What to eat in VungTau, Vietnam?

Vung Tau is probably one of the lesser known part of Vietnam. The only time people come here for visits would probably be because they want to try taking the hydrofoil from Ho Chi Minh, which is a pretty unique experience. A tick off your to-do-list sort of thing. Or they could be locals from HCM out for a day at the beach at this seaside town.

Vung Tau is best known for its port as this is probably where most oil and gas activities are concentrated. Therefore, the prices of food and souvenirs would probably not be as cheap as what you could get in other parts of Vietnam. That said, this small town is not without its attractions. In this post I would highlight a few places worth visiting and maybe some others that could be given a miss ;)

What else to have when you are so close to the sea? SEAFOOD of course. There are a few famous seafood restaurants in VungTau. Prices could be steep but most of them serve fresh, delicious seafood. One of the most famous one in town would most probably be Ganh Hao. Please note that they have Ganh Hao and Ganh Hao 2 and taxi drivers would probably bring you to the wrong one unless you specified exactly which one you are heading to. Ganh Hao 2 is also further from town than it's big brother. This is depending on where you are so do check first. I have been to both and I personally like Ganh Hao better. Don't get me wrong, both places have excellent seafood; it's just Ganh Hao's dishes (taste-wise) appealed more to me. Like, the way I like my salted egg prawns, and so on. Subtle differences but... :X

I like their deep fried spring rolls but prefer the translucent fresh spring rolls better. Maybe you can order both and decide for yourselves? :)

This is their prawns spring rolls

Deep fried mantis prawns in salted duck egg

Sweet and sour fish

Uh, Chilli crab?

Those are some of the things we ordered from our few visits to the restaurants. Somehow I couldn't find the ones in Ganh Hao 2 or even the other dishes during our second visits. :S I could have accidentally deleted them or forgot to take any photos that time. Heh. Too hungry, perhaps?

Ganh Hao

Address: 3 Trần Phú, Ward 5, tp. Vũng Tàu, Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu, Vietnam
Phone:+84 64 3550 909

Ganh Hao 2

Address: 90 Hạ Long, 2, tp. Vũng Tàu, Vietnam

What is a trip to any part of Vietnam without tasting their amazing coffee? Yes, Vietnam is as famous for their coffee as their beautiful sights. In fact, I think I love Vietnamese coffee even more than their Western counterparts. Coffee in Vietnam is a lifestyle and you can see a lot of people taking their time to enjoy a small cup of coffee in cafes littering the roadsides. I quickly memorized the phrase cà phê sữa đá (iced coffee) and cà phê sữa nóng (hot coffee). LOL. Basically that would be the only Vietnamese I know. Omit the "sữa" for black coffee. The best place to enjoy a cup of Vietnamese coffee in their local setting in Vung Tau is at this small shady place in one of the small roads. I can't remember the shop's name despite being here a few times as well. I think it was because the shop's name was fully in Vietnamese. I took the liberty of googling for shops in VungTau and finally I found the photo of the shop and its front door!!!

Coffee here are usually dripped using a French filter even if you ordered ice coffee. Just patiently wait for your coffee to finish dripping before pouring them over the glass of ice that will probably accompany your drinks if you asked for iced coffee. They even have a cherry/rose syrup coffee that I greedily tried. One cup of their coffee is definitely not enough :)

See? All the coffee finished dripping and then you carefully lift away the filter and stir. Pour into the glass of ice and you have a wonderfully thick fragrant coffee to enjoy!

Next! The best noodles in VungTau is probably in this small unassuming shop. The other interesting thing about this shop is that the noodle seller flings his noodles high up to the air while he was cooking. That was what got us interested in this shop, plus the amount of people crowding it. Their pork noodles soup was just out of this world! There is no other words for it. The broth tasted really good and you can smell the fragrant smell of pork-ribs from it alone. Their meatballs were delicious as well but not as good as their pork noodles.

Nghiệp Ký Mì Thảy 

Address: 125 Ba Cu, Tp. Vũng Tàu, Vũng Tàu

Mì Thảy Nghiệp Ký - Hủ Tiếu Mì Sườn

Source: http://www.foody.vn/vung-tau/mi-thay-nghiep-ky

Operating hours: 06:00 AM - 01:00 PM & 04:00 PM - 09:30 PM

However, as much as there are good places to eat, there are also some places which are disappointing like in this joint below; PhoViet. They have a mixed or rather fusion Vietnamese food. Although the food are alright, their pho and noodles are quite disappointing. Average Western food are available as well. They do have a wide selection of food though so if you are with a big group of friends who have different dietary requirement, i.e. no beef, no pork, etc but not really Halal, this would be a safe choice. I am not saying their food is bad, it is just alright and if you do not have high expectations, why not? :)

Condiments for the soup noodles

Chicken noodles

Beef brisket noodles

Seafood rice

Visit them at:

PhoViet
Address: 9 Do Chieu, Vung Tau, Vietnam

Another disappointment would probably be this dessert shop. Don't ask why but I got a hankering for sweet things when I was there and bugged my colleagues to all go in search for a dessert shop together. We found this shop after some googling and asking the locals. After all the efforts, it is quite disappointing. The ice-cream (homemade) was so-so and their cream puffs and muffins were....just edible...