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At 7 a.m., while almost all Japanese eateries in "Little Japan" on Le Thanh Ton Street, Sai Gon Ward are still closed, the kitchen at Morning Tiger is already bustling.
Salmon fillets are placed on grills, and rice is freshly cooked and stirred before being served to the first guests of the day.
Unlike most Japanese restaurants in HCMC that focus on lunch and dinner, this eatery only serves a traditional Japanese breakfast consisting of rice, soup, and side dishes.
Chef Hiroyuki Susuki says this concept of serving a complete breakfast is not yet popular in HCMC.
The Morning Tiger restaurant opened in early September.
The dishes here are based on the ichiju sansai format of one soup and three side dishes served with rice, a popular arrangement in traditional Japanese meals to balance flavors.
A meal is priced at around VND300,000 (US$11.55), and includes charcoal-grilled salmon as the main course.
Each set includes about 220-240g of salmon, which is grilled after guests arrive. The salmon is cured with kelp and then dried for 48 hours.
According to Susuki, this helps make the fish firm while developing a natural umami flavor.
Guests can choose between two seasoning styles for the fish: salt paired with Phu Quoc fish sauce or the signature tare sauce from Japan's Kyushu island.
The eatery has an open-kitchen layout that allows guests to watch the entire cooking process and interact with the chef.
The grill where the fish is cooked sits in the center of the restaurant, inspired by irori, a traditional sunken hearth in Japanese households.
The rice is cooked using yumepirika rice from Hokkaido, Japan. Guests can order free refills of white rice.
The side dishes include miso soup, silver pomfret sashimi from Phu Yen, grated daikon radish with ponzu sauce, and boiled spinach soaked in dashi broth.
The chef recommends that guests should first eat the salmon with just the rice to appreciate its original flavor.
Then they can try the fish with condiments such as scallop sate, honey lemon, or green pepper and salt seasoning, he says.
The remaining rice and fish can be soaked in hot dashi broth, similar to ochazuke, the familiar Japanese style of eating rice with tea.
Some guests say a set is a bit too large for those used to a light breakfast.
Many Vietnamese are admittedly not accustomed to eating rice soaked in dashi broth.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tuyen of Ho Chi Minh city learned about the eatery from a friend.
She says, not having had a Japanese breakfast before, she was quite curious to try it.
She finds the portion large, filling, and well-proportioned for VND300,000.
She says guests should understand the dining rules there before visiting.
The restaurant divides the eating into sessions of 50 minutes each.
Guests who arrive late also have to finish at the scheduled time.
Susuki says there are four time slots for guests between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. with a 10-minute break between each to clean tables, cook fresh batches of rice, grill the fish, and arrange dishes.
This scheduling ensures that guests can eat their rice and fish while they are still hot, he says.
"The 50-minute dining time is calculated so that guests have enough time to enjoy a complete breakfast."
