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