Vung Tau: What Food to Eat & Best Local Restaurants to Try

What Food to Eat & Best Local Restaurants to Try in Vung Tau: You do not need to worry about what food to eat in Vung Tau City of Vietnam, as the city is known for its wide range of mouthwatering dishes made with fresh, local ingredients. Here is our Recommendation for Best Local Specialty Cuisine with Places/Resturants to Try:

1. Bánh Khọt – Khot Pancake: “Bánh Khọt” is a yellow pancake dish as same as “Vietnamese Bánh Xèo” but much smaller. If you try the original one, you can experience a mini yellow pancake with a shrimp on it. People in other cities, such as Hồ Chí Minh City, usually add more toppings like small octopus or pork.

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“Bánh Khọt” is well-cooked, hot, arranged in pairs, and served with some fried minced shrimp and onions. There is a plate full of vegetables to eat with “Bánh Khọt”. All you need is to roll them together and eat with an amazing fish sauce.

“Bánh Khọt Gốc Cây Vú Sữa” is considered the most famous restaurant in the city which attracts hundreds of both locals and visitors every morning, especially on the weekend. At first, you might be shocked by the crowds waiting for their turns to try “Bánh Khọt”, but no worries, it’s worth doing so.

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Some other Places to Try Bánh Khọt: Bánh khọt Cô Ba Vũng Tàu at 1 Hoang Hoa Tham, Bánh khọt Miền Đông Vũng Tàu at 59 Ba Trieu, Bánh khọt Bà Hai Vũng Tàu at 42 Tran Dong, Bánh khọt Cây Sung Vũng Tàu at 19 Hoang Hoa Tham, Bánh khọt Cây tre/Bambo Vũng Tàu at 8B Luong Van Can, Ward 2, City. Vung Tau, Bánh khọt Út Loan 67 Ba Trieu, Bánh khọt Cô Xuân 438-449 Street 30/4, Bánh khọt cô Hoàng 63 Co Bac.

2. Bánh bông lan trứng muối – Vietnamese Salted Egg Sponge Cake: Vung Tau is home to a sponge cake with salted egg yolk, and a package of costs you around 25.000 VND to 30.000 VND. “Bánh bông lan trứng muối” is yellow brown and as small as cupcake. The cake is made from wheat flour, eggs, butter, milk, sugar and topped with salted duck egg yolk. The cake is a perfect blend of salty buttery salted duck egg yolk and sweet creamy soft airy sponge cake.

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One of the best places to buy it is “Gốc Cột Điện” Bakery – Location: 17B Nguyễn Trường Tộ, which is the original and the very first one making “bánh bông lan trứng muối”. After trying “Bánh Khọt”, you can stop by this bakery to buy this famous snack for your gifts. Some other recommendations include: 6 Do Chieu Street, 14B Nguyen Truong To Street, 129 Le Lai Street, 11 Nguyen Kim Street, 36 Ba Trieu Street

3. Fresh Sea Snails: Well, you can buy sea snails at the morning or evening markets there and make it by yourself if you are a good cook and want to do everything. The price depends on which kinds of sea snails you want to buy. One more thing that should be noted is that sea snails in the very early morning are better and fresher than others.

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Otherwise, you can experience the fresh sea snails at some restaurants. It’s not too hard to find restaurants selling sea snails in Vũng Tàu, but the price will depend on which kind of restaurant you want to try. Among them, one of the best sea snail’s restaurants is “Ốc Thiên Nhiên”, located at 245 Trương Công Định. Actually, it has 2 branches, another is located at 443 Trương Công Định, which is also worth trying.

4. Lẩu Cá Đuối - Stingray Hotpot: This seems to be one of the must-try foods when traveling to Vũng Tàu, especially after going swimming. Nothing can be compared with the feeling of eating hot noodle soup and fresh stingrays and warming the cold. Hot Pot comes with many different ingredients in addition to stingray – pickled bamboo, chili, vermicelli, rice crackers, a side plate of herbs, and of course, the ubiquitous Fish Sauce that you can’t get away in Vietnam.

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Lẩu Cá Đuối Hoàng Minh Restaurant is one of the best places to try. You should be careful with other fake restaurants with the exact name located nearby the original one. In the past, the restaurant was located at 40 Trương Công Định but it has been changed into 44 Trương Công Định. This restaurant serves many dishes: seafood, rice, chicken, frog, beef, pork chops, Vietnamese salad, etc.

5. Fresh Local Seafood - The Must Try in Vung Tau City: Of course, you cannot forget to try the very well-known fresh seafood when traveling to Vung Tau – the Seafood Paradise. You sometimes might get overcharged if you are not a local.

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You can buy them at the local markets and remember to bargain as much as you can. Otherwise, buying seafood directly at the beach, in the very early morning, when local people go back from fishing, is also a better way to get a cheaper price.

6. Bánh Canh Ghẹ - Sentinel Crab Noodle Soup: Another seafood dish that is a must try while staying in Vung Tau is sentinel crab noodle soup. The thick noodles have a milky white color, are firm and chewy, and are eaten with shredded sentinel crab meat (or a whole sentinel crab in some places), crab cake, pork blood pudding, quail eggs and greens. The rich and thick broth with a strong seafood aroma is the soul of this dish.

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Suggested Places to Try Banh Canh: 62 Tu Xuong Street, 73 Le Lai Street, 125 Vo Thi Sau Street, 109 Vo Thi Sau Street, 88 Le Lai Street, 33A Hoang Hoa Tham Street

7. Hủ Tiếu Mực - Squid Noodle Soup: This noodle soup (Hủ Tiếu) attracts diners thanks to the special taste that emanates from the white noodles combined with fatty egg yolks, eaten with lean meatballs, chives, fresh squid, and a rich broth simmered from bones. Sauces such as green chili salt and soy sauce are recommended when enjoying a bowl of squid noodle soup.

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Suggested Local Places to Try at 1 Vo Van Kiet Street, 19 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, 32 Dong Khoi Street, 73 Hoang Hoa Tham Street, 3 Le Hong Phong Street.

8. Vegetarian/Vegan Food in Vung Tau: Authentic Vietnamese kitchens always contain lots of vegetables and tofu for example. Just beware if you choose to eat in a “regular” restaurant as they use a lot of fish sauce. But if you want to make sure that what you are eating is entirely plant based, you can pick and choose some of the many specialised vegetarian restaurants in Vung Tau, or simply say “Quán Cơm Chay” in Vietnamese, which means vegetarian food.

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Whether you’re a vegetarian/vegan or simply just enjoy eating plant based food, these are some of the best vegetarian restaurants in Vung Tau City for locals and tourist that earn high reviews on google map and TripAdvisor you can try:

Goodlife Vegetarian Restaurant:
- Address: 1 Đào Duy Từ, Phường Thắng Tam, Thành phố Vũng Tầu, Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu
- Phone: 0775 555 588
Cỏ Mây Vegetarian Restaurant
- Address: 77 Đ. Hoàng Hoa Thám, Phường Thắng Tam, Thành phố Vũng Tầu, Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu
- Phone: 0774 714 190
Nhà Hàng Vườn Chay Vegetarian Restaurant
- Address: 38/5 Bình Giã, Phường 8, Thành phố Vũng Tầu, Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu
- Phone: 0828 981 081