93 Best Restaurants in Vietnam

Set in traditional Ede houses, long timber buildings on stilts, this restaurant is designed to give tourists an atmospheric introduction to Ede and other Central Highland minority cuisines. Though touristy, it's an uncommon opportunity to try food outside of Vietnam's dominant culture, and the dining experience is done tastefully, with pretty dishware, relaxing music, and a fire pit at night. The dishes are meant for family-style sharing.

Bancong means "balcony" in Vietnamese (from the French balcon), and this multistory 1940s Art Deco mansion has plenty of them. The outdoor spaces overflow with flowers and pot plants, and make good spots to watch scenes of the Old Quarter unfold below. The menu is rather muddled, but the Vietnamese dishes, including bun cha, are reliably good. So is the ca phe cot dua (iced coconut coffee), a Hanoi specialty.

This simple eatery compensates for its lack of sophistication with hearty portions of delicate banh cuon, steamed rice rolls stuffed with meat or seafood. Watch the resident cooks painstakingly roll out their sheets of rice noodle and spoon on the filling and feel your mouth start to water. There are three options: chicken, pork, or shrimp. Come with an appetite as all three are worth trying.

Always packed with locals, this narrow eatery serves up Ho Chi Minh City's best banh cuon (steamed rice flour crepes stuffed with minced pork and wood ear mushrooms) and an excellent version of the central Vietnamese banh beo (steamed rice flour pancakes topped with dried prawn). Just order the first three items on the menu and you'll be in foodie heaven in no time.

When famed foodie Anthony Bourdain visited, he declared the banh mi served here to be quite possibly the best in Vietnam; and he might just have been right. What you get here is a symphony in a sandwich, and though both her menu and popularity have grown, Madam Phuong is still serving up the same secret family recipes and silence-inducing sandwiches. Bourdain's favorite banh mi deluxe is a pork feast consisting of a mouth-melting slow-roasted five-spiced fillet, a rich peppery pate, a handful of herbs, pickled vegetables, and finished off with a generous scoop of mayonnaise, smoked chili sauce, and messy fried egg. Phuong also has vegetarian alternatives; ask for banh mi chay.

Banh xeo is a great example of how regional Vietnamese food is. These fried savory rice pancakes are a staple in Vietnam, but Binh Dinh Province's version are small, thin, crisp, and topped with fresh shrimp (beef, egg, or squid are also available). To eat, cut it up and wrap it in rice paper with herbs, lettuce, and green mango, then dunk it in some chili-lime-fish sauce and tuck in. It's mesmerizing to watch one woman manage a dozen pans over flames.

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.

This delightful and delicious fast-casual Italian shop has ready-to-go focaccia pizza slices and panini, as well as heartier hot dishes that come out quick. This is a great place for aperitivo, where you can sip an Aperol spritz or a Peroni while nibbling arancini rice balls.

A stylish lounge and restaurant on the banks of the slow-flowing Saigon River, The Deck is a place to spoil yourself with sublime seafood-focused pan-Asian cuisine, fine wines, and professional service. The beauty of the entry courtyard, with its tall trees, black marble pond, and potted lotus plants, is almost forgotten once you enter the restaurant, where the river views take center stage. The weekend Champagne brunches are sophisticated yet casual and the executive set lunches are perfectly suited to the business crowd.

Serving French fare with a Vietnamese touch, Fashionista Café is the place to see and be seen, enclosed in a lovely glass "winter garden" in the heart of the city. Owned by a fashion magnate, the space is intimate and stylish with a retail space (mainly women's fashion) upstairs. The set menus are especially good value considering the high quality and beautiful presentation of the food. Check the Facebook page for events, including acoustic nights, wine and dine, and Sunday picnic brunches. The afternoon tea is superbly priced and very popular with the Instagram crowd.

There’s nothing fancy about this charity-run diner, just good Western food at cheap prices and heartwarming service. Repurposed from an English center, this café employs minority and deaf workers, and is a favorite among expats and visitors. Most come for the cause, but return for the vegetarian chili, English breakfast, or burgers and pizzas.

Now back at the Temple of Literature (it moved during the pandemic), this place can get packed with tour groups. The flavors here—from baked fish in banana leaf to bamboo beef—are bold and brilliant, and the menu is a mix of creative dishes. The fact that Koto (an acronym for "know one, teach one") is a charity restaurant that benefits street youth, is just the icing on the lemon cheesecake.

The flagship location of this well-loved café chain offers a chic Old Saigon vibe to go along with reliably good, contemporary café fusion fare including salads, sandwiches, pastas, and other Western and Asian favorites. The all-day breakfast menu is also popular as are the gorgeous desserts. Head upstairs for a trendy retail space featuring Vietnam-inspired clothing and gifts from local designers and more seating.

Neighboring the historic Imperial City, this French-Vietnamese restaurant is fashioned after a colonial villa with green shutters, arched doorways, tile floors, antiques dating back to 1915, and artwork depicting pastoral scenes. Slightly pricey by local standards, the enormous menu features green mango salad, fresh spring rolls, beef in banana leaves, and grilled sea bass with a Mediterranean sauce, as well as sandwiches, pasta, and pizza. The goat cheese and prosciutto platter is superb, as is the roasted chicken in a white wine sauce. The Chinese emblem embroidered on staff uniforms and napkins is a wish for prosperity and longevity. The restaurant has a second location renowned for its French-Vietnamese menu in the backpackers' district at 18 Vo Thi Sau Street.

This American-style barbecue restaurant, complete with a smoker and long tables, serves up sweet, delicious barbecue (brisket, ribs, pulled pork) and Vietnamese craft beer in a hip, contemporary space. Outdoor and air-conditioned indoor seating is available.

Serving contemporary Vietnamese cuisine in an intimate, elegant setting, Madame Lam feels like dining in the home of a well-traveled friend. Dishes showcase flavors from all over Vietnam with an innovative twist and gorgeous presentation. Don't miss the creative cocktails featuring Vietnamese flavors and local ingredients.

With a terrace overlooking rooftops sloping down the hillside, this sweet bistro has an eclectic menu, from brunch classics, healthy options, and an all-day vegan menu, to heartier pizza, pastas, and burgers, all consistently good.

This clean, cheap, cheerful joint serves a delicious bun cha Hanoi, rice vermicelli and fresh herbs you plunge into a brothy dipping sauce with little pork meatballs. Be sure to get bun cha nem truyen thong, which comes with a fried spring roll and charcoal grilled pork.

La Veranda's in-house restaurant presents upscale Pacific Rim cuisine and lovely second floor views over the ocean in an elegant French colonial-style setting. One of the pricier options on Phu Quoc, it's a nice splurge for the service, setting, food, wine list, and a predinner sunset cocktail. It's also an ideal location for a quiet romantic dinner in the heart of busy Long Beach.

When it comes to street food, Hanoians don't go in for much ostentation and the eating area here is decidedly prosaic; just a few communal tables under a couple of bare lightbulbs. What matters is the expertly judged broth, the light rice noodles, and the delicious meat, which is peeled in strips from hulking slabs of brisket. Don't worry about identifying the restaurant: you'll recognize it from the long lines of people waiting outside.

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.

True to its motto of “Eat, drink, relax, be happy,” this is the place to eat and hang out in Mui Ne. Order from any of the eateries, from seafood hotpot and sausage platters, to Hungarian goulash and fish tacos, underneath swaying palms with sweeping views of the water. The open-air space is family-friendly during the day, before the on-site Nirvana Beach Club cranks up the tunes at night.

The most social spot on the beach, Soul Kitchen attracts a year-round mix of expats and local visitors, with frequent live music and open mike events. During the day the shady grass frontage, pool table, and board games keep kids entertained, leaving parents free to relax in raised cabanas with a Vietnamese-French menu, wine list, and cold draft beer. Friday through Sunday, rain or shine, Soul Kitchen hosts live music events.

At Cassia Cottage Resort's in-house restaurant, whether you choose to dine beside a lily-filled pond in the manicured tropical garden, by the pool, or right on the beach, expect delicious Vietnamese and Mediterranean cuisine using fresh local produce. This is a great option for a special romantic evening that won't break the bank.

No visit to Dong Ha is complete without a visit to this cheerful spot in the heart of town. It's both a charity café (Mr Tam employs and supports deaf people in the area) and a one-stop information shop, without the hard sell. The menu is a wholesome mix of excellent Vietnamese and Western staples, including pizza, banh mi, and half-decent espresso. Tam also employs local war veterans and offers excellent tours of the DMZ and surrounding area.

If you are staying overnight in Dong Ha, Tam's also offers decent accommodations at very cheap prices (starting at 160,000d) as well as guided tours to the DMZ.

For tasty, sophisticated cuisine, there's no better place in Phong Nha than The Villas, the main restaurant at Victory Road Villas. An immaculate setting close to the Son River is an important string to the venue's bow. But equally enchanting is a small but perfectly formed menu that encompasses international and Vietnamese cuisine with highlights including duck confit and a salmon filet with caper mash potatoes, asparagus, and orange sauce. 

As the first fully interactive street food experience in Vietnam, this buzzy, upscale food hall, owned by local-celebrity chef Ms. Vy, attracts a steady stream of enthusiastic foodies keen to take a culinary tour of Hoi An’s gastronomic classics. The menu here is visual, and diners are invited to wander among the various food stations where traditional dishes like cau lao noodles, banh mi, and savory country pancakes are made to order, to be devoured on simple bench seating arranged in the central courtyard.

An assortment of antiques and a jungle of potted-plants add panache to this humble family-run restaurant, which has been in business for a decade. It's no wonder, because the home-style Vietnamese dishes of meat, seafood, or vegetable stir-fry served with rice are delicious and filling.

A centrally located café-restaurant, Alpaca's quirky, creative atmosphere pairs nicely with its versatile menu of coffee, alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks, brunch bites, pastas, and burritos, all prepared with great care.

There’s good reason this café, conveniently located just across the road from the cable car station, has been in business for over a decade: this plant-filled oasis has pretty views of the verdant valley, as well as a delectable brunch menu.