10 Best Restaurants in The Northwest, Vietnam

Like Sapa itself, Le Gecko bears noticeable French influence with a menu that features a host of bistro classics. There's a comfortable bar area that is popular in the evenings, while the outside terrace is a great spot for people-watching. There's nothing particularly fussy about either the restaurant or the home-style cuisine, so don't expect fancy sauces of Parisian haughtiness.

With meat as the staple fare of the Northwest, it comes as some surprise to find that Dien Bien Phu's top restaurant is a wholly vegetarian affair—a delicious one at that. The owner is an English tutor, which ensures that service is much less spotty than it tends to be elsewhere in the more remote regions of Vietnam. Despite Dien Bien's Phu's mythical status in the country's history, there's nothing revolutionary about the food here, but it is tasty, including vegetarian spring rolls.

This cozy restaurant is at the bottom of the Legend Hotel; chandeliers and bamboo curtains add to the beauty of the rustic interior. There are set lunches and dinners so that groups can eat family-style, which makes this a tour group favorite. However, it's not a bad spot for a date. Upstairs you can see 10 kinds of rice wine on display, all fermented with local fruit; nothing starts the night like a glass.

Off the main road, about 200 yards from entrance to market, this restaurant, attached to a hotel of the same name, does a brisk business with lunching tourists. It serves very basic, but extremely tasty Vietnamese fare, such as pho and a variety of noodle, meat, and chicken dishes. Service can be a little erratic, and simple orders like a cold beer sometimes take awhile to arrive.

Tourists gather at this restaurant near the market for the large portions of pasta and pizzas cooked in a genuine Italian pizza oven by the amiable owner-chef, Mr. Tung, who spent six months studying in Milan before opening the restaurant. Exquisite crepes satisfy a lighter appetite, and there's an extensive international wine list. During peak season, from around October through mid-December, it's best to make reservations for weekend dining.

Son La, deep in the Northwest highlands, isn't really known for internationally friendly cuisine, and this huge beer hall is the closest offering to those whose palates prefer familiar comforts. As its name states, the restaurant specializes in hotpots and barbecue. While there are entries taken right out of the tribe people's regular diet in its menu, it also offers dishes such as prime rib, flame-roasted beefsteak, and calamari. The $3, 0.8 gallon beer towers are also guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser. 

True, there's not much in the way of competition, but this is the best dining venue in Bac Ha. The menu will be familiar to students of the region's culinary landscape, with a solid selection of Vietnamese staple noodle and rice dishes along with lots of grilled, fried, and boiled meat.

Catering mostly to foreign tourists, this large restaurant, a short walk from Hill A1–Eliane, serves a wide selection of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Western dishes.

If you are looking for a truly local experience, then this is the restaurant for you. Pho Nui Son La boasts a menu with more than 100 entries and sources their ingredients from local highland stocks and farmsteads. Though they do offer regular beef, pork, and chicken, most of the clienteles come for the highland goats, pheasants, and mountain hogs. 

Like most of the restaurants in Sapa, Viet Emotion has a typical Western and Vietnamese blended menu, but they go out of their way to make the building bright and colorful. If you’re hungry, try the Hunter’s Meal, which is sticky rice and pork marinated in a bamboo pipe. They also have a second (smokier) location at 17 Xuan Vien.