Region: Central Vietnam> Province: Da Nang> Location: Da Nang

Da Nang and My Khe Beach

Some of the best eateries in Da Nang are the streetside cafes and of course the ubiquitous bia hoi joints scattered across town. Da Nang also has its fair share of smarter and more sophisticated restaurants. Many travellers also head to My Khe beach in the evenings to take advantage of the excellent seafood and the other offerings there.

Da Nang is known for its seafood restaurants, mostly located along the water on My Khe Beach. The offerings here range from good to unbelievably fantastic -— you could easily find yourself having the best meal you've had your entire trip. The beachfront places all offer the same menu, and point-and-pick buckets of seafood that allow you circumvent the menus (which are usually in Vietnamese only) and cheap bottles of Huda beer appear at your table so fast you'll have to tackle the waitress to keep her from serving you more. There are more than 40 places to choose from, but we've had excellent luck just going to the ones that are the most popular with locals. There is one, lone, beachside place to the north of the white sculpture, The Son, where we found consistently superb dishes.

On the sea side of the beach road, south of the white sculpture, there's a line of upscale seafood places, but here's the deal: the roadside places are so good, you won't get anything better by paying more -— just a table cloth and a balcony overlooking the water. Of the lot, the northernmost restaurant, Phuoc My 2, earns consistent praise from locals and travellers alike, and they have an English menu.

To the north of My Khe Beach, in a cove on the Son Tra Peninsula, is Bai But (But Beach, just in case Phuoc My didn't get you laughing). The sole restaurant there is Buddha Bay, with seating all along the water, and a fresh seafood market you can wander through to select your meal. The food and atmosphere here are tops, especially in the evenings.

Danang City itself has a notoriously small western ex-pat community, which means that western-style offerings are at a minimum, but can be found with a little industrious exploration. Centrally located on Tran Phu Street across from Minh Travel, the Cool Spot and Christie's restaurant is the longest-running and most obvious choice, but not always the best. The Cool Spot is a western style hole-in-the-wall bar noted for its ice-cold beer -— Christie's is the restaurant upstairs, under the same ownership -— you can also eat down at the bar if you like. They serve predominantly western and Japanese food -- decent if you really have a craving that needs to be sorted out, but it's overpriced: this is probably a better spot for a cold drink. And, even then, on any given day, the place has a tendency to attract gloomy, older ex-pats brooding over their beers. It's a better bet on Friday and Saturday nights for lively, mixed crowd. The bar has a few internet terminals at the rear, though they charge US$1 per hour. They have a Saturday 'happy hour' from 16:00 to 20:00, 2-for-one draught beer.

On Tran Phu near the intersection with Le Hong Phong is Bread of Life. The owners run projects supporting the deaf and employ them in the restaurant. It's an excellent cafe atmosphere, offering fresh-baked bread and cake, fried chicken, and the sandwiches here are delicious -— try the tuna melt or the pastrami and cheese. If you happen to know any American Sign Language, the Vietnamese version is similar (both derive from French sign) and you might actually be able to communicate here better than trying to speak Vietnamese! At least one hearing staff-member is always on duty to translate orders for customers. They no longer offer WiFi or Wednesday night movies, and the big breakfasts have moved to their other store, Pizza Plus, around the corner.

Pizza and Italian
There are several spots pasta and pie lovers around town, all of them good. Torino on Nguyen Chi Thanh has failed to attract a lot of business -— the signs promise 'live jazz music,' but that was eliminated for budget reasons. Still, the food here wins consistent praise and there's a nice, air-con-and-table-cloths atmosphere. But the best Italian food in town is at Le Bambino —- it's hard to find, off an alley on Quang Trang, but worth seeking out. The owners are an affable Frenchman, Jena Paul (who does all the cooking himself) and his Vietnamese wife —- she was schooled from birth in French and speaks it better than she does Vietnamese, despite never having been to France! The atmosphere is perfect for a cosy romantic meal -— one of the best-designed restaurant interiors we've seen in Vietnam. The menu includes pastas, pizza, and lasagne as well as French fare like fillet mingon. They also have some excellent, mid-range rooms upstairs, if you want to stay long enough to work through the whole menu.

There are two pizza parlours in the city centre -— Mr. Pizza on Tran Phu has a good selection, and is currently under western-ownership, after recently changing hands. The atmosphere is just like a New York pizzeria, though we weren't blown away by the pies here. Pizza Plus is on Le Hong Phong, just west of Tran Phu -— it's run by the same folks as Bread of Life, with a mostly deaf staff, and some of the proceeds going to projects for the deaf. And the thin-crust, 'Mexican' pizza we had here was excellent. We were impressed with the menus, which included burgers, sloppy joes, chocolate cake, ample vegetarian options, and a wide variety of big, western breakfasts. Hold on to your hats, Aussies and Kiwis, they have Vegemite! They also deliver locally.

Coffee and Ice Cream
There are a number of cafes around town that offer booming pop music all day long and attract a young crowd, especially along Quang Trung. They may be worth checking out, but if the whole point is lost on you, seek out the Garden View Cafe on Le Dinh Duong, This very interesting spot is conveniently set just down the road from the Hoa Hong Hotel. The entrance gives on to an alley-way lined with young bamboo trees, and as you turn the corner, the street noise disappears and you seem to go a century into the past. It's set in a very pleasing ornamental garden, with seating in several open-air salas made of hard, dark woods in traditional Vietnamese style -- one of them, thankfully, has air-con. The food is very good, with the seafood particularly worthy of trying out, though you can't go wrong with a cup of the rich, delicious coffee here. Prices are reasonable for the setting.

Ice-cream lovers will want to seek out Sa Sa Gelato for a nice sugar rush with seating along a small river feeding into the Han. But don't dare call it 'ice-cream' in front of the Belgian owner, Patrick. It's gelato, which is creamier and more condensed than ice cream. Tasted like ice-cream to us, but Italians may wish to straighten us out on that point. In any case, by any other name, delicious. There are about twenty flavours and a variety of toppings available, and is an popular after-dinner spot for locals. It's tricky to find -- it's across the street to the east of Bia Tulip, in back of the line of restaurants leading up to the Nguyen Van Troi Bridge, where you'll find another smaller bridge, then take a right and it's past the tennis courts.

Vietnamese Food
Oh, yeah, you're in Vietnam. Beside the seaside seafood, Danang offers some fine restaurants for national cuisine. Aspara Restaurant on Tran Phu Street is a clear standout, a stylish place set in a large colonial building, decorated throughout in a Cham-themed style. It's very popular with Da Nang's up and coming (or already arrived) hi-so crowd. The food is good: prices are more reflective of the setting and the clientele -- a good spot for a splurge, or re-up the romance quotient with your mate.

Au Lac is another interesting choice -— it has a huge, funky, modern interior and an attentive staff, favoured by those who find Aspara a bit pretentious and many claim the food here is better. The ranging menu include Japanese dishes, such as sushi, and Western food—burgers, pizza, spaghetti -— in addition to the standard repertoire of Vietnamese dishes, and specialty options like dove, goat, duck, tortoise, and crocodile -— all of which, they assured us, were in stock on our visit. Every Sunday evening starting at 18:00 there's an all-you-eat buffet for 105,000 VND, not including drinks.

It's hard to find a truly local spot that doesn't specialize in 'Dac San Bien' (seafood) but keep an eye out for Be Thui (grilled beef) joints around town. They typically offer meat dishes served 'lau' (in a hot pot) or 'nuong' (grilled), often at a hibachi in the centre of the table. We had good luck at Gia Lang, a festive spot next door to Truc Lam Vien. It's hugely popular in the evening with the locals, though hardly a word of English is spoken. Locals swear by the authentic Vietnamese food and pleasant atmosphere at Vietnamese Home on Bach Dang street, and there's also one more 'out of the way' option that is only known to those in the know, Bamboo Restaurant and Bar on Xuan Dieu. The English-speaking owner here just happens to be an excellent cook, and it's a great spot for a quiet drink in the evenings.

A unique experience is on offer at the Song Han Floating Restaurant. Most of the day it's docked across the street from the Cham Museum, but from 18:00 to 19:30, and 22:00 to 21:30 it takes diners on a starlight cruise of the Han River. It's touristy, and we've yet to give it a try, but we've had good reports about the food, and it sounds kind of fun.

Chinese
Next door to Au Lac is Phi Lu -- the interior is one big 'special event' room but more intimate dinning is available at the tables in the back. There's a wide variety of Chinese fare on offer, and every Sunday at 18:00 there's an all-you-can-eat buffet for 95,000 VND. Another popular place with a smart-looking interior, attracting a lively crowd of diners each night, is Kim Do on Than Phu Street, one block south of the Catholic church.

Drinking and Nightlife
If you're looking for a good party spot where you can mix it up with other tourists, you'll have to head down to Hoi An and check out Zero Seamile or King Kong Bar. Otherwise, Friday and Saturday nights at the Cool Spot tends to be the one place where local western ex-pats congregate, though the rest of the week it has a reputation for attracting nothing but older ex-pats and war vets who sit sullenly brooding into their beers. Red Hot on Nguyen Van Linh was pointed out to us as possible hang out -— it looks exactly like a Thai girlie bar, complete with girlies, but it offers good music, a nice bar and pool table, and couples and groups could easily spend a fine time here, in addition to single guys looking for inordinate amounts of female attention.

We were pleasantly surprised to find Bia Tiep Tulip on 2/9 Street, just west of the Nguyen Van Troi bridge. It has a great, air-con, beer garden atmosphere and the highlight is the delicious, micro-brewed, dark Czech beer -— the next best thing to Guinness Stout we've had in southeast Asia. The food here is great too -— stuffed clams, steamed fish, whole crab, BBQ pork ribs, T-bone steaks -— definitely try to show up with a group and share a mess of dishes. Some mains can be pricey -— up to 400,000 VND a plate, but other items are easier on the wallet.

There's another Czech microbrewery on My Khe Beach, next door to the My Khe II Hotel. Van Xuan offers a pleasant atmosphere across the road from the sea, cold, fresh Czech beer, and a standard seafood menu. The vegetarians in our group were alarmed to find a live crocodile in one of the tanks, and no it wasn't a pet, it was on the menu at 450,000 VND per kilo. These crocs are raised on farms specifically for consumption and aren't endangered, so it depends on where you draw the line when it comes to what you eat. The 'automatic music' show here, projected onto a jumbo screen, is strangely mesmerising.

Otherwise, your options go thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thump, with several discotheques around town, offering expensive drinks, techno music, laser light shows, and crowded dance floors. Tourists are usually pointed to the Camel Club on Ly Thuong Kiet -- it's a fine disco with a good sound system -— you can feel the beat without loss of hearing -— and there's a continuous laser light show, but it's notoriously the most expensive and we were put off by the 20,000 VND fee at the gate. We preferred the New Phuong Dong discotheque on Duong Da Street, just around the corner: it's just as good and the dance floor was packed. Both of these places are notorious 'pick up joints,' but we found a mixed crowd.

A small, less seedy venue right on the Han River is Number One Disco, on the west bank close to the southernmost bridge, at the end of a line of restaurants. All the discos in town get going after 20:00 and should legally close at midnight, but sometimes don't.

Apsara Restaurant: 222 Tran Phu, Da Nang. T: (0511) 561 409, F: (0511) 562 001. http://www.aspara-danang.com
Au Lac: Block 4-5,6, 2/9, Da Nang. T: (0511) 611 074, F: (0511) 611 245. Hours: 06:00 to 22:00. http://www.aulacgroup.vn
Bamboo Restaurant and Bar: 70 Xuan Dieu, Da Nang. T: (0511) 537 831. Hours: 07:00 to 23:00.
Bread of Life: 215 Tran Phu, Da Nang. T: (0511) 893 456. Hours: Mon-Sat 06:00 to 18:00.
Buddha Bay: Hoang Sa, Da Nang. T: (0511) 920 399. http://www.buddha.com.vn. Hours: 09:00 to 23:00
Cool Spot: 112 Tran Phu, Da Nang. T: (511) 824 040. Hours: 10:00 to 24:00.
F.F.C: 15 Phan Dinh Phung, Da Nang. T: (0511) 840 599, F: (0511) 840 599. Hours: 08:00 to 10:00.
Garden View Coffee (Truc Lam Vien): 37 Le Dinh Duong, Da Nang. T: (0511) 582 428, F: (0511) 574 102. http://www.truclamvien.com.vn
Gia Lang: 35 Le Dinh Duong, Da Nang. T: (0511) 561 781. Hours: 10:00 to 22:00.
Kim Do: 180 Tran Phu, Da Nang. T: (0511) 821 846, F: (0511) 561 457. Hours: 07:00 to 09:30
Le Bambino: 112/11 Quang Trung, Da Nang. T: (0511) 896 386. http://www.lebambino.com
Mr. Pizza: 45 Tran Phu, Da Nang. T: (0511) 840 499. Hours: 08:00 to 10:00
New Phuong Dong: 20 Dong Da, Da Nang. T: (0511) 825 092. Hours: 20:00 to 24:00
Phi Lu Chinese Restaurant: Duong 2/9, Da Nang. T: (0511) 611 888, F: (0511) 611 889. Hours: 07:00 to 23:00. http://www.philures.com
Phuoc My II: My Khe Beach, Da Nang. T: (0511) 942 399, F: (0511) 942 399. Hours: 08:00 to 22:00
Pizza Plus: 12 Le Hong Phong, Da Nang. T: (0511) 565 185. Hours: Mon - Sat, 07:00 to 17:30.
Red Hot: 179 Nguyen Van Linh, Da Nang. T: (0511) 653 340.
Sa Sa Gelato: 9 A2 Khu biet thu Dao Xanh, Da Nang. T: (0511) 622 922, F: (0511) 622 992. Hours: 15:00 to 23:00.
Shiki Restaurant: 18 Dong Da, Da Nang. T: (0511) 537 325.
Song Han Floating Restaurant: 04 2/9, Da Nang. T: (0511) 242 717, F: (0511) 871 069. Hours: 07:00 to 22:00, Cruising times: 18:00 to 19:30, 20:00 to 21:30. http://www.greentravels.com.vn
The Son: 203 Son Tra Dien Ngoc (the beach road), Da Nang. T: (0905) 324 135. Hours: 08:00 to 22:00.
Torino: 283 Nguyen Chi Thanh, Da Nang. T: (0511) 565 124.
Tupil Restaurant (Bia Tiep Tulip): 174 2/9, Da Nang. T: (0511) 611 822, F: (0511) 552 702. Hours: 08:30 to 22:30.
Van Xuan: 233A Nguyen Van Thoai, Da Nang. T: (0511) 941 234, F: (0511) 941 235. Hours: 10:00 to 23:00.
Vietnamese Home: 34 Bach Dang, Da Nang. T: (0511) 889 575-7, F: (0511) 889 576.