Guests ask me the same question at the end of every tour: where do you actually eat? Not the restaurant with the laminated English menu — the place I take my own family. Here is the honest answer.
Mi quang — the dish this region argues about
Turmeric-yellow noodles with just a splash of broth rather than a bowlful, plus shrimp or chicken, peanuts, quail eggs, herbs and a sesame rice cracker you break over the top. Every family in Quang Nam believes their version is correct.
Eat it for breakfast, not lunch — that is when it is freshest. Around 30,000₫.
Banh xeo and nem lui
A crispy turmeric pancake and grilled pork skewers, which you wrap yourself in rice paper with green banana, star fruit and a fistful of herbs, then dip in thick peanut sauce. You will get messy. Everybody does, including me.
Banh trang cuon thit heo
Thin slices of boiled pork belly rolled in rice paper with twenty kinds of leaf and dipped in fermented anchovy sauce. This is the dish Da Nang families order when relatives visit, and almost no visitor finds it on their own.
Bun cha ca — the one nobody orders
A light, clean fish cake noodle soup that locals eat when the weather turns. It is my favourite thing in the city and I have never once seen a tourist order it without being taken there.
Che, and then coffee
Che is a sweet soup of beans, jelly and coconut milk that Vietnamese people call a snack and visitors call dessert. Then coffee: ca phe sua da is the famous one, but ask for ca phe muoi — salt coffee, with salted cream on top.
If you only try one thing from this list, make it bun cha ca in the morning. If you only try one drink, make it salt coffee.
Come hungry, and skip lunch first. I am not joking about that.
