I was born in Nha Trang and lived there for 15 years before moving to the South for academics. Every time I eat a dish that originated from Nha Trang, I feel nostalgic. Whenever I have a chance to go back to my hometown, I invariably try to eat all of my favorite dishes. Most of them incorporate seafood, of which the coastal city Nha Trang is abundant, so the prices are relatively cheap.
I’m always proud of my city and describe it to my friends as the most beautiful coastal city in Vietnam which has the best dishes with the cheapest prices. Now, let me take you on a food tour in Nha Trang and show you my highly recommended dishes (which are also my favorite ones).
Nem Nuong (grilled sausage)
Nem nuong is a specialty of Khanh Hoa Province (where Nha Trang City is located). It is the name of the main element of the dish – grilled pork sausage. Beside Nha Trang, nem nuong of Ninh Hoa (a district in Khanh Hoa province) is also popular and you will recognize that some nem nuong restaurants located in Nha Trang are from Ninh Hoa.
The sausage itself is flavored with chopped shallots, crushed garlic, fish sauce, sugar, and black pepper. Nem nuong is served according to how many people sit down to enjoy it. In a portion, you will have a dish of nem nuong, a dish of vegetables, a dish of rice paper wrappers, and a bowl of dipping sauce. When I first tried this kind of food, my mother said to me that the deliciousness of nem nuong depends mostly on how yummy the dipping sauce is, which is mainly made of fish sauce, minced pork, and lime water. After several times trying nem nuong in different places, I admit my mother is absolutely right. I found the best restaurants with the best dipping sauces (thanks mom) and good nem nuong to compliment it.
Nem nuong Vu Thanh An
- Address: 15 Le Loi Street
- Price: around 40,000 VND per portion
This is my favorite restaurant to eat nem nuong. This is also the place my parents usually visited when dating very long ago (how old the restaurant is!).
Where to find the best nem nuong in Nha Trang
1. Nem nuong Ninh Hoa Dang Van Quyen
- Address: 02 – 04 Phan Boi Chau Street (this is just opposite the previous restaurant)
- Price: around 50,00 VND per portion
2. Nem nuong 25 Le Hong Phong
- Address: 25 Le Hong Phong Street
- Price: around 30,000 VND per portion
3. Nem Nuong Nha Trang (the name is Nhã Trang which looks similar to the city’s name Nha Trang)
- Address: 39 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street
- Price: around 40,000 VND per portion
Goi Ca Mai (deep herring salad)
Nha Trang citizens often treat their guests to goi ca mai to show their hospitality because it requires lots of time and effort to prepare. Deep herring (ca mai in Vietnamese) is the size of a thumb, flat, has no scales, and it’s less smelly than much other fish out there. This kind of fish is only used to make the salad.
Deep herrings should be really fresh, just plucked from the sea. The most time-consuming part of the process is ripping the bone out. After that, the chef will mix the fish with lime water, tamarind, sour star fruit, or vinegar. Then continue to mix in ground roasted soybeans, chopped onions, chopped garlic, cilantro, and perilla. Once again, the dipping sauce, which is usually made from the fishbone broth, will determine the deliciousness of the dish. Don’t worry, I have picked restaurants for both tasty salad and dipping sauce.
Where to find the best goi ca mai in Nha Trang
1. Goi Ca Ha Ra
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- Address: No 166, 2 Thang 4 Street
- Price: 30,000 – 70,000 VND
2. Hai San Nina
- Address: 6 Ngo Si Lien Street
- Price: 100,000 VND
Bun Cha Ca (grilled fish rice noodles)
Mother Nature gifted Nha Trang with both beautiful scenery and a sea plentiful with seafood; thus, Nha Trang citizens have invented many wonderful dishes made with products from fishing. One of those is cha ca – grilled fish. To make it simple, cha ca is minced fish marinated with flavors, then shaped into balls or flat circles and grilled.
Bun cha ca is simply noodles with cha ca soup. Locals make the soup of cha ca, adding pineapple and tomato to create the sweet and sour taste. Finally, the noodles are put into the soup and we have a bowl of tasty bun cha ca.
Where to find the best bun cha ca in Nha Trang
1. Bun cha ca in Xom Moi market
- Address: at Vo Tru Street corner, next to Xom Moi market, it’s a street food stall, open daily from 1 PM to 7 PM. This food stall has been operating for 20 years!
- Price: around 20,000 VND per bowl (See! It’s so cheap in Nha Trang!)
2. Bun Ca Nam Beo
- Address: B2 Phan Boi Chau Apartment, Phan Boi Chau Street
- Price: 30,000 – 40,000 VND
3. Bun Ca Min
- Address: 170 Bach Dang Street
- Price: 30,000 – 35,000 VND
Banh Canh Cha Ca (Vietnamese udon with grilled fish)
When I was a kid, my grandma sold banh canh cha ca for breakfast at her house, so this is my most favorite food. Banh canh cha ca in Nha Trang tastes so different compared to other places in Vietnam because it reminds me of my childhood here with my grandma. This dish is a bit different from bun cha ca (mentioned above), though they both have cha ca. The sweetness of the soup of banh canh cha ca is completely made from fish broth. Banh canh is also different from bun (noodles); it’s very similar to udon noodles of Japan which are thicker and easier to eat than noodles.
As you know, the Vietnamese use chopsticks when we eat most things, especially noodles and the like. However, in Nha Trang, people don’t use chopsticks to eat banh canh cha ca, they usually use a spoon instead.
Where to find the best banh canh cha ca in Nha Trang
1. Banh Canh Ba Thua
- Address: 55 Yersin Street
- Price: 20,000 – 30,000 VND
2. Banh Canh Co Ha
- Address: 14 Phan Chu Trinh Street
- Price: 25,000 – 40,000 VND
3. Banh Canh Co Loc
- Address: 30 Phan Chu Trinh Street
- Price: 20,000 – 30,000 VND
4. Banh canh at Dam market at night (for those late-night eaters)
- Address: at Hai Ba Trung Street, opposite Dam market gate, open daily from 5 PM to 3 AM
- Price: 20,000 – 25,000 VND
Bun Sua (jellyfish noodles)
This dish should be called bun cha ca sua instead of bun sua for short. It is made of bun – noodles, cha – cha ca or grilled fish, ca – fish, and sua – jellyfish. The soup is created in the same way it’s prepared in bun cha ca. Now just add jellyfish! The jellyfish used to cook this dish should be as small as a thumb or two fingers, colored milky, and with thick edges. To find this kind of jellyfish, the fishermen have to go really far offshore.
During the summer, eating a bowl of bun sua helps release the heat inside your body due to the effect of jellyfish. People can fish jellyfish all year round, but the most delicious season to eat this dish is late spring and early summer.
Where to find the best bun sua in Nha Trang
1. Bun Ca Nam Beo
- Address: B2 Phan Boi Chau Apartment, Phan Boi Chau Street
- Price: 30,000 – 40,000 VND
2. Bun Ca Nguyen Loan
- Address: 123 Ngo Gia Tu Street
- Price: 35,000 VND
3. Bun Ca La Cay Bang
- Address: 6 Han Thuyen Street
- Price: 30,000 – 35,000 VND
4. Bun Ca Sua Yersin
- Address: 87 Yersin Street
- Price: 25,000 – 35,000 VND
Banh xeo muc Nha Trang (sizzling cake with squids of Nha Trang)
Banh xeo was named after the sound it makes during preparation: xeo (pronounced like say-o), the sound when we put rice flour into an oiled pan. Banh xeo is a popular food throughout Vietnam, but banh xeo muc is a specialty of only Nha Trang. Usually, banh xeo is made with pork and shrimp. You wrap it up in rice paper and dip into the dipping sauce. Nha Trang people use muc – squid instead, and we don’t eat it with rice paper wrappers. We dip banh xeo directly into the sauce using chopsticks.
I like watching the cook make banh xeo: observe her actions of pouring the flour into the pan, listen to the sound xeo xeo, and estimate the time in which it’s ready to be eaten. Banh xeo muc of Nha Trang has the wonderful taste of fresh squid that other places don’t, which makes it very special.
Where to find the best banh xeo muc in Nha Trang
1. Banh xeo in Hoang Dieu Street
- Address: 97 Hoang Dieu Street
- Price: 25,000 – 40,000 VND
2. Banh xeo chao in To Hien Thanh Street
- Address: right at the intersection of To Hien Thanh Steet and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street
- Price: 25,000 – 40,000 VND
3. Banh Xeo Co Tam
- Address: 6 Thap Ba Street
- Price: 20,000 – 40,000 VND
Banh can Nha Trang
This is a food that I ate almost every day when I lived in Nha Trang because my grandma sold it along with banh canh cha ca. Banh can is a special food of provinces in south-central Vietnam (Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan). This food has a small circular shape like banh khot of provinces in southern Vietnam, but banh can is healthier because it doesn’t use oil. It’s a kind of grilled rice flour cooked in a special heater made of earthenware. While banh khot is mixed with pork and shrimp, banh can is a mix with eggs, and this will give banh can a really luring smell.
To eat banh can, we use chopsticks and dunk it into the sauce (until it’s filled with it). What makes a tasty banh can are the rice and the dipping sauce: rice should be soft and sticky, the sauce must not be too salty or tasteless.
Where to find the best banh can in Nha Trang
1. Banh can for breakfast: Banh Can Hoang Van Thu
- Address: 151 Hoang Van Thu Street, open daily from 6 AM to 9 AM
- Price: 20,000 – 30,000 VND
2. Banh can for lunch: Banh Can Co Tu
- Address: 7A Thap Ba Street, open daily from 10 AM to 9 PM
- Price: 20,000 – 40,000 VND
3. Banh can for dinner: Banh Can To Hien Thanh
- Address: 51 To Hien Thanh Street, open daily from 4 PM to 9 PM
- Price: 20,000 – 70,000 VND
4. Banh can for late night: Banh Can 2 Thang 4
- Address: No 109, 2 Thang 4 Street, open 6 PM – 11 PM
- Price: 20,000 – 40,000 VND
Nha Trang Bread
Nha Trang’s bread is unique and actually tastes different from bread in other cities of Vietnam. The bread here is more good-looking and brittle but it’s not easily smashed. That’s because bread in Nha Trang is made in a wide terracotta oven while other places use electric ovens.
You can see this bread in every food stall serving banh canh cha ca because Nha Trang people love dipping bread into the soup to eat. Believe me, this way of eating is so delicious that you will forget you have a bowl of banh canh cha ca to finish! You can also try Nha Trang’s bread with meat and sausage at my recommended food stalls below.
Where to find the best banh mi in Nha Trang
1. Bread Nguyen Huong
- Address: 1 To Hien Thanh Street, open daily 6 AM – 11 AM and 4 PM – 11 PM
- Price: 12,000 – 15,000 VND per loaf
2. The Banh Mi So 7
- Address: opposite Le Quy Don High school, Yersin Street, open daily 6 AM – 8 AM and 4PM – 7 PM
- Price: 12,000 – 20,000 VND per loaf
3. Dipping bread Ba Tho
Instead of putting ingredients inside the loaf, at Ba Tho’s food stall, you will have to tear the loaf into small pieces and dip into the sauce with the ingredients arranged in a bowl.
- Address: Mac Dinh Chi Street and Bach Dang Street intersection, open daily 6 AM – 12 PM
- Price: 15,000 – 25,000 per portion
Oc Luong Son (Snail in Luong Son)
Luong Son is a fishing village in Nha Trang City. To reach Luong Son, you have to follow Tran Phu Street along the beach to the north to Pham Van Dong Street; after passing a short pass, you will reach Luong Son.
Pro tip: the scenery of the pass is extremely splendid, you can have a broad view over Nha Trang Bay on your way to eat some delicious snails!
Luong Son is famous for shellfish because it has various types and it’s always fresh. You can eat dishes made of scallop, horn snail, oyster, clam, sweet snail, and so on.
Most of the snail food stalls are located in small alleys, so I suggest you go with a local who knows the street well.
Where to find the best oc in Luong Son
1. Oc Nhung Luong Son
- Address: Vinh Luong market, Ward Vinh Luong
- Price: 20,000 – 40,000 VND per dish
2. Oc My
- Address: Village Van Dang, Ward Vinh Luong
- Price: 20,000 – 50,000 VND per dish
Banh beo, banh uot, banh hoi (water fern cake, steamed thin rice pancake, fine rice vermicelli)
Banh beo (water fern cake) is a small circular steamed rice cake with a dimple in the center. In the dimple, you’ll find shrimp powder, scallions, and mung bean paste. Banh beo can be found all around Vietnam, but in Nha Trang, it tends to be smaller in size. You can easily eat one banh beo at a time.
Banh uot (literally means the wet cake) is a kind of steamed thin rice pancake. It seems like everything in Nha Trang is different from the rest of the world! Instead of eating this cake with crispy fried shallots and a slice of cha lua (Vietnamese pork sausage), people in Nha Trang eat banh uot with shrimp powder, scallions, and mung bean paste (just like banh beo).
Banh hoi (literally means asking cake) is made of fine rice vermicelli. And once again, I have to say that Nha Trang people eat banh hoi differently from other places in Vietnam, in which people usually eat this cake with roast pork. In Nha Trang, banh hoi is prepared with the same ingredients as banh beo and banh uot, sometimes with some pieces of cha lua.
Banh beo, banh uot, and banh hoi are simple foods but very familiar to Nha Trang citizens from all classes and ages. These three kinds of rice cake are usually served together in a dish.
Where to find the best dishes in Nha Trang
1. Breakfast Nguyen Thi Minh Khai
- Address: 50 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street
- Price: 15,000 – 20,000 VND
2. Banh Beo, Banh Hoi Be Tu
- Address: 15 Huynh Thuc Khang Street
- Price: 20,000 – 25,000 VND
3. San Banh Restaurant
- Address: 19 Thang 5 Street, Vinh Diem Trung Village, Ward Vinh Hiep
- Price: 20,000 – 25,000 VND
Nha Trang possesses not only a beautiful view but also a beautiful cuisine. With the advantage of the proximity to the sea and the creativity of its people, Nha Trang has created a distinct food culture in Vietnam. Although I had 15 years to try all this food, I am sure you could do it within a few days – that’s how good it is!
How about taking a look at these articles to get a broader view of Nha Trang and start planning your fantastic journey in Vietnam! Some recommendations for you:
A Guide to Shopping in Nha Trang
Islands of Nha Trang
One Day In Nha Trang – What To See, Eat & Do! – Itinerary Included!
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