Con Dao - a culinary paradise

Thursday - 05/11/2020 10:31

Con Dao is not only a famous tourist attraction of Vietnam. It is also a culinary "paradise" that every diners visit will keep their own experiences.

In Con Dao, diners can enjoy a variety of dishes from popular to high-class, from street-side snacks to high-class restaurants, from dining to full food, from Asia to Europe, that is not inferior anywhere on the mainland. From the way of processing, the ingredients that the chef brings to the dish all surprise diners from one to another.
1. Ba Hai Khiem Noodles in crab chowder

Vermicelli filled with gulp with the price of 35,000 VND / bowl
Address: SAt 22 Nguyen Hue, Con Dao
Price: 30,000 VND / usual bowl, 35,000 VND / special bowl
The bowl of vermicelli is full of blood, fish cakes, sea crabs, cilantro, tomatoes ... and noodles. Noodles is served with split spinach and bean sprouts. The broth is fragrant, sweet, and the sweet taste of the sea makes it very different from vermicelli in other regions.
Locals and tourists love this food store so much, so it's crowded. It also serves diners to take home packages.
2. Seafood
Going to the beach without eating seafood, the travel itinerary will be less interesting. Certain types of seafood that must be tried when coming to Con Dao include: Vu nang snail, moon crab, red lobster, hand snail, cochlea, red grouper etc

Photo by Khánh Vy
Seafood is almost at Con Dao market, or at the pier in the early hours. Diners can buy seafood at markets, wharves and then bring them to motels, hotels, ... to hire a processor. Or you can go to some seafood restaurants here such as: Thu Ba Seafood Restaurant on Vo Thi Sau Street, Tri Ky Restaurant on Nguyen Duc Thuan Street, Oc Dung Xe on Tran Phu Street and many other ones located around Con Dao market.

Con Dao Market is place with many seafood and other types of food and drink.
3. Rice pot

Address: Nguyen An Rice Pot Restaurant on Ho Thanh Tong Street, Con Dao
The restaurant serves a variety of side dishes: roasted bacon on the side, braised mackerel, sour soup with cobia etc The restaurant service is quite careful because they always ask if diners want to eat the taste of North, Central, or South to serve as required.
The dish is hot, fragrant, delicious, rich in flavor, and the price ranges from 120,000 VND to 300,000 VND / dish, depending on the main ingredients of the dish.
Rice pot is suitable for eating in groups, not suitable for eating alone. If you go alone, you will have to pay about 300,000 VND / meal / 3 dishes but you cannot eat it all, which is very wasteful.
4. Cai Smoothie
Address: Cai Smoothie is located at the corner of Pham Van Dong and Nguyen Van Troi streets.

Smoothie Cai is the favorite place of many diners when coming to Con Dao
The price ranges from 20,000 VND / glass to 35,000 VND / glass.
The smoothie is made very meticulously from the young owner, starting a business with enthusiasm. You will see the smoothie made 3 times before finishing. Smooth one with rich flavor, mild fragrance from fresh fruit.

The smoothie is carefully made by the owner for the best one.
You can enjoy by using a spoon or a straw. In particular, the long-lasting smoothie still remains smooth as at the beginning.
Many diners come here, regardless of morning, noon, or evening, to choose for themselves a delicious smoothie to satisfy the thirst and and enjoy the taste that can only be found in Cai smoothie.
5. Roasted pork Banh Mi
The shop is located on Pham Van Dong street, priced at 20,000 VND / loaf including roasted pork, cucumber, sauce, chili sauce. Perhaps the special feature of the bread is in the sauce, which is both delicious and fragrant. Crispy, hot roast meat adds flavor to the rustic dish.
6. Western food
The hostess showed me "if you want to eat western food, visit the Infiniti cafe". They think that it is only about coffee, but the breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes are also extremely rich. The dish sounds "luxury" but full of nutrition and look very much like "Western" style and still has a strong Vietnamese flavor.

A plate of brown rice and chicken sauce costs 210,000 VND
The restaurant serves both Asian and European dishes. Serving food and drink from morning to night. Wide space, quiet, simple design, but modern and sophisticated. Each dish brought to the table for diners is carefully prepared in terms of form. Food is fragrant, delicious and tasty.
Infiniti is located on Tran Phu Street, right next to Con Dao market. Breakfast price from 130,000 VND / serving, lunch / dinner price from 210,000 VND / serving, drinks from 45,000 VND / glass.
7. Seafood noodle / porridge
Around the Con Dao market area, it is not difficult for you to find a fast but delicious restaurant for yourself, which is seafood vermicelli and seafood porridge, oyster porridge.

Seafood porridge including shrimp, squid, and cilantro costs 40,000 VND / bowl
The price is only about 40,000 VND / bowl, but the seafood is flooded with a bowl, fragrant and sweet, with sea taste.
Seafood porridge and seafood vermicelli are served with split spinach stalks and bean sprouts. Taste some fresh chili and fresh lemon for flavor.

Seafood porridge flavor, cool and bold flavor, price 40,000 VND / bowl
8. Roasted Bang (Terminalia catappa) seed or sugar-preserved seed.
Sugar-preserved Bang seed is a kind of specialty that is both strange to the ear and strange to the mouth in Con Dao. It is also processed into two popular styles: roasted with salt and roasted with sugar. The outside is golden brown, crunchy, rich, inside it is fragrant and pleasant.

It is usually packed into 250gr or 200gr packages, suitable for buying as gifts

Roasted seeds can be found anywhere, but only in Con Dao is the firmer and fuller difference.
If the salty roasted seeds retain the original flavor, the sweet roast is the combination of sweet aromatic seeds, refined sugar, fresh ginger. Sweet seeds are easier to eat than salty ones, but the more salty seeds people eat, the more "addictive" they are.
You can buy roasted seeds at Con Dao market, hacoda homestay (right at Con Dao market) or Con Dao gift on Nguyen An Ninh street.
The price ranges from 450,000 - 550,000 VND / kg. The sweet roasted seeds have a higher price than the salty roasted ones. At the vendors often packed in small bags of 200gr, 250gr, it is very convenient for visitors to buy it as gifts.
9. Banh xeo

Kieu Tam banh xeo shop is located on Nguyen An Ninh Street, opposite Pham Van Dong Park. Photo by Khánh Vy
The ingredients of the cake include: Shrimp, meat, onions, served with fresh and delicious vegetables. Crispy cake with pulp flavor, served with a dipping sauce to add a rich flavor to the dish.
Price 20,000 VND / 1 pancake. In addition, the shop also serves dishes made from duck to add more options for customers when coming here.
10. Broken rice
You can enjoy this dish at Con Dao broken rice store on Nguyen Duc Thuan street or Kieu Trinh shop opposite Nguyen Hue Park.
The restaurant serves lunch and dinner with a variety of menu. The rice is soft, fragrant, deliciously standard.
Price from 30,000 - 40,000 VND / piece.
Some other dishes you can find in Con Dao such as Nam Dinh beef noodle soup (30,000 - 35,000 VND / bowl), tea dishes at 88 tea shop, Co Ba Beo cake shop, goat dishes at De Lang Thang restaurant on Vo Thi Sau street.