The city, formerly known as Saigon, possesses character in spades, thanks to rising wealth, plenty of overseas investment, a ton of tenacious tradition and its own energetic style. Spend just a day in Ho Chi Minh City and you’ll see proof everywhere of old and new, sitting side-by-side. Snappily dressed corporate types chat on mobiles under the shadow of communist government billboards; couture-clad girls whiz along Parisian-esque boulevards on shiny Vespas, while others lust after killer heels at the Louboutin store on Dong Khoi. Brooding French colonial mansions smoulder in the tropical heat, a fitting background for the conical-hatted ladies flogging banh mi from carts, shaded by 100-year-old dau trees, while the boom of metro construction echoes down Le Loi.

Then there’s the food; while there is a multitude of terrific things to see, do and buy here, you could easily go from meal to meal, with everything else simply killing time between mouthfuls. The food scene is constantly evolving, with street food on every corner, abundant produce markets and the sheer number of fantastic restaurants all adding up to a full- flavoured good time.

In a town transforming faster than a Katie Perry costume change, it’s great to know there are still a few veteran establishments going strong. Temple Club (29-31 Ton That Thiep, District 1) has a decade-plus of pulling power, thanks to a dreamy Indochine-meets-opium-den interior, re ned cocktails and foreigner-friendly renditions of Vietnamese classics.

With colonial mansion surrounds, waitresses in slinky ao dais (traditional sleeved tunics) and a lush courtyard strung with fairy lights, Quan An Ngon (138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 1) is another long-time favourite. There, ex-street vendors cook breakfast, lunch and dinner from a vast regional repertoire, at cooking stations dotted around the dining rooms. It’s a bit like eating street food – but without the actual street.

The latest trend in Ho Chi Minh City dining is rustic, home-style food. “These days, people can afford to eat in fine restaurants but they still want dishes that remind them of a simpler life,” explain Tran Danh, owner of a string of places built on this nostalgic premise. The growing professional class don’t fancy perching on plastic stools, street-side, in their lunch break, so you’ll find them instead in diners such as Tran Danh’s Quan Bui outlets (17a Ngo Van Nam and 39 Ly Tu Trong, both District 1). There, the menus traverse Vietnam, with an emphasis on ‘natural’ ingredients (no MSG, only home-made stocks; they even make their own tofu). Decor is a stylish fusion of contemporary simplicity and vintage touches and this, combined with gutsy, honest food such as the caramelised claypot fish and the zingy pomelo and prawn salad, has proved a hit. Their passionfruit custard, cutely served in a scooped-out passionfruit, is a hot-selling signature dish.

At Chi Hoa (31A Le Thanh Ton, District 1), another breezy bistro, they focus on com binh dan or ‘common people’s food.’ Soy-marinated chicken thighs in sticky rice crust, and prawns steamed with lemongrass and lime leaves are typical, presented with a casual sophistication that wouldn’t be out of place in Sydney or New York. Then there’s Cuc Gach Quan (10 Dang Tat, District 1), the grandaddy of this back-to-the-past food trend. Owned by a local architect, the vintage, quirky interior design is as compelling as the menu, an ode to organic, homemade fare. It doesn’t hurt their popularity that Brangelina dined here in recent years. Another great spot is Mountain Retreat (36 Le Loi, District 1), up several nights of stairs, in a French-era building off Le Loi. Boiled pork with pickled eggplants and fermented shrimp dipping sauce, barbecued beef ribs with cinnamon, and pomelo salad with shredded dried fish are just a few menu standouts. Plus the space, decked out to resemble a rough-hewn home from Vietnam’s north, has an open-air rooftop area and lovely, youthful vibe. Comfort food has also come to the swanky Park Hyatt’s Square One restaurant (2 Lam Son Square, District 1), with its moody-modern space, prodigious wine list and a menu built around topnotch ingredients. The team have lately turned their peerless cooking skills toward a mini-menu of rustic, claypot dishes from around the country.

Despite increasing gentrification, the street food scene remains incredibly vibrant, as well as cheap – it’s possible to eat well for under 10 bucks a day. From banh beo (steamed rice pancake) to bun rieu (vermicelle crab soup), and bot chien (fried rice our cakes) to banh khot (savoury coconut pancakes), fast food, Ho Chi Minh City style, is a roller-coaster of the funky, fresh, salty, tangy, rich flavours for which Vietnamese food is so loved. And you don’t necessarily need to eat it on the street, either. Stalls in the centrally located, albeit tourist-trappy Ben Thanh Market on Le Loi (and casual eateries in the streets around it) are a good place to start. Eating bun mam, a local dish where rice noodles, prawns, squid and eggplant mingle in a broth spiked with fermented fish paste, is essential. Try it at Bun Mam Dac San (22 Phan Boi Chau, District 1); they also do a mean goi cuon (fresh rice paper roll). It would be criminal not to eat pho and family-run Pho Hoa (260C Pasteur, District 3), is the perfect place to eat it. With its secret broth recipe, air-conditioned upper floor and tables abundant with herbs for throwing into bowls of the steaming, fragrant soup, it is a city institution. The perennially popular Banh Xeo 46 (46 Dinh Cong Trang, District 1) stands true to its homespun roots after 20 years. Their banh xeo (sizzling pancake) is an ultra-crisp, turmeric- and coconut-scented pancake that’s folded over a filling of prawns, sprouts, pork and boiled mung beans. Served with a veritable hedgerow of leaves for wrapping, plus the ubiquitous nuoc cham sauce for dipping, it’s one of the most delicious things you can eat, anywhere.

For an introduction to street food, a Saigon Street Eats (saigonstreeteats.com) tour is just the ticket. Guided by owners Barbara Adam (an Aussie ex-journalist) and her Vietnamese husband Vu Vo, their itineraries put you into the thick of the authentic street food action. Tours are structured around either a morning walk that takes in a produce market with plenty of street food classics, or an evening seafood trail, where dining on sea critters (in local haunts you’d never nd on your own) is an unforgettable experience.

Vietnam is the world’s biggest producer of Robusta coffee and it’s a wildly popular drink. The Vietnamese roast their beans with a dash of butter, which injects rich, chocolatey notes into the finished brew. Milky, sweet, iced coffee, slurped from long glasses, is a favourite. Hot coffee is made using a phin (a metal drip contraption placed over the cup), and waiting for it to filter through is a soothing morning ritual. Cafes are everywhere. Top destinations include M2C (44B Ly Tu Trong, District 1), L’Usine (151 Dong Khoi, District 1; check out the attached design shop while you’re at it), La Rotonde (77b Ham Nghi, District 1) and chichi Propaganda (21 Han Thuyen, District 1), which also has exuberant wall murals channeling Socialist art. Beer fans will rejoice that hoppy, craft brewing is catching on here, albeit slowly. The crew at hip Pasteur Street Brewing Company (144 Pasteur, District 1) make small-batch beers, utilising local avours. So an IPA is infused with jasmine, an ale carries subtle hints of pepper and lemongrass, and wheat ale shows the slight tang of passionfruit.

The past is ever-present in Saigon and escaping ghosts of the Vietnam War is dif cult. Maybe the pick of the war-related sites is the War Remnants Museum (28 Vo Van Tan, District 3). As well as plenty of military hardware, inside there is an afternoon worth of compelling exhibits. Some are confronting, especially the photographic displays covering the My Lai Massacre and the effects of Agent Orange. A visit to the extraordinary Reunification Palace (135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 1) will oat the boats of mid-century architecture buffs and history enthusiasts alike. It has kitsch interiors straight out of an Austin Powers ick, which have been untouched since the First Family of Saigon were booted out in 1975. Directly opposite, just inside the Cach Mang Thang Tam Road entrance to Tao Dan park, there’s an outdoors cafe frequented by locals. Early on weekend mornings it lls with men and their caged birds, which they hoist onto metal frames. From there it’s a matter of inhaling coffee, admiring feathered friends and comparing bird notes. Often overlooked by visitors, the collections at the Museum of Fine Arts (97 Pho Duc Chinh, District 1) provide a great insight into Vietnamese arts and culture, with the 3rd oor housing artworks from as long ago as the 7th century. Pictures from the Vietnam War era are particularly stirring.

Even if you’ve only a passing interest in fine art, you’ll still find the building, a grand colonial-era mansion built by a wealthy Chinese businessman, a delight. Ho Chi Minh’s temples offer respite from the relentless hubbub of the streets; there are plenty sprinkled around the manic Chinatown precinct, Cholon.

But the most visited temple in town is the fabulously atmospheric Jade Emperor Pagoda (73 Mai Thi Luu, District 1), a Taoist as well as a Buddhist centre of worship. It heaves with devotees burning incense and performing a whole variety of rituals, and the intricate carved interior details are spectacular. Even though the temple is firmly on tourist itineraries, the atmosphere is entirely authentic.

If you are up for some food education, you’re in luck. None other than Vietnamese-Australian chef Luke Nguyen has set himself up here, teaching classes at his state-of-the-art culinary school, Grain By Luke (71-75 Hai Ba Trung, District 1). Hands-on, three-hour sessions run twice daily, focusing on demystifying Vietnamese cuisine. If you’re super keen, you can even book a one-on-one session, which is fully customisable depending on what you want to learn. If Nguyen himself is off on location, he has a team of fantastic staff who take up the mantle.

The main shopping street Dong Khoi hosts a few shops well worth a visit for their one-of-a-kind handmade goods. Start with Anupa Boutique (9 Dong Du, District 1), where British expat Anupa Horvil produces gorgeous bags and accessories using sustainable local leather that she finishes with intricate hand beading. Then head to Mai Lam (132-134 Dong Khoi, District 1), the best imaginable antidote to the cheap, mass-produced apparel that you’ll see everywhere. Mai Lam reimagines items like ao dais and flak jackets in velvet and silk, embellishing them with extravagant hand embroidery. Up a laneway off 3A Ton Duc Thang in District 1 is a small creative hub complete with street art, cool kids and shops such as Nev, which has edgy, hand embroidered clothes inspired by traditional shapes and motifs. Nearby is Sadec District, a homewares shop bursting with signature, fine-lined, wonkily shaped ceramics in a multitude of hues. And long-time stalwart of the homewares scene, Michèle de Albert’s workshop-cum-store, Espace (79/11 Street 12, Tran Nao, District 2) is worth the journey over the Saigon River. Here, she conjures traditional lacquerware that’s anything but traditional, in bright shades and wholly sophisticated, modern shapes.

Dating from 1925, the charming Hotel Majestic (1 Dong Khoi) is right on the Saigon River, and a popular option for visitors. The luxurious Park Hyatt Saigon (2 Lam Son Square) has an unbeatable location in the thick of the District 1 action. Practically next door is the Hotel Continental Saigon (132-134 Dong Khoi, District 1), which has oversized rooms and romantic associations with writers including Graham Greene, a long-term occupant of room 214.