A Guide To Coffee In Vietnam - A Haven For Caffeine Addicts
Vietnam is rightly famous for its coffee. From the bustling streets of Hanoi to the scenic alleys of Hoi An or the highlands of Da Lat, you’re never far from a cup of caffeinated goodness. Read our guide on all the best coffee Vietnam has to offer, from north to south, high-end to cheap we have tried it all!
From the bustling streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, to the cool mountains of Da Lat, from walking down the sleek, modern boulevards of downtown Ho Chi Minh City to navigating a bustling pre-dawn night market, we can absolutely guarantee one thing and that is, you’ll never be far from a coffee in Vietnam!
Coffee isn’t just a scene in Vietnam, it’s a way of life. Going out for a coffee is essential for the Vietnamese and could be seen as one of their daily rituals! Wherever you are in Vietnam, you won’t be far from a small street side coffee stall or modern air conditioned coffee shop. The Vietnamese are in love with their coffee, and there’s a good reason why… It's delicious!
Honestly, we think Vietnam may have come up with the perfect coffee recipe. A rich, rocket fuel laden brew, combined with sweet buttery notes, a cup of coffee in Vietnam will certainly wake and set you up for a busy day of sightseeing! As soon as you take the first sip of the dark nectar, you’ll feel the caffeine rushing through your body. To say it's a pick me up is an understatement. It’s a live wire straight to the brain.
Frequently in Vietnam your coffee will come with a view!
Wherever you are in Vietnam you’ll be able to track down your Italian espresso or your Aussie Flat White, however if you just stick to your Western favourites, you’ll be missing out on some of the best coffee Vietnam has to offer.
Read our guide for all the information you need on the best coffees to order during your time in Vietnam!
In this coffee guide: -
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Useful phrases to know before ordering a coffee in Vietnam
The Vietnamese word for coffee is cà phê (pronounced car-fay).
Once you've hunted down your coffee, you'll need to decide (depending on the type of coffee you choose) the temperature of your brew.
If you want it hot, you'll need to say nóng (pronounced no-ung) and if you want it iced, you will need to ask for đá (pronounced daa).
Milk is sữa (pronounced sue-ah) and for sugar you’ll need đường (pronounced du-oong).
Once you’ve finished your coffee you’ll need to pay. To ask “how much” in Vietnamese you’ll need to say bao nhiêu (pronounced baan nee-oh). Of-course if they answer you in Vietnamese, you’re going to have to learn more numbers. We’d always recommend pulling your calculator on your phone to help things along!
Types of Vietnamese coffee
Now you’ve got your Vietnamese nailed down, you’ll need to decide what coffee to order.
Cà phê đen - black coffee
Black as a witches cat, Vietnamese black coffee or cà phê đen is super strong and the ultimate chemical way to kick start your brain in the morning.
The butter roasted coffee beans make it smooth and less bitter than a European Americano. As with most of the coffees on this list, you can have cà phê đen hot or over ice.
Cà phê sữa - Vietnamese white coffee with condensed milk
A thin layer of sweet, thick condensed milk lines the bottom of a glass of black Vietnamese coffee. You stir and you stir until the sweet milk has turned the whole cup a chocolatey brown and then enjoy.
Cà phê sữa is sweet, buttery and by far the most common and popular coffee we enjoyed in Vietnam.
Over ice, cà phê sữa is a refreshing way to imbibe your daily dose of Vietnamese kerosine.
Phin cà phê - Vietnamese drip coffee
Perhaps the most elegant choice on the list, phin cà phê or Vietnamese drip coffee arrives at your table in two parts. A glass or cup is placed underneath a metal coffee filter. Inside the cup is a little condensed milk and the filter slowly drips the black coffee on top.
It’s coffee for the patient and should not be rushed. When the cup is full, you take off its filter hat, stir the milk and coffee together and savour the creamy, nutty brew!
Bạc xỉu - Vietnamese milk coffee
Known as the “Vietnamese latte”, bạc xỉu (Vietnamese milk coffee) is similar to a cà phê sữa but extra creamy. Usually served in a bigger glass, condensed milk is mixed with fresh milk before being stirred through black coffee.
It lives up to its name as the Vietnamese latte and feels lighter and less sweet than the Vietnamese white coffee. Honestly, bạc xỉu may be the perfect recipe for Vietnamese coffee.
If you’re looking for a Vietnamese twist on your usual coffee order then bạc xỉu is a great way to start.
Cà phê dừa - Vietnamese coconut coffee
Fruit and coffee seems to be the new trend for Asia and no where does this better than Vietnam with their cà phê dừa, a Vietnamese coconut coffee. A shot of black coffee is topped with ice, coconut milk and sometimes ice-cream and is crowned with crisp shavings of sweet coconut. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it really does! It’s a delicious combination.
The iced coconut milk mixed with the rich coffee creates a decadent texture. The sweet creamy coconut pairs deliciously with the dark, bitter coffee, each balancing the other.
After a day of delicious street food we would often hunt down cà phê dừa as pudding!
Speaking of which, another coffee that could also be described as a dessert is ….
Cà phê trứng - Vietnamese egg coffee
This one is a harder sell. Egg coffee does not sound too appealing but trust us it really is great!
Egg yolks are whisked and whipped with condensed milk until they form a smooth, creamy, foamy texture. This egg cream is mixed with coffee to create a tasty coffee / egg / custard hybrid.
We found that you half ate and half drank egg coffee and no matter what you did, you would always end up with a mini moustache made of coffee foam.
It’s a delicious combination and a really unique treat, sitting somewhere between a drink and a pudding, it’s a must try in Vietnam!
We first tried egg coffee during an early morning market food tour of Long Bien Market in Hanoi, read more about this tour here.
Cà phê muối - Vietnamese salt coffee
We know what you’re thinking, in fact we thought the very same thing. Coffee and salt, really?!
On paper this shouldn’t work but if you think about it for a moment, sweet Vietnamese coffee spiked with salt is actually a really good idea. If it works for salted caramel then why not salted coffee. We’re happy to report that the combination works fantastically well. Coffee in Vietnam can sometimes veer towards the sickly side of the sweet spectrum but with the addition of salt it balances the sweetness and creates a completely different flavour profile.
Like egg coffee, salt coffee is completely unique but is an absolute treat. We can really see it catching on outside of Vietnam.
Salt coffee is the signature coffee of Hoi An but you can find it all over the country.
Kopi luwak - Weasel poop coffee
This is a tricky one and we’re not going to lie, we can’t give you a fair review of it as we didn’t actually try it, but you can’t talk about Vietnamese coffee without mentioning weasel poop or civet coffee.
For those who don’t know, small civets (cute weasel-like mammals) eat coffee grounds and then poop them out after their digestive system has chemically altered the beans. The result is supposedly an unparalleled coffee with the bitterness removed and the sweetness accentuated and some have even reported mild psychedelic effects!
We’re still deeply suspicious of the first person to discover weasel poop coffee, but that’s not why we didn’t try it. We didn’t sample this particular caffeinated delight as there is a lot of controversy about how you farm it. Let’s just say it's not a happy ‘Garden of Eden’ with cute little civets munching on fallen berries… Oh, and it can also cost up to £20 a cup, there’s that as well!
If you’d like to learn more about kopi luwak there are plenty of coffee plantations outside of Da Lat city which offer you the chance to try kopi luwak and see the weasels themselves. To hear more about civet coffee and the coffee growing area surrounding Da Lat check out our guide here.
In Vietnamese coffee shops it is not uncommon to get served a small glass of iced tea along with your coffee. The iced tea varies from shop to shop. During our time in Vietnam we’ve had everything from jasmine to peach, green to oolong. This tea is completely free and is a great way to extend your coffee break.
How much is a cup of coffee in Vietnam?
Coffee in Vietnam is usually extremely reasonable.
Your basic white coffee (cà phê sữa) will typically range from anywhere between 15,000 a cup for a street side stall coffee to 50,000 to 60,000 VND for an air-conditioned cafe in a touristy place like Hoi An.
We usually found the middle ground and paid between 25,000 to 30,000 VND for a normal cà phê sữa and a little more for a coconut coffee or egg coffee.
Our favourite coffee shops in Vietnam
Coffee in Hanoi
The Old Quarter of Hanoi is chock full of coffee shops. Most travellers head to the Note Coffee (location) near the shoreline of Hoàn Kiếm Lake, however we didn’t feel like queuing in an endless stream of Instagrammers so we explored some of Old Quarter’s other coffee shops.
Our favourites were Coffee A (location) set on a busy crossroads in the heart of the old town. Coffee A serves fantastic white coffees and we loved sitting on their upstairs balconies watching Old Quarter life unfurl below. Make sure to pair your coffee with one of their delicious, warm banana cakes!
Another favourite of ours was Ca Bop (location). Set up stairs amidst bamboo sellers and craft stores, this cafe is worth it for the location alone. Order your coffee downstairs then clamber up the tiny staircase and enjoy your brew with a fantastic view of the local temple and neighbourhood. The coffee shop also makes a great place to try egg coffee.
Outside of the Old Quarter, we’d recommend heading towards Trúc Bạch island which is stuffed full and surrounded by cute cafes and funky coffee shops. One of our favourites was the M(8)TE cafe (location) which served fantastic specialty coffees and was super busy with the local youth. Another popular coffee spot is just round the corner at Ma Xó Cafe (location) which serves good coffee and excellent brunches all with a lovely lakeside view.
For those with families, we’d recommend heading to any of the coffee shops of West Lake as nearly all of them give you or your children (of all ages!) to paint small ceramic figurines alongside your coffee.
Coffee in Hue
Head off in any direction away from the backpacker district of Hue’s Walking Street and you’ll find plenty of cute coffee shops to cool down with a quick caffeinated brew.
One of our favourites was the HÚE Cafe (location). This funky art cafe was set off an alleyway in a modern brushed concrete building full of green plants, modern art and wooden furniture. The cafe serves all your coffee favourites alongside some delicious French pastries. We loved pairing a bạc xỉu with a sweet and sticky cinnamon bun!
Another great coffee shop we enjoyed was Bom Cafe (location) to the south of Hue’s Walking Street which served delicious and cheap coconut coffees.
Coffee in Hoi An
Hoi An is a coffee lovers paradise which is overflowing with achingly cool coffee shops located inside beautiful historic buildings all through the Old Town. These Old Town coffee shops are a little more pricey than usual, but are worth it just for the ambiance.
Our favourite coffee shop in the Old Town was CACA Coffee & Tea (location) which was set in a traditional shophouse. They serve excellent coffee with the best seats in the house looking right out onto the street.
If you’re staying outside of the Old Town our go to place for coffee was the 1989 Cafe & Bistro (location). Attached to a hotel this is about as far away from our usual food and drink recommendations as it gets but despite its posh, air conditioned interior, this coffee shop was super cheap and delicious.
We’d recommend trying their coconut coffee - it was super tasty and the cheapest one we found in the whole of Vietnam!
Coffee in Da Lat
Set high in the mountains, Da Lat is Vietnam’s coffee growing hub and with that it should come as no surprise that the city has a famously great coffee scene.
We thoroughly enjoyed drinking at LYN Coffee & Tea (location) and Amélie Pâtisserie et Café (location). To read more about these coffee shops and our time in Da Lat check out our guide here.
Coffee in Ho Chi Minh city
Vietnam’s second city and the southern hub, Ho Chi Minh, has hundreds of coffee shops for you to choose from. From the coffee shops set in the famous Cafe Apartments building (location) to the traditional market stall coffee in Ben Thanh Market (location) you’re never far from a good cup of coffee.
In our time in Ho Chi Minh we’ve stayed far away from the tourist area of District 1, we got “right off the beaten path” and found some great local coffee shops. We particularly liked Hoas The Coffee (location) and the Rebel Kafe (location).
Chain coffee shops in Vietnam
Wherever you are in Vietnam, you’ll quickly notice that the country hasn’t escaped the scourge of chain coffee shops.
Two of the most popular chains are Highlands Coffee and Cong Ca Phe.
Highlands Coffee can found literally everywhere and you’ll recognise them from their red and white logo. If you’re in Hanoi they have a very cool cafe on a boat floating on the West Lake (location).
Cong Ca Phe seem to be the “cool” chain. There stores are always eclectically decorated with lots of military memorabilia and army fatigue colours and are frequently housed in interesting buildings. The coffee is excellent and we didn’t realise it was a chain until we started seeing them all over the place.
Of-course if you’re criminally insane and want a Starbucks, you’ll find them in most of the bigger malls.
Coffee delivery - Can I order coffee online?
Yes you most certainly can!
Coffee delivery is a booming business in Vietnam, with almost every coffee shop / stall offering delivery.
To order a coffee online, just download the Grab app and place your order. If you’re ordering from Grab, once your order is confirmed you’ll be able to track your coffee from the barista, to bike, all the way to your hand.
To use Grab and any other food delivery apps you will need a Vietnamese SIM card. These can be brought on arrival at the airport or in any Viettel store. Or if you would prefer to arrange an eSIM in advance of landing, check out the packages available on Airalo.
Booking a coffee tour in Vietnam
If you’d prefer to sample the Vietnamese coffees all in one hit, then why not take a coffee tour?
There are plenty of different tour operators throughout all the major cities of Vietnam. Check out below for some ideas from GetYourGuide below:
Final Thoughts
Wherever you are in this beautiful country, you’ll never be far from a ‘cup of Joe’, with coffee shops open all hours, from first light till late you'll never not find your caffeine kick. Just pull up a tiny pew, order your chosen coffee and savour the powerful nectar of Vietnamese coffee!
For anyone who is a coffee addict, we cannot recommend Vietnamese coffee enough. It’s super strong, super cheap and super addictive!
Trust us, after a couple of months in this incredible country, we don’t know how we’re going to get by without our daily cà phê fix.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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Vietnam’s Lesser Known Delicacy - Xôi - An Adventure In Sticky Rice
Sticky rice may not be as internationally famous as pho or banh mi but is an iconic delicious dish of Vietnam. Read our guide for our top recommendations of where to find the best Xôi including the famous street side stall of Xôi Yến in Hanoi’s Old Quarter as well as the Michelin Guide recommended of Xôi Bát in Ho Chi Minh / Saigon.
Wherever you are in Vietnam you’ll never go hungry. Food is available 24/7. From the pavement of the bustling scooter filled streets, to high-end, Michelin Guide restaurants. Vietnam is famous the worldover for its delicate pho broths, its flat rice noodles, punchy herbs and of-course the ubiquitous banh mi, but what if we told you about another delicacy? A Vietnamese speciality that’s not as well known to travellers as pho or bun bo hue, but a hearty, comforting dish, full of flavour. Let us introduce you to xôi.
Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
What is Xôi?
Xôi in Vietnamese, literally translates to ‘sticky rice’. Although completely accurate in naming the ingredient of the dish, it feels a bit flat. Yes the rice is sticky, but there’s so much more to it than that!
Xôi in Vietnam can come in two different forms, the savoury (which we will talk about in more detail below), or sweet. In either form, the base ingredient is the same with glutinous rice either being steamed or cooked to create a sticky base layer to soak up and carry other flavours.
For the sweet versions, the rice is usually cooked in sugar and served with mung bean paste and coconut. There’s a celebratory sweet xôi called Xôi Chè which is eaten during Tet celebrations, or when a baby is born, a bit like wetting the babies head in the UK. This type of xôi is a sweet version, made up of glutinous rice, ginger and sugar!
If you’re visiting Hanoi during the autumn there’s also another sweet xôi called Xôi Com. A bright green xôi that is only available for a small window of the year. Similar to traditional sweet xôi, the xôi com is cooked with sugar, mung beans and coconut strips, however the colour of the xôi is completely different. Xôi com is bright green due to the mature green rice grains used. Once cooked the xôi com is then topped with lotus seeds, strips of white coconut and a sprinkling of sugar. The taste is supposed to be silky and sweet. Let us know in the comments if you try it!
For savoury versions of xôi, the rice grains are steamed in a meaty stock and topped with any combination of; rich pâté, slices of meat, eggs, meat floss or beans. Rice is one of those great carriers of flavour. On its own, rice is quite plain with only a subtle hint of nuttiness but pair it with stock, meat or sauces and the flavours just leach into the grains. Savoury xôi is just one big flavour bomb, full of different layers of taste making each mouthful a unique and interesting bite.
Whether you’re more of a sweet or savoury person, a vegetarian or a meat eater, there’s a bowl of xôi for you!
There are so many different variations of xôi available in Vietnam, it would take us too long to list them all (it is believed that almost every city within the country has their own variation). If you want to learn more about the different xôi’s types available throughout Vietnam, check out this guide by the Vietnam Nomad.
Where to eat Xôi?
As we mentioned above, xôi can be found all over Vietnam, from the highlands of Ha Giang and Cao Bang all the way to the waterways of the Mekong Delta. Served in modern, air conditioned restaurants, to small, roadside stalls with only a few plastic chairs, a serving of xôi can be found all over the country. It’s a Vietnamese staple, and popular amongst the locals for a reason!
In the bigger cities, during the day you will often see local Vietnamese ladies carrying large baskets of xôi on their shoulders. To order, just hail them down and they’ll stop on the street to make a parcel of xôi right there and then for you. Some ladies will have plastic stools for you to sit on after you’ve ordered, but a lot of the time the xôi is made for take away.
If you are ever unsure just look for the word xôi on menus, signs or posters. Many restaurants are named after their most famous dish, so if the restaurant has xôi in the title you will be in good hands!
Although xôi is available throughout the whole day, the dish is an extremely popular breakfast item, especially for those working in or around one of the fresh markets. If you’re after a really local experience, we’d recommend heading over to your nearest market (chợ in Vietnamese) and dining with the locals as dawn breaks with a banana leaf package of xôi. In fact we did just this on our early morning tour of Long Bien Market in Hanoi where we sampled four different types of savoury xôi, coated with purple beans, pork floss, roasted garlic, shallots and crushed peanuts. It was delicious with a salty, nutty undertone from the toppings. After trying it that morning, we can see why it's such a popular ‘go to’ breakfast in the market as its tasty carby-ness and would keep you full all morning!
Read on to find out about two restaurants we recommend you seeking out on your Vietnamese travels; one up north in the capital of Hanoi and the other down south in the bustling city of Ho Chi Minh
Eating Xôi in Hanoi - Xôi Yến restaurant
Hanoi’s Old Quarter is a rabbit warren of old streets full to the brim with different eateries, street food stalls and restaurants. We were leaving Hanoi to head north to the town of Ha Giang. Before catching our bus we wanted a hearty lunch and so headed to Xôi Yến (location) to try our first bowl of savoury xôi.
Set in a narrow street of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, Xôi Yến is an institution famous throughout Hanoi and beyond. There are tables inside the restaurant, but the best seats are the small chairs that crowd the pavement, right next to the parked scooters.
When we visited it was extremely busy with locals with a seemingly never ending queue of Grab drivers picking up plates of xôi for take away. Ordering from the restaurant is simple, just wait in line, head up to the server, place your order and take a seat.
The restaurant serves three types of xôi. Xôi xéo, a bright yellow sticky rice cooked in turmeric to give its golden colour, xôi trắng, the traditional white rice and xôi ngô, sticky rice cooked with corn. We both chose to stay traditional and so opted for the xôi trắng.
Our toppings however were where things got interesting. John kept it classic and went for the Chinese stewed roast pork and egg. Simple, but roast pork is always a crowd pleaser. I, the princess, who can never just have one topping, decided that as I’m special, I wanted a bit of everything and chose the mixed meat with egg.
After ordering, we navigated our way through the scooters, stored our backpacks as out of the way as they could be (always an embarrassing issue when backpacking), and took our seats.
John’s bowl of xôi came to the table first. It looked amazing! The roast pork looked incredible. Small squares of delicious meat, with alternating layers of sweet meat and fat and topped by a crispy square of crackling. It looked divine. To say I was jealous is an understatement. As is always the case whenever John chooses something different to me, I was overwhelmed with jealousy. Thinking that he had made the better choice, I had to resist the urge not to stomp my foot in frustration! This jealousy ended rather quickly however, when my bowl came out. I didn’t have the crisp roast pork like John, instead I had a bit of meat from everything they had on the menu. On top of my xôi sat strips of stewed pork meat, a wedge of peppery Vietnamese sausage, a spoonful of rich dark pâté, slithers of thin, almost translucent Chinese sausage and pork floss. Now feeling rather smug with my decision, we dove in.
There’s something special about the ‘first’ time you have a dish. The anticipation and excitement of trying something new, is something that can never be recreated. The first mouthful is always one you’ll remember, with the new tastes and flavour zinging all across your tongue. As travellers who love their food, seeking out new food to try is just one of the many pleasures of exploring. Tasting the xôi for the first time was just one of those times.
The xôi at Xôi Yến was incredible. Nutty and meaty, with a soft snap from the glutinous rice. It was everything we had hoped it would be. To counteract the rich xôi, we added pickled cucumbers soaked in a tangy vinegar and chilli to our bowls which gave a needed sourness to the decadent bowl of rice.
We finished our bowls with not even a grain of rice grain left, and headed to our bus. If you’re in Hanoi, Xôi Yến is great. We can’t say if it’s the best xôi restaurant in the city, but for our first try of this Vietnamese delicacy it really didn’t disappoint!
Eating Xôi in Ho Chi Minh City - Xôi Bát restaurant
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city, after three incredible months travelling north to south through Vietnam. Despite having eaten our weight in noodles and rice, we were still craving another bowl of some delicious savoury xôi.
Throughout our travels in the country, we had stumbled upon it numerous times on the streets and in the local markets, but still we wanted more!
Back in our favourite neighbourhood of Saigon (a small enclave far to the north of District 1) we started googling around to find some xôi and this led us to - Xôi Bát (location).
Already excited by the prospect of more xôi, our interest was piqued by a certain review mentioning that the restaurant had been featured in the Michelin 2023 guide. To anyone who is a foodie, this is like being fed catnip! It was possible we may even get a better bowl of xôi than we had eaten in Hanoi!
The restaurant is located off a side road off of Hoàng Hoa Thám. From the outside the restaurant doesn’t look like much, and if you weren’t looking for it specifically, you could easily just walk past without noticing it.
Inside, the restaurant is very small with only a handful of tables. We visited late on a Monday lunchtime and easily grabbed a table, but if it was the weekend we can imagine we might have had to wait a little.
Xôi Bát translates to bowl of sticky rice and the restaurant's small menu offers just that. With about ten different bowls on offer, each topped with a variety of meaty toppings. It was a hard decision, both the pork options were strong contenders, but in the end we both opted for the xôi thịt kho tàu, a bowl of sticky rice served with caramelised pork and eggs.
Shortly after ordering out came our ricey feast! A small bowl of sticky rice was topped with a large chunk of caramelised pork, a whole boiled egg, crispy shallots and coriander. Next came out small bowls of a clear soup and carrots, and finally two small dishes of pickled vegetables.
It was time to dig in, and boy were we in for a treat! The pork was sweet and tender. It was so soft you could easily cut it with a spoon and when you put it in your mouth it literally melted away. The deep fried shallots and garlic were sweet and crunchy and were a great texture against the soft meat and egg.
The toppings were delicious, but the xôi itself was ‘star of the show’. The grains had been cooked in a rich meaty stock with a taste of coconut studded through. The rice was chewy, snappy and hearty with a sweet undertone from the coconut. On top of this sweet, meaty, rice layer sat a thin covering of salty pâté. It was the perfect, savoury counterpoint to the sticky sweetness of the rice.
The bowl of xôi had the perfect balance of sweet and salty, but pair this with the pickled vegetables and suddenly you have the perfect mouthful. Tangy and sour, the vinegary cabbage and carrots gave a sharp kick to the rich rice and meat. The clear soup on the side was delicately flavoured with pepper and a subtle vegetable notes. It was a perfect refresher for the xôi flavour bomb.
We can see why this restaurant was recommended in the Michelin guide for 2023. Everything seemed to pair perfectly well with each other, in a wonderful harmony. It was an incredible lunch!
If you’re in Ho Chi Minh City we’d recommend hailing a taxi and heading here. Not only is the food amazing at Xôi Bát, but if you’re still hungry after, the whole area is packed full of local eateries, street food stalls and coffee shops. We’ve stayed in the area for nearly a month in total now and haven’t even gotten close to eating everywhere. There’s just so much choice!
If you’re short on time, and Xôi Bát is a bit far from your accommodation, then you can always get a bowl delivered straight to your door via Grab. Something we’ve already earmarked for a few days' time when we head to the airport. A bowl of xôi from Xôi Bát will certainly be cheaper and will almost certainly beat the usual drab airport food offerings!
To order food via the Grab app, you will need a Vietnamese SIM card. To arrange this in advance of landing in Vietnam, why not order a Vietnamese eSIM from Airalo.
We cannot stress how good a bowl of xôi is. It’s hearty, filling and packs a huge punch of flavour. Whatever time of day, it’ll keep you full for a very long time, and will set you up for a full day of exploring. If you’re in Vietnam, Xôi is a must try dish. Trust us, you won’t be disappointed!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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A day out from Da Lat - The Elephant Waterfalls , Linh An Pagoda and an Alpine Roller Coaster
Outside the Vietnamese city of Da Lat the Central Highlands are packed full of things to see and do. We took a scooter and had a days adventure travelling to the Linh An Temple, the “closed” Elephant Waterfalls and Da Lat’s famous Alpine Rollercoaster! Read all about what we got up to and how to plan your own day out from Da Lat.
Da Lat is a fantastic city, unlike any other in Vietnam, full of green spaces, lakes, fantastic foods and funky places to visit. However, there is more to this highland area of Vietnam than just Da Lat. In the rolling hills around the town there is so much to discover!
We had seen pictures of the famous alpine roller coaster that winds down to the Datanla Waterfall and we knew we had to go. We had also heard (via Int Affair on YouTube) of the Elephant Waterfall (Thác Voi) which sits next to the incredible looking Linh Ẩn Pagoda. So Ellie planned a route, we rented a scooter and set off to see what we could find!
In this blog:
Our experience with the Alpine Rollercoaster and Datanla Falls
Practical Information on:
Getting to and looking around the Linh Ẩn Pagoda - Ticket costs, dress codes, waterfall views etc
The ‘closed’ Elephant Waterfalls - How to get an up close view and how much it costs.
The Alpine Coaster and Datanla Falls - How to get there, ticket prices and how to have the best time!
Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
The Journey to the Temple and Waterfall
We left our lovely guest house(literally, the guest house is called Lovely House) and headed out through the morning traffic in Da Lat. Traffic in Vietnam is always exciting on a bike. From the pavement the chaotic Brownian motion of bikes cars and people looks impossible to navigate but, once you are a part of the swarm, it all just sort of works! It's not exactly relaxing but driving is nothing like as stressful as it looks from the outside!
Once out of Da Lat town we headed off to the Linh Ẩn Pagoda and the Elephant Waterfalls. Our route took us out from the town, along winding hill roads that snaked around towering green highlands.
We passed miles of greenhouses and farms, Da Lat is a hub of luxury agriculture in Vietnam. Micro herbs, strawberries and all manner of delicious fresh fruit and vegetables - Da Lat produces it all. This fresh produce is one of the reasons Da Lat has such good food, the veg is grown right on the outskirts of town! Many of these farms offer tours or farm shops. There was even an intriguing sign for “Little Hobbiton”… next time… maybe!
Another of Da Lat’s claims to fame is its coffee. We love / are dependent on a good cup of coffee and have indulged in many since arriving in Da Lat. The coffee is amazing, cheap and abundant with loads of cute cafes serving every style of cup imaginable. We have not, however, tried Da Lat’s famous Kopi Luwak - weasel poo coffee.
The idea is simple: weasel eats coffee bean, weasels digestion alters coffee bean chemically, weasels poop out altered bean, bean is harvested....profit! It is meant to taste incredible with more sweetness and less bitterness.
Along the road to the temple there were many farms making this Kopi Luwak. Despite being the caffeine fiends that we are, we didn't stop. The Kopi Luwak is very expensive and well outside of what we are prepared to pay for a cup. There are also some (quite major) ethical issues at some of these farms. Some have large enclosures for the weasel / civets to roam around and eat coffee beans at their leisure and some....don’t…
The most famous farm for tourists in the area is Me Linh Coffee Garden and we drove past it on the road to the temple. It is a large site with coach parking and tours of the coffee fields. It looked like it had a great view over the surrounding countryside but we didn’t stop.
If you are interested in coffee in Da Lat check out some tour options here:
We, with our limited time and budget, scooted on.
The road to the temple and falls was pretty busy with lorries and locals in every kind of car, bike and HGV imaginable. It wasn’t horrible to drive on, but it was very disconcerting how many people appeared to be happy texting whilst driving a bike down a hill at 50kph! We took it safe and slow.
Google put the travel time to be around 45 minutes to an hour between Da Lat and the Linh Ẩn Pagoda, due to being stuck behind a lorry transporting concrete slabs, it took us a little over this. Soon enough though we could see the huge white statue of the Linh Ẩn Temple rising above the buildings of a small town. We had arrived.
The Linh Ẩn Pagoda, Guan Yin Statue and a view of the Elephant Falls
We had set off that morning knowing that we may be disappointed. The recent Google reviews of the Elephant waterfalls had all mentioned that they were closed to the public at the moment. There was hope that we could still get some views of the falls from the temple and other viewpoints further down the valley. There was also an intriguing comment left in a review about another, less official viewpoint...
We knew we wanted to go around the temple and see the statue so we pulled off the main road and into the (massive) car park for the pagoda. Parking was free (they just ask for a donation in a box as you leave). So, scooter parked and our helmet hair swaying in the breeze (John’s could only be described as Pomeranian), we walked towards the temple.
Towering over everything and visible from miles around is the massive Guan Yin (Aka Guanyin or Kwan Yuan) statue. Pure white and over seventy metres tall the statue dwarves everything around it. The statue is of the female Buddha or Guan Yin a revered Buddha who, even after achieving enlightenment refused to escape reincarnation choosing instead to be reborn again and again in order to help others. The full story of Guan Yin is fascinating (and frankly wild) if you have a spare moment have a read here.
We skirted around the base of the statue and walked down some stairs to the left. We could hear, even at this distance, the roar of the Elephant waterfall. Our first view of the falls was spectacular: A little way off, across a ravine and between some trees, a churning, thundering torrent of water boiled over the lip of the falls before crashing down and exploding into a fog of spray far below. We were a good few hundred metres away but it was still a fantastic sight!
From our vantage point we could also see the rusted remains of viewing platforms, walkways and gantries. The waterfall's official entrance (next to the temple) was, quite definitely, closed and from up here you could see why. Whether it was by neglect, flooding or just the march of time, the old ways of getting to the waterfall had fallen apart and were now rusted and unstable. However, on the other side of the falls we could see a small platform... the Google review commenter was right, we would still be able to get up close to the Elephant Falls, just not by official means!
Zoom Lenses
Are fun!
Continuing our exploration of the Linh Ẩn Temple we walked across the raised path towards the enormous statue. Inside a small doorway to the side, we removed our shoes and began to climb stairs that run all the way up the inside of the seventy one metre statue. After each set of stairs, on every floor, was a shrine with colourful wall paintings, statues and a matted area for meditation and prayer. Around the walls small windows gave an increasingly amazing view of the surrounding hills and countryside. At the very top was an especially grand shrine. The view through the (tiny) windows was amazing, stretching off over the town and surrounding countryside.
You can’t see from this photo but the windows at the top of the statue are tiny!
After we had plodded back down the many,many stairs and re-shoed ourselves we walked back up into the temple complex. There are shrines, statues and carvings everywhere. There is an especially amazing stone turtle with a live tree being carried on its back. Inside the main temple building are large beautiful statues of the Buddha in various incarnations, including the many armed reincarnation of Guan Yin (again a wild story).
You can see Guan Yin on the left.
The site was not busy at all when we visited on a Thursday morning, there were a few other scooter mounted tourists and one bus full of pilgrims arrived just as we were leaving. When we had climbed the statue we were the only ones inside. The whole complex is free to explore, there is just a small donation box at the entrance to the car park along with a few offering stands and religious trinket sellers. There were the ever-present photographers offering to take photos of you and the statue but really no hassle or pressure from hawkers.
The Linh Ẩn temple had been planned as an afterthought, just a way of getting a glimpse at the waterfall but we ended up spending the best part of an hour and a half wandering around, climbing the statue and just taking in the sights. The photo’s online do not do it justice, it is so much bigger than it looks! We would recommend checking this out even if it wasn’t near the Elephant falls, the site is just so impressive and beautiful.
After we were done admiring the temple we mounted our little scooter, posted a small donation in the box and headed to the other side of the falls.
Getting to the Elephant Falls viewpoint - Elephant Coffee
A very short drive from the temple and closed waterfall entrance, right on the main road and just over the bridge, is Elephant Coffee (located here). This enterprising cliff side coffee house is clearly benefiting from the closure of the official waterfall entrance. It costs 50,000 VND (about £1.55 or $1.95) per person to park your bike and access the falls. We paid up and clambered down some slippery moss grown steps towards the roaring water.
As soon as you start down the path you can feel the spray from the falls. You cannot see the water but it saturates the air. We picked our way down the steps and came out onto the first viewing platform. Spectacular is a word too easily thrown around (that’s the second time we have used it in this one article for example), but we couldn’t think of another way of describing the falls. Up close the power of the water is unmistakable, It pounds down, smashing through rocks and carving a gash out through the vegetation before diving into a churning pool below. It had been raining for the past couple of evenings so the flow was in full impressive force.
We walked down to the next viewing stage, a precarious wedge of rock set right up near the falling water. There was no way not to get wet here, the water was atomised into spray by its own power and the spray drifted up and coated everything. We stood, getting gradually soggier and took in the power of the place.
At points it was like walking through a cloud!
There were a couple more viewpoints, each offering different angles on the waterfalls, we scrambled between them snapping away with our worryingly wet cameras. We were so relieved to have been able to get up close to the falls. The pessimistic reviews online had prepared us for the worst when we set off but we were very happy to have found this alternative viewpoint.
The weather forecast for the afternoon and evening was dire and we had no wish to ride our scooter back in a storm so we didn’t stay for coffees. We jumped on our bike and headed back along the road to Da Lat.
The Roller Coaster and the Datanla Falls
We had not originally planned on doing Da Lat’s famous alpine roller coaster and Datanla waterfalls that day. The forecast had said rain would be coming in the early afternoon and continuing all afternoon. However, as we were approaching Da Lat town again, the skies were still clear and the sun was still out. On the horizon we could see a few dark clouds but it didn’t look like it was about to rain.
The falls and roller-coaster are only a 15 minute or so drive from downtown Da Lat, and we didn’t really want to rent a scooter for another day or pay for a Grab taxi tomorrow, when we could do it all today. So we gambled with the weather, drove through Da Lat and headed for the Datanla Alpine Coaster.
The alpine coaster is located out the other side of Da Lat from the road to the temple. Just past the bus station and down a wide stretch of modern highway the road splits off into a wooded area and the entrance to the roller coaster and the Datanala falls. You can find the entrance and parking on a map here. The falls and the coaster are part of an activities park offering everything from alpine coasters to zip lining, canyoneering to trekking. There are multiple routes through the park with two coasters to try.
We knew we wanted the newer roller coaster; number three as it offers the longest ride to the falls. Route one is a much shorter ride (and doesn’t go to Datanla Falls) and it looks like route two is not currently running. Route three costs 250,000 VND (£7.75 or $9.75) each for tickets down the alpine coaster and then back up from the waterfall.
At this point we should probably explain, to those who didn’t play Roller Coaster Tycoon, what an alpine coaster is: You sit in a little car, attached to metal rails underneath, that rolls and careens down a track that resembles a bobsleigh run. It is very, very fun. The Da Lat coaster has the added pressure / thrill of making you responsible for your own braking. levers left and right will apply or remove the brakes and throughout the ride there are signs advising you to brake or accelerate through various sections.
Very very very fun!
With the weather warnings as they were and the fact that it was early afternoon on a Thursday, We didn’t have to queue for tickets or the ride at all. You can ride as a couple but we decided to each take a car down individually. We were strapped in given some basic instructions - i.e. don’t hit the car in front - and let loose!
How do you describe a roller coaster ride? It was a roller coaster! Twists and turns flung you around, the cars accelerating down helixes and nearly flying over bumps. The forest all around flashing past as the cart below rattled and careened down the track. All the while the adrenaline pumping, stomach flipping g forces attacking you. In short, it was great! Around halfway through the ride we slowed to a halt as the cars waited to be pulled up a massive incline. We clicked and clacked up the huge hill before charging in a mad swoop of turns and drops down to the finish.
There may be no better way of travelling to a waterfall.
The alpine coaster drops you off right at the base of the Datanla waterfall. Buzzing from the ride we walked down to admire the falls. Although not on the same scale or violence as the Elephant falls from earlier, the Datanla falls were beautiful, a multi stage waterfall that falls in silver rivulets down the mountainside we had just ridden past. The falls then splits into small streams which criss-cross each other and are spanned by bridges and selfie points. It is a little theme-parky (we know, it shouldn’t be surprising - we had just got off a roller coaster), but was still a very pretty place. There are plenty of spots to take photos and admire the view from.
Our ticket also entitled us to a return trip up the hill to the entrance. So, after we had had our fill of the waterfall we headed back onto the coaster.
The return trip was an unexpected bonus, it looks from the bottom that you are just going to be dragged straight back up the hill to the starting station, but there is actually a whole other section of coaster! Definitely not as long as the first set but still great fun.
At the top the sky had darkened noticeably and we could feel the occasional raindrop fall. We hurried back to our scooter, paid the parking fee (5000 VND) and drove off back to Da Lat.
Not all the best things in life are free, sometimes you have to pay the entrance fee!
The roller coaster was quite an expensive experience. The ride had lasted maybe 8 minutes down and 5 back up and had cost us the best park of £16 between us. However, sometimes you do have to open your wallet and have some good silly fun. It has been far too long since we were last on a roller coaster and, if we were still in Da Lat, we would definitely go again!
We had crammed a lot into one day, we had driven south for about an hour, seen a massive statue, beautiful temple and huge waterfall. We had ridden back through town and raced down a mountain to a waterfall on a rollercoaster! As we drove back, the beginnings of a storm dusting our faces, we couldn’t help but grin, it had been a great day.
The practical stuff
Linh Ẩn Temple and Pagoda information
Where is the Linh Ẩn Temple?
Right here. It is a medium length (45 minutes to an hour) scooter ride from Da Lat town along a quite busy stretch of road. We are no experts on two wheels but wouldn’t recommend this as a learning experience on a scooter. There is a fair bit of traffic to share the road with. If you are ok on a scooter and this is not your first time on public roads you should be ok.
Scooter rental seems to be uniform across Da Lat at around 150,000 VND per day.
If you don’t have a scooter you can easily get to the temple (and anywhere else) by Grab Taxi or by booking an Easy Rider in Da Lat town.
How much does Linh Ẩn Temple cost?
Nothing, it is free to enter and free to park your bike. There is a donation box that we would encourage you to use on the way out. It is a beautiful place and it would be nice if it stayed that way.
Is there a dress code at Linh Ẩn Temple?
Dress respectfully, it is a place of worship. Shoulders and knees should be covered, just be respectful. It isn't rocket science!
What are the opening times for the temple?
The temple is listed as being open 24 hours a day. It will be much busier on weekends and on festival days.
Can we get a view of the Elephant falls from Linh Ẩn Temple?
Absolutely. From the carpark head to the left of the statue (facing it) and go down the steps to the wide area around the base. From the railings here you can see the falls, however it is not the best vantage point. Continue on the left and go down the next set of stairs to the gardens area (still under construction at the moment) and you will be treated to a great view of the waterfalls.
Also the view from the top of the statue is fantastic. Just beware the windows to look out from are tiny.
The Elephant Waterfalls (Thác Voi) Information:
Where are the Elephant Falls?
The google listing for the falls is here however, this will take you to the closed (at the moment) entrance. Please let us know in the comments if this route reopens.
Is Elephant Falls closed? Can we still see it?
Until the main entrance reopens the best way to see Elephant Falls up close is from Elephant Coffee (location). They charge 50,000 VND for access to their viewing platforms but they do give a spectacular view of the waterfalls. Just park your bike / Grab taxi / tour bus, in the large car park pay the attendant and go down the steps at the rear of the building.
There are 3 main viewing areas from Elephant Coffee. Make sure you check out all of them, just beware of the slippery rocks and steps!
As we mentioned in the main article you can also get good views from the Linh Ẩn temple, although they are from much further away. Just head to the left of the statue and down the stairs (two sets of stairs for the best view). You can see the falls from within the massive statue but the windows are very small so they aren’t the best place to see it from.
You can also get some good long distance views from some of the cliff side coffee plantations and cafes along the valley. If we had better weather and more time we would have definitely explored further on down the valley as it looked very pretty!
The Alpine Roller Coaster and the Datanla Falls information:
Where is Da Lat’s Alpine Rollercoaster?
You can find the ticket booth, parking and entrance to the Alpine Roller Coaster here. It is an easy drive down a big busy road from Da Lat. Again, due to the traffic we wouldn’t recommend self driving to new or nervous drivers but it is not a long ride - only about 15 minutes from town. This can, like everything in and around Da Lat, be easily done via Grab taxi or easy rider.
How much does the Alpine Coaster Cost?
The coaster itself costs 250,000 VND per person for a return ride taking you down to the waterfall and back up to the entrance.
The parking costs 5000 VND per motorbike and a little more for cars.
Tips and advice for riding the alpine coaster - How to have the best time.
The roller coaster is great fun when it is quiet. As you, and everyone else on the ride, control their own speed, your experience is greatly affected by other people. There are signs and multi language loudspeakers warning you that you are responsible for your own speed and you are not to run into the car in front. We can imagine it being a frustrating and miserable experience if you are stuck in a queue of people never being able to take your hands off of the brakes.
We visited on a quiet Thursday afternoon when it was threatening rain and had the whole run to ourselves, we could go as fast or slow as we wanted! On our way back up however, we were treated to the sight of an elderly lady going around 2 mph down the steepest part of the descent, we were glad we were not behind her! The park will be much busier on the weekends and holidays so try and plan around this.
Is the Alpine Coaster worth the money?
This comes down to your personal experience and preference but for us it was a resounding yes! We had an absolute blast on the roller coaster and at the falls. It cost more than we would usually spend on such a short amount of time, but we had a great time! As we mentioned above, do try and get there at a quieter time as it would not be as fun if it was busy.
Can I ride the coaster with someone else? I don’t want to drive myself!
You can ride the Alpine coaster tandem, with one sitting in front of the other. The braking is easy and, by default, on. You accelerate by pushing the control lever away from you and brake by letting it come back. You can definitely make this someone else’s issue and ride with a friend but it was good fun driving yourself!
Organised trips and tours including the Elephant Waterfall Linh Ẩn Temple and alpine coaster
If you want to organise your holiday or exploration in advance and make the logistics someone else’s problem then you can easily arrange a tour around Da Lat and the surrounding countryside. All the attractions we talked about here are outside of the town but not a great distance from each other. You can book a tour inside the town, either with a group on a minibus or on the back of a bike with an easy rider. Alternately you can get it all organised online via Get Your Guide:
We hope you found all this useful, it is only a tiny fraction of the adventures you can get up to around Da Lat. If you have more time there is hiking, staying in other hill towns and tons more to explore.
For ideas of what to do, where to stay and what delicious food to munch on in Da Lat City itself, check out our article.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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Da Lat City - Flowers, Food and Crazy Mazes
High in the hills of Central Vietnam, the city of Da Lat is famous for it’s coffee, farms, alpine roller coaster and night market but dig a little deeper and you will find there is much more to this small city than the standard tourist stops. Read our guide for the best food to sample, all the things to go and see as well as where to stay and what to avoid.
High up in the hills of Vietnam’s Central Highlands, the city of Da Lat (or Dalat) sits around a large lake, with the town spiralling out into the forests and hills. Known as the “City of Eternal Spring” or “The Paris of Vietnam”, Dalat enjoys a cooler year round climate, as well as gardens bursting with flowers. This cooler climate combined with its famous attractions and delicious cuisine make Da Lat a very popular destination.
Famous for its architecture, fresh foods and coffee, Dalat has so much to offer. Its cooler temperatures and elevation make it the fresh fruit and vegetable capital of Vietnam, with the local restaurants making the most of the tasty produce.
Dalat is a perfect stop for any traveller from backpacker to luxury, with a wide range of accommodation, food and drink choices.
The Da Lat Flower Park is always full of beautiful colours!
We travelled there as part of our North to South backpacking trip through Vietnam and had an absolute blast! What did we get up to? What did we eat? How lost did we get in the Maze Bar? Read on to find out.
Note: We cannot find any definitive answer as to whether it is Da Lat or Dalat so we will be using both depending on our mood!
Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
In this article:
Da Lat - What is there to do?
The Crazy House
If ever there was an apt name for a place, this is it. Designed by the artist Đặng Việt Nga, daughter of a former president, the Crazy House looks like Salvador Dali and Gaudi had a love-child in a theme park. Corridors twist in on themselves, pathways arch, curve and melt into each other. A staircase becomes the claw of a dragon or the back of a giraffe, it is bizarre and beautiful.
Like we said, bizarre!
Located off of a small back road here, the Crazy House is one of the most famous and iconic attractions in Da Lat. The entrance is deceptively small but the labyrinth of corridors, flying walkways and passages actually covers quite a large area. We wandered, climbed and got lost in its knotty pathways for at least an hour and you could easily spend longer.
Three floors down and under the dome is the “deep sea” themed zone.
There is an expensive coffee shop and a souvenir stand in the grounds as well as toilets.
Entrance to the Crazy House costs 80,000 VND per person (£2.47 or $3.14). This was one of the more expensive things we did in Da Lat but it was worth it. The crazy architecture, gardens, views of the city and art displays are completely unique and should definitely be explored.
It is hard to explain how bizarre the Crazy House is - Its like architecture meets spaghetti!
The Maze Bar
Whilst we are on the subject of bizarre. The maze bar has taken the concept of the Crazy House, condensed it and added alcohol. The entrance is a small nondescript doorway on a street above the central market. Nothing outside gives any indication of what lies beneath, it looks small, unassuming and ordinary, right until you buy a drink and go down into the basement.
It looks small from the outside….
Through some clever redesign, or possibly magic, the small bar becomes a sprawling maze of themed rooms, tiny staircases, dead ends, secret doors and tight passages. You go down a floor into the basement to start but quickly lose track of where you are as there are far more floors and levels than a 3 story building should contain!
After clambering around, getting lost and attempting to balance a beer can whilst squeezing through a small hole at the top of a ladder, you will eventually find yourself in the top 2 floors where the upper bar, seating and balcony are. The upper bar marks the end of the maze and rewards you with a nice view of Da Lat.... and the KFC across the street.
Before coming to the Maze Bar we were prepared for disappointment, ready for it to be an overhyped expensive tourist gimmick. We were very happy to be proved wrong!
It is very hard to take photos inside the maze itself so we will leave it as a surprise!
Entrance is free but you have to buy a drink. The drinks cost more than buying from the street (beer was 45,000 VND) but nothing too bad. We had a great time getting lost before finding the actual main bars on the top floors. We highly recommend the Maze Bar, it was worthy of the hype.
A couple of tips for the maze bar:
The bar downstairs is open all day but the upper level bar (when you complete the maze) only serves drinks from 9pm onwards. The whole thing is open until midnight when they will then run a shuttle bus to the backpacker club - The Six Floor Bar.
If you do not like enclosed spaces, or have arrived earlier than 9pm and completed the maze, there is a quick way from the upper bar back to the entrance and lower bar. From the entrance just go up the stairs rather than down to the basement, you can then just go up one more floor to the bar. From the upper bar just do the reverse and spiral back down.
Honestly if you were only in Da Lat for one night and couldn’t get to the Crazy House, the Maze Bar would be a worthy substitute!
Da Lat Train Station
Da Lat Train Station is not like Ho Chi Minh Central or Da Nang, it is a small pretty building with only one operating train line. This historic building however, is the oldest train station in Vietnam! Having been built by the French to join up hill communities, the station was never connected to the main railway of Vietnam. After the war it became a tourist attraction with the one remaining line ferrying passengers to and from the nearby town of Trai Mat.
These days you can visit the station, admire the architecture and take selfies with the old engines and carriages. The train still runs today, with two trains every day and up to seven in busy times! Tickets for a return journey depend on the train and range from 108,000 VND to 226,000 VND per person. We didn’t take the train this time but next time we visit we would like to maybe stay a night up in Trai Mat, it looks like there are a lot of good places to eat with views over Da Lat.
For train times, have a look at the schedule below:
The train station itself only cost 5,000 VND per person to visit and was a fun detour and an interesting piece of history on our wander around Da Lat’s central lake. Speaking of which...
Da Lat Lake - Xuan Huong Lake
If you have read any of our blogs you will know that we are walkers, if it is possible to go on foot we will do. We love just wandering around a new place or city and seeing what we stumble across. As soon as we landed in Da Lat we saw the large lake and thought, “yep lets walk around that!”
The walk is around 7 km without detours but takes you past or near several interesting places. It comes within 5 minutes of the Da Lat Railway station we mentioned above, brings you right next to the Flower Park (mentioned below) and walks you right alongside the Lam Vien Square.
The Lam Vien Square lies right on the lake's edge and is dominated by two very unique buildings.
The “Flower” building.
Made of glass, these large buildings are sculpted into the shape of a massive flower and an artichoke bud (artichokes being a Da Lat speciality). The square and buildings are used for exhibitions, public performances and pop up vendors. When we passed on our wanderings there were only a few vendors out and some extremely cute but hot looking Huskies who you could pay to take photos with.... honestly even in the cooler climbs of Da Lat we cannot think of a less appropriate dog than a Husky for Vietnam.
Hot dogs left behind we wandered on around the lake passing parks, memorials, shops and golf courses. It is a great way to stretch your legs and get out around the city. We ended up doing the full loop twice in our time in Da Lat, once when we first arrived as we wanted to have a look around and then a second time to visit the Railway Station, Flower Garden and....
Da Lat Lake Swan Boats
I gave in ok, I gave in. Ellie gave me the puppy eyes and wanted to have a float around on the lake. Before I knew it I had been relegated to being a motor whilst Ellie literally swanned about on the lake.
The swan boats are available for hire at a few points around the lake and cost us 70,000 VND for one hour. To be fair it was fun pedalling around on the lake and being enthusiastically waved at by a selection of Vietnamese families. I even got Ellie to pedal, eventually, in the end... for about five minutes...
Swan boats and tandems - Why do romantic couple activities always involve pedalling!
The Flower Park - Vườn hoa thành phố Đà Lạt
Sitting just around the northern tip of the lake is Da Lat’s Flower park. We were, like the Maze Bar, wary of this. We have been in quite a few flower parks and botanical gardens from Bogor in Indonesia to Pondicherry in India. Depending on when you go, they can be a little bit hit or miss. We also had spoken to some fellow travellers who had reported that the Flower Park currently lacked any flowers, which we thought was quite a fundamental flaw.
We are happy to report that our fears were unfounded. The Flower Park is definitely worth the hour or so it takes to walk about.
Entrance to the Flower Park costs 100,000 VND per person (£3.08 or $3.93). Once we paid and inside we wandered about the manicured gardens and water features. On the hill to the right of the entrance is the Japanese friendship garden, with tori gate framed views over the park as a whole. Despite some strange design decisions (why did they need to include Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?) the park was very pretty and there were plenty of blooming flowers. On the left hand of the park (if you are walking in from the entrance), was a large field full of tall bright orange flowers. There were small pathways so you could wander right in and get lost amongst the flowers and bees, it was a great spot for photos!
We really liked the Flower Park, we were so ready for disappointment but were pleasantly surprised. 100,000 VND well spent!
The Markets of Da Lat - The Central Market and Night Market
The markets of Da Lat were...odd... We visited the Central Market on a quiet afternoon and couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Every shop inside the large building sold exactly the same selection of dried fruits and sweets. We understand this is the speciality of the region but it was odd walking through repeating rows of, what was essentially, the same shop. The building is quite impressive with a high ceiling and a brutalist utilitarian vibe. The market would make a good place for souvenir shopping if you have relatives or friends who would appreciate Vietnamese dried fruit.
We visited the market late in the afternoon, so it may well be that the non-dried fruit vendors had already packed up and left. Let us know in the comments below.
Outside the covered market it is a whole different story. Flower vendors crowd the outer walls of the market with vibrant colours. Shops and street food spill out onto the pavements and all manner of goods are on sale.
In the districts behind the market (up the stairs) you can find every variety of food, drink and crafts for sale. If you explore a little further you will find a charming cluster of alleyways and cafes all decked out in incredible street art (location).
The Night Market
Da Lat night market is a major draw for tourists, both internally from Vietnam and internationally (it seemed to be very popular with Koreans). We are not completely sure why. The Da Lat night market is not like most South East Asian night markets which, despite usually being very similar to each other, still have plenty of food and drink along side a decent selection of tourist tat and trinket stalls. Da Lat night market seemed to specialise in woollen “designer” goods. If you wanted a Louis Vuitton scarf of questionable providence then this is the place. Variations on this one stall filled the high street, broken only by the occasional toy stand. It was not a very varied market.
The night market gets very busy at the weekend!
There is a large busy food court style restaurant on the right hand side (as you face the central market) and a few street food vendors clustered around the central market.
As cheesy as they tend to be, we usually love a night market in South East Asia but for some reason Da Lat’s just didn’t vibe with us. We visited on a busy night (Saturday) so presumably most of the stalls should have been present but there just wasn’t the variety to keep us exploring. We are not saying skip it, it is free and runs every night (some busier than others) so definitely go have a look, just don’t expect anything too exceptional.
Day trips from Da Lat - What to do outside the city?
As Da Lat is surrounded by hills, there is plenty to keep you busy outside of the city from hiking to coffee farms.
We had a great day out exploring the Elephant Waterfalls, the Linh Ẩn Pagoda and statue and, of course, the famous alpine roller coaster. You can read all about our trip, how to get there and what to expect here
Food and drink - Where to eat in Da Lat
Roast Chicken
Da Lat is famous for its roasted chickens, not your peas and gravy Sunday lunch variety, but a wonderful Vietnamese concoction. Roasted and grilled over flames and served with herbs, dipping sauce and bamboo steamed rice tubes Cơm lam gà nướng is chickeney perfection.
We found a fantastic little roadside place serving up a whole chicken for only 200,000 VND (£6.16 or $7.86). With only a couple of tables and a constant stream of Grab drivers getting deliveries, we knew we were in the right place!
The chicken arrived on a bamboo woven plate and chopped into chunks by cleaver. To say it was delicious is an insult. It was beyond tasty. It had been roasted once, then re-crisped on a rotisserie and, despite this double cook, was one of the juiciest chickens of our adventure so far! The chicken lay on a bed of herbs to refresh our pallets and the spicy sauce and sticky rice made for amazing accompaniments.
I’m now hungry just because of the memory this photo brought back!
The whole meal including chicken, herbs, dip and 2 tubes of bamboo rice, cost us 240,000, which for a treat for two people is seriously good value. You can find Cơm lam gà nướng everywhere in and around Da Lat, just look out for the rotisserie grills and roasting ovens. If you want to eat where we did (we definitely recommend it), the tiny shop is located here .
Wonton and Dumplings
Surprisingly, at least for us, Da Lat had lots of wonton noodle shops and dim sum / dumpling sellers. We love dumplings and wonton an unhealthy amount so there is no way we could resist.
Our favourite wonton noodles came from a little, permanently busy, shop near our accommodation. There is no google listing but it is around here.
This is the shop, just look for the piles of fresh wonton on the cart at the front!
The bowls here were piled high with char sui pork, bone in meltingly tender joints and of course, wonton. The egg noodles were perfectly firm with a wonderful snappy chew. All in all it was a fantastic bowl of noodles and a nice change from the more traditional Vietnamese food we had been having. Also, they were really cheap, the big bowl with everything in it only cost us 35,000 each (£1.08 or $1.37)!
For dumplings we headed to Há Cảo Trần Lê. Another small shop with big tastes. They do a full menu of cheap and delicious dumplings but we opted to have the special dumplings in soup. The wontons were delicious with wafer thin wrappers and peppery pork fillings. The special dumplings however were on another level. Lurking at the bottom of our bowls these enormous dumplings dwarfed any of the other offerings. A whole prawn was wrapped in minced pork before being encased in a delicate wrap. It was fantastic! A bowl of the special dumpling noodle soup costs 45,000 (£1.39 or $1.77).
How good does that look?!
Mi Quang
We love watching some foodtubers and took our next recommendation from the Vietnam based Max Mcfarlin. Mi Quang is a noodle dish (mi = noodles) from the Quang area of Central Vietnam. A rich broth spiced with turmeric (not very common in Vietnamese cooking) is filled with meat (usually pork and or beef but sometimes chicken), prawns, peanuts and sesame rice. Sounds good right? It tastes even better!
We, following Mr Mcfarlin's advice and ate at Loan’s Spicy Beef Noodle Soup. Despite its beef focused name, this side alley shop is renowned for its pork mi quang. It deserves its reputation! The broth was packed with flavour and meltingly soft pork, with the shrimps giving a savoury sea twang. The thick noodles were the perfect conveyor belt for the soup and the sesame cracker gave a wonderful crisp texture. On the table were sauces, chillies and other favour tweakers to really make the bowl your own. For those with an adventurous palate, or at least one now acclimatised to fermented flavours, we would recommend a little of the mam tom - fermented shrimp sauce, it gives such a depth of flavour. Just remember that a little goes a very long way!
The mi quang here was one of our favourite bowls in the whole of Vietnam. It is completely unique and unlike pho doesn't seem to have made it onto the international stage yet. You can find it everywhere across Central Vietnam, but if you are in Da Lat come to Loan’s as you won't find better!
A bowl of the mi quang from Loan’s only costs 40,000 (£1.23 or $1.57) so there is really no excuse not to try one!
Banh Mi
Banh Mi should come as no surprise to anyone, if you are in Da Lat you must have travelled through at least some of Vietnam and, unless you did this blindfolded, you cannot have avoided Banh Mi. Iconic throughout Vietnam and the rest of the world, the so-called “best sandwich in the world” is very well represented in Da Lat. In fact we found our favourite banh mi of the trip in this hilltop city.
A com tam (broken rice) shop had a little stall out front advertising banh mi heo quay, or roast pork banh mi. With no official Google listing (this is the place - Just look for the red and yellow cart) this little stall made us the best banh mi we have ever had. Chunks of crispy roast pork and slices char siu pork with chillies and pickles were sprinkled with sesame seeds and powdered peanuts, it was rich, fresh, crunchy and everything the world's best sandwich should be! It was also very reasonably priced at 20,000 VND (£0.61 or $0.77)!
It didn’t look like much but it really was the best banh mi of our three month trip!
Soy Milk
All over Da Lat, from noodle joints to street vendors, you will find Sua Dau Nanh - soy milk drink. Served hot or over ice it is either supremely refreshing or warming and comforting. It was nutty, creamy and very moreish! John is not a massive lover of milk drinks but even he admitted this was lovely.
Coffee
Da Lat is rightly famous for it’s coffee. From the ultra high end, prohibitively expensive (and dubiously ethical) Civet poop coffee, all the way to a cheap cup of bog standard joe, Da Lat does coffee well. There are literally hundreds of coffee shops in the city and the surrounding countryside. Here are two of our favourites in Dalat City itself:
Lyn Coffee and Tea
(location).
We stumbled into Lyn’s coffee at around 6 in the morning after getting off our overnight bus from Hoi An. We were in desperate need of caffeine and it was the closest coffee to us! Luckily for us Lyn’s was excellent, cheap and stylish! We knew we were in good hands as, even at this early hour, there was a steady stream of locals sitting down for their morning pick me up.
We found ourselves in Lyn’s on more than a few occasions and nearly always ordered the bac xiu or Vietnamese latte. Layers of condensed and fresh milk mixed with the rocket fuel coffee common in ‘Nam makes for a creamy, moreish, delicious wake up call.
A bac xiu (far from the cheapest coffee) from Lyn’s costs 25,000 (£0.77 or £0.98). This is brilliant value for money, in Hoi An you would be paying 50,000 for one of these!
Amélie Pâtisserie et Café
(location)
This achingly cool looking coffee shop serves up fantastic coffee and pastries. We had some very decadent treats here, a deliciously sticky cinnamon swirl bun and a camembert and walnut stuffed roll. They were as good as they sound! The shops website looks like this should be quite a pricey place but when we visited there was a range of deals for a coffee and a pastry. We paid 70,000 for a bac xui and bun / roll. Given the quality of the coffee and the deliciousness of the baked goods this was a very well priced treat! The cafe also offers some frankly stunning looking desserts, proper patisserie faire - sculpted eggs, edible candles, the whole shebang. These more ornate treats cost upwards of 120,000 each.
Where to stay in Da Lat
Da Lat is a popular city for both Vietnamese and international tourists. As such it has a wide range of accommodation to choose from. There is something for every budget from the most basic hostel through to the high end luxury.
When looking for somewhere to stay we would recommend concentrating on the areas around the central market, this way you should be within walking distance of all the town’s attractions.
Backpacker hostels
For those backpackers looking for a hostel with good sociable vibes we were recommended Mr Peace Backpacker’s House or the top rated place on hostelworld; Mooka’s Home. Both are a short walk into town and have dorms and private rooms on offer for reasonable hostel prices.
Budget guest house (our recommendation)
For us, we love staying in small guesthouses and found an absolute gem in the back alleys of Da Lat - The Lovely House. We had a massive double bedroom with a small balcony and great private bathroom, all for around £9.00 ($11.32) a night! It was down a quiet alley just off of a road chock full of great places to eat. The guest house also offered scooter rental at 150,000 (£4.65 or $5.85) a day, this appeared to be standard price across Da Lat. Lovely House was well named, we can highly recommend this as a great place to stay. Book a stay here.
Our lovely bed in our lovely room in the Lovely House!
High end accommodation
For those not on a backpacking budget Da Lat is full of higher end hotels and resorts to stay at. Click the button below to check out these 5 star well reviewed options:
Dalat accommodation map
For all of the accommodation available in the city, have a look at our handy map below, zoom in or out for all the choices:
Getting to Da Lat
Being on the Vietnamese tourist trail, Dalat / Da Lat is very well connected by road. You will be able to find a bus from any major town or city that will take you to Da Lat. We travelled to Dalat from Hoi An on a twelve hour overnight bus.
Most of our long bus journeys through Vietnam have been on sleeper buses and we think we have now had every level of luxury, from the very bottom (9 hours next to a non closing toilet door in a 42 person bus) to the most boujie (4 hours with a massive private capsule - why couldn’t these have been reversed!?).
Our bus from Hoi An to Da Lat was a pretty comfy 33 person sleeper bus booked through 12Go. You can easily get down from anywhere north on the same service and there are multiple buses per day from most locations:
Hanoi to Da Lat (flights)
When it came time for us to head south there was more than a bus an hour going to Ho Chi Minh City. Check out some of the routes below:
Da Lat to Phu Quoc (Flights)
Just reverse the destination and starting point if you are travelling from south to north!
For those with less patience or deeper pockets you could organise a private taxi to take you to Da Lat.
You can book an advance ticket on buses, trains taxi’s or planes from pretty much anywhere in Vietnam, just check out 12go:
Da Lat’s railway station is not connected to the mainline of Vietnam. You cannot get to Dalat via train.
Another option for those wanting to include Da Lat on their itinerary but don’t feel like using the buses, you could book yourself onto a tour that includes a stop in the hill city. Have a look at some of the options below.
Final thoughts on Da lat City
When we arrived in Da Lat we were not sure what to think. Tired and bus-lagged (definitely a thing after a sleeper bus in Vietnam), we initially had doubts on the city. It looked, at first, quite theme-parkey a little gimmicky and shallow. We were wrong. Dalat is wonderful, full of fantastic food and great things to explore and do. Make sure you delve a little deeper than just the roller coaster and night market when you visit Da Lat. Dive into its fantastic food scene, enjoy a walk around it's pretty lake and gardens and just enjoy the clean mountain air. Da Lat, you were a wonderful surprise.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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Long Bien Market - The Ultimate Food Tour in Hanoi
Hanoi is the perfect city for a foodie, every corner of every street seems to have amazing food. But how do you dive deeper than the tourist spots, how do you go beyond the Old Quarter favourites? Read our guide to A Chef’s Tour - Hanoi Dawn for all the information about the most amazing food and market tour in northern Vietnam.
The Vietnamese capital of Hanoi is a food travellers dream, from the labyrinth of alleyways in the Old Quarter to shophouse restaurants and Michelin starred market traders, it's a city bursting full of culinary delights. With the famous bun cha and northern style pho, as well as iconic banh mi and egg coffee, the city has countless tasty treats and delicious delicacies to tantalise the taste buds of any traveller! If you’ve read any of our blogs in the past, you’ll know that we love a food tour and we frequently put our trust in “A Chef’s Tour” when landing in a new city.
Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
Hanoi is no different. In order to dive in straight at the deep end and find the best hidden eateries beyond Instagram and Lonely Planet guidebooks, we booked ourselves on the “Hanoi Dawn” walking street food tour.
The Food Tour - Hanoi Dawn Eats
Very little that is good happens at 4am. If you’re still out and partying it is around the time you start to question your life choices, or at least start regretting those beer goggles. 4am is not a time, generally speaking, that people are awake by choice.
Outside of our apartment in Hanoi’s Old Quarter a group of revellers were noisily soaking up (and in some cases topping up) the night's alcohol with roasted dried squid. Our alarms, mixed with their singing dragged us out of sleep and groggily summoned us to the street, for us, this 4am held promise. It was time for street food.
We were being picked up outside our accommodation in the Old Quarter of Hanoi to be whisked away on an early morning food tour, dining with the locals in and around the capital's busy Long Bien market.
The Beef Pho Market
After a short drive through the dark streets of the Old Quarter we hopped out of our taxi and found ourselves at a surprisingly busy crossroads. Next to us a truck swung open its backdoors revealing its grisly cargo. If you’re interested in food and interested in Vietnam, then you’ll already know about pho.
This delicious noodle soup is made from a complex broth and takes well over twelve hours to make. The most popular pho is pho bo (beef pho) and what was being unloaded next to us was the key ingredient to its magical broth, the beef carcasses. Huge rib cages, spines and shins clattered out of the truck and onto the waiting tarpaulin. Up and down the streets from the crossroads similar stalls were selling cuts of beef, bones and other essentials for the iconic pho soup. At a little past 4am this was a very full on introduction to what was going to be a very full on market tour!
Luckily we had our expert guide Duyen, an ex-market trader, chef, teacher who had appeared on Gordon Ramsay’s Asian Adventures and basically knew everybody and everything in and around the markets of Hanoi. Duyen also runs cooking classes, check out the notes at the end of this blog if you’re interested.
Long Bien Market
Leaving the streets of the Old Quarter behind us, we crossed the main road and arrived at the Long Bien market. Despite it being 4am and our guide Duyen saying the market was actually winding down, the place was packed. A raging current of people, produce, bikes, porters and trucks flowed and crashed around us. Our small group was split up and reformed repeatedly by the tides of market goers around us.
The organised chaos of a morning market!
We moved past piles of pineapples stacked higher than our head, avalanches of avocados, each one bigger than we had ever seen and mountains of melons precariously perched on top of each other. We delved deeper and deeper into the market.
Our guide Duyen was great at showing us where every exotic fruit came from, what the fruits could be used for and even at one point taking us down a market alley to where a group of women were painstakingly crafting wedding displays.
The displays were made out of betel nut and leaves, colourful flowers and fruits, all mounted into fantastic carnivalesque displays. Duyen explained how depending on the economic background of the family, these displays could fetch staggering sums of money.
Sugar Cane
Our first market treat was a cube of freshly cut sugar cane. Piled high they looked like enormous bamboo poles, we hadn’t realised just how big sugar cane could grow.
We walked through the sugar cane warehouse, with sheafs of green and brown canes rising high overhead. We tried picking up a bundle and could barely lift the 12 foot sugar canes. We had seen lengths of sugar cane strapped to the backs of 50cc motorbikes and we have no idea how these daring delivery drivers did this without their bikes being in a permanent state of wheelie!
The long canes are usually used to make sugar cane juice. Sections of long cane are fed through a metal mangle which squeezes out their sweet juice. You can see sugar cane juice for sale on the street all throughout Vietnam and South East Asia and it is a perfect sweet antidote to a sweltering day. The cubes we were gnawing on were the raw product. The cane had simply been shaved and cut into chunks, ready to eat. The chunks were deliciously sweet with a soft woody texture, they were strangely addictive and gave us an early morning energy boost.
Chewing on our stringy sweet treat, Duyen led us behind the towering sugar canes, to the market’s temple, an Aladdin’s cave full to the brim with offerings, paper money, beer cans and fruit.
We were visiting Long Bien market just before the full moon, a particular auspicious time for the Vietnamese market traders, and our guide explained that during the course of the weekend, the temple would swell with offerings.
Even at this early morning hour, a market trader stopped by to sweep the temple and donate a small offering. Leaving the tranquillity of the temple behind us, we delved back into the throngs of people and the turbulence of the market.
Vietnamese Fish Cakes - Cha Ca
We wove our way past bubbling tanks and styrofoam boxes full to the brim with fish and seafood. We passed sturgeon in enormous tanks, coils of eels and even baskets full of frogs!
Vietnam and Hanoi in particular are famous for street side snails and they were here in abundance. Piles of tiger striped shells, enormous whelks and fresh oysters were everywhere. Particularly lively were the laundry baskets full of dancing shrimp which popped, bounced and attempted to throw themselves to freedom as we walked past. The Vietnamese like their food fresh, and there was no way of getting fresher than the still swimming seafood of Long Bien.
Our group came to halt outside a vat of boiling oil. In front laid metal trays stuffed with fishcakes of every shape and size. One of the oldest Vietnamese culinary creations, Cha Ca (Vietnamese fishcakes) can be made with many different types of fish, shellfish or snails. Duyen selected three different types for us to try and the little cakes were swiftly plunged back into the oil to crisp up. The market stall usually sells the fishcakes in bulk and “half-cooked” so that restaurants and street vendors can finish them off to order. As we had Duyen with us, we got to sample them fully cooked and fresh from the stall.
Each of the fishcakes were completely different to the other. The catfish cake was meaty and firm, with a slightly chewy batter. The squid cake was sweeter than the catfish, with chunks of meat contrasting deliciously with the more neutral casing. The snail fishcake was the most unique of the three with an earthy taste and bouncy bits of fresh snail studded throughout. All of the cakes were oily from the fryer yet somehow tasted clean and moreish. Normally these Cha Ca wouldn’t be served by themselves and you’d be eating these alongside a dip or noodle soup, but it was really interesting to eat them this way, fresh and in the market where they could be the star of their own show.
Vietnamese Herbs
Dodging vans and flung buckets of fish water we left the fish market behind and entered the green oasis of the herb section.
Vietnamese herbs are everywhere. So many dishes from Bun Cha to Pho, Banh Xeo to Bun Bo Hue will come served with a basket full of fresh herbs and greens. They are an essential part of balancing Vietnamese food. The market reflected this, with large verdant bouquets full of Vietnamese mint, perilla leaf, saw tooth-coriander and Thai basil. Duyen plucked leaves from these bouquets for us to try and explained what dishes they would go in as well as their traditional medicinal uses.
On a busy intersection between the herbs and fish, a lady wheeled up her portable food stand. It was time to try a Pennywort Vietnamese omelette. Cooking on the world's smallest wok and burner and dodging large lorries and the market traffic, our stall holder fried us up a fresh omelette studded with bitter herbs. Served alongside this, she made a dipping sauce of fresh kumquat juice, salt and chilli. The rich egg and bitter herb contrasted beautifully with the salty, sour and sweet sauce. The wok charred omelette giving a smokey undertone. It's obvious why she sells lots of these in the morning market; they make a great little breakfast.
We continued winding our way through the market as the sun started to rise. Heading under the iconic Long Vien bridge, we walked past bikes weighed down under the weight of flowers, mopeds strapped with towering crates of beer and market porters with their iconic bamboo poles and conical hats. As we left the fringes of the main market behind, we saw the bankers and weighmasters of the market, the electronic money counters whirring next to the bronze weighing scales ensuring accurate rates. As the darkness slowly receded and the spreading sun promised another scorching day, we couldn’t help but think that the market scenes were the perfect microcosm for Hanoi and Vietnam. The timelessness of the market with traditions unchanged for centuries, was studded through with modern innovation.
Vietnamese Sticky Rice - Xôi
On a side street at the edge of the market, Duyen darted off to a vendor sitting on the side of the street with a cooler box full of treats. She returned with a banana leaf plate piled with different types of Vietnamese Sticky Rice. Sticky rice can come in many forms, from the sweet, coconut milk drizzled Thai pudding, to the neutral sticky rice served with curries and salads all across Lao to the deeply savoury, fermented pork filled bundles found in Myanmar. Today’s offering from the streets of Vietnam, consisted of three types of sticky rice in colours ranging from bright orange to the more familiar white topped with crushed peanuts, purple beans, deep fried garlic, shallots and pork floss. Each one a perfect little savoury mouthful. The contrast of the glutinous rice, with the sweet deep fried shallots and crunchy nutty peanuts was delicious. It was hearty, filling and made for a great morning munch.
Even though we were now well outside Long Bien market, the side streets were still full to the brim with stalls and traders. Another unexpected sight on our walking street food tour was when we we rounded a corner and, less than a stone's throw from buckets of eels, bundles of herbs and pyramids of fruit, was a pristine white marquee. Banquet tables, with white clad chairs and beautiful flower arrangements, sat ready and waiting for guests. We had stumbled upon a market place wedding. Duyen told us that this is very common and as the market is such an important place for so many people, weddings were not an uncommon sight here.
Baguette and Sweet Bread - Banh
The sun was now fully risen as we continued down the side streets walking further and further away from the main market. We passed more stall holders, selling live ducks, chickens and geese as well as flower sellers dressed so colourfully they blended in with the flora of their stalls.
The next stop on the food tour was a bakery. The unmistakable smell filled the alleyway and clued us in before we got anywhere near the shop front. The smell of baking bread is always magical. Duyen handed us fresh baked banh mi and a loaf of sweet bread topped with honey and pork floss. Banh mi is well known as the “best sandwich in the world” but banh mi literally translates as bread. This bakery was churning out hundreds and hundreds of freshly baked rolls. Still hot from the oven, they were crispy from the outside whilst perfectly chewy and soft within.
The sweet pork loaf was addictive and nothing like we expected. Sweet from the honey, with a salty tang from the pork floss, it was soft, pillowy and the perfect balance of salt and sweet. If you see this for sale on the streets, definitely give it a go!
Grilled pork, rice noodles and herbs - Bun Cha
Leaving the colourful streets behind, we darted down a small alleyway following the distinctive smell of charcoal and barbecuing meat. It was time for bun cha!
Outside the small shopfront a lady was crouched down fanning the coals of a small pavement side barbecue. In a wire rack on top sat sizzling slices of pork. We headed in and sat at the low table and were quickly presented with bowls of fresh herbs and lettuce, a plate of bun noodles (white rice noodles) and a bowl of sliced papaya and carrots that were swimming in a sweet sauce / stock. Bobbing to the surface of this delicious soup were barbecued pork patties and thin slices of crispy pork belly. Popular all over Vietnam and especially famous in Hanoi and the north, bun cha is delicious. You take the bun noodles, dip them in the sweet sauce, add herbs and vegetables and eat with the meat. Each mouthful is a delicate balance of sweet, salty and sour, cut through with pepper and perfectly caramelised meat. It’s a proper Vietnamese treat.
Famously eaten by former President Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain, bun cha has exploded in popularity, but still isn’t quite as internationally available as the iconic banh mi or pho but is 100% seeking out in Vietnam.
Speaking of pho …
Beef pho - Pho Bo
Leaving the charcoal barbecues behind us, we continued down the flag-strewn alleyway to our next stop, where we were welcomed by an extremely friendly and well fed corgi, who led us to our table. It was time to try a bowl of pho.
The cutest pho buddy you’ll ever see!
At the front of the shop, big vats of bubbling broth, full of lemongrass stalks, chunks of bone and herbs sat behind the counter. These vats contain the pho soup. It takes all night to prepare, and despite its clear, clean appearance it is deep and complex in flavour. Once you’ve had it, there’s no going back.
The owner ladled out this blissful liquid on top of bowls of white pho noodles before adding in cooked beef, slices of raw beef, spring onion, chilli, more herbs and some beef tendon. Duyen explained that this beef had been brought at the very market we had seen at the start of our tour, we had come full circle.
Alongside our bowls, a basket of Banh Quay (fried bread sticks) provided crunch and a way to soak up more of the delicious soup. The beef tendons had been stewed down so long that they melted away when you ate them, and the raw beef cooked instantly the moment it touched the piping hot soup. The pho itself was amazing with a rich complex and deep flavour. Studded with undertones of cinnamon and a background chorus of sweet onion. There really is nothing like a proper bowl of Vietnamese pho. There’s no shortcut to the flavour or cheat way to make it properly, you have to try the real thing.
Hanoi doughnuts - Banh Ran
It was at this point of the street food tour where a sweet treat was needed, and just like that Hanoi provided, okay Duyen had something to do with it as well as we found ourselves at another store selling Banh Ran (Vietnamese doughnuts). These doughnuts are small sweet spheres of deep fried dough covered in sugar. They are sweet, sticky and thoroughly addictive in the way that everything bad for you is!
Vietnamese egg coffee - Cà Phê Trứng
Fuelled by our sweet treats, we rejoined the main road along with the morning rush hour traffic and headed to get our morning coffee. It was time to try the iconic Cà Phê Trứng, Vietnamese egg coffee.
After taking our seats outside a busy coffee shop, out came our egg coffees. At first glance it looks like a normal cappuccino with a sprinkling of chocolate dust over a foamy top. However, one sip in and you’ll quickly realise this is far from a regular ‘cup of joe’. The foamy egg gives a sweet custard-like texture that compliments the dark bitter coffee. It is somewhere between a drink and a pudding, but very tasty and just what we needed after two bowls of noodles and a fried doughnut!
Vietnamese baguette - Banh Mi
Caffeinated and refuelled, it was time for our final stop on the food tour. A short way down the street from the coffee shop, Duyen ushered us on to some plastic stools at a street side banh mi stall. You can’t possibly visit Vietnam without trying a street side banh mi. They are literally everywhere. Luckily for us we were with Duyen and A Chef’s Tour and they had guided us to one of the best.
The crunchy rolls we had seen baking earlier were cut open, slathered in homemade pate, covered with slices of sweet char siu pork, pickled vegetables all topped with coriander, carrot and Vietnamese herbs. Each bite was an explosion of flavour. Rich pate, sharp pickle, sweet char siu and hot chilli all encased in crispy, yet soft baguette. There’s a reason why banh mi are so famous the world over, they just might be the perfect sandwich!
Full to the brim of food and knowledge it was time to head home.
Final thoughts
We had an incredible time with A Chef’s Tour. It had been so worth the early morning get up call. The Long Bien market was a completely unique experience, if we had waited a few hours and got up with the rest of the tourists the market would have been completely changed. The fresh produce stores replaced with hat shops and clothing, the fishmongers closed and the busy fruit stalls gone.
It’s hard to imagine this market ever calming down!
Our guide Duyen was amazing, her years working in the market herself as well as her experience as a professional chef gave an expert eye on everything we had encountered. This tour had been a little different to the other A Chef’s Tours we had taken, it was not a 15 course tasting menu like we had in Bangkok’s Chinatown or Bangkok’s Old Siam, but instead it was focused on bringing to life the early morning market and its produce. We had visited markets with A Chef’s Tour in Delhi’s ancient Chandi Chowk and the northern Thai market of Chiang Mai, but during this tour, every course we ate was influenced by, sourced from, or traditional to Hanoi’s Long Bien market.
Check out some of our other photos from the tour below:
Booking A Chef’s Tour - Hanoi Dawns
How to book this tour?
You can book this tour right here!
Where is the meeting point?
Duyen will come and pick you up from any accommodation within the Old Quarter (or a reasonable distance around). The tour starts at 4am and you will be picked up by taxi. You will also get dropped off at your accommodation at the end of the tour.
Is this tour suitable for everyone?
If you’re into food then definitely yes! A Chef’s Tour specialises in taking you to places that are not sugar coated or watered down for tourists. The food is incredible, authentic and local but so are the sights, sounds and smells of the market.
If you’re especially squeamish, the first stop at the beef market and some of the live animals in Long Bien may be a little much, but remember this is a working market and literally where your food comes from.
Incidentally A Chef’s Tour does state that this tour is unable to accommodate vegans.
If you do have dietary issues make sure you check with them before booking.
What should you wear?
There is a lot of walking in this tour and you will be walking through an active fish market so maybe leave your flip flops and pristine white trainers at home. The tour runs whatever the weather so make sure you dress appropriately.
Other food tours in Hanoi
We loved our time with A Chef’s Tour but accept that 4am is not for everybody. Luckily there are many different food tours you can take in Hanoi. Check out Get Your Guide’s offerings below:
A street food tour that walks you through the culinary delights of Hanoi’s Old Quarter.
A food tour that also incorporates Hanoi’s famous train street.
A food tour that combines food tastings with a ride on one of Hanoi’s traditional cyclo’s.
Equally if you would like to book yourself onto a cooking class with Duyen click here.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Check out our other food tour articles here:
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Frogs, Snails and a Mouse - Vietnamese Adventures in BBQ and Beer
Sometimes it best just to throw yourself into an experience. Ho Chi Minh city / Saigon is a world renowned culinary destination. From pho to banh mi, its foods are known the world over. But what if you escape the backpacker hub of District 1? Join us for one crazy night of unexpected dining delights in the big city. From barbecued mouse to a snake sausage... Read on to hear all about this culinary adventure!
For those that have been keeping up with our adventures you may have noticed a couple of things:
One - We like our food, we are willing to travel for a good meal and are up for trying pretty much anything.
Two - We enjoy a nice cold beer, wherever we are we somehow manage to track down someone selling a refreshing brew.
Finally three - We tend to go with the flow in pretty much any situation, whether that is continuing on as planned amidst a political uprising or just seeing where the night takes us, we tend to let the situation decide our course of action.
A good example of all three of these traits is what happened one night in Ho Chi Minh City….
We love Ho Chi Minh. We love the whirlwind chaos of scooters, its sweaty climate, its colourful markets but most of all we love its food culture. Nowhere else on our travels has had the sheer volume of available food every street corner, alleyway and square spills over with restaurants and vendors plying their tasty wares.
On one night of our 14 day sojourn in Ho Chi Minh we planned to take advantage of this overflowing of food and hop between a few places eating a bowl or plate at each. The night would start at a small restaurant in the district of Phu Nhuan.
Our first stop would, although we were as yet unaware, be our last food stop of the evening. Our one or two small plates would become a multi-course tasting menu and our cheeky beer would become a small aluminium mountain…. As we said before we tend to just go where the night takes us.
Seated at our table we perused the menu, this was done with a great deal of effort and the air of Google Translate. Despite Duolingo’s best efforts, our Vietnamese was not up to scratch. As we were only going to have a little here and move on (we thought) we opted for snails and clams with a couple of cans of Tiger beer. The lovely lady who owned the place and waited the tables, flew around shouting orders into the kitchen before digging out the two beer cans from a pile of ice inside a large cool box . She cracked them open for us and poured them into ice filled glasses.
A side note here: many people seem to look on with horror at the Vietnamese practice of having beer with ice and we genuinely can’t see why. It’s 30+ degrees at night and near 100% humidity - give us all the ice you can!
Our clams and snails swiftly arrived along with two more cans of Tiger as our glasses of “looked gone” to her. We didn’t object. The clams were delicious, served in a light as air ginger broth. The snails were similarly yummy although a good deal harder to get out. We were given special snail corkscrews that were meant to make the job easier but all I can say is that we are not skilled snail extractors.
During our snail based struggles two more tables arrived and had taken an interest in our strife. A lovely older gentleman came up and, after another round of Tiger beers had materialised (I didn't even see the woman this time), orchestrated a round of traditional toasts though the restaurant.
Mot
Hai
Bat
Yo!
And now there was another can of Tiger at our elbows. We sensibly decided that we should get some more food. As the restaurant had a picture of a rabbit on its sign and a barbecue smouldering away next to us, we decided on some barbecued rabbit and a plate of barbecued pork ribs.
The rabbit was fantastic, not dry at all (rabbit is very lean, so hard to BBQ without drying it out) and covered in a sweet glaze that gave the skin a satisfying snap. The pork ribs however, were next level. Sweet and tender, glazed in soy fish sauce and honey, they were delicious. It was around this time the table next to us took out a mysterious Tupperware box.
A man from the neighbouring table came over and introduced himself in perfect English. “I am very sorry” he said, “my friends would like to give you some of their food”. Normally people don’t apologise for offering free food, not in our experience at least. We reassured him that we would love to try whatever they would give us. Our response was relayed to the table and was enthusiastically received, prompting another round of toasts. The beer ninja had replaced our cans whilst we were distracted.
Some restaurants are bring your own bottle, some allow you to cook fish that you caught yourself, ours apparently had an open barbecue policy. On this night the open barbecue was to be taken full advantage of. The mysterious Tupperware box was brought to the embers and its contents revealed. Our new friends obviously thought the menu to be too constrictive, too vanilla and wanted something more avant garde. They had come to the restaurant with a box full of marinated mouse.
After a short spell over the flames the tiny spatchcocked bodies arrived on our plates. They were unmistakably rodent shaped. Unexpectedly, however, they were delicious! We will, as has been previously mentioned, try anything once and this has led to some disasters in the past (Cambodian dried snake was a particularly horrible mouthful of bones), but tonight our culinary bravery was paying off. The mouse was tiny with very little meat but the little drumsticks of its legs were yummy in a sweet spicy glaze. It was like a very scrawny chicken but much tastier.
Emboldened by our acceptance of their rodent rations, more food began to appear. The beer fairy also visited and two more cans of Tiger teleported into existence at our elbows. Dried squid in a sweet and sour sauce was our next course. Very chewy and very fishy were our immediate thoughts but before we could vocalise our displeasure we both realised we had taken another chopstick full. It was a strange food, we didn’t exactly love it but it was addictive. We were unsurprised to learn that this is a drinking food.
Next came the frog. Now that is a fun sentence to write! We had seen these hapless amphibians in a tank off to the side of the room, lolloping unhappily in their prisons. Now they appeared in front of us, deep fried and crispy. Deep fried frog skin is possibly the best crunch in the whole business of crispy toppings. The snap of really well fried fish skin but with the texture and flavour of the very best chicken skin. KFC eat your heart out, give us some KFF any day. The frog meat was likewise delicious, with the texture of chicken but the taste of meaty monk fish with another sweet spicy sauce coating every bite.
More beer flowed. Sometimes handed to us by the lovely owner, sometimes magically appearing out of thin air. We were stuffed and increasingly tipsy, so we had to call uncle on the food. It was either stop eating or burst! Our new friends were sad at this news as they had another special course about to go on the barbecue. Maybe we could be tempted? Maybe our stomach had just enough room for some more? As the enormous stuffed snake sausage hit the barbecue we were quite sure we could consume no more.
We had come in for a couple of small plates and a round of beers, it was now four hours in, seven plates and countless cans of Tiger later. We had had an amazing night eating dishes we would never have tried if not for our local pals. The food had been delicious and even if it was mildly shocking at first, it had opened our eyes. That man at the table next to us had not marinaded his mice in the hopes of shocking two random British people, he had marinated them because they taste so good!
The next night we came back and ordered the frog.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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Food of Ho Chi Minh City - A Guide for Experts and First-Timers!
Ho Chi Minh is a food lovers wonderland. An endless menu of street food, famous plates and incredible flavours awaits those willing to get off the beaten path. Check out our blog for some of the cities most delicious food beyond the well trodden lanes of District One.
Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
Ho Chi Minh city, is usually the first or last place you'll visit when coming to Vietnam. The city’s chaotic streets are a food lovers paradise, with seemingly every centimetre of the city offering a different delicious plate. The streets are lined with restaurants, street food stalls, push carts and vendors, when you can get anything and everything often for very little money.
Many travellers will stick to the well worn streets of District One, with Vietnam's Khao San equivalent of Bui Vien and the handy English translations on the street side menus. But for those willing to venture further, and leave the comfort blanket of easy translation behind, this city is an absolute treasure chest of delicious delights!
Read on for some of the must try dishes and our top recommendations for dining beyond district one - okay there is a couple of recommendations from District One but as you'll see these are special cases! Make sure you read onto the end for our recommendations if you’re nervous about new foods or going off piste and exploring the big city.
From our two week stay in Ho Chi Minh city, these are our top food choices:
Cơm Tấm - Broken Rice
Cơm Tấm, literally broken rice, is a ubiquitous dish throughout Ho Chi Minh. Originally a peasant farmers dish made from the rice that was unable to be sold, this dish is now rightly an urban favourite.
There are infinite varieties of Cơm Tấm, however our favourite and most commonly found, is broken rice topped with sweet marinated barbequed pork, spring onion oil (scallion oil for our American friends), topped with fried egg and served with pickled vegetables and fresh tomato and cucumber. This is a hearty breakfast which will keep you full all through the morning and ready for a late lunch.
The unique texture of the broken rice grains is amazing with the sweet pork. Soft but with body and cut through by the spring onion oil and pickles, Cơm Tấm, like so much Vietnamese food, is a perfect blend of sweet, sour and salty. This is especially true when paired, and this is essential, with fish sauce and freshly minced chilli.
We are from England and have the mighty Full English Breakfast as our traditional start to the day, but Cơm Tấm is right up there with it. We can also report that it may even be better at curing hangovers!
Cơm Tấm is available literally everywhere. We ate repeatedly at the excellent store (no google presence) near our Airbnb. One plate of Cơm Tấm cost 50,000 VND (£1.65 or $2.05).
In the morning time just look out for the sweet smoke of street side barbecuing pork and you'll be in for a treat.
Pho - Noodle Soup
It should come as no surprise that we indulged ourselves with several bowls of Pho during our time in Ho Chi Minh. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Pho is possibly Vietnam’s most famous dish.
A bowl of rice noodles is served in a delicate yet rich and fragrant broth which is then topped with beef or chicken in various forms.
With Pho, the broth is the star of the show. Made of bones, fire roasted shallots and other aromats, the broth is boiled and intensified over a lengthy cooking (usually overnight) process. Beef Pho (Phở Bò) and Chicken Pho (Phở Gà) broths are cooked separately, with their stocks being made from the bones from the respective animals. Either way, the result is a clear, light broth with an unbelievably complex, intense and harmonious flavour. This wonderous broth is then poured over flat rice noodles. The broth's flavour will be different at every stall or restaurant, with every chef, grandma and street hawker having their own secret recipes.
After the broth comes the meat. If you’ve gone traditional and are dining at a beef joint (Phở Bò) the toppings start with sliced boiled beef. Depending how much you’ve paid and where you’ve ordered from, thinly sliced raw beef can be added to the bowl and cooked with the heat of the broth, braised beef, tendons and fatty cuts may also be added. The contrast in textures between the different cuts of meat and the richness of beef fat melting into the snap of the tendons, make for a unique and delicious mouthful.
For those who’ve gone for chicken (Phở Gà) it's a similar, but more poultry story. Strips of white and dark meat from poached chicken are added to the bowl, making for an even lighter taste than the beef, but with no less impact.
Whether you went for beef or chicken, your bowl will be topped with spring onions and a few herbs and served alongside a basket of greenery. This bouquet of leaves is one of our favourite things about Vietnamese cuisine. Many of the items in this article come with a tray full of herbs, green leaves, lettuce and beansprouts, all allowing you to tweak and customise your bowl according to your own tastes. Our favourite leaves were sawtooth coriander, Vietnamese basil and mint but honestly half the fun is trying out different combinations of mysterious green leaves.
Watch out though, in every bundle there is fish mint - Fish mint is delicious but not for everybody. Also there is another herb, we never did found out the name, which fills your mouth with a bitter chalky taste.
If the green bouquet wasn’t enough customisation for you, the table will almost certainly be laden with yet more options. Fresh chillies, lime wedges and fish sauce are staples, but you’ll also see bottles and jars of sweet soy sauce, chilli oils, garlic vinegar and the ubiquitous nuclear orange sweet chilli sauce. Again: experiment, customise and enjoy!
Ho Chi Minh’s Pho scene is fantastic and differs from northern Vietnam. Southern Pho broths tend to be more in ‘your face’ with more intense flavours and sometimes a little more sweetness than their calmer, cleaner northern brethren. We’re not going to open the can of worms and try and tell you which is better, just know they are different and therefore you have an excuse to try multiple bowls up and down the country.
There is no shortage of Pho restaurants, mobile street stalls and market place hawkers selling both beef and chicken Pho, we even saw some vegetarian Pho on sale just look for Pho Chay on the signs.
We thoroughly enjoyed our bowls at Phở 76 with its classic flavours as well as a delicious bowl full of beef tendon and offcuts from Phở Lề Đường. Our final recommendation is for Phở Hiền which sold beef Pho with an amazing variety of cuts for toppings. We went for the braised beef and were not disappointed.
A bowl of Pho can range in price but it’ll typically set you back around 50,000 VND (£1.65 or $2.05) or a little more with more toppings.
Banh Mi - Vietnamese Sandwich
Again, you don't need us to tell you this is good. Often voted the “best sandwich in the world”, an accolade we can certainly get behind (although being British, the humble bacon sarnie puts up a good fight), Banh Mi is nearly as famous as Pho.
There are endless varieties of Banh Mi but the basics are universal. Stage one is the bread. One of the few nice things the French left behind in Vietnam was the baguette. This crispy, crunchy white bread roll is split in half and becomes the perfect vessel for yummy fillings.
Smothered in pate and mayonnaise the baguette is then filled with pretty much anything you can think of. The traditional filling is various cuts of pork, Vietnamese sausage along with chilli, chilli sauce and pickled vegetables. The mix of meaty pork, pepper laden sausage, hot chilli, sharp pickles and rich pate is divine. A true symphony of sweet, salt and savoury goodness.
You can find endless varieties of Banh Mi on pretty much any street. Bakeries are an especially good place to grab a Banh Mi, as are butchers for obvious reasons. Banh Mi also makes a great pre-drink stomach liner as well as a lovely brunch!
A Banh Mi is very inexpensive and should cost you around 20,000 VND (£0.66 or $0.82).
For those feeling lazy there are many excellent choices of Banh Mi available for Grab / GoJek delivery. We recommend ordering a couple alongside a Vietnamese milk coffee, speaking of which…
Cà Phê Sữa - Vietnamese Iced Milk Coffee
For those who haven’t tried Vietnamese Iced Milk Coffee or Cà Phê Sữa you’re in for an absolute treat. This rocket fuel disguised as coffee is sweet, rich and delicious and makes for a fantastic caffeine pick me up whatever time of day!
The beans used are a medium to dark roast giving off a luxurious buttery, almost dark chocolate taste with unmistakable underlying bitter coffee notes. Cà Phê Sữa is served either hot or cold (but we prefer the iced version in hot and humid Ho Chi Minh city), with a generous dollop of thick sweet condensed milk sitting at the bottom of the cup. Mix away and recharge with this sweet, caffeinated thunderbolt of a coffee.
Cà Phê Sữa is available literally everywhere from morning to night and we never had a bad one. Our favourite is a hard choice but if we had to pick we would have to say Hoas The Coffee (great name we know) takes 1st place. It is a lovely courtyard coffee shop hidden away from the main street and made delicious Cà Phê Sữa and iced teas.
Just a note: in a lot of the cafes coffee is often served along with a small glass of unsweetened iced tea. This serves as a welcome relief from the sweet coffee and is part of the package and does not cost extra.
One iced Cà Phê Sữa should set you back around 25,000 VND (£0.83 or $1.03) for a posh one in a seated cafe. For a cheap takeaway market stall you are looking at around 15,000 VND (£0.50 or $0.62).
Bò Lá Lốt - Grilled Beef and Betel Leaves
Bò Lá Lốt translates to beef and betel leaves, it doesn't sound like much, but trust us it is fantastic! Throughout the city you can see small charcoal grills lined with little green tubes. This is Bò Lá Lốt. Juicy beef is wrapped in the irony betel leaf and expertly grilled before being sprinkled in roasted peanuts and brought to the table. The beef arrives at your table accompanied by a dizzying array of condiments, accompaniments and wrappers. Colourful pickles, chillies, rice paper, rice noodles and a tray of fresh green leafs, vegetables and herbs crowd the table. Lastly small bowls full of potent fish sauce, chilli and garlic are laid down.
For the full Bò Lá Lốt experience: dampen a circle of rice paper and layer it up with lettuce, your choice of herbs, pickles, as much chilli as your bravery/sanity permits and a clump of rice noodles. On top of this place you cigar of freshly grillet beef and betel. Now the more difficult part. Unless you had a misspent youth you will now have the difficult task of attempting to roll all of the above into a tube. Honestly it doesn't really matter how clumsy the attempted roll is as long as you get some kind of portable parcel.
Fish sauce is a Vietnamese staple, although It is hard to describe without being off putting. It is deeply savoury and brings a sledgehammer of umami to anything it is used in. In Bò Lá Lốt you take your wrapped roll (or bodged mess in our cases) and dip it in a fish sauce / sugar / chilli dip. The contrasting iron leaf, juicy beef and salty, spicy sweet dip is incredible. The bite with all its vegetables, pickles and wrapping layers is an explosion of texture and taste. Bò Lá Lốt is an essential Vietnamese dish, like nothing we had tried in South East Asia or anywhere else before.
As with every food on this list, Bò Lá Lốt is available throughout the city, just look for the smoking grills. We can highly recommend Bò Lá Lốt 18 Lam Sơn , not just as it was near our AirBnB but because the lovely lady running it was hilarious and helpful to two clueless Brits and grilled us up some delicious beef. We came here three times in two weeks, in a city with so many amazing eating opportunities this is high praise!
We paid 67,000 VND per portion plus a can of beer (£2.21 or $2.75).
Bún Riêu - Crab and Tomato Noodle Soup
Although not as famous or well known outside of Vietnam, Bún Riêu was one of our favourite noodle dishes we ate in the city.
The Bún of Bún Riêu refers to bun noodles. Small, spaghetti like rice noodles, with a satisfying chew and snap. Bun is found in many noodle soup and Vietnamese dishes, it feels almost more of a staple than the flat pho noodles of the country's most famous culinary export.
The bun noodles of Bún Riêu are served in a steaming broth of decadent crab and umami rich tomato. Like so much of Vietnamese food, the broth of Bún Riêu manages to pack a serious flavour punch, whilst somehow remaining light and delicate on the tongue. On top of the noodles and soup, all manner of delicious things are added.
In the incredible bowls we ate at Bún Riêu Tôm Lan the toppings included giant prawns, minced pork and crab cakes, Vietnamese pork sausage, blood cake and chewy, snappy swirls of pig skin. Chewy pig skin might not sound that appetising, but trust us they were delicious, the restaurant even has won awards for them.
The sweet yet acidic tomato and crab broth of Bún Riêu is a perfect partner to the sweet prawns and rich blood cake toppings. There’s so much going on in a bowl of Bún Riêu, every bite is a different adventure of textures and flavour.
At Bún Riêu Tôm Lan, make sure you order the special Bún Riêu (Bún Riêu Dac Biet) which comes with all the toppings listed above, as well as limes, chilli, bitter green leaves and crunchy banana blossom to add to the top. For those with an adventurous palette, Bún Riêu Tôm Lan has jars of the infamous Mam Tom.
Mam Tom is a fermented shrimp paste and smells exactly as that sounds. If you can get past the smell, it has a unique flavour that excels in drawing out the tastes of other ingredients. For Bún Riêu (we’re not sure if this is how you’re meant to do it), we mixed Mam Tom, lime juice and chilli together in a dipping bowl until it started to foam and dipped various of the bowls toppings into this pungent condiment. It’s not for everyone, but once you learn to like it, there’s no going back!
A bowl of Bún Riêu and iced tea will set you back 47,000 VND (£1.55 or $1.93).
Bún Nước Tôm Bò Trứng
Bún Nước Tôm Bò Trứng is a hearty noodle soup full of beef, noodles, sliced spring onions and topped with a still runny poached egg. In fact it’s name literally translates to all its ingredients, with Bún meaning noodle, Nước meaning soup, Tôm meaning shrimp, Bò meaning beef and Trứng meaning egg.
The broth is completely different to the more delicate pho broths with a massive punch of pepper and a sweetness from the prawn ball. As soon as the bowl hits your little table, make sure to break the egg and mix the runny yolk in with the broth to make a creamy, peppery, rich soup.
We stumbled upon these two bowls, down a small alleyway off a busy thoroughfare in the heart of Ho Chi Minh. Busy with locals, school children and university students, this was a cheap (45,000k a bowl) delicious and filling start to the day. If you’re the adventurous sort we’d recommend tracking down a bowl from Bún Nước Cô Dung. The bowls are so good we’ve been back multiple times!
Vietnamese Summer Rolls
You can find these everywhere in Ho Chi Minh city, from the most high class restaurants to the aunty pushing her humble street cart. These rice paper wrapped goodies are perfect, cheap street snacks.
Like Banh Mi, summer rolls can be stuffed with a wide variety of fillings but the most common is fresh vegetables and herbs, slices of pork and prawn which are then rolled in a tight wrapper of gummy rice paper. The summer rolls are then dipped in a spicy, peanut sauce and devoured.
If you see them, just buy them! They cost practically nothing and are delicious.
We brought four summer rolls from a street seller for 10,000 VND (£0.33 or $0.41).
Bún Chả - Grilled Pork and Noodles
Bún Chả holds a special place in our hearts. Seven and a bit years ago (as of writing), we visited Vietnam for the very first time. We hadn’t spent much time in South East Asia and Vietnam was blowing our minds. During a torrential downpour that flooded Bui Vien Walking Street (Bui Vien Wading Street? I’m so sorry) with ankle deep water, we waded into Bún Chả 145 . There are seminal moments when travelling and eating, and seven years ago this was one of our big ones. We come from London and have eaten many dishes from many cuisines from all over the world, but we had never tasted the sweet, savoury soup, cold noodle, grilled pork and crunchy herb combination that was Bún Chả. The second we had our first mouthful we knew we were somewhere completely different, with a culinary tradition unlike anything we had eaten before.
Okay, at this point we should back up and actually tell you what Bún Chả is.
Bún Chả is traditionally a north Vietnamese dish, but can be found throughout Ho Chi Minh city. The table starts with a familiar array of herbs and white rice noodles. This is shortly joined by small pucks of sweet grilled pork patties, diced garlic and chillies and a bowl of dipping sauce. Mixing in the diced garlic and chilli to your tastes, you then take your chopsticks and dip in the grilled pork, noodles or any of the green accompaniments and munch away.
This dipping sauce is where the magic happens. Sweet, yet garlicky, salty and spicy, this is a completely unique flavour. The sauce clings to whatever you dip in it and makes it ten times more delicious. We’re pretty sure you could dip cardboard into this sauce and it would still be yummy, so just imagine how good perfectly grilled pork patties are when dipped in this delightful sauce.
For the true expert level of enjoyment, we recommend ordering a set of fried Vietnamese Spring Rolls. These bring an extra crunch and also pair wonderfully with the dipping sauce. We thought it might be nostalgia, so on this trip we went back to Bún Chả 145 and can happily report that the restaurant is still there and still excellent. As it is located on Bui Vien Walking Street in District 1, it is more expensive than other Bún Chả outlets, but it is still well worth the money.
One plate of Bun Cha, a portion of Spring Rolls and a Beer Saigon Special set us back 128,000 VND (£4.22 or $5.25).
Ben Nghe Street Food Market - A Beginner Friendly Exploration of Vietnamese Food
Ho Chi Minh is a chaotic city and can be intimidating for a newcomer, especially if it is the first Vietnamese city you fly into. If you are not quite ready to order blindly in unnamed back alleys or just wander off into far flung districts, we do actually recommend the tourist street food market in District One. We do not normally love these tourist specific food things, but the Ben Nghe Street Food Market really is good fun. It is a great way to sample foods from across Vietnam without being overwhelmed by scooters, crowds and menus in Vietnamese. It is also, coincidentally to our enjoyment, one of the cheaper places to buy beer in the city (one bottle of Saigon Green costs 20000VND or £0.66 / $0.82)!
We are not gatekeepers for food and although we would definitely recommend moving outside of the tourist areas of District One, Ben Nghe Street Food Market allows the wary to dip their toes before taking the dive! That all being said, we have found Ho Chi Minh/Saigon to be incredibly friendly, safe and fun to explore.
Vietnamese food is famous for a reason. Cheap, delicious and with endless variety, Ho Chi Minh provides an amazing grazing playground for the culinary explorer! We ate so much more than this list can contain. From pork noodles with a poached egg floating in the broth, to steaming bowls of beef and carrot stew sat on the street as well as a very memorable night of eating frog, mouse and rabbits with the locals at a barbeque drinking restaurant. Open your mind and mouth and Ho Chi Minh city will provide!
For those short on time or those who just want to cram as much food as possible into one evening, we'd recommend taking a street food tour in the city.
Check out some of the options below:
We had an amazing time a few years ago zipping around the city on the back of a scooter enjoying some lesser known treats of Ho Chi Minh.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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