for something cooked to a Japanese standard.

Order: the tonkotsu, with extra noodles rather than a bigger bowl.

4. Tori Soba Mutahiro

8A/G7 Thai Van Lung, Ben Nghe, District 1

Chicken rather than pork, which in ramen terms is a different discipline entirely — lighter, cleaner and much harder to get right. If you find tonkotsu heavy in Saigon’s heat, this is the bowl that solves it.

Order: tori soba, clear broth.

5. Machida Shoten

38 Hai Ba Trung, Ben Nghe, District 1 (also 14N Quoc Huong, Thao Dien, and Vincom Landmark 81) · 100,000–200,000₫

A Japanese chain doing Yokohama iekei — thick noodles, a pork-and-chicken broth, spinach and nori. The most consistent bowl on this list because it is built to a spec, and the easiest to get to with three branches across the city.

Order: iekei with extra nori, and ask for firm noodles.

6. Daiichi Ramen

8A/2B2 Thai Van Lung, Ben Nghe, District 1

A straight counter operation in the Japantown alley, aimed squarely at the Japanese office workers who eat here at lunch. That is the recommendation in itself.

Order: the lunch set.

7. Futaba

8a/a3 Thai Van Lung, Ben Nghe, District 1

Written outside in Japanese before it is written in English, which tells you who it is for. Small, quiet and unhurried — the antidote to the busier rooms a few doors down.

Order: whatever is on the board that day.

8. Torisho

Thai Van Lung, Ben Nghe, District 1

An izakaya first, so you come for yakitori and beer and end the evening with a bowl rather than starting with one. The right choice if half your table doesn’t want ramen.

Order: skewers, beer, then ramen to finish.

9. Shinsho Ramen

30 Nguyen Dang Giai, Thao Dien, Thu Duc

The reason Thao Dien residents don’t have to cross the river. Not the best bowl in the city, but comfortably the best within walking distance of most of District 2.

Order: tonkotsu, and eat in rather than ordering delivery — ramen does not travel.

The Thai Van Lung ramen crawl

Danbo, Tori Soba Mutahiro, Daiichi, Futaba and Torisho are all in the same cluster of alleys off Thai Van Lung, with Ittou a two-minute walk away on Le Thanh Ton. If you are serious about this, do it as a crawl: a half bowl at two or three places beats a full bowl at one.

Go at lunch to eat alongside the Japanese office crowd, or after 9pm when the izakayas fill up and the street is at its best.

What ramen costs in Saigon

A standard bowl runs 100,000–160,000₫. Danbo starts as low as 50,000₫; a fully loaded bowl at Yukichi tops out around 220,000₫. Toppings — extra egg, chashu, noodles — typically add 20,000–50,000₫ each.

That puts a good bowl of ramen at roughly three times a bowl of pho, which is the correct comparison to make before you complain about it. Prices checked September 2026.

How we picked these

Saigon Scene is based in Ho Chi Minh City. Every shop here was checked as trading in September 2026 and each address was verified. One venue from the previous version of this guide has been removed because we could not confirm it is still open — we would rather run a list of nine than pad it to ten.