Hoi An is heaven for food lover. Besides a wide range of Vietnamese cuisine and other culture cuisine, Hoi An offers several specialty dishes that you could only find in the area. One bite and you could not forget that flavor in your life.

BANH MI – VIETNAMESE SANDWICH

You certainly have heard of Banh Mi – a Vietnamese specialty sandwich that has been viral on the Internet recently, especially in the U.S. The truth is Banh Mi in big cities such as Sai Gon, Hanoi,… could not beat those in small towns when talking about the flavor. Have yourself a baguette because Banh Mi in Hoi An is legendary in Vietnam. The food is also simple that you could eat either on the go or sit down in some corner.

Banh Mi Phuong

Anthony Bourdain, the famous American celebrity chef, author and travel documentarian has claimed that Banh Mi Phuong is the best banh mi in Vietnam. It is a perfection of crusty baguette, barbecue juicy pork, homemade chili paste, mayonnaise and pate and fresh local vegetable. The Banh Mi is a vacation of taste, making you feel butterflies in your stomach even in your first bite. But what is the tastiest part of Banh Mi Phuong? The sauce!

Address: 2B Phan Chau Trinh, Hoi An

Opening hours: 6AM – 10PM

Banh Mi Madame Khanh

If you’re obsessed with banh mi, grab another baquette of banh mi from Madame Khanh. Her char siu pork has granted her the tittle of “the Banh Mi Queen”. The delicious marinated roasted pork together with other ingredients will literally melt in your mouth in the first bite.

Address: 135 Tran Cao Van, Hoi An

Opening hours: 6AM – 10PM

If you still want to taste more Banh Mi in Hoi An, here you are:

Banh Mi Sum

Address: 149 Tran Hung Dao, Hoi An

Opening hours: 6AM – 10PM

CAO LAU

Cao Lau is a Vietnamese dish made with thick noodles, slices of roasted pork, local veggies including bean sprouts, herbs and lettuce. What makes Cao Lau special is that the dish is found only in Hoi An since the delicious local fresh rice made from Cu Lao Cham – a small island near Hoi An, and the broth must be taken from Ba Le Well, which is believed to have high quality water.  Cao Lau differs from typical noodles soup in Vietnam as it has no soup. The ingredients are placed in the dish and customers mix them together. Such a prominently ingredient-rich dish costs only 30,000 VND.

The most well-known Cau Lau is served at Ms.Thanh’s place, located on Thai Phien Street – a food street outside the ancient town of Hoi An.

Address: 26 Thai Phien, Hoi An

Opening hours: 7AM – 7PM

If Cao Lau Thanh is full of tourists, you might come to a nearby one that is also popular among locals

Cao Lau Lien

Address: 16 Thai Phien, Hoi An

Opening hours: 7AM – 7PM

Another truly authentic Cao Lau comes from an old lady that have been selling cao lau for more than 20 years. The place always gets crowded from 3pm to 4:30pm.

Address: Corner of Tran Phu and Hoang Dieu Street (across Mermaid Restaurant – 2 Tran Phu Street)

Opening hours: 6AM – 6PM  

COM GA – RICE CHICKEN

Together with Banh Mi and Cao Lau, Hoi An’s special chicken rice is in the list of foods that should not be missed. The dish consists of only rice, cooked chicken and veggies but the taste is beyond perfection! Hoi An’s chicken rice is said to be the best chicken rice in Vietnam.

The chicken is raised free range in order to have firm texture and stronger taste. The rice is first stir-fried with garlic then cooked deeply in broth that boiled the chicken. The dish finishes with fresh veggies collected directly from Tra Que Vegetable Village.

There are hundreds of Com Ga restaurants in Hoi An but the most popular one is Com Ga Ba Buoi which has six decades of history, with special cooking recipe and an out-of-this-world chicken sauce – the sauce of the dish. Fabulous!

Com Ga Ba Buoi

Address: 22 Phan Chau Trinh, Hoi An

Opening hours: 11AM – 9PM

Since the hype of the restaurant, you may queue some time before having a seat but take it easy because the food is a bomb!

If you’re afraid of the heat or line of people, don’t worry because we have another restaurant for you: a less touristy chicken rice restaurant named Com Ga Ba Xi.

Address: 47/2 Tran Hung Dao, Hoi An

Opening hours: 11AM – 8PM

MI QUANG

A bowl of Mi Quang consists of rich layer of veggies at the bottom, followed by yellow tinted rice noodles (tinted by turmeric) and a fair amount of broth. Like Cao Lau, Mi Quang broth is added just enough in order to soak the noodles. On the top of a bowl of Mi Quang are crushed roasted peanuts, rice crackers, herbs and sometimes chili and lemon depends on your personal taste. An authentic Mi Quang comprises of nine different kinds of herbs including lettuce, Vietnamese basil, spearmint, watercress, bean spouts, Vietnamese mint, cilantro, scallion and sliced banana flowers. These unique flavors help balance the food and make it healthier.

There are varying types of Mi Quang, typical ones have ingredients such as pork ribs, shrimp, chicken and special ones are snakehead fish, eel, jellyfish, etc.

Mi Quang Sinh

Address: 170 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hoi An

BANH XEO – VIETNAMESE PANCAKE

Banh Xeo is Vietnamese crispy crepe made with fried rice flour batter filled with pork belly, shrimp, bean sprouts, scallions served with sauce and vegetable including lettuce, carrot, cucumber, etc. Banh Xeo actually means sizzling cake because of the sound of rice batter when it hits hot skillet. The dish is being loved by people all over the world, especially it has been gone viral in South Korea after a foodie reality show.

There are 2 ways to eat Banh Xeo: You can either eat it with vegetable and dip into the sauce or wrap it by rice paper (with veggies). Both ways are tasty!

Get yourself a flavor at:

Banh Xeo Co Anh, Song Hoai

Address: 59/32 18 Thang 8, Hoi An

Opening hours: 10AM – 9PM

WHITE ROSE DUMPLINGS

One of the most unique street foods in Vietnam in general and in Hoi An in particular, you can’t find white rose dumplings made anywhere but on in this enchanting ancient town. They’re translucent thin rice flour parcels filled with minced pork, prawn or vegetable, depends on your choices. They’re topped with crispy fried shallots and served with a special dipping sauce made with shrimp broth, chili, lemon and sugar. This dish is ideally shared on the table or starters for your meal.

Since those beautiful white rose dumplings are only made in one location then transferred to other places in the town, it is recommendable to come directly to the restaurant so that you could see how local women make them.

White Rose Restaurant

533 Hai Ba Trung, Hoi An

Opening hours: 7AM – 9PM

Magnificent beaches, wonderful historic architecture, friendly people and incredibly tasty cuisine. What else Hoi An doesn’t have? So grab yourself a tour to Hoi An to explore this stunningly awesome town!