Housed in a two-story building at 290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in Xuan Hoa Ward, the shop draws nostalgic regulars and curious younger visitors.
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The Bo Gia ice cream store on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, Ho Chi Minh City, August 2025. Photo by Read/Tuan Anh |
The recipes have stayed true to the shop’s roots: milk powder, condensed milk, coconut milk, beans, cream, and fresh fruit. The result is ice cream that is smooth, naturally fragrant and sweet without cloying.
Longtime Saigonese recall the shop as a must-stop in HCMC center during the 1980s and early 2000s.
Now the shop is run by Hieu, 63, whose family founded the business.
Customers named it Bo Gia – “The Godfather” – after Hieu’s father, a retired journalist with white hair and a long beard. The shop began modestly, selling coffee and simple banana or ice pops to schoolchildren before Hieu developed new recipes that built its reputation.
“Back then there was only a basic coconut-milk ice cream, and customers would add coffee, syrup, or dried jujube as they liked,” he says.
He trademarked the brand in 1994 after his father passed away. From its first location on Ho Huan Nghiep Street in District 1, the family expanded to four more outlets across Saigon. But they closed as relatives moved abroad or changed careers leaving only the one store run by Hieu and his wife.
Today Bo Gia offers more than 30 flavors, though two classics remain favorites: the signature Bo Gia ice cream and coconut ice cream.
Both are made with coconut milk, fruit and crispy wafers.
The coconut ice cream is served in a young coconut, complete with its juice. Prices start at VND80,000 (US$3).
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Coconut ice cream served inside a coconut with fruit, wafer rolls and whipped cream at Bo Gia in HCMC, August 2025. Photo by Read/Tuan Anh |
The family attributes the shop’s appeal to its focus on ingredients. The fruit-based flavors such as coconut, durian and strawberry are made daily from real fruit, and never flavoring.
Many regulars are longtime customers.
Some, like Vietnamese-American Thuy Hanh, 43, have returned after decades.
“Everything has changed, but the coconut ice cream tastes just like it did back then,” she says, bringing her sons to try it.
Bo Gia is open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
In recent years it has added savory dishes such as pizza, steak, and fried rice to meet customers’ demand.
People can choose to sit inside or outdoors.
Weekend evenings are the busiest.
A second branch has opened on Tran Hung Dao Street in Ben Thanh Ward, catering mainly to international visitors around Bui Vien and Nguyen Hue walking-only streets.
