Discover The “Old” Saigon With Pasteur Street Brewing Company’s Mischa Smith

Niall Mackay: 1:05

In the main episode with Misha Smith, we got a bit carried away and we started reminiscing about our LEDs in Saigon. And some of the polices we used to go to the aren’t here anymore. So I took that out of the main episode because it’s not really of much use to tourists if you’re visiting Saigon and you want to learn more about what there is to do in Saigon. And we’re talking about things that aren’t here anymore, but. Uh, I really loved our conversation about it. So we’re going to add this as an extra special bonus episode called discover old Saigon. I know it’s not all dogs say gone, but this, we talk about things that existed about eight years ago. And they’re really, really cool places. So have a listen, check them out if you were here about eight years ago, then you maybe know these places. And if you’re visiting for the first time, then one of them still exist and you can go check them out. Although it’s not as cool as it used to be. Enjoy. Two points there. One Rum Bar. Was one of my favorite places to go when I first got here.

Mischa Smith: 2:06

Oh yeah. So one of my friends, he had pretty recently moved to, to Saigon from, uh, Vung Tau, which is a little beach town, uh, a few hours out. Um, and one of his, he, he was messaging me. My friends are trying to take me to this place called the Rum Bar. Is it any good? and I was like, just go. Yes, go. He’s like, so it’s good. I’m like, and I wanna tell you anything about it. I just want you to go with your friends and have an awesome time. Trust me, you’re gonna love it. And after he experienced the email, he’s like, I get it. Okay. because it’s, it’s, it’s so, it was so unassuming and like if there was, you know, there’s a little Vietnamese restaurant next door that had the, the small plastic chairs and, and uh, metal tables. But the Rum Bar itself, like if there was nobody there, it’s, it, it doesn’t exist. But once one customer shows up, I remember I went with, uh, I had a Viet Q landlord and, uh, him and I, and, and, uh, one of our friends, we rolled up one night. It was a little late. We weren’t sure if they’d be open. They weren’t open. He shouts up in Vietnamese to the old lady who lived literally upstairs, Um, And they had a short conversation and then she came down and brought us two bottles and set up the table in the chairs for us. And I asked him what it, what, what they talked about. And he said, she just asked how many bottles we would. Agree to buy. And I’m like, what’d you tell her? He said, I we’re gonna start with two and then we’ll probably have two more It’s just like, that’s enough to get her out of bed. love it.

Niall Mackay: 3:38

You just reminded me of something that little, I remember telling a friend, we’re gonna go to Rum bar and we met there and it’s a plastic stool place. It’s on the street. It’s completely unassuming.

Mischa Smith: 3:48

not a bar. Yeah. No, it’s, it’s it’s chairs on a

Niall Mackay: 3:51

street.

Mischa Smith: 3:51

Yes. Yeah.

Niall Mackay: 3:52

He thought we were going to a cocktail bar. No. No, he didn’t dress up really nice, but really surprised when I was like, oh, we’re here. And he is like, I thought we’re going Rum Bar. yeah. Oh no, sorry. This is what it’s called. For me. That’s some of my favorite memories of early Saigon when I first caught here are at Rum Bar. So, uh, it’s still there by the way. We drive, we, I’ve drove by and checked, checked it out, but it’s, it’s much smaller us, so if anyone knows, um, Malt, which is on. boy. Mac Thi Buoi. Sorry. Right in the middle of District 1. Right behind the VietcomBank Tower right off of the Tran Hung Dao Roundabout And you would just go along and it would be packed. Like there would just be tables and chairs out the side, the whole sidewalk. And one of my favorite things as well, did you ever notice, you could tell it was homemade rum because it was always a different strength?

Mischa Smith: 4:38

Oh yeah. Well that, I mean, I could tell by the price that it was homemade, like obviously like, no, that’s, I, I think I said exact bathtub, rum. Like

Niall Mackay: 4:47

But we would go sometimes and like drink so much and not be drunk at all. And then other

Mischa Smith: 4:52

I gotcha. Yeah. Okay.

Niall Mackay: 4:53

we’d have like a little bit, we’re like, I’m so drunk. It was never like standard, but it came with, uh, glass bottles of coke and then quats, which was sliced off the top you, and it was just delicious and it was cheap and good food there. Remember the tofu and so, Talking about the changes. These are, I remember as well when I first came in 2016, um, there was uh, place near there. I dunno if you ever went to the

Mischa Smith: 5:16

a hundred percent

Niall Mackay: 5:17

Tell, tell us about what, tell what is bia hoi and what did this

Mischa Smith: 5:20

Right, so bia hoi is still, uh, pretty common in Hanoi. There are a lot of places up there. It’s a lot harder to find in Saigon. Um, but the one that you mentioned, I remember going there a handful of times. And it was great because, you know, Saigon is a, is a very touristy city, so most locals are not phased at all by seeing a bunch of foreigners. But that bia hoi place and Saigon was the only place I think to my mind in Saigon where you could go and the Vietnamese people would all like look up in shock. Like, what are these guys doing here? Like this is, and not that they were upset, we were there like they loved. So bia hoi is, is bathtub beer. They make it fresh every day. Uh, I think the literal translation is just fresh beer or gas, beer. Um, and yeah, it’s just really cheap, uh, homemade beer that they sell in these plastic jugs and it’s dirt cheap and it’s, you know, as a craft beer guy, some people might think that I would be opposed to this. It’s the opposite. I love it. It’s just a, it’s a different. Kind of beer experience and also a fun one. The strength is pretty low, so you, you need to drink a lot before you, but it’s just the, the energy of being there, uh, you get a little buzz right away, even without the beer. It’s just, it’s such an awesome social experience. So my favorite bia hoi memory was, uh, up in Hanoi. We were, it was the end of the trip. We were coming back down and I can’t even remember who I was with, like most memorable, right? Um, but I was with a few guys and we just had a few hours to kill before gonna the airport. So we sat at this little bia hoi and just jug after jug after jug, after jug of this not great tasting, but also Very fun, uh, homemade beer.

Niall Mackay: 7:05

I think it’s less than 3% somebody told me in. Yeah. I’ve had experiences when you just drink jugs

Mischa Smith: 7:10

Sure.

Niall Mackay: 7:11

And you know, you can always be nostalgic about things and uh, and that place is not there anymore. I don’t think the building’s there anymore. My memory of it was, it was one of the filthiest places I’ve ever been to in my life. It, was

Mischa Smith: 7:24

not just dirty, but also the, the, the walkway to the toilet in the back was one of the most treacherous paths I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s all like cracked and sharp stuff coming out and it was like, Ugh, maybe I’ll hold it maybe until next

Niall Mackay: 7:40

place. I always feel in any culture, even in the West, we always, um, romanticize the past and people can be anti gentrification, and that’s one of it. You’re like, oh, this place was so cool, but like, was it it was, it was right. Was

Mischa Smith: 7:53

Well, I mean that’s, I, I, I think that’s one of my worst vices at nostalgia that I overly romanticize, uh, things that happened in the past, but also like, you know, this is good memories. Obviously you don’t, you don’t focus on the bad memories, you focus on the good ones. Um, but to, to your point about, uh, gentrification, I was just talking about this last night. uh, with a friend of mine, I, I blame, I blame us. I blame craft beer She was commenting on how, how much more expensive it is to live in Saigon now. And, you know, you can still live cheaply here if you eat local food all the time. And like, you know, it’s, the, the options for cheap stuff is still there, but there’s also a lot more expensive places and rents have gone up, obviously. And I was like, yeah, it’s a craft beer. It’s gentrification.

Niall Mackay: 8:37

It’s a good point because I feel, again, going back to maybe 10 years, when you first came here, you had almost no option but to live cheaply because you didn’t have any other options. Right?

Mischa Smith: 8:47

right. Kind of the only, and that was my other, uh, point about how it is a lot to do. Like I’m not entirely joking. It’s a lot to do with craft beer cuz when I first got here, there was, um, there were really cheap. Kind of filthy, uh, bars or you could drink on the street, which was what we opted for most of the time. There were like a couple sports bars, not many. Um, and then these really high end rooftop places that were just gouged you for like the prices they charged for the cocktails and the, and the, and the BS Igon was literally outrageous. So that there was no. Middle ground, there were no like mid-tier, just like, like malt you mentioned. Yeah. Like just a nice pub with reasonable prices and good cocktails. There was none of that 10 years ago. Um, and, and Pasture Street specifically and craft beer in general really helped to drive that kind of, Middle tier drinking culture where it’s more expensive than or a BS I got on the street, but not as like gouge and ridiculous as these, these rooftop bars that some people would like to go to that. And that was to your point about you couldn’t spend money back then. You could, but you had to work pretty

Niall Mackay: 10:05

hard. Yeah. Right.

Mischa Smith: 10:07

you, and you had to go to these, these awful

Niall Mackay: 10:10

and you’ll be spending a lot of money on something that’s not that great. Whereas now you can spend more money and you’re gonna get really good

Mischa Smith: 10:17

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You can get value for your money now. Yeah.

Niall Mackay: 10:19

I always remember one of the things you told me when we first met was, uh, You were excited when? I’m not gonna name them in case we get sued. I don’t think we would get sued. But you got excited about a certain Dutch be that came here in a green bottle, which is probably one of the most disgusting be I’ve ever tried. Mainstream

Mischa Smith: 10:38

So specific to that it was, it was that it was on tap.

Niall Mackay: 10:42

Oh, it was on

Mischa Smith: 10:42

tap. yeah. So at the time you could only get on Tap Tiger. I mean Tiger was everywhere. Uh, San Miguel at a handful of places, not many. And that’s it. Like, I don’t even remember if you think BSI Gun on Tap, like that’s only by the

Niall Mackay: 10:55

It’s more, everything’s mostly candy bottles, right?

Mischa Smith: 10:58

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, the first time I saw. Draft Tower of the Dutch beer. I was just like, oh, a semi-decent beer This is amazing.

Niall Mackay: 11:07

Do you cringe it at that? You said that

Mischa Smith: 11:10

No, no, no. It’s, it just speaks to the state of, yeah. Of the beer scene at the time. It’s not that, and there, there are far worse commercial pilsners than

Niall Mackay: 11:20

than that one

Mischa Smith: 11:21

than that one’

Niall Mackay: 11:26

I hope you guys enjoyed that episode is me and Misha walked down a little bit of memory Lynn now. Uh, rumbar is still there. So go check it out and just remember if you liked this episode, if you like the podcast, go and follow subscribe from wherever you listen from and go to the Vietnam is awesome. Website. Vietnam is awesome.com and you can book a tour in Saigon. Cheers.