You thought a food tour was the only way we celebrated 8 years? Think again! We went to Vietnam for a long weekend! Our journey was focused on Da Nang and Hoi An on the coast of the South China Sea. A 5 star hotel across from the ocean for $80 USD a night? Yes please. Amber and I are sharing writing duties; I’ll be tackling the food and drink portion and she will hit on the sightseeing. TL; DR it rules there and we’re excited to go back ( for our older readers, TL; DR means too long, didn’t read. )

Food Tour Time!

As per usual, we embarked on a food tour early in our journey. Da Nang is a city with a distinct separation between the city center locals-centric areas and the tourist areas that are mostly focused near the beach. I’ll touch on the beachfront food we had later in this post, suffice it to say we had delicious stuff everywhere. This food tour was focused on locals spots.

This food tour was atypical for us; we only went to 4 locations and had 4 dishes. Our host was verrrrrry excitable and could not stop repeating himself and speaking 1000 mph. Frankly, I kinda wondered if he was on a bit of that Bolivian marching powder but it turns out he was just really into it.

Banh Xeo was our first dish, though we had tried it at another restaurant on our first night in town. Essentially a savory Vietnamese crepe, it was filled with shrimp and pork. You take a sheet of rice paper, put the banh xeo on it, toss on some vegetables and herbs, roll it up, and dip it in sauce. The restaurant we visited the first night did a better job; Banh Xeo Ba Duong (I don’t know how to do all the accent marks on a keyboard, sorry) was definitely a volume focused restaurant. The old lady assembling them was just tossing them together, focused on getting out the orders quickly. Still, they were pretty tasty and a decent way to start the evening.

Stop 2 was Banh Mi Ba Lan, a tiny cart on a random sidestreet in the city center. The host couldn’t stop telling us how this was the best banh mi in the city and that all the locals flock here. No pictures of the actual sandwich cuz we ate it so quick and the lighting was poor on this sidestreet. The key components of a banh mi are some sort of pate, a crusty baguette, and vegetables. I knew the next dish was noodles, of which I am not a big fan, so I opted to eat the whole sandwich as we walked through the back alleys to our next destination.

Stops 3 and 4 were at a Mi Quang noodle shop (a regional specialty) and a late night cafe, respectively. As mentioned, I’m not a big noodleman but the broth was well flavored and the beef was cooked nicely. Oddly, we were the only people in this restaurant even though it had space for like 50 people.

Our final stop was to enjoy some Vietnamese coffee at a late night cafe. As a non coffee drinker, I went for a mango smoothie instead. Amber is in love with Vietnamese coffee and had just about every oddball version they sold; salted coffee, avocado coffee, coconut coffee. I tried the salted coffee and it was delicious until the coffee flavor. This cafe was packed with teens smoking cigarettes and staring at their phones. It had a cool vibe otherwise though; lots of analog electronics and typewriters.

All in all, a decent food tour though I still prefer being able to try 10+ dishes.

Cocktail Tour in Hoi An

Hoi An is a smaller city near Da Nang. Away from the beach, the focus is on it’s UNESCO heritage site city center, Old Hoi An, where the architecture adheres to that of a 15th-19th century Southeast Asian trading port. Unfortunately that also means it is very touristy and there are loads of touts trying to get you to buy their wares. We found a cocktail tour on Airbnb Experiences and figured it a great way to experience the vibes and try some local drinks. Our host was a young Vietnamese woman who did a great job of keeping the mood light but also corralling the group when things got squirrely. Little did we know the skies would open up for the first part of our journey, to the point we were late because roads were flooding!

Our first stop was this colorful concoction while the rain poured down. Passion fruit, red dragon fruit, some pineapple, and a locally distilled liquor that I don’t remember. The server gave us a lengthy rundown of the bar (forgot it’s name), how they created this drink, and how it’s made. While it looked pretty, it was also very weak. Basically fruit juice. This is not an uncommon theme with SE Asian cocktails. Our partners on this journey were Australian octogenarians. My favorite part of their participation? When asked for their favorite cocktail, 2 of the 3 said “rum and coke.” Yes, I remember drinking those when I was 17.

Our second stop of 4 was at a teahouse. They purportedly only make cocktails one night a week and the owner is a notorious recluse. We got a snack at each stop and this place had some delicious water buffalo jerky. The cocktail was unique, if memory serves it was sort of pineapple-y and sort of limey. And despite the color the alcohol inside was bourbon! We are not a brown liquor household but this was pretty solid.

Stop 3 was a Mexican bar up a sketchy set of stairs. The olds did not like this part of the journey for the stairs and the atmosphere. Our host mentioned that this is the first (probably only) tequila/mezcal bar in Hoi An. Despite the name, the cocktail was actually tequila based and the highlight thus far. You could tell they actually included alcohol this time. The ambiance here was excellent; dark with red lighting, a mix of Vietnamese and Mexican influences. So excellent that we came back for a nightcap after the tour had ended! I actually tried a spicy mezcal cocktail that was served hot (see menu below for official ingredients.) Why they decided to serve it hot instead of cold, I don’t know; it would definitely have tasted better cold. But overall a great visit in Hoi An and a place we will gladly return to.

Stop 4 was a “build your own Vietnamese gin and tonic” rooftop bar overlooking the river. As the official closing ceremonies, it was cool to take a more active role in the drinkmaking. Nothing too revolutionary with the recipe, though the addition of bean sprouts and the use of locally grown basil really made the drink fresh. Not sure I’ll be adding bean sprouts to any drinks I make in the future, but it was a unique twist.

Closing Thoughts and Loose Ends

In Vietnam we ate well and drank well. Between the banh mis, the salted coffee, the avocado smoothies, and more every meal was a delight. We even found an absurdly good burger and breakfast spot called Bikini Bottom Express. They even made bangin hibiscus margaritas. Stopped by a brewery on the beach and did a 12 beer flight one night too. Da Nang is definitely a place we will visit again; I think it was day 2 when Amber said “I wonder if work will let us move here after Bangkok, my job posting did say Thailand or Vietnam.” My boo loves being near the water (kind of shocking for someone born in Oklahoma and raised in Kansas and Colorado.) We will close out with some random food and drink pics. Stay tuned for Amber’s recap of our sightseeing next week!