Restaurants on China Beach, Da Nang

China Beach is one of my favorite places.  Among its attributes that keeps me returning time and time again, is the bounty of great seafood.  These China Beach seafood options fall into 3 basic categories:

1.      on the beach, with your feet in the sand, sitting under an umbrella

2.      moderate joints just off the beach

3.      the row of large, high-end restaurants located along the beach just south of Pham Van Dong Street

You can get great seafood at all three varieties, but the service, ambiance, menu choices, and pricing varies greatly.  Today I'm going to write about a couple of my favorites in the third category.  Yes, pricing is on the high side for Vietnam, so expect to pay a little more at these restaurants than other local joints, however the value is good. Often, you get what you pay for, and these are no exception.

 Syrena

  

We been to Syrena several times and have always had great meals. On our last visit we had some excellent steamed clams in a lemongrass broth. We could really taste the freshness of the sweet clams. Also we had their rice porridge with seafood and it was excellent too. Service was great. Of course there is the exceptional view of the beach. The entire first floor of Syrena is open to the beach. As a result the breeze rolls through their contempory dining room keeping things cool even on warm days.

My Hanh

This is the kind of restaurant you'd expect in a beautiful setting like China Beach in Da Nang, including very fresh seafood cooked to order. The menu is huge with lots of variety. We had grilled clams, grilled shrimp (really big), rice porridge with seafood, and a wonderful grilled fish. The dining room is 2-stories tall; we enjoyed the sea breeze as we sat upstairs on the balcony overlooking the beach.

China Beach.   Eat it.

Banh Mi & Vietnamese sandwiches

In Vietnamese, banh mi can mean "bread" or "sandwich", depending on context.  I don't think the Vietnamese even had their own version of bread until the French occupied the region for about 100 years (if they did it is not represented in their food now).   Once the French left the Vietnamese adopted several culinary items, most notably the French bread.  But if you think that the Vietnamese version is inferior to the original, you'd be wrong.   Even the famous TV chef Anthony Bourdain said that the best French bread he's ever eaten was in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese commonly serve their banh mi with a variety of traditional dishes, including beef stew (bo kho), curries, and steak & eggs (bit tet).  But the most common use, by far, is for Vietnamese sandwiches which can include a variety of grilled or sliced meats, fresh and pickled veggies, fresh herbs, pate, fried eggs, etc...  and generally include a slathering of homemade mayo.  Despite many commonalities, the unique combinations are endless.

Below are two of my favorite places to eat great banh mi while in Vietnam:

Banh Mi Phuong, Hoi An

I've enjoyed my share of banh mi and this one is among the best I've found. One thing a like about this version is it's really messy. The juice runs down your hands and eating it requires you to hunch over to avoid having the juice all over your shirt. Despite the internal "juice factor", the bread exterior stays crunchy. The toppings are the standard fare but the sum of the parts results in a product far above an average banh mi.

Banh Mi Phuong is located at the east end of the market on Hoang Dieu Street, Hoi An.

4/2014 edit: Banh Mi Phuong has moved up the hill on north side Tran Phu Street (just west of Hoang Dieu Street), just a block away from its old location.   It now includes a small dining room for your banh mi enjoyment.

Banh Mi Quynh Nhi, Da Nang

Not all great banh mi comes from a restaurant or sandwich shop; often Vietnamese sandwiches are made and sold from portable carts as street food.  Case in point, Banh Mi Quynh Nhi.  How good can it be coming from a cart?  Great. 

It starts with great bread of which Quynh Nhi offers 3 different varieties: the traditional "sub style", a round "bun style", and skinny, long "torpedo-style".  Each piece of bread spends a few minutes in a small firebox to get a little toasty just before getting its tasty fillings.  Since it is a streetside cart, there's not a physical address, however, you can often find this cart near 2 Phan Chu Trinh Street. 

4/2014 edit:  New name: Banh Mi Co Nhi.   Same location and same owner.

Eat it.