Hai Phong is the best eating city in northern Vietnam and almost no foreign traveler stops for it. The dishes are spicier than Hanoi's, heavier on shellfish, and sold by stalls that open for a few hours and then shut.
Hai Phong is the best eating city in northern Vietnam and almost nobody flies in for it. Most foreign travelers pass through on the road between Hanoi and Cat Ba Island, give it ninety minutes and a bowl of soup, and move on. That is worth correcting, because what to eat in Hai Phong is a genuinely different list from Hanoi's: spicier, far heavier on shellfish, and built around small stalls that open for a few hours and then close for the day. Get the timing right and one night here is the best meal of a two-week trip.
Banh da cua, the breakfast you came for
Banh da cua is built on wide reddish-brown rice noodles cut from a sun-dried sheet, which stay chewy in the bowl. The broth is a clear, faintly sour stock made from freshwater paddy crab, and on top go crab paste, minced pork wrapped in betel leaf, fish cake, shrimp and a handful of blanched water spinach. You add the chili yourself. Stalls are everywhere, they open early and they stop when the pot is empty. Expect roughly 30,000 to 50,000d, which is around US$1 to 2.
Banh mi cay, the two-finger baguette
A tiny, crisp baguette with a thin crumb, filled with rich liver pate and a stripe of fermented chili sauce that goes straight up your nose. This is a snack, not a meal, and the correct order is three to five with a glass of iced tea. Long-established stalls are scattered around Le Loi and Dinh Tien Hoang streets and near Hang Kenh. The chili sauce, chi chuong, is what separates this from a baguette anywhere else in Vietnam, so ask for extra if you can take the heat.
Nem cua be and bun ca cay, the lunch pair
- Nem cua be: square deep-fried rolls packed with real sea crab meat, served with cold rice noodles and a sweet-sour dipping sauce
- Bun ca cay: crisp fried fish dropped into a strong, properly hot broth, nothing like the mild fish noodle soups elsewhere in the north
- Both are easy to find from late morning through the afternoon, at roughly 40,000 to 70,000d a portion, about US$1.50 to 3
- Order noodles with a single roll rather than a plate of four if you want to keep eating later in the day
Gia be, sea snails and the late-afternoon tables
Gia be is the dish most particular to this city: a small tidal-flat shellfish, stir-fried or tossed cold with onion and rau ram, the peppery herb sold in the West as Vietnamese coriander. It is crunchy and sweet and appears nowhere else in the country in this form. Alongside it come stir-fried sea snails, salt-fried mantis shrimp and steamed clams. From about four in the afternoon, tables spread onto the sidewalks around Lach Tray and Van Cao and in the market lanes, busiest around seven or eight.
The afternoon snacks visitors never find
This is the group that separates a good food day from a great one. Banh beo here is not the delicate Hue version but a thicker steamed rice cake with a filling of pork and wood ear mushroom, served in hot bone broth. Banh duc tau is a savory rice pudding topped with shrimp, pork and papaya in sweet-sour fish sauce, strange on the first mouthful and addictive by the third. Chao khoai is a thick, fragrant rice porridge sold from tiny stalls in the lanes.
Sweet things: sui din and che dua dam
- Sui din: glutinous rice balls with a black sesame filling, floated in hot ginger and sugar syrup. A cold-weather, after-dark dish
- Che dua dam: shredded young coconut, coconut milk and crushed ice, sweet and cooling, the summer answer
- Both are cheap, at roughly 15,000 to 35,000d a bowl, which is well under a dollar
- Many of these stalls open only from late afternoon until late at night, so do not go hunting at breakfast
Seafood on Cat Ba and at Do Son
If your route continues to the island, save the serious seafood meal for Cat Ba, where the catch comes off boats in the bay and floating farms sit within sight of the harbor. Do Son, on the mainland coast, is known for horseshoe crab, a genuine local specialty that is not for everyone but is worth trying once. The rules are the same in both places: ask the price per kilo, watch the scale, and agree a price for each dish before it goes to the kitchen.
Eat on the local clock rather than your own. Banh da cua is a breakfast dish and the good pots are empty by mid-morning, while the shellfish tables do not appear until about four in the afternoon. Then pick the stall with the longest queue of people in work clothes. A place that is quiet at peak hour is usually quiet for a reason.
What to eat in Hai Phong, hour by hour
- Early morning: banh da cua, before the pot runs out
- Midday: bun ca cay, or nem cua be with a bowl of cold noodles
- Mid-afternoon: banh duc tau, banh beo or chao khoai from a lane stall
- From four onward: gia be, sea snails and mantis shrimp on the sidewalk
- Early evening: banh mi cay, three or four at a time, with iced tea
- Late: sui din in winter, che dua dam in summer
Practical notes
- The food here is hotter than the northern average, so ask for the chili on the side if that matters to you
- The best places are sidewalk stalls that close when they sell out, so do not leave breakfast until eleven
- Carry small notes, because plenty of stalls still take cash only
- Ask the price per kilo before ordering any shellfish, and confirm it dish by dish
- A sealed jar of chi chuong is the easiest edible souvenir to carry home from this city
