Best Dim Sum Near Ben Thanh Market: Where to Eat Handmade Har Gow in District 1

Why dim sum is the right meal after Ben Thanh Market

A market morning is a lot of walking, bargaining and heat. Dim sum suits the moment because it is a meal of many small plates: you can order three baskets for a light lunch or twelve for a long, slow one. Nobody commits to a single large dish, and a group with different appetites can share everything.

It also suits the timing. Ben Thanh is at its busiest from late morning, and MULAN's lunch service opens at 11:00. Walk out of the market, cross into the quieter streets of Ben Nghe ward, and you can be seated in an air-conditioned dining room within a few minutes.

What makes dim sum good (and how to spot it)

Dim sum is easy to do badly. Frozen dumplings reheated in a steamer look the same in a photo but taste flat, with thick, gummy wrappers and fillings that have lost their juice. When you are choosing where to eat, a few signs tell you a kitchen is doing it properly.

• Thin, translucent wrappers. A good har gow wrapper is thin enough that you can see the pink of the prawn through it, yet strong enough to lift with chopsticks without tearing.
• Hand pleating. Har gow is traditionally folded by hand into a set number of pleats. Uneven, machine-pressed edges are a sign of factory dumplings.
• Small batches. Baskets should come to the table steaming, not lukewarm. Kitchens that steam in small batches through service keep everything at its best.
• Fresh seafood. The prawn in a har gow should be firm and sweet with a slight snap, never mushy.

Inside MULAN: an open dim sum kitchen in District 1

At MULAN the steam counter sits in the middle of the dining room with no wall around it. Every dumpling is rolled, filled and folded by hand at that counter, and you can watch the whole sequence from your table — from the dough being rolled thin to the moment a bamboo basket is lifted off the steamer and carried over.

Prawns are selected fresh each morning, wrappers are rolled to order, and baskets are steamed in small batches from opening until close so that nothing sits waiting. This is what separates handmade Cantonese dim sum from the reheated kind, and it is the main reason we suggest MULAN to anyone looking for the best dim sum near Ben Thanh.

What to order: the dim sum essentials

If it is your first visit, build your order around the classics, then add one or two of the house variations. Prices below are from our current menu (October 2026), in Vietnamese dong.

• Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow) — 78,000₫. The benchmark of any Cantonese kitchen: whole prawns in a translucent, hand-pleated wrapper.
• Pork & Shrimp Siu Mai with Salmon Roe — 78,000₫. Open-topped dumplings, juicy and savoury, finished with salmon roe.
• Xiao Long Bao — 68,000₫. Soup dumplings; bite a small hole first and sip the broth before eating.
• BBQ Pork Bao — 68,000₫. Soft, fluffy steamed buns filled with sweet char siu pork.
• Salted Egg Custard Bao — 68,000₫. A house favourite: the molten salted-egg custard runs out when you tear it open.
• Shrimp Cheung Fun — 88,000₫. Silky rice noodle rolls wrapped around prawns, dressed with sweet soy at the table.
• Truffle Foie Gras Dumplings — 138,000₫. A deep red wrapper with gold leaf around foie gras and black truffle, one of the dishes you will only find at MULAN.

The easiest order: the Specialty Sharing Tray

If you are two or three people and want to taste the range without studying the menu, order the Specialty Sharing Tray (398,000₫). It brings six of the kitchen's defining dumplings together in a single bamboo basket — a tasting menu of Cantonese dim sum in one dish.

Add a plate of vegetables such as Baby Bok Choy with Shiitake (108,000₫) and a pot of tea or a cold drink, and you have a complete lunch for two for well under one million dong.

More than dim sum: Cantonese roast meats and noodles

MULAN is a Cantonese grill house as much as a dim sum restaurant. If you are hungrier, add one of the roasts: Cantonese Roast Duck (238,000₫), Crispy Roast Pork with crackling skin (238,000₫) or Honey Char Siu Pork (228,000₫). The Three-Roast Combo (488,000₫) puts several on one plate and works well for a group.

For a one-bowl meal, the Wonton Noodle Soup with Shrimp & Pork (120,000₫) and Roast Duck Noodles (130,000₫) are the comfort food of Cantonese cooking.

How much does dim sum near Ben Thanh cost?

Most steamed dim sum at MULAN is between 68,000₫ and 98,000₫ per basket, with premium dumplings up to 138,000₫. A typical lunch for two — four or five baskets, one vegetable and two drinks — lands around 600,000₫ to 800,000₫. A dinner with a roast and noodles for four people is usually 1.5 to 2.5 million dong, depending on how much you order.

Getting there from Ben Thanh Market

MULAN is on the second floor (Lầu 2) of 18 Thu Khoa Huan, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1. Thu Khoa Huan is one of the small streets running up from Ben Thanh Market, so it is an easy walk; if you take a Grab, give the driver the full address and look for the entrance on Thu Khoa Huan.

We are open Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00–14:00 for lunch and 16:00–23:00 for dinner, and closed on Mondays.

Booking a table

Walk-ins are welcome, but weekend lunch fills up, especially the tables along the window. The easiest way to book is through the reservation page: fill in the form and your message is prepared for WhatsApp or Zalo. For groups of eight or more, or if you would like the private room at the back, call us on 0965 718 101.