Saigon Social

Helen Nguyen’s July 2026 Saigon Social menu pairs Vietnamese dishes with combinations developed in her own kitchen. The July 2026 dinner list at 172 Orchard Street places steamed bánh bèo with shrimp, mung bean and crispy pork fat near bún chả Hà Nội with grilled pork, vermicelli and herbs. Elsewhere, oxtail fried rice combines beef shank, ribeye and oxtail; garlic noodles carry tiger prawns and tobiko.

A menu that moves across registers

The range includes Vietnamese rice cakes and grilled pork, seafood such as crispy porgy with lime-leaf chile salt, and a bánh mì burger with dry-aged beef and oxtail Maggi gravy. Pandan cheesecake uses a Basque-style burnt-cheesecake form. The menu moves among rice cakes, grilled pork, seafood and sandwiches. Individual dishes can change after the July 2026 list.

How Nguyen built the restaurant

Nguyen grew up in Seattle with roots in California and Vietnam, then spent three years with the Feast and Fêtes catering and private-events team at Restaurant Daniel. Pop-ups led toward Saigon Social; the planned March 2020 opening became takeout and community cooking when the pandemic began. The restaurant opened for full dine-in service in March 2022. The James Beard Foundation listed Nguyen as a 2022 Best Chef: New York State semifinalist.