Restaurants in Central Vietnam
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A
Cargo Club
If you’re craving a hearty Western meal, come here for a full spread of international cuisine. The freshly baked patisserie and boulangerie selections are ‘to die for’, in the words of a Hoi An expat. It’s a great place for people-watching at any time of the day, and from the upstairs balcony there are lovely views of the river. After dark the place morphs into a groovy bar.
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Mermaid Restaurant
One of the original Hoi An eateries (since 1991), this place is still going strong with its menu of Hoi An specialities and family recipes. Try the fried spring rolls and the excellent ‘white rose’.
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Café 43
Tucked away in a residential lane, this casual eatery continues to get rave reviews for good food at good prices. The fact that it’s run by a very friendly family doesn’t hurt.
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D
Mandarin Café
A magnet for travellers, the cheerful owner, Mr Cu, speaks English and French and serves big dollops of travel advice along with pho, BLTs, salads and pancakes.
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E
Miss Ly Cafeteria 22
A local institution for local specialities.
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F
Shree Ganesh Indian Restaurant
Formerly known as Omar Khayyam’s, this is the place for authentic Indian food. Fill up on your masala dishes and curries, with lots of vegetarian choices too.
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Le Bambino
Hidden away in a small residential lane, this delightful French oasis is run by a couple (French husband, Vietnamese wife) who turned their home into a restaurant and boutique hotel. The menu (available in Japanese) features hearty French fare, pizza and pasta. Upstairs, three enormous and extremely well-appointed rooms go for US$30 per night.
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H
Vietnamese Home
Located just off the northern tip of the riverfront promenade (the entrance is on Ð Ly Tu Trong), this restaurant is popular with locals and has an extensive seafood menu. The live seafood tanks are merrily decorated with blinking fairy lights.
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I
Brothers Café
Looking like a film set, in one of the finest French-colonial buildings in town, the attention to designer detail is perfect. It is properly pricey by Hoi An standards, so many just drop by for a drink in the gorgeous riverside garden.
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J
Good Morning Vietnam
Yes, it’s a chain, but a good one. With Italian owners and chefs running the show, this place serves everything you’d expect of a good trattoria: tip-top pizzas and pastas, and good coffee and wine to round off the meal.
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Little Italy
Despite the bamboo decor and ao dai–wearing waitresses, this casual trattoria is as Italian as it gets in Hue. The menu is pretty extensive, with a wide range of reasonable pasta and pizzas.
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Ngo Co Nhan
Raised up on stilts in a quiet Citadel street, this open-sided dining platform serves excellent grilled seafood and crates of beer to its mainly Vietnamese clientele.
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Minh & Coco Mini Restaurant
Run by two lively sisters, this humble joint is a fun place to get an inexpensive feed.
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Casa Verde
It’s not just another cosy Mediterranean restaurant transplanted to the Hoi An riverside – the chef-owner created memorable meals when he was at the Victoria Hoi An Resort and the results here are bellissimo. Take your pick of European and Vietnamese classics, given that extra dash of flair. The chef grows his own herbs and makes all the ice cream. It’s pricey by Hoi An standards, but still a bargain for the quality of food you get.
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O
Japanese Restaurant
There's no prizes for guessing the cuisine on offer. What's more surprising is the heart-warming story behind it. An initiative of Michio Koyama, the first Japanese to be granted citizenship of Hué, it's designed to given training in Japanese cuisine and employment to some of the adolescents his Japanese Association Supporting Streetchildren (JASS) supports. The food's excellent and the service exceptionally polite.
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Lighthouse Café & Restaurant
Run by a Dutch man and his Vietnamese wife, this cosy restaurant on Cam Nam Island has good Vietnamese food and great views – plus there’s a mean Dutch apple cake for dessert. Walk over Cam Nam Bridge to get here, or catch the free boat (marked ‘Hai Dang’) from the waterfront in front of Ð Bach Dang. The restaurant is small, so reservations are required after 7pm; the balcony tables are good for couples.
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Q
Hai Scout Café
Making the most of its airy Old Town building, this cafe stretches into a large garden courtyard that breaks into a bar by night. On the menu are good sandwiches, Western breakfasts, Vietnamese dishes and some European mains. There’s a display on World Wildlife Fund (WWF) projects in central Vietnam out back, and some minority tribal crafts for sale.
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Restaurant Café 96
With paint peeling to expose the brick beneath and a woven flax ceiling, this riverside restaurant has the perfectly decrepit look Western interior designers would spend a fortune creating. The food is sublime - traditional Vietnamese with all of the Hoi An specialties. Try the set menu or at the very least the grilled fish wrapped in banana leaf.
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S
Tropical Garden Restaurant
This popular place offers romantic dining in a lush, leafy garden. It specialises in Central Vietnamese cuisine, and is the best place in Hué to catch a traditional music performance (from 19:00 nightly). While it's a regular stop for tour groups, they don't tend to spoil the atmosphere - although they do slow the service down.
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Omar Khayyam’s Indian Restaurant
There are now two places to get Indian fare in town: the new space at Ð Pham Ngu Lao or the original but renovated location at 34 Ð Nguyen Tri Phuong. The former is warmly decorated in more traditional style, while the latter has a sparkling new rooftop terrace and also serves Italian and Vietnamese dishes.
reviewed
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Bread of Life
If the heavenly smells from the bakery don’t win you over, the American menu of pancakes, pizza and other comfort foods (biscuits and gravy, anyone?) surely will. The restaurant is almost entirely run by deaf staff and proceeds go towards training activities for the deaf in Danang.
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Café Truc Lam Vien
Dine alfresco in a pretty garden courtyard or in one of the sleek wooden pavilions. Service is efficient and the menu, including local favourites such as mi quang, is available in English. The restaurant is a short walk from the Museum of Cham Sculpture.
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Minh & Coco Mini Restaurant
Run by two lively sisters, this neighbourhood dive has inexpensive food and attracts the locals for beer at night. It also books tours; the Demilitarised Zone tour gets rave reviews for its tour leader who’s an Army of the Republic of Vietnam veteran.
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Vegetarian Restaurant Bo De
Fill up on inexpensive Vietnamese vegetarian fare (and we don’t mean mock meat). Situated on a quiet riverside stretch, this is a pleasant nook to escape the town hubbub for a while. Menus are in English and French, and patio seating is available.
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Phone Café
Don’t be fooled by the dingy appearance – this modest operation has excellent food that tastes just like Mum’s cooking (assuming your mother cooks Vietnamese). The cao lau ’s not bad and the claypot specialities are quite delectable.
reviewed