Rene’s Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant on Palawan
by Donna Amis Davis / @DonnaAmisDavis
Welcome to Rene’s Saigon! This is one of the oldest Vietnamese restaurants on Palawan. It started out as a small affair right inside the Palawan Vietnamese Refugee camp. Later Rene’s moved to its current location down Rizal Extension, otherwise known as Airport Road. It’s the same street that runs through town and past the airport, but to get to Rene’s, you drive past the airport. It’s way down the street, almost to the bay. But worth the trip!
Palawan was home to a first-asylum refugee camp for those fleeing the conflicts and hardships in Vietnam for several years. Today most of the Vietnamese have repatriated to the United States, but a few remain behind. And Palawan’s food scene is so much the richer.
My husband’s very favorite dish is Spicy Pork in Caramel Sauce. Strips of pork, blended with spices are cooked in a small clay pot right over the fire. The pot comes out sizzling hot. Don’t dare touch it. The sauce continues to simmer, and caramelizes to the inside of the pot.
Rene’s serves Beef Stew Noodles, with the red coloring from annatto spice, as is common here on Palawan.
Other lovely dishes are their pork spring rolls, barbecue pork, and hot pots. Rene’s is famous for French Bread. Rene freshly bakes the bread daily and supplies French bread to many Palawan eateries, making his deliveries on his motorcycle, as soon as the bread comes out of the oven, usually around 2 in the afternoon.
Rene’s has a choice of inside dining, or outside patio dining.
Several choices of chicken dishes are on the menu, including delicious Spicy Chicken with Lemon Grass, and fried chicken. The menu is varied, and quite inexpensive, giving the opportunity to try a variety of dishes each meal.
Rene’s has a Facebook page with more lovely pictures of their food. Or find them on Google+ and see a map!
Just remember, Rene’s is open Tuesday through Sunday, and closed on Mondays.
We stopped at a Vietnamese “village” on the road from Sabang to Puerto Princesca when we were on Palawan in ’05 but didn’t have time to try any of their food. Could this be the same community (as the old refugee camp)?
Too bad you didn’t get to eat there! Vietville has wonderful food, and is a favorite of ours. I’ll post about it another time. The actual First Asylum Refugee Center was right next to the airport. When it closed the city gave the land for Vietville to those who remained on Palawan. (I think. I may have the details wrong. Actually I’m not sure whether the land was given or by who. I should look into that.) Vietville is out of town a ways, on the way to Sabang, as you say.
Correction – further research reveals that Vietville was set up by the Center for Assistance to Displaced Persons (CADP) of the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines (CBCP).
Their food looks yummy especially the pork that I miss so much 🙂 Thanks for sharing..
Oh, yes. It must be tough living in a country where you can’t get pork! Have you gained an appreciation for mutton?
It is..Yes, I appreciate mutton now 🙂
I think from our experience, and what we’ve heard others say, food is one of the things people miss the most when they relocate. It goes pretty deep.
Yum! I just might have to hop a flight to Palawan tonight!
Well, if you ate there often enough, you would save what you spent in airfare. In about. . . 300 days or so, plus or minus.
I served as a voluntary dentist at the PFAC and had pleasant memories of the food at the Camp. This was in 1990. You can check out a blog I wrote about the camp. Wonder if it is the same restaurant that has been shifted out. My link http://maxfaxgp.blogspot.in/2009/01/travel-stories-almost-vietnamese-almost.html . George
Hi! The way I understand it, the majority of the Vietnamese refugees that landed at the Palawan First Asylum camp have been repatriated, mostly to the U.S. Only a handful are left. One is Rene’s Vietnamese mother! Who thankfully continues to serve up wonderful Vietnamese food at Rene’s Saigon – and Rene bakes 100’s of pieces of Vietnamese French bread daily. The restaurant is very near where the old camp restaurant was – I’m not sure if it is exactly the same spot, though. It is right along the runway.