Exploring Saigon’s Vibrant Bar Scene: A Visit to Yunka

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Here is another episode of A Vietnam Podcast, where you can find stories, experiences, and insights about Vietnam.

I am Niall, The Podcast Guy and host of this show. I’m an expat living in Vietnam for 8 years now. 

I visited another Bar, Yunka on a rainy day. I had a chance to talk with the Manager there, and we shared our thoughts about Cocktails as well as the development of the F&&B Industry in the last few years. 

The Weather In Vietnam

If you’re planning to travel to Saigon, be sure to check the weather, especially during the rainy season, which typically runs from May to November. The rain here isn’t just a light drizzle – it can be torrential, often flooding streets and causing major disruptions. It’s one of those things you have to accept when living or traveling in a tropical country like Vietnam.

For anyone who’s ever tried to run events in Saigon, you’ll know what I mean. The weather can be a nightmare. I used to organize events here and once had a big festival planned in Thao Dien to raise money, but the weather had other ideas.

A storm with heavy rain hit. We were expecting around 150 people, but only about 50 showed up because taxis weren’t running and the streets were flooded. The electrics even blew out, and we had to make do with an acoustic set. It was a fun event for those who managed to make it, but that’s Saigon in the rainy season – you can make your plans, but the weather is unexpected. 

The Talk With Yunka’s Manager

So here we are at Yunka during happy hour, a place that somehow didn’t make it onto my happy hour list. I’m still surprised about that because it really should have. We’ve only been here once before, but not during happy hour.

Now, what’s interesting about Yunka is that it offers a unique Chilean-Japanese fusion—something you don’t come across often in Saigon. The menu features a mix of Japanese-inspired dishes like sushi alongside Chilean favorites such as ceviches. Since Adrie and I don’t eat a lot of seafood, we didn’t enjoy those, but for anyone who loves those flavors, this is the spot.

I had the chance to chat with Wing, the manager, who gave us more insight into what makes Yunka special. He confirmed that Yunka focuses on Nikkei cuisine, which is a blend of Peruvian and Japanese culinary styles. The head chef here is Peruvian, which adds an authentic touch to the menu, and as Wing pointed out, there aren’t many places in Saigon offering this kind of cuisine—only two or three spots, to be exact. Yunka is part of the same group as Tinto and Clay, which are also well-known for their fusion menus.

One of the things we often talk about on the podcast is how much Saigon’s food and beverage scene has evolved over the last eight years. When we first moved here, places like Yunka didn’t exist, and the service industry was far less polished. I asked Wing about this transformation, and he pointed out that much of it has to do with the level of competition and the influx of training programs, often led by foreigners. These days, new restaurants and cocktail bars seem to pop up every week, each with highly trained staff delivering top-tier service.

What really impressed me was how far the hospitality industry has come in such a short time. Wing himself has been with the company for four years, and it’s clear that the staff take pride in what they do. It’s a world apart from the days when orders were often incorrect, and the overall experience felt less polished. Now, it’s all about creating standout experiences for customers, both local and foreign.

Not only in the F&B industry, Saigon has changed dramatically since I’ve been here. New streets, buildings, or bridges appeared every week or month. This blew me away how fast this country developed. 

Experiencing Yunka – A Signature Drink

Of course, we couldn’t leave without trying one of Yunka’s signature cocktails. Wing recommended the Yunka Sour, and if you’ve been following along, you know I’m a huge whiskey sour fan. My all-time favorite is the one from 86 Proof in Thao Dien, and any time I try a new sour, I inevitably end up comparing it to that.

Stephen recommended it, but I was immediately curious about why the drink was green. I had been expecting a classic Whiskey Sour, but clearly, this was something different.

Adrie thought I’d say it was too sweet, but honestly, it was delicious. The first sip was mostly foam, but after a bigger gulp, I could tell that the flavor had a matcha element to it. It was smooth, unique, and not the typical sour. Nothing can quite knock 86 Proof off the top spot for us, but the Yunka Sour holds its own. It’s different but in a very good way.

Conclusion

All in all, the evening turned out great, and even the rain couldn’t put a damper on it. If you find yourself at Yunka, I definitely recommend giving the Yunka Sour a try—just don’t expect your usual Whiskey Sour. It’s a fresh take and one that’s well worth experiencing.

Follow and Subscribe to A Vietnam Podcast for more reviews and experience!

Audio of Yunka

[00:00:00]

Introduction and Setting the Scene

I That’s pretty nice. [00:01:00] we’re here at Yungka, and The rain is mental, and Avie just made a really good point. She just said if we waited this out at home, we’d still be waiting at home.

Challenges of Organizing Events in Saigon

And this is part of the problem in Saigon, right? Like, there’s something, so, as someone who used to run events, it’s a nightmare running events because you’ve, I did that big festival to raise money and then it was in Taudine and then a storm like ten times worse than this happened, remember? Bloody the venue. It was so bad.

I had people messaging me and calling me and they’re like, we cannot get a taxi. We cannot come. And we were expecting, I think like 150 people or something. Yeah. And then I think 50 people, which is still a lot of people, but when you’re trying to, when you’ve got targets to raise money and then you’ve got all these bars that would come along and do you remember the electrics?

Yeah, that was wild. It was so, this is how crazy it gets in It was like this much water. The TV [00:02:00] blew out, the electronics blew out, we ended up, I think we did, like, red bands doing an acoustic set of something. It’s just a shame, because it’s one of these things where you’re like, okay, I’ll be like, fashionably late, as you do in Saigon especially.

No one’s ever on time to anything, and that event in particular. If you’re fashionably late, you miss the whole freaking event because it started raining, and it was too late, you missed the taxi. It’s like you’re stuck at home, and so if you wanted to come, you weren’t coming. It’s just a shame. And that was just a real shame, because it was a really fun event, and if you got there early enough, in the first hour or two, like, you were there for the long haul, because you also weren’t leaving.

But this is what happens in Saigon in rainy season, like, all the time, and it’s so dependent on the weather. Is you’re gonna, what’s the best laid plans of men and mice? What’s that from? What’s that quote from Best Leading Plans of Men and Mice? Is that not a quote? I don’t know. But yeah, you can make plans to go out and do whatever and then it comes out to this.

I mean, I think the restauranteurs, or [00:03:00] whatever, the staff here are like, Thank God for the happy hour diehards, because there’s literally no one here. We are the only two people in this establishment. It is almost dinner time, which is like 20 minutes away. It should be pretty busy right now.

Exploring Yungka Bar

So we are, we are at Yonker Happy Hour, which didn’t make my happy hour list.

I feel like it’s one of those ones I’ve mentioned. We’d only been here once before and we didn’t come at happy hour. Yeah, I feel like I’m, oh I put it in my top cocktail bars and it was one of those ones. You did? I think so. I don’t think you did. If I didn’t, I think I did though. We’ve only been here once before.

Sadly. I think it’s still made the list. Literally, we walked in and found out that my grandmother had just passed away. Yeah, I know. I didn’t say that on the last podcast. So we ordered, I think we’d ordered our drinks. We were like, okay, well we drink these drinks. I’ll text my family and be very sad and then we’ll go home.

Yeah. It was not a fun experience. But so this bar, you know more about this bar than me because you told me about this. You were the reason we came here. Before we find out your [00:04:00] grandma died, um, what do you know about this bar? I don’t know much about it. I just know it’s uh, like a fusion place, like Chilean, Japanese.

Oh, I didn’t even know that. It’s Chilean, Japanese. Yeah, that’s what, I don’t even know how to say it. Like, like, Nik, Nik, Nikkei? Nikkei? Cuisine. It’s the same as like Tinto and Taurine. It’s like a hybrid Japanese Chilean fusion. So there’s like this fusion. Sushi and, uh, fish and stuff on the menu. Japanese influence, but then there’s also like, uh, ceviches that are like Chilean influence and stuff.

And we don’t eat seafood, so it’s not much. No, we don’t eat much. But when we came it was packed before, which I’m sure it’s normally packed. We’re here at like the dead hour when you can get cheap drinks.

Interview with the Bar Manager

I have with me Quin n Hello everyone. My name is Wing. I’m a, uh, city manager in . So for this one, you the best light you can try for it. So tell me a little bit about [00:05:00] Yoka because, so we’ve been here before.

But it’s quite new, right? And it’s one of the new funky You said it’s Chilean Japanese fusion, right? Yeah, this one is for the Beroean and Javanese. But, um, exactly we told this one is the Nikkei Cushion. For the Nikkei Cushion, it means like, um, the fusion from the Beroean and the Javanese. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And for the head shape in here, it’s, uh, The Peruvian chef for it. So the chef is actually Peruvian? Yeah, Peruvian. So that’s why, uh, when you come to Yunca, for, um, it’s fine for, like, like the cycle, you can enjoy all the food. It’s different one in another place in Saigon. Because for Nikkei Cuisine is, uh, don’t have a lot in Saigon.

Just have two or three restaurants have it. So you mentioned two or three restaurants, but let’s see, do you, what are the other two or three restaurants that have Nikkei infusion? Let’s see if you were right. Yeah, for Nikkei Cuisine, uh, in, [00:06:00] uh, maybe you can try for the Tinto. Tinto? You said Tinto? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that’s right. For the Tinto, it’s same the company of our restaurant. Same company? Same company. Because for our company we have, um, four outlets for it. Uh, the first one is the brick is the Western. Oh, the brick. Yeah. Oh yeah. We like the brick. Yeah. The brick is Western style. And the clay. Clay is the fusion.

And the, you like Clay Israelis are all good places. Yeah. Yeah. You guys do a good job then for all Good for, yeah. You know, for I work in this company is, uh, almost four years. Wow. Yeah. So one of the things we talk a lot on this podcast, cause we do quite a lot about food and beverage, cause we like to go, we like food and we like beverages.

Um, so you’re from Vietnam, right? Yeah, yeah, sure. What I think is amazing. So we’ve lived here for eight years and we’ve seen the change in Saigon, mostly Saigon. Like in terms of food and beverage, it’s just like night and day, like eight years ago. Like how old are you? Um, [00:07:00] as you 27. My god. Really? Really? No way.

but really no way. I began But you, uh, 80 this one. 42. I’m 77. So you were 19 when we got here, is my point, right? Yeah. And when we, when we came here, you know, the service wasn’t great. The bill would always be incorrect. They didn’t repeat your order to you. The order might be wrong. And just places like Yonker just didn’t exist.

But I guess my biggest question is where did people like you come from? Because eight years ago there was, there just wasn’t like a service industry in Saigon. Yeah. And now the service industry, like this is like, this is a cool place. Like this is top notch, like high level. You’re obviously, I mean, I don’t know you, but you’re obviously good at your job.

This is an amazing place. You’ve been with the company for four years. Yeah. Where did you come from, and where did all this amazing staff come from? Uh, for all, all the staff, it come from, uh, also for the Vietnam. Uh, [00:08:00] and because for, um, it’s for eight year ago, uh, for the hospitality, uh, job is not, um, It’s not improved.

Like, like this from, from from now on? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because for, uh, it’s a long time because for just some people just walk one walking in, uh, in the hotel. Something like the big one, like Intercon, uh, but Yeah. And citizen or something. Yeah. But before it find now, uh, they want to, uh, get more and more for the, the customer and uh, for the forest know about, for, uh.

How about for in the Vietnam about for the service so that’s why always for the restaurant open More more more of it. I feel like every week in Saigon. There’s a new restaurant or a new bar like this. That’s right That’s like Not just like your average restaurant like this, like a top notch cocktail bar.

So, but again, my question really is like, where did the staff come from? Like, where are they trained? Like, [00:09:00] how did, because eight years ago, there was, there was almost zero training. Like, if anyone had any training, like you said, they went and worked at the Intercon or the Sheraton or, they went and worked in a big resort.

And what blows me away is every week in Saigon, there’s a new restaurant or a new cocktail bar and the staff are amazing. Where have they all come from? Where have they all been trained? Yeah, they have all the training from the foreigners in different countries. Because, you know, just like the same in a few years ago, uh, all the, always one week had a restaurant and all the cocktail bars or hidden bars.

They open every week first. Because for each bar now, um, In the Vietnam has so many, um, competition. Uh, just like the same with, um, the good one to choose for the best, the best bartender in Vietnam, uh, to get better, better with, uh, another word. Yeah, so for this one is have, uh, so [00:10:00] many for the good thing. To get it ready for, uh, for the foreigners, just like the same with, uh, Some people are tourists in Vietnam, they love Vietnam, but they don’t have, they don’t know where to go for, always for this.

Yeah, so that’s why always for restaurant, especially in District 1, always we will have, one week we have open for, open for restaurant. And bar or hidden bar or something. What do you think is the biggest surprising thing for people when they come, for foreigners when they come from overseas and they find Yonker?

What’s the biggest surprise? For the biggest surprise is, uh, for this one is, uh, come from about for the spirit of, uh, for the Vietnam. Uh, the young people already had a spirit. They had passion. And they want to show up for the Fresno, uh, for the friend of a different country to know about for the Vietnam, how we friendly, how we [00:11:00] kind with the customer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, for the biggest one, I want to get it. Nice. And most important question, what is your favorite drink on the menu? Oh, my favorite, uh, the favorite drink in, um, in Vietnam? Our restaurant is the cocktail. Yeah, we have a signature like the meat salad tree. But for this right now, we, uh, we will improve every day for it.

Yeah. For this one is the best bartender in the, in, maybe in the Saigon. He says you’re the best bartender in Saigon? So excited. He’s embarrassed. He’s embarrassed. So what’s his best drink, man? What’s his best cocktail? Maybe you can try for the Yunka Sour. I swear, Yunka Sour? So if you watch my channel, right?

Yes, sir. You know that, uh, my number one sour in the whole world? Oh my god. Is 86 Proof. Oh my god, really? Have you been to 86 Proof? 86 1 3? Ons 1 3? Ons 1 3 in Taodin. Uh, oh yeah, yeah, I know it, I know it. You know it? Yeah, I know it. They [00:12:00] do the best. Whiskey Cellar by far. So we’ve talked about it before on this channel, but every time we have a whiskey cellar anywhere in the world, the first thing we do is look at each other and we say, how does it compare to 86 Proof?

So that’s your barometer is, is it as good as 86 Proof? No, yes. I have to try it. I have to try it and find out. Maybe for this one, they only use for the high technique for, yeah, to get the new receipt. But for this one, I swear, if you let me, uh, ask with the bartender to get for you the Yunca Sour, you have to try it.

All right, well, we’ll try it. Yeah, for this one, for the best one. All right, we’ll try it and we’ll compare it to anything. Sure, I’ll be glad for you. All right, thank you very much. Yeah, it’s my pleasure. Enjoy. Cheers.

Tasting and Final Thoughts

Adri’s just pointed out that it’s gotten worse outside. It’s just getting crazier outside. So, when, well Stephen, as he said his English name was, but I don’t like using their English names. He said that the Whiskey Sour, but it’s green, why is it green?

I’m confused. I don’t know. Cause it’s the Yunkas, [00:13:00] it didn’t say Whiskey Sour, they said Yunkas Sour. Smells good. I’ll let you do the honors. No, of course, yeah. We judge every Whiskey Sour by, is it better than 86 Group?

I don’t think you can compare it, no. They’re really good though. You’re gonna say it’s too sweet. No, no, it’s delicious. I got mostly foam. Take a bigger sip then. It’s like matcha, I think. I think matcha. It’s really good. I wouldn’t knock it at all. Nothing knocks off 86 proof, but it’s good. Like I said, it’s not comparable.

Cause it’s not a whiskey sour. Right? We don’t have the menu. No. It’s obviously a signature here. [00:14:00] Yeah.

373 thoughts on “Exploring Saigon’s Vibrant Bar Scene: A Visit to Yunka”

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