Hue

Eating in Hue around Nguyen Tri Phuong
By paulsupermario (dabbler - 1 review)
Written on 25th February, 2010 after a visit to Hue in February, 2010
I have been here for 10 days, staying in the Nguyen Tri Phuong backstreets. Each day, I have been trying the different restaurants around here and have been disappointed by the ones recommended in Lonely Planet.

First I went to Cafe on Thu Wheels - its popular but its "energetic owner" (Lonely Planet) has married a customer and moved to Switzerland, so its lost a lot of its buzz and atmosphere. The food I found average and a bit more expensive than it should be.

Then I went to Omar Khayyam's Indian Restaurant but found the food and atmosphere dull. Garish walls put me off. They have Italian food too though, maybe that's better?

Stop & Go Cafe is nice inside but I agree with sandabrite - its too expensive and the food portions small.

Then i went to Nina's Cafe - it's a the end of the Nguyen Tri Phuong backstreet and round the corner. This place was excellent and I went back 3 days in a row, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have a mix of Western, Vietnamese and Hue dishes. The food here is the best I have eaten since in Vietnam. Pretty cheap too and the atmosphere really nice. The owners told me they've only been in business for about 6 months so aren't in the guidebooks. Popular with Japanese for some reason, maybe its in their GB.

The Japanese restaurant near the backstreets is also great - nice food and atmosphere, and its good to help the street children! It is more expensive than most restaurants however.

Ive also eaten further away from this area - I really like the Vegetarian Restaurant Bo De Restaurant - great vegetarian food, and cheap. The Floating Restaurant also has great food and views. Both are in Lonely Planet!

Hope this helps!

Hue City, Vietnam: Picks and Pans.
By sandabrite (dabbler - 2 reviews)
Written on 4th July, 2009 after a visit to Hue in June, 2009
I was in Hue with my family during May and June. This is the third time I've been to Hue, and it is my favorite city in all of Vietnam.
Some of my favorites:
The gorgeous countryside

The more than 300 pagodas, big and small, all beautiful.

The Perfume River, and watching river life.

The Floating Restaurant, next to the south end of the Truong Tien Bridge.

The You and Me Restaurant, at 38 Tran CAo Van, near the main street Hung Vuong. Great eats for families. A good place to meet both locals and other travellers. Their banana pancake is killer, and the "happy pancake", or banh Khoai, is a close second, if not a tie.

Mr. Trung and his incredibly informative and flexible tours. I found him at his office, when I ate at the You and Me Resto. (See above.) My kids loved him, and we learned more from him than we did on all our three trips to Vietnam in the last 10 years, including what we read in the guidebooks and on the net, in preparation. Though we had been to Hue before, he still showed us a lot of new stuff, and his English is good enough to answer all our questions. You can read more about our experience with him in the Travelfish article, Doing the DMZ from Hue.

Ghost City; tombs that look like castles. An extra plus is that they can be visited as part of a trip or tour to the Thuan An beach, where you can eat great, fresh caught seafood.

The DMZ; especially if you are a history buff. The Vinh Moc tunnels are a highlight, and more interesting than Cu Chi in the South.

Minh and Coco Restaurant, on Hung Vuong. The food is average, but the two sisters who own the place are super friendly.

The best iced coffee I've had in Vietnam - by the canal, accross the street from #30 Bach Dang Street, on the North side of the Perfume River. Also arguably the cleanest sidewalk food and coffee in the country. There are two women who set up shop here about 6 in the morning. One does the coffee and sandwiches, while the other one keeps a bubbling pot of soup going. They close when they run out, about 9 or 9:30 a.m.

There is so much more, but these were our favorites.

A few not-so-greats:

We visited the Stop and Go Cafe, on Tran Cao Van, and were really disappointed in the food. We found the prices very high, and the portions really small. The service was friendly, but it didn't make up for the lacklustre food. Everything seemed watered down to try to please the Western palate. When my wife asked if this was the case, the waitress confirmed it, saying that Westerners can not eat real Vietnamese food.

We tried to visit the B4 Bar on Ben Nghe, as we had gone there a few years ago, but it is gone. It is still listed in Travelfish, but apparently closed one or two years ago.

Cafe on Thu Wheels, listed above, in the Travelfish article, is another huge disappointment. Our hotel was nearby, so we went in twice,because the kids liked all the grafitti, and we passed by it every day. The decor is very entertaining, and it seems like a great place to meet other foreigners, but the food is not Vietnamese, and we never saw a single local person eat here. When we asked about tour prices, we found them higher than average, though we met other travellers there, who said the tours were ok, fairly average excursions.

My biggest pan has to go to pretty much all the guidebooks, for not giving this gorgeous, historical, ancient capital fair coverage. There is SO much to see and do, but sadly, every tourist I met was only staying for one or two days. Some were only waiting for the connecting bus to another city. I recommend staying for a week, and trying to see some of the things that aren't in the guidebooks.

Hue; Picks and Pans.
By sandabrite (dabbler - 2 reviews)
Written on 30th June, 2009 after a visit to Hue in June, 2009
I have been in Vietnam many times, and love Hue best of all. Here are some of my faves, and some not so faves. For my ratings, please note that I think almost everything is a 10 for Hue, except for food, where the 10 goes to Saigon, because of the sheer diversity of food there, and for the traveller scene, well, the problem is that most travellers don't realize how much there is to do in Hue, so they don't stay long enough.

So, here we go: PICKS:
Things to see: The Royal Tombs, the countryside, over 300 pagodas, Sunsets on the Perfume River, riverlife, Ghost City, which is near Thuan An Beach, My An Hotsprings...

Things to eat:
Banh - About 8 or 10 different types of one- or two-bite sized morsels, based on rice flour, usually with some kind of filling based on shrimp and pork, or mung bean, sometimes wrapped in a leaf, and usually eaten with a dipping sauce. The best are often the ones sold from mid-afternoon on, by the street vendors.

Bun Bo Hue - the local version of beef noodle soup. This is what locals eat for breakfast.

Places to eat:
The Floating Restaurant - Right beside the Trang Tien Bridge, on the right side of the foot of the bridge on the South Bank. Access from Le Loi Street. Great food, great view, good place to bring a group. Lots of both locals and travellers. Try all the fab seafood dishes.

You and Me Restaurant - 38 Tran Cao Van. Turn left off the main street, Hung Vuong, pass the Fancy Restaurant (also good)and go a few more meters. Good family fare, friendly service, definitely try the banana pancakes. Local music.
Lots of both travellers and locals. They say they have the coldest beer here, and they may be right. Try the Huda Beer, brewed right in this city.

Tinh Gia Vien - Imperial Dinner. 20/3 Le Thanh Ton. Quite expensive, for a resto in Hue, but worth it to go once, for the experience of a traditional royal-style dinner. However, I have to say that my eyes enjoyed it more than my tastebuds. The presentation was 10/10 but the flavor, about 7 or 8/10.

Tours:
Mr. Trung - email: nguyenvantrungdmz @ yahoo.com
I found him at the You and Me, listed above. I had read some reviews of him, and decided to give him a try. Best decision I made! I can't think of a single bad thing to say about him, and my kids loved him. You can read a more detailed review of my experience with him inthe comment section for the story » Doing the DMZ from Hue.

Coffee:
on the banks of the Canal -opposite number 30 Bach Dang
I found a small but immaculately clean little coffee stand, just a short walk from Dong Ba Market. Walk east from the market, cross the Gia Hoi Bridge, turn onto Bach Dang on your left, and walk about 2 or 3 minutes. In the morning, from about 6:30 until 9 or so, there is a young woman who serves the absolutely most delicious, and arguably cheapest ice coffee in Hue. For 4000 dong, choose black, sugar, or condensed milk. Or hot, if the weather is uncooperative. (In bad weather, she puts up a tarp). If you are hungry, there is a second woman at the same spot, who serves a local type of noodle soup, very tasty.

another good place for coffee is the roof of the Phu Xuan Bookstore, Tran Hung Dao st. accross the street from the foot of the Trang Tien Bridge on the North Bank. Alot more expensive, but lots of choices, and a great view.

And now, a few PANS:
The washrooms at the Dong Ba Market: Just avoid them if you can. No need to say more.

Stop and Go Cafe - 25 Tran Cao Van. Seriously disappointing. I found the food expensive and inauthentic. The huge grins pasted on the faces of the rather obsequious servers didn't really improve the experience. What a disappointment. This resto used to be in another location, and had great reviews, so perhaps they have changed owners.


The 55ish year old xe om driver parked at the corner of Hung Vuong and a small side street, who befriended my kids, and then invited my family for coffee. He then made us pay for it, and we were grossly overcharged. I'm including this pan as a warning; be careful when you accept invitations from locals that you don't really know; it often leads to requests for money, or to being scammed. I met many tourists who had similar experiences.

Stay tuned for more Hue picks and pans.