FOOD & DRINK
Travel Adventures
Excellent quality: from the furniture to the views, rooms at The Grand Ho Tram are value for money
FOOD & DRINK
All the resorts have restaurants and there are a fair amount of informal eateries lining the beach road too. Unsurprisingly, seafood is on all the menus on Ho Tram and Ho Coc beaches. Below I’ ve listed some of the best places to eat, in order of my own personal preference, regardless of price. Ho Tram Hamlet Seafood Restaurants: The best, freshest, cheapest seafood is found in the simple seafood restaurants in Ho Tram hamlet, just before the municipal beach. There’ s a cluster of them here, but after years of eating around, my favourites are Mỹ Lệ, Kỳ and Hoa Phượng. Choose your live seafood from containers displayed on the ground – oysters( hàu), clams( nghêu), scallops( sò điệp), fish( cá), shrimp( tôm), lobster( tôm hùng), octopus( bạch tuộc), snails( ốc), crab( ghẹ) and things you’ ve never seen before. There’ s no menu and no price-list, so unless you speak some Vietnamese it’ s all about pointing and sign-language. Indicate what you want and how much of it you want. Then how you want it cooked: steamed( hấp) or grilled( nướng). Prices are very reasonable: in general, shellfish is 100,000vnd per kilo( half a kilo is enough for 2 people), and bigger seafood is between 150-350,000vnd per kilo. There’ s a small cooking charge on top of the raw seafood: 10,000vnd for steamed; 20,000vnd for grilled. The food is fresh, simply cooked then dipped in salt, pepper, chilli and lime, and served up on plastic plates at plastic tables on a bare concrete floor strewn with shells. It’ s delicious and unpretentious; a fabulous dining experience, and very Vietnamese. Oh and there’ s cheap, cold, local beer as well.
Ven Ven Hotel Restaurant: The best of the hotel restaurants, Ven Ven has steadily gained a reputation for good, home-cooked Vietnamese dishes over the years. The restaurant is beautifully situated on a patio under trees and tiled roofs with wind chimes singing in the breeze. Dishes are fresh, crisp and clean. Prices are steadily rising but are still reasonable: 50-150,000vnd per dish. Try the steamed mustard leaf with ginger, sauteed shrimp with lemongrass, and stewed fish in a clay pot – all homely classics. Huu Nghi Restaurant: If you’ re camping here then it makes sense to eat here too, but even if you’ re not, this open-sided, beachfront seafood restaurant is a good place for lunch. Dine of crab, fish, shellfish, rice and vegetables, sitting in little thatched gazebos on the sand. Seafood dishes start from 50,000vnd. The Grand Ho Tram: With a dozen different cafes, bars and restaurants, The Grand covers everything from Chinese to Japanese, Vietnamese to European. Prices are high but represent good value, because the quality of the food and drink – from cakes in The Grand Cafe to Steaks in The Grand Bistro – is superb. Expect to pay between $ 20- $ 40 per person.
Seafood on display at Ho Tram hamlet seafood restaurants: excellent variety, fresh & reasonably priced
22 The MAG Vung Tau