Top Things to Eat and Do in Hoi An: Hoi An Food Tour, Ancient Town, Night Market, Central Market

Hoi An used to be an international port, with Chinese and Japanese the main traders in the area, hence why their architecture and food are heavily influenced by both countries. Alas, in the 19th century, the river silted up and so big boats could no longer dock in the area. That’s why trading traffic moved to Da Nang and is the reason why Da Nang is a major city, while Hoi An is a minor town now. Oh the vagaries of nature and its impact on the world.

Today, Hoi An is incredibly tourist-y. Seriously, I have no idea how they survived during COVID without tourists, because literally all the businesses here seem to revolve around tourists.

Where we stayed

Lantana Boutique Hotel

Not bad. Very spacious lobby, and the buffet was pretty decent too, although nothing AMAZING. The rooms were in good condition, although you could tell it was old. I liked that there was a bathtub, although I didn’t end up having enough time to use it. There was also a pool at the ground floor, although it closes at 9PM sadly.

Overall, great location – walking distance to the Ancient Town!

Activities we did in Hoi An

Hoi An Food Tour

Link: https://www.klook.com/en-PH/activity/4800-evening-walking-food-tour-hoi-an/

We met at White Rose Restaurant as the first stop. Our tour guide, Emma, had Whatsapped me that morning the location (which I hadn’t read), but thank goodness we ended up at the right place still. Our companions, 3 of them, were not so lucky and ended up quite lost! They arrived around 20 minutes after the stated start time.

There were 7 stops in total during this tour, which lasted from 5-9PM.

Stop #1: White Rose Restaurant

Famed for their white rose dumpling (shrimp and vegetarian flavors) and their fried Wanton (made from the same wrapper but deep fried) with sweet and sour sauce.

I really like the shrimp dumpling. The wrapper is firm but springy, and the filling is flavorful. 😍

This restaurant supplies dumplings across the city, and cannot be replicated because it needs to use water from the Ba Le well.

Stop #2: Cao Lau Lien

As Hoi An was an international trading port, they were heavily influenced by Japanese and Chinese. Their Cao Lau noodles then uses Japanese udon, with cha shiu pork on top. The cha shiu was yum!!! The udon springy (but I prefer the ones in Jap restos hehe)

Stop #3 Madam Khanh – The Bahn Mi Queen

Super famed! Second only to Bahn Mi Feng (which Anthony Bourdain said was the best Bahn mi in the world). I’m not super sure why though, because parang normal lang naman? But swear, these Viets know how to make bread. Their baguette is so crispy on the outside, but fluffy on the inside. We got the mixed meat combo which was good, but I felt required more sauce

Stop #4: Random Coffee House

Been looking for egg coffee this whole trip but apparently that’s only in North Vietnam. Here, they’re known for Salt Coffee and Coconut Coffee. But tonight, we tried the White Coffee (made from Vietnamese luxury beans). It was ok! Did you know Vietnam is now the 2nd largest exporter of coffee beans, 2nd only to Brazil? Whoa, galing!

Stop #5 Cao Lau Be Le

More pancakes. I am all pancaked out. Too much fried food in Central Vietnam, where be the steamer. Anyway, this was alright. We realized we were eating the pancakes wrong all along hehe. I liked the pork bbq, which was kinda similar to the flavor in the Philippines. Yum!!

Stop #6 Boat tour

Super nice!! Especially coz it was the full moon festival. Lit lanterns all along the walking street, on the boats, and we even got to make a wish and light a lantern on the river (environmental hazard though, but they said they clean it up in the morning). Very romantic and moody vibe though.

Stop #7 Traditional Bingo

Only played in Hoi An (primarily by the older generation LOL), and needs participants in 10s, because every set of 10 will have 1 winner. Essentially, you choose a “card” with three characters. The gamemakers, will choose characters at random and sing it out (in this crazy folklore tune). The first “card” to complete all three characters wins!

Ancient Town

What I find quite shocking here is really the fact that ~80% of households in Vietnam have a family business, which essentially sustains their livelihood. It’s super impressive because standard of living here is low! They pretty much own the place, the storefront is commercial, then they live on the 2nd floor. So, no rent. Employees are all family members, hence no labor cost. I mean, it’s cute in a way but I wonder how sustainable it is.

For example, the heritage buildings in the Old Town are still occupied by the families (who live there). They essentially “tour” you inside their homes, and are paid by the government based on the number of tourists who enter the site, but this is practically a pittance. They then supplement their income with additional stuff they sell (eg embroidered cloth etc). Maintenance and upkeep of the building can be quite pricey though, with the government forking over 45-70% of the restoration and upkeep fee only. Crazy! I can’t imagine 🙈

Also, it’s really cool because while the Chinese community in Hoi An is pretty small now – most left to go Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh when trading ground to a halt here, you can really see the influence still. Our tour guides could speak Mandarin, this nice owner of the black sesame soup shop told us his ancestry was from China and his surname was 吳, and of course all these Chinese assembly halls (Guangzhou, Fujian, etc) are still very well-maintained

We were also fortunate to be here for the Full Moon Festival, and I thought the lantern-lit river at night was simply beautiful ❤️ Oh Hoi An, charming with all its nooks and crannies just begging to be discovered

Night Market

I was very disappointed with the Night Market tbh. The wares they were hawking all seemed to be China-made, or at least they were all mass-produced and nothing was unique to Hoi An. I guess the only saving grace here was the food. My favorites were the corn (so sweet!) and the sauteed squid! Delicious.

Central Market

We were told to go to the Central Market, as the wares here were cheaper, but they’re NOT. Seriously. We haggled quite hard here and bought a lot – breezy pants, summer dresses, leather bags, coffee packets, coffee filter and strainers, etc – and felt very pleased with ourselves.

But later on, when we went back to the Ancient Town, and asked the prices of the exact same wares, their starting point was actually CHEAPER. OMG. Then you could haggle some more too. Zzzz. Stick to the Ancient Town for your shopping…

Where to eat in Hoi An

Well obviously, the first places you should try when in Hoi An would be the ones I’ve listed above as part of our Food Tour. Definitely go to the first three stops at least (White Rose, Cao Lau Lien, Madam Khanh)

Other restaurants and cafes I would recommend would be the following:

Morning Glory (Taste of Vietnam Group)

Delicious! Super interesting because this reminds me of the Bistro Group, where all the restaurants under their umbrella can be found in one area and you can cross-order. My fave resto is Morning Glory though, which is their Viet specialty.

I liked everything we ordered actually. Excellent all!

✨ Roast Duck with Mango Salad

✨ Crispy Pork and Shrimp Dumpling

✨ Chicken and Ginger Dumplings

✨ BBQ pork in cucumber rolls

✨ Stuffed Squid with Caramelized Onions

✨ Chicken Curry Soup

✨ Sizzling Beef with Black Pepper Sauce

✨ Whole Snapper with Coriander Mango Salad

✨ Stir Fried Morning Glory

But out of all these, my fave was crispy pork and Shrimp Dumpling. Hay delicious.

Pho Che Co Ban Che Ngon

Yum!!! Delicious desserts. We got the following which were all the right balance of texture, flavor and overall goodness

✨ Tau Hu Long Ngan: Jasmine tofu pudding, with dried longgan flesh

✨ Che Khoai deo: Soft potato with sweet coconut soup

✨ Che Sau Rieng: Durian, Jackfruit, Jelly

✨ Che Lien Hoa: Lotus jelly, matcha jelly, frozen herbal water

Che Xi Ma Phu

First – do NOT try to Google Maps this. It’ll bring you to the wrong location grr. In the end, we found it by asking around and showing the locals a photo of the place (see photo below), which allowed the locals to kindly point us to the right place.

The original black sesame seed soup in Hoi An! Their soup contains black sesame (winnowed and pounded manually to ensure retention of the best seeds and flavor), kudzu starch (which improves liver digestion), sargasso, centella, sweet potato (for the sweetness). Their soup is supposed to help improve mental alacrity and prevent alzheimers. The owner lived to 108, and his wife (aged 99) still lives today!

We were incredibly blessed to have stumbled upon this place, and we even got a demonstration of how black sesame is made! How cool is that?!? Hidden gems make travelling and exploring 100% worth it

92 Station

Beautiful rooftop bar! Each person needs to buy a drink though, which is uncommon in Vietnam, but alright. The nice view and breezy atmosphere makes up for it.

Their drinks are also pretty good too. So overall win-win

Phin Coffee

A shaded garden oasis in the middle of a very hot afternoon Old Town stroll. Chanced upon this place because they’re said to serve the best egg coffee in town (which is more often found up north). Unfortunately they added their own southern twist to it with coconut so it became Coconut Egg Coffee…. Hm, not to my taste.

I did like the Brown Chocolate local beer – does not taste like chocolate, but smells like it. Mhmmm!

Also liked our other orders actually :

✨ Vietnamese Coffee Sua: Robusta Coffee with condensed milk

✨ Da Lat Arabica Phin Coffee

✨ Iced blended coffee with peanut butter (double shot espresso)

Long Com Ga Chicken Rice

Hmm Hoi An is apparently known for good chicken rice as well, so we decided to check out a local favorite.

The soup was excellent. Super rich in flavor. The shredded chicken was ayt, needed sauce (which is my general feeling for white chicken tbh), but the char siu chicken was yum (sweet taste!). The chicken salad was VERY filling. No idea what came over me and why I decided to get a salad 😢

Overall, Singapore chicken rice still better.

Planning out the rest of your Central Vietnam itinerary? Check out the rest of my itinerary blogs here:

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