Sex, Drugs and Rice Paper Rolls

January 19, 2020

We visited Saigon Suzy Cedar Square last week and this is our candid review.

We arrived at Cedar Square on a warm summer’s evening, we were immediately greeted by big smiles from the waitresses, maître’d and the barman. I love the eye candy that draws you in at the entrance, the cascading fountain of bright red lanterns that lead onto the ‘I need to take a selfie there’ cherry blossom tree. Red lanterns symbolize the wish for a bright future, while the red symbolizes happiness.

What did we eat?

I had the orange blossom fizz cocktail and it wasn’t just refreshing and delicious it was IG worthy too (R85) – that’s important in today’s day and age. If your items look great, your guests do some of your marketing for you.

My partner and I shared a starter of bao’s (steamed buns) filled with slow-braised short rib with wasabi spring onions (R78) however we usually share the pork belly with BBQ sauce, apple, fennel, and dill slaw (R56). I’ve also had the prawn toast before which was really good (R75).

For mains I had a traditional Vietnamese dish, their BBQ bowls, I had the roast pork belly option, the ingredients were all fresh and delicious and the glazed pork belly added a lovely sweetness to the dish (R130). My fiancé had the Vietnamese pancake (R85) this wasn’t a traditional pancake, more like a deep-fried potato rosti with Asian mushrooms, bean sprouts, herb salad, and dipping sauce – the flavours were on point and these were both fulling meals.

We then shared the raspberry and peanut chocolate brownie with vanilla milk sorbet ice cream and popping candy (R70), even though I had my eye on the roasted pineapple sundae with coconut and lemongrass ice cream (R62), I’ll have to try that next time.

Should you be a Whiskey Connoisseur, you may want to try the Yoichi Single Malt, imported from Japan at R325 a tot? I didn’t try this whiskey, but it sounds like a flavor journey for the ultimate whiskey drinker.

Our waitress was Lisa, not only was she wearing the prettiest earrings, but she was also knowledgeable about the menu and made some great recommendations. She has an infectious love for this place which makes you fall in love with it a little bit too.

I enjoyed the music and song selection and found myself bopping in my chair throughout the night and singing along to some of the lyrics – what fun. They do also have two karaoke rooms on site. You can take 12 friends into a room for R1000 an hour, you’ll have a selection of over 12 000 songs, with 1 200 songs being loaded onto the console daily, you also have personalized bottle service and temperature control when you’re in the room. The manager also told us that they are having a special, 50% off between 4-7 pm daily. So if 12 of you go through from 18h00 – 19h00 and the room is R500 to rent, you’re only paying R42 each. How great?

P.S. This offer expires at the end of the month so get there quickly

I had a great experience and I’ll be going back.