HOSTEL ECO TOURISM CẦN GIỜ

Housed in one of the city’s luxury hotels, Long Trieu’s lavish dining room boasts jade stonework, traditional gold-leaf painted Chinese scenes and ornate seating. The menu offers a wide selection of à la carte and set dishes that pay tribute to Cantonese culinary heritage, while cleverly incorporating local Vietnamese ingredients into traditional Cantonese techniques. Highlights include the fried prawns with XO sauce and the hot and sour wonton soup.

This take-out only stall specialises in noodle soup topped with sliced beef, beef tendon and fish fillet. The broth made with onion, beef and pork bones is flavoursome. Add bean sprouts, chilli, lime and fish sauce according to your taste.

Tucked away down an alley, this compact shop with indoor and outdoor seating is a local favourite. The menu focuses on a single dish: bánh canh cua, a vivid orange crab rice noodle soup – in a smaller bowl for one or clay pot for sharing. With a zesty green chilli-lime sauce on the side, the silky broth is generously filled with fish cakes, crab leg meat and egg ribbons. The fried dough and tender pork trotter make for flavourful additions.

Now run by the third generation, this simple shop prides itself on its double-boiled silkie chicken soup, which it has been making the same way since it opened in 1948. The flavoursome clear broth is MSG-free, with mild aromas of Chinese herbs. Another must-try is their steamed rice bowl with beef, chicken or Cantonese preserved pork sausage. Seafood cooked in various ways is also popular. Check with the owner for recommendations.

This joint on a busy street serves a range of seafood cooked in countless ways. Whelks, tiger prawns, lobster, octopus, crab… the choice is yours. The authentic outdoor vibe more than makes up for the lack of air conditioning.

This Colonial-style house with a vibrant decor, bistro-style furniture and soft lighting serves up a modern take on Mediterranean fare. Pick from a range of charcoal-grilled, wood-fired and oven-baked dishes and eat at the copper counter, which has six seats facing the open kitchen. Top choices include wild Hokkaido scallops and smoked marrow cappelletti, aged barbary duck breast and tasty golden berry with burnt sourdough mousse. Cocktails can be ordered from the bar upstairs.

Spread over three storeys, this delightful venue with an open-air rooftop boasts a rustic décor inspired by local villages and rice fields and serves Vietnamese dishes from the north to the south. The stuffed snails with meat cooked with lemongrass and paired with ginger fish sauce, are succulent, while La Vong fishcakes strike the perfect balance combining vermicelli, marinated fish, fresh Vietnamese vegetables and herbs, shrimp paste sauce and rice paper sheets.