30 Best Restaurants in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

The old-world charm of the Victoria Chau Doc Hotel extends to its in-house restaurant, which serves Vietnamese and Western cuisine overlooking a busy junction of the Chau Doc and Hau River. Take a seat on the terrace to enjoy sunset (and happy hour) at the river and the attentive but discreet service. This is the priciest place in town, but the food, the staff, and the river views make it worthwhile. Reservations are recommended because sometimes the restaurant hosts bus tours.

Reminiscent of an elegant colonial mansion, Le Longanier is a lunch-only restaurant set in tropical gardens that's part of the Victoria Hotels group, and is a regular stop for Victoria Cruises, though independent travelers can also enjoy the set menu of Mekong Delta classics (reservation is required). Do take some extra time for a refreshing drink in the downstairs salon and a stroll through the gardens before you leave.

This is a great find in Ca Mau, with nostalgic style (the name translates as "ancient street"), including quaint little wooden pavilions, a courtyard bonsai garden, and fish ponds. Serving Chinese-influenced dishes as well as Vietnamese cuisine, Pho Xua has a menu that contains English subtitles, although not much English is spoken by the staff. With its proximity to the ocean, it's no wonder that seafood is the house specialty, but there's also a range of chicken, beef, buffalo, and pork dishes.

The in-house restaurant at this friendly eco-lodge serves fresh local seafood, vegetarian dishes, and lau (hotpots), which will be paired with a terrific view. Don't miss the house specialty, tempura shrimp, or book a beach barbecue for two. It's wise to make a reservation, as the restaurant's capacity is limited.

A basic, often busy joint designed for Vietnamese family-style eating, ordering different meat, seafood, and vegetable dishes to share, the house specialty is com ca kho to (catfish in claypot) and sweet-and-sour soup with catfish or shrimp. The service can be hit or miss when busy.

This basic street food stand serves a great version of the local specialty, bun nuoc leo, a vermicelli noodle soup with a umami-rich lemongrass-infused broth topped with pork and snakehead fish; you can indicate to omit the cubes of pork blood, if you don't want it. Patrons can expect celebrity treatment, with plates of spring rolls, fried prawn cakes, and banana-leaf-wrapped roast pork offered, along with wide smiles. If you don't eat any of the extras, you don't pay (but they are very good).

Cars steadily pull up and pile out at this bustling but tidy shop dedicated to Soc Trang specialty bun nuoc leo, a sweetish savory broth made with fermented fish, served over fresh bun rice noodles with slices of fish, roast pork, shrimp, shredded banana flower, and local greens.

There's a range of morning and daytime street food stalls surrounding Ha Tien's impressive market, which comprises of several buildings. Also find lots of cheap snacks and seafood at the night market, which used to be on the riverside but has been relocated to a wide boulevard in a newly developed area of town; a few vendors still set up at the river.

The food at this cheap local joint is tasty, and though the interior is basic, the restaurant is air-conditioned and the menu is in Vietnamese, English, and Chinese, so ordering is relatively simple. Mekong Delta specialties include lau (hotpot), ca kho (caramelized fish), and suon xao chua ngot (sweet-and-sour pork riblets) as well as bo luc lac (shaking beef—because it dances around the pan while being cooked) and chao tom chien (prawn paste on sugar cane sticks).

Usually packed with locals, this big eating hall with metal tables and plastic stools is the best place in town to order hu tieu My Tho, the noodle soup specialty of My Tho. The menu, printed on the walls, is simple: hu tieu (rice-noodle soup), banh canh (rice-and-tapioca noodle soup), bot nui (rice-macaroni soup), and hoanh thanh (pork wonton soup). There are different prices for hu tieu: thit (pork), xuong (pork knuckle), muc tuoi (fresh squid) and tom tuoi (fresh shrimp).

Popular with locals, this restaurant is designed to look like a bamboo village hut, and is a bit of a point-and-order eating adventure for visitors—the menu has no English, only a few photos on each page that vaguely correspond to the dishes listed below. The menu offers seafood, salad, beef, chicken, sparrow (chim se), and hotpot. Luckily the prices are so low it doesn't really matter if you mis-order a few dishes.

This garden restaurant is popular with locals for feasting with family and friends. The specialty is whole chicken (including the head and feet), but the menu has a range of chicken, beef, pork, crab, fish, and snail dishes.

This lodge on the Mekong River proudly sources fresh local ingredients and happily accommodates vegetarians. The riverside location and lovely Mekong views are worth the effort to get here by boat or motorbike (the lodge cannot be reached by car). Mekong Lodge supports charities, including a school and a training center for disadvantaged locals. A meal here gives back to the community.

One of several ancient houses in the neighborhood, the house of district chief Tran Tuan Kiet was built in 1838, its 108 poles made from the wood of xylia xylocarpa trees. Beautiful carved furniture, some with mother-of-pearl inlays, doors carved with flowers and trees, ceramic pieces, and other antiques fill the house, which was restored in 2003 with financial and technical assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Its on-site restaurant is a popular stop for small group tours and serves a seven-course set menu of Mekong Delta cuisine, including deep-fried elephant ear fish.

In contrast to the same-owned L'Escale French restaurant on the rooftop, this all-day café-restaurant serves a variety of traditional Mekong specialties in a casual bistro setting. The dishes highlight typical Mekong Delta flavors, ingredients, and preparations, including sweet-and-sour soups and braised-in-claypot dishes; the adventurous can try the snake set, while the less adventurous still have a Western menu available. Part of the tourist-targeted empire that also owns Sao Hom and The Lighthouse Restaurants, this one offers the most traditional fare. Reservations are recommended at peak times, as large tour groups can arrive en masse.

There are two parts to the night market, one section selling clothes and tourist items and the other serving sweet and savory treats from a variety of carts, with vendors who are well versed in the point-and-nod style of ordering. Most of the food can be munched while strolling and is more of a snack than a meal. Stalls start appearing at around 6 pm each day.

Though overwhelmingly touristy, the night market's animated vendors and buckets of fresh seafood, which are cooked to order, provide some eye-catching visuals and seafood dinners here can be a memorable experience, especially for a group. There are also plenty of tantalizing snacks, from roasted peanuts and grilled meat skewers to tropical fruit.

A basic riverfront restaurant firmly targeted at the tourist trade, Phuong Nam does a range of fast, budget-friendly Vietnamese dishes. The interior is basic, with check tablecloths and chunky wooden furniture, and the fan-cooled restaurant is open to the street. The menu has vegetarian, seafood, pork, chicken, and snake dishes.

A plain and simple restaurant associated with Cuu Long Hotel across the road, the main reason to come here is for the riverfront location. The menu has a range of standard Vietnamese dishes, including hotpot, and a few Western choices, though the staff don't mind if you grab a riverside seat for drinks rather than ordering a meal.

The restaurant, which is close to the market and is popular with the locals, makes a delectable version of com tam ("broken rice") with charcoal grilled pork in a sweet, sticky glaze.

Alongside a French-colonial villa once home to a Nguyen Dynasty official, Mekong serves up fresh and tasty Vietnamese dishes, has an English menu, and serves cheap cold beers. The location could be described as a courtyard if it didn't look so much like a parking lot, and the metal tables and plastic chairs are basic, but the tablecloths do give the place a certain touch of sophistication. The menu includes southern Vietnamese staples such as seafood, eel, quail, and frog, and there are plenty of less exotic options as well.

Locals will tell you that this long-standing shop has the best pho (beef noodle soup) in town, though it has become a bit pricey by Vietnamese standards. Unusually, they are open for both breakfast and dinner.

From 5 pm on, a small outdoor market sets up shop along the riverside, where you can sit down on a little plastic stool with the locals and enjoy beer, grilled meat and seafood, and even hotpot.

In a superb riverside setting inside Can Tho's beautiful old market hall, Sao Hom is one of the only restaurants on the water's edge (or on the water, if you manage to get a table on their dock). The menu seems stretched trying to please everyone with its range of made-for-tourist Vietnamese dishes, including the local version of cha gio (spring rolls), as well as Western favorites. But with friendly, polite staff and an interesting location beside busy Ninh Kieu boat pier, Sao Hom is a great place to pause and watch the river with drinks or snacks.

The menu is as thick as a book, but this modest family-owned restaurant has become extremely popular with tourists for their expertly prepared fresh seafood—especially the fish and prawns—and for their charcoal grill, which fires up every evening.

A Long Xuyen institution, Thang Loi is a large outdoor restaurant known for its seafood, although the spring rolls and beef dishes are pretty good, too. There is an English menu (and cheap beer) to make things easier.

Tran Hau Street, which runs east from the market, is packed with local mom-and-pop establishments. These small eateries usually specialize in one dish and are named after what they serve, so look out for all manner of delicious southern favorites, including hu tieu (chewy noodles with pork and seafood), bun ca (rice noodle soup with fish), banh canh ghe (thick tapioca noodle soup with crab), com tam (broken rice with grilled pork), and che (a Vietnamese dessert).

A basic eatery that attracts a good mix of tourists and locals, Truong Van serves standard but tasty noodle soup, spring rolls, fish soup, and grilled beef in a sweet-and-sour sauce. Vegetarians can tuck into mixed sautéed vegetables (cauliflower, baby corn, red and green peppers, morning glory) over wok-fried noodles. Toast to your trip with Saigon beer and finish on a sweet note with the excellent banana pancakes.

Make your way through the bustling local market to the food section at breakfast or lunchtime to find something cheap, authentic, and delicious such as banh uot, which translates literally as "wet cakes," steamed rice sheets topped with barbecued pork patties, pickled vegetables, and a tangy dressing. The market stalls start packing up at around 4 pm.

Pull up a stool at this sidewalk restaurant and pop open a Saigon beer while you look to see what the locals are eating. Chau Doc is all about seafood, and you can't go wrong with clay pot fish—unless you don't like fish sauce, in which case go for clay pot pork, with juices that taste great over white rice. There's not a lot for vegetarians, but the plates of sautéed vegetables—morning glory, baby corn, banana flowers—flavored with coriander go well with rice, and there is a vegetable soup.