Hd cafe

This nicely decorated cafe offers one of the greatest deals you can find for lunch: a dish of rice plus one fruit juice for only 20,000VND! This deal is for lunch and early afternoon only, but the cafe opens all day. The dish of rice is very nice and nutritious with shrimp, braised pork, fried egg, and some vegetables. You can choose any fruit juice from the menu; I chose a glass of guava juice and it tasted great. I did not check the normal price of the drinks here, but the waitress told me that my glass of guava juice would cost 27,000VND if ordered as a single unit. 

This two storey cafe has a warm and pleasant touch. It has free and fast wifi. The staff here is also very nice and polite. Highly recommended!

This set costs only 20,000VND. Unbelievable!

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Where: Hd cafe- 27 Thai Phien

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Chao trang hot vit muoi

White porridge with salted duck egg and other stuffs - Cháo trắng hột vịt muối

So (Vietnamese) winter has come, much sooner than previous years. This is my favourite time of the year: not hot, not sunny, not much rainy... cool and perfect for eating out, especially for some hot food like porridge ^_^

In Vietnam porridge is a very common food, and is often cooked with pork, fish, or chicken. This entry is about a different kind of Vietnamese porridge which perhaps comes from South Vietnam. White porridge is served together with a dish of salted duck egg, dry-braised pork and fish, pickles, and pork pemmican. These food are intentionally made quite salty so that it would go well with the plain porridge. At the shop where I always visit for this kind of porridge, they also sell banh beo which is half the size of a normal one, topped with shredded shrimps. They also have banh nam and banh bot loc but often run out of stock very soon in the afternoon. I recommend you try the porridge and banh beo here.

White rice porridge

Food served together with porridge

Banh beo Hue

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Where: 55B Nguyen Chi Thanh
- 8000VND for one bowl of porridge and a dish of food,
- 5000VND per dish of food (without porridge),
- 10000VND per tray of banh beo.

When: Afternoon and early evening

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Trung vit lon

Boiled half-hatched eggs - Trứng vịt lộn

I was deliberating for quite some time before deciding to write about these eggs. Even the name may sound disgusting to many of you, especially those who haven't tried them yet. But after all, I decided that as they belong to the Vietnamese food culture and are indeed very tasty, there is no reason for me to be afraid of introducing them.

Ok I cannot describe exactly how these eggs taste and I am not trying to do so. All I can say is that it's soft, and go very well with the accompanied vegetable (called "rau răm") and ginger sauce. There are 2 ways to eat these eggs. One is to put an egg in a small bowl with the small side down, use the spoon to break and hand to open around a third of the egg shell, and use spoon to eat the inside together with the sauce and vegetables. This way you can't see how the inside looks, but it takes some skill to do so. The other way is to ask the shop owner to remove all the shell and put the inside in a bowl for you. Either way, DON'T forget the sauce and vegetable. Most, if not all, of the places selling these eggs in Danang are small pavement shops, open in late evening, and they intentionally set up everything in dim light so that you cannot see what you are eating. Normally one person would eat 1-2 eggs each time.

I love these eggs and I think most Vietnamese do, too. Clear away all the bad imaginations you're having in your head, get some courage and you will find out that these eggs are definitely not as bad as you think they are. Indeed, they are very tasty (well I know you don't believe me anyway). So I suggest you give it a try, and have some fun experience with Vietnamese cuisine.

Ginger and young papaya sauce

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Where: my usual place: 83 Thai Phien - 6000VND per egg
When: around 8pm to midnight



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Bun cha ca

Fish cake noodle soup - Bún chả cá

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This is a famous morning dish in Danang. Its main ingredient is poached or grilled ground fish, and the broth is made from tomato, pineapple, pumpkin, bamboo shoot and other herbs.

Bún chả cá is well-known and distinctive in Central Vietnam where fishery is one of the most vital professions of the local people. The fish are thus always fresh and best in quality. Made from different kinds of fruits and herbs, Bún chả cá is tasty and nutritious at a low price. So what more can you ask for!

Poached and grilled ground fish 

Put a very little of these into your bowl to make it taste better

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Where:
1. Bun cha ca - 61B Le Hong Phong -
2. Hờn - 113/3 Nguyen Chi Thanh - 15000VND (updated March 2013)
3. Bà Hoa - 27 Lê Hồng Phong

When: Usually in the morning but also available all day.

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Newlife Garden cafe

Newlife Garden cafe

Newlife Garden is a pretty spacious and decent coffee shop. Like any other coffee shops in Vietnam, they offer a wide range of drinks, ranging from coffee, fruit juices, tea and so on. The average price is around 15000-25000VND. A black coffee costs 14000 and a lemon juice costs 20000VND. 

In the morning they also offer several dishes for breakfast. My favourite one is beef stew which costs 17000VND. I have taken several foreign friends of mine to have breakfast here and they all loved this dish.

This garden cafe is quite quiet during the day but can get very crowded in the evening. The atmosphere here is great, fresh and very relaxing with lots of trees. 



Ginger tea - Trà gừng



Lemon juice - Chanh đá



Beef stew - Bò kho

Beef stew with egg - Bò kho ốp la

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Where: Newlife Garden - 76 Thai Phien
When: All day   



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Com ga

Roasted chicken rice - Cơm gà

This is one of my most favourite rice dishes. The roasted chicken is well-flavoured, juicy, crispy and not very greasy, excellently combined with colored rice, chilli sauce (not hot at all - more like tomato sauce), fresh tomato, cucumber and salad. The rice is cooked with chicken stock, thus has a very nice flavour and taste. You can choose to order either chicken wing (cánh) or leg (đùi).

I once hosted one of my Japanese friends for one month in Danang; she tried to eat almost everything she could and this was No 1 on her list. Oh well, I think I have to go eat it again tomorrow.

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Where: My ultimate place: A Hai - 100 Thai Phien - 36000VND/dish

When: Evening

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Xoa xoa

Xoa Xoa


Xoa Xoa is a cool and fun drink. It is made from (tasteless) black and white jello, red tapioca pearls, sweet green mung bean paste, syrup, coconut milk and ice. Generally Xoa xoa is fairly sweet and cool, which makes it a nice drink/dessert for hot summer days.

It's not easy to find a place for xoa xoa nowadays. Maybe they still sell it at some food stands in small local markets, I'm not sure. 46 Tran Binh Trong is the only proper xoa xoa shop that I know of. I've been a loyal customer of this place since forever because it is close to the elementary school that I attended (close to my house as well). Their xoa xoa is super tasty, so I never bother going elsewhere to eat.

Mix everything well before eating

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Where: My ultimate shop: 46 Tran Binh Trong - 6000VND
When: Morning and early afternoon


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Banh mi

Vietnamese baguette - Bánh mì

Bánh mì (baguette) is probably the most popular, cheapest yet very delicious Vietnamese food. Banh mi is sold everywhere and anytime - you can buy one along the pavements or in big Banh mi shops for less than half a dollar. Normally, Banh mi is filled with roasted or grilled pork, chả, pâté, spring onion, cucumber, cilantro, chilli... For more than 10 different versions of banh mi in Danang, check out this post.

Don't have time? Run out of money? Or wanna try the simplest yet distinctive food of Vietnam? Banh mi is the ultimate solution.

Banh mi with pork and cha - Bánh mì thịt chả

Banh mi with grilled pork - Bánh mì thịt nướng

Banh mi stands like this can be found anywhere

           

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Bun rieu cua

Rice vermicelli soup with paddy crab - Bún riêu cua

"Riêu cua" means paddy crab where clean crabs are pounded on to a fine paste. Then the strained paste is used as a topping together with "chả", while its liquid becomes a base for the broth along with tomatoes and other ingredients. Bún riêu cua is also served with vegetables. It has the sweet flavour from crabs and chả, and a fairly sour flavour of tomatoes. This is an absolutely great morning dish.

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Where: 08 Yen Bay - 17000/bowl (morning only)

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