Black chicken stewed with Chinese herbs is a classic Cantonese dish that Saigonese people have trusted for generations. Feeling under the weather? Have a bowl of herbal black chicken soup. Want a beauty boost? Sip the collagen-rich broth to nourish your skin. Need more energy? A steaming bowl of gà ác tiềm will do the trick.
The dish has become so familiar to people in Saigon that many have forgotten it actually arrived in Vietnam with Chinese immigrants more than a century ago. Today, it’s ubiquitous. You’ll find it everywhere. Almost every Chinese restaurant in the city has its own version, and even many Vietnamese eateries have embraced it.
But where can you find the most memorable bowl in Ho Chi Minh City?
Dương Thành is where three generations serve nourishing black chicken soup to the masses of Saigon’s Chợ Lớn
Dương Thành (Address: 64 – 66 – 68 Đường Phan Xích Long, Phường Minh Phụng, Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh), a humble eatery on Phan Xích Long Street in Chợ Lớn, has been around for more than 40 years. The family behind it is of Cantonese descent, now in their third generation living in Vietnam.
The grandparents of the current owner, Dương Hải Thành, immigrated to Vietnam in the last century, working several jobs to save up for a bigger venture. By the late 1980s, they finally opened a small food stall selling black chicken stewed with Chinese medicinal herbs. Today, the dish remains the restaurant’s signature item alongside other Vietnamese-Chinese classics.
Preparation for the dish always starts the night before. The black chicken used is young, slightly larger than a fist. Firstly, the chicken is cleaned with ginger wine and seasoned. Then, the herbs — eight kinds in total, including familiar names like ginkgo nuts, red dates, longan, and codonopsis (當歸 Đương Quy) — are soaked and rinsed thoroughly before cooking.
Yet what makes Dương Thành’s soup version so special is their two-step stewing method. The broth and the chicken are cooked separately, on different timelines, to ensure the flavors fully develop without overcooking the meat. Once the chicken is perfectly tender, it’s placed in small clay pots. When a customer orders, the pot is reheated by steaming, ensuring the soup arrives piping hot and fragrant.
Dương Thành’s menu offers nearly a hundred other dishes — mostly Cantonese-style, prepared with local Vietnamese ingredients, with flavors subtly adjusted to suit Saigonese palates.
Every time I dine at Dương Thành, I always order a bowl of Yangzhou fried rice and a plate of sweet and sour pork ribs alongside my herbal chicken soup. That trio — comforting, nostalgic, and satisfying — captures the essence of how tradition continues to simmer quietly in Saigon’s heart.
Stepping into Chợ Lơn’s 80-year-old Đông Nguyên is stepping into the world of herbal soups
This famed chicken rice eatery, one of the most beloved in Chợ Lớn, was founded in 1945 by a Chinese immigrant family.
Through decades of change and upheaval, Cơm Gà Đông Nguyên (Address: 801 Đường Nguyễn Trãi, Phường Chợ Lớn, Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh) has stood firm at the corner of Nguyễn Trãi and Châu Văn Liêm streets, serving meals that beautifully blend the nostalgic flavors of southern China with the warmth and richness of southern Vietnam.
Before we get into their soup expertise, one might wonder what has kept Đông Nguyên at the top of its game for more than three-quarters of a century? The secret lies in their choice of chicken — 180-day-old hens, just about to lay eggs. The meat of these young hens is naturally tender and sweet, full of nutrients. This combined with their signature spices and cooking techniques has created that unmistakable “Chợ Lớn chicken rice” flavor familiar to locals.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, as Ho Chi Minh City and consequently Chợ Lớn grew livelier, the second-generation owner, Madam Ngô Ái Mai, began wondering how she could offer dishes that were not only delicious but also nourishing and distinctive.
She then decided to embark on an unlikely path of studying traditional Chinese medicine. From this newly acquired knowledge, Đông Nguyên developed recipes that brought the essence of fine cuisine into everyday dining. It was around this time in the mid-90s where Đông Nguyên’s menu of herbal soups first appeared.
Today, alongside their classic chicken rice offerings — including poached chicken rice, fried chicken with fish sauce rice, and chicken curry rice — Đông Nguyên serves more than 13 types of herbal soups on a daily basis. Indeed, every morning at the 80-year-old eatery begins with assembling ingredients into Cantonese soup bowls destined to be “double boiled” in massive steamers. Among them are black chicken with Chinese herbs, black chicken with fresh angelica, lotus root soup with pork shank and chicken feet, and many others.
My personal comfort from Đông Nguyên? A plate of traditional Hainanese chicken rice paired with a clay pot of black chicken and fresh angelica soup — light, subtly sweet, and soothingly rich.
It’s the kind of comfort that lingers, both in taste and in memory.
Đại Dương Restaurant is over 40 years and still going strong
I was born and raised in Saigon, and Đại Dương (Address: 14 Đường Cao Thắng, Phường Bàn Cờ, Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh) has been firmly part of my food memories since early childhood.
This Chinese eatery, opened in 1981, has never once lost its touch. The flavors have remained consistently wonderful through the decades.
When you come to Đại Dương, there’s one dish you absolutely must try — their signature Black chicken soup with Chinese herbs.
What I especially love about this dish is the broth which is fragrant, flavorful, and never bitter. The chicken is stewed to tender perfection, so soft it falls apart at the touch of your chopsticks, and tastes heavenly when dipped in salt and pepper that’s provided on the side.
Of course, one clay pot of herbal chicken soup isn’t enough to fill up your stomach. Local silkies, the actual English name for Chinese black chickens, are rather humble in frame, often less than 300g or so after preparation. So do yourself a favor — order a bowl of mì vịt tiềm, or Herbal duck noodle, to go with it. The duck meat is tender, while the noodles are fresh and springy, and the broth carries just the right hint of herbal aroma.
Oh, and another thing I adore about this place is its atmosphere. It’s a little old-school yet cheerful in its own quirky way.
And if you wonder why there’s a chubby dolphin balloon “swimming” in the air, it’s actually a mascot that matches the restaurant’s name perfectly. Đại Dương means The Ocean.
