Late Dinner in District 1: Cantonese Roast Duck, Crispy Pork and Dim Sum Until 11pm

Why Cantonese food is made for the evening

In Cantonese cities, the roast meat shop is the backbone of the evening meal: lacquered ducks and glistening char siu hanging in the window, chopped to order and served over rice or noodles. It is food that rewards a hungry table and a long conversation.

Paired with a few baskets of dim sum and a plate of wok-fried greens, it makes a complete dinner that everyone at the table can share.

The roasts

Order one roast for every two to three people and build the rest of the meal around it.

• Cantonese Roast Duck, 238,000₫ — the house signature. The skin is glossy and crisp, the meat tender and fragrant with spice.
• Crispy Roast Pork, 238,000₫ — pork belly with crackling skin, salty and rich.
• Honey Char Siu Pork, 228,000₫ — sweet, sticky barbecued pork with caramelised edges.
• Roast Chicken, 228,000₫ — crisp skin, juicy meat, a lighter choice.
• Two-Roast Combo, 448,000₫, and Three-Roast Combo, 488,000₫ — the best way for a group to try several at once.

Wok-fried rice and noodles

Good Cantonese cooking depends on wok hei, the smoky "breath of the wok" that comes from very high heat and quick tossing. Try the Scallop & Spinach Fried Rice or the Black Pepper Beef Fried Rice (198,000₫ each) for a shared plate.

For a one-bowl dinner, choose a noodle dish: Wonton Noodle Soup with Shrimp & Pork (120,000₫), Roast Duck Noodles (130,000₫) served in soup or dry, or Dry Wonton Noodles with Chilli Oil (120,000₫) for a spicy kick.

Dim sum in the evening

Dim sum is not only for lunch. The steam counter runs from opening until close, so the same handmade har gow, siu mai and cheung fun are on the menu at dinner. Many evening guests start with a few baskets while the roasts are prepared.

Good evening starters are the Wontons in Black Vinegar and Chilli Oil (78,000₫), Crispy Cheung Fun with XO Sauce (88,000₫) and the Salted Egg Custard Bao (68,000₫).

Vegetables, soup and dessert

Balance the meal with greens: Hong Kong Choy Sum with Garlic (98,000₫), Baby Bok Choy with Shiitake (108,000₫) or String Beans with Pork & XO Sauce (168,000₫). A Sweet Corn Crab Meat Soup or Hot & Sour Seafood Soup (120,000₫) is a classic way to begin a Cantonese dinner.

Finish with Mango Pudding, Almond Jelly with Lychee or Purple Sweet Potato Sesame Balls (78,000₫).

A sample dinner for four

That comes to roughly 1.45 million dong for four people — a generous Cantonese feast in the centre of District 1.

• Specialty Sharing Tray (398,000₫) to start
• Three-Roast Combo (488,000₫)
• Scallop & Spinach Fried Rice (198,000₫)
• Hong Kong Choy Sum with Garlic (98,000₫)
• Four drinks (around 260,000₫–280,000₫)

The room at night

Once the daylight goes, the paper lanterns and wall lamps come on and the dining room shifts into a lower, warmer mood, better suited to a long dinner. Oak lattice screens give each table some privacy while the room still feels like one space.

Last orders are before closing at 23:00, so arriving by 21:30 gives you time for a relaxed meal.

How Cantonese roast duck is made

Cantonese roast duck looks simple on the plate, but it is one of the most demanding dishes in the cuisine. The duck is seasoned inside with a blend of spices and aromatics, the skin is scalded and glazed, and the bird is left to dry so that the skin can turn thin and crisp in the oven rather than chewy.

Roasting renders the fat under the skin, basting the meat from the outside in. The result should be skin that crackles, meat that stays moist and a fragrant, savoury juice that is served alongside. When you taste a good roast duck, you are tasting a day of preparation, not just an hour in the oven.

Crispy roast pork follows a similar logic: the skin is dried and blistered until it puffs into crackling, while the belly beneath stays juicy. Char siu takes the opposite path — marinated, roasted and glazed with honey until the edges caramelise and turn slightly charred.

How to eat it like a local

• Over rice or noodles. In Cantonese cities, the most common way to eat roast meat is chopped over plain rice or in a bowl of noodles. Our Roast Duck Noodles (130,000₫) is exactly this.
• With the sauce. Spoon the roasting juices over the meat; it is where much of the flavour lives.
• With greens. A plate of garlic-fried Hong Kong choy sum cuts through the richness.
• Shared. Order one roast for the table rather than one each, and mix it with dim sum and rice.

Finding us

MULAN is on the second floor (Lầu 2) of 18 Thu Khoa Huan, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, a short walk from Ben Thanh Market. Dinner is served Tuesday to Sunday from 16:00 to 23:00; we are closed on Mondays. Book through the reservation page or call 0965 718 101.