40 Best Restaurants in The Central Coast, Vietnam

As one of Vietnam's leading fine-dining experiences, this restaurant resembles an old French mansion with elaborately decorated themed rooms. The aesthetics have earned La Maison acclaim from the likes of Architectural Digest, and the cuisine of three-Michelin-star chef Pierre Gagnaire only adds to the illustrious status. Special mention to the venue's wine collection, a cellar that is home to one-of-a-kind and prestigious bottles.

This exemplary French bistro with welcoming owners is a popular spot for visitors and expats in Hoi An. Don't expect much in the way of culinary bells and whistles, but the daily-changing menu of classics and other dishes like pizza as well as the fine selection of wine make this a reliably convivial option. 

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.

Fusing art, music, history, and cuisine, this 19th-century house in Hoi An's Old Quarter has been beautifully restored and offers silver service at remarkable prices. Slightly overshadowed by the setting, the menu is Vietnamese-meets-modern cuisine with such dishes as bean sprout dumplings, mango and lotus salad, caramelized pork, and wok-fried noodles.

One of Danang's hippest hangouts, this industrial-style, open-fronted warehouse pub-restaurant wouldn't look out of place in New York City. The ever-changing menu of authentic Italian fare includes specials such as risotto alla Milanese, pizza, pasta, and steaks. Come evening, the rustic brick walls and buzzing bar make for a different experience altogether.

The best spot in town for an Ionian-style banquet, it pays to arrive hungry at Mix. The venue, a stone's throw from the Japanese Covered Bridge, is reliably rambunctious, and with good reason. Friendly staff do the rounds delivering giant platters of delicious starters and fresh bread or grilled meats and other Greek dishes like lamb souvlaki or moussaka. The house wine is reasonably priced, making this a great place to linger with friends. 

Well established as one of the town’s preeminent dining venues is Morning Glory, where menu highlights include roast duck leg served with a five-spice dressing and crunchy tofu coated in young sticky rice. This is where local food celebrity Miss Vy originally made her name, and standards have barely slipped over the years with tourists and visiting gourmands flocking to the venue for authentic local dishes prepared with passion and skill.

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.

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.

Local families who come in droves to this popular no-frills diner make out-of-town visitors feel warmly welcome, even if you don't master the art of rolling the perfect banh xeo. There’s no menu; just pull up a stool and within minutes you’ll be presented with pork skewers, crispy pancakes stuffed with bean sprouts, deep-fried shrimp spring rolls, rice paper, various greens, a satay-style dip, and an array of condiments. Go hungry; portions are large.

Hai, from Hai’s Eco Conservation Tour, runs this bamboo restaurant with his family and serves delicious dishes every day from 7 am until 10:30 pm. Try the fresh fruit smoothies. You can also take part in a morning cooking class that includes a visit to the local market.

Don't be put off by the grungy interior of this restaurant. The quality of the decor is in inverse proportion to the quality of the food. This favorite among locals serves only six dishes, all specialties of the region. The price of 40,000d per dish should allow you to try them all—if you're hungry enough.

One of Central Vietnam's culinary gifts to the world is its banh xeo (savory crepe). Made from a basic blend of rice flour, turmeric, and coconut milk and stuffed with other ingredients such as shrimp, pork, mung beans, and diced green onions, these delicious treats are best torn off and wrapped in a lettuce leaf and dunked in a nuoc cham dipping sauce made with fish sauce and chili. One of the best places in Danang to sample the delicacy is at alleyway eatery Ba Duong.

The sign outside says "The best spitroast pork and noodle shop in the world (probably)," and if the pork belly they serve is anything to go by, the claim is justified. This local joint with plastic chairs and an enormous grill out front is easy to find if you follow your nose from the small boat station in town.

For many purists, Neapolitan-style pizza—a simple combination of fresh ingredients and a dough made from wheat flour, yeast, salt, and water—offers the ultimate in wood-fired wonderment. And this segment is ably served in Danang by Cardi, which enjoys a plum position by the banks of the Han River. The formula is very simple. Combine a base sauce made with the freshest tomatoes with your dough to produce pies that have a pillow-soft crust with judicious charring and offer the perfect marriage of acidity and sweetness.

From your table in this tiny family restaurant hidden in an alley of a backpackers’ area, you can smell the mouth-watering fragrance from the open kitchen where Mr. Hung is preparing your fresh meal. His amiable wife Hue, and sister Ha (who is a French tour guide) serve delicious plates with a warm smile, adding a homely touch to the experience. All meals are finished with abundant complimentary seasonal fresh fruits. Their beautiful cooking and exceptional service compensates for their tasteless interior and narrow space.

Com ga (chicken with aromatic rice) is a true specialty of Hoi An, and one of the best places to try the dish is down an alley off Phan Chu Trinh. They start you off with some crispy shredded papaya and thin slices of onion and lime juice on the side before giving you a juicy half chicken with fluffy golden turmeric rice. Just add the cold beer for perfection.

At Duyen Anh Restaurant you can pick up your own live fish, shrimp, or lobsters from the tanks, and vegetables are homegrown in the 4-acre garden viewable from your dining table. All dishes are designed to share. Crab salad is a delicate combination of crabmeat, crab roe, and baked rice paper with fresh banana blossom, bean sprouts, and herbs. The best seats are on the second floor or in the private pavilions on a waterlily pond. Although it has a beautiful setting and a playground for kids, it's far from the city's center.

Another standout in Danang is the innovative fusion cuisine at Fat Fish—a marriage of culinary sensibilities engendered by local restaurateur Duc Tran, whose empire of venues in Hoi An has made him one of Vietnam's most recognizable figures. In a smart venue with seats overlooking the Han River, diners can sample signature dishes like five-spice, pan-fried duck breast with soba noodles, and seabass with ginger jam with glasses of Pasteur Street Jasmine IPA, a tasty Vietnamese brew. 

Ganesh is a well known stamp of quality for lovers of Indian cuisine in Vietnam. The chain has branches throughout the nation, and is now imparting its brand of spicy alchemy on Quang Binh courtesy of its Phong Nha outlet. Expect a delicious array of North and South Indian curries, piping hot naan and roti fresh from the tandoor, and friendly, gracious service. 

This traditional Italian restaurant is a popular spot in the Old Town center for those looking for a break from the standard Vietnamese fare. During the day, the welcoming, homely environs make for a quiet rest stop, where you can enjoy a good Italian coffee or a light bite from the second-floor balcony overlooking the streets.

It might be overcrowded during lunch and dinner, but this open restaurant's wide range of Hue specialties such as nem lui (grilled pork sausage on lemongrass stick), banh khoai (savory pancake), tapas like beo, nam, loc, and noodles with grilled pork and salad are all worth the wait.

Simple and delicious dishes are served shortly after you sit down on a plastic chair in this restaurant in the fabled neighborhood of Kim Long. Their menu is limited to only a few barbecue pork dishes. The recipes that were passed down to Mrs. Hai, the owner, from her grandmother have not changed since the 1960s. Huyen Anh has been so popular that its neighboring restaurants even fake their name and menu. There are only three authentic Huyen Anh, which are this one, Huyen Anh at 50 Kim Long Street, and Huyen Anh 2 at 126 Kim Long Street. The last two are owned and run by Hai’s brothers.

Inside the historical Azerai La Residence Hue, this pricey brasserie rivals anything you might find in Paris. The French fusion degustation menu (which must be requested eight hours in advance) features six exquisite courses, ranging from smoked duck carpaccio to beef tenderloin with rosemary. International wines are paired with each course, including an impressive dessert of molten chocolate with red hibiscus coulis served under a crystallized sugar dome.

Clay-oven pizza, pasta, antipasti plates, and fine wines, all sourced from Italy, can be enjoyed on a tropically planted beachfront garden, or, on wintery days, holed up in a cozy corner by the kitchen. The sesame-coated tuna with salad, Pecorino cheese, and olives are to die for, as are the Italian homemade desserts.

Didier Corlou is celebrated as a pioneer of fine dining in Vietnam thanks to his ventures in Hanoi; now, his culinary journey extends to Central Vietnam. Situated in a former spice house, the restaurant offers patrons an exquisite dining experience. A good choice is the tasting menu that showcases an array of dishes such as braised pork, and barracuda cooked in banana leaf, complemented by starters like banana flower salad with chicken, and spring rolls filled with mackerel, pork, and mushrooms.

In the Japanese Quarter, beside the river, is this classic Vietnamese restaurant resembling an upscale residence with its ornate armoires, wooden chairs, and a lantern-lit courtyard where you can listen to soft jazz. Lighter menu items such as baguettes, spring rolls, and salads are offered alongside duck or prawn curry, tofu, rice platters, and seafood dishes. Take note of the antique bar, once a "rice safe" used by families to protect their harvest.

A spinoff of the original Mango Rooms in Old Town, this Vietnamese fusion restaurant is located along the river directly across from the Japanese Covered Bridge. Owner-chef Duc Tran has created an innovative menu of modern-Asian-meets-the-world, inspired from his 20-plus years of travels abroad. Mango Mango's signature cocktails and mouth-watering delicacies look like works of art.