Casinha - Portuguese restaurant in Thao Dien, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City

We stopped in here off the street for coffee and a de Nata tart this afternoon. Both were excellent. We were just about to leave when the owner came in, he is actually Portuguese. His grandmother used to work in Belem (Lisbon) and had the recipe for the tarts. I think they’re actually better than the ones in Belem. The owner told us that there was live music later that evening at 7:30 contemporary soft jazz, easy listening. We came back to eat and we shared polvo and tempura veg. And an amazing Alentejo red. A very relaxing evening. Can only highly recommend. 😋

It's rare to find good Portuguese restaurants in many parts of the world so when I saw Casinha I jumped right in. Not only that, I ended up stopping by twice in my short stay in HCMC. Food was great overall and the drinks were very refreshing (the tangerine soda was my favorite). I had the cod fritters twice because that is what one does in a legit Portuguese restaurant. I also enjoyed the bacalhau na nata (it takes about 30 minutes but it was worth the wait) and the madrugada (for breakfast). The pastéis de nata were excellent, fluffy and super yummy.

In love with the food, the people and the space! Unfortunately portion was a bit underwhelming, it took 6 dishes to fill 2 people's bellies 😅 The food was far better than the expectations so it kinda made up for that. All the staffs were supportive and lovely! Definitely will come back ☺️

We first learned about Casinha through their pastel de nata (egg tarts) but kept returning for their savory dishes. Seafood is my favorite and for that I find Portuguese cuisine quite enjoyable - dishes like bacalhau a bras (shredded cod with eggs and shoestring potatoes), grilled octopus, and crab brioche roll were all fantastic. Drinks were quite interesting as well with traditional Portuguese coffee and exotic fruit sodas. Also a fan of their juicy bifana sandwich which I have ordered a few times via Grab. Looking forward to trying the rest of the menu in future visits.

First time experiencing Portuguese food. Not sure if it’s authentic or not, but everything was great. If there’s any complaint, I would say cod dish was bit too dried for me. Price is very fair and would definitely come back to try different dishes.