Daily Life Food Tips & Guides Vietnam

Hoi An Ancient Town

Hoi An is a quaint town, just few minutes south of Danang. The streets are lined with rustic houses, small galleries, markets, cafes, and restaurants. It’s also a wonderful place to experience local cuisine and get fitted at one of the town’s countless tailor shops for custom-made clothing. Despite the increase in tourism, Hoi An seems to have retained its ageless charm. Most of all, I love how everything moves at a slower pace in Central Vietnam.

Untitled
Standing next to a lovely old house. I’ve been working on a summer tan!

Untitled

Untitled
Cao lau, a Hoi An specialty noodle dish, is a bowl of thick noodles topped with slices of stewed pork, vegetables, bean sprouts, herbs, and crispy fried dough. They say the water used to make the noodles must be drawn from the town’s historic Ba Le Well.

Untitled
Hoi An style fried wontons topped with shrimp.

Untitled
Cold Biere Larue and tangy papaya salad with crispy rice crackers.

Untitled

Untitled
Nearby the water on Hoang Dieu Street is Banh Mi Phuong, prominently featured on Anthony Bourdaine’s show.

Untitled
Heaps of freshly baked baguette.

Untitled
The sandwich-making station with all sorts of toppings and sauces.


The Anthony Bourdain segment with Ms. Phuong in action.

Untitled
Here’s my sandwich with everything on it. This much deliciousness for only a dollar? I wanted to pack a dozen with me to go.

Untitled
And of course, we stopped by a small juice stand for Taurin’s daily avocado shake.

Untitled
Bale Well Restaurant (45-51 Tran Hung Dao St) is our absolute favorite place to grab food in Hoi An. They don’t have a menu, but it’s more or less, an all-you-can-eat Hoi An local food for less than $5. After the owner warmly welcomed us, we were literally fed until we were completely stuffed. Also, I’m convinced that the best cooks in Vietnam wear their PJs.

Untitled
The usual spread: savory shrimp pancake (banh xeo), fried spring rolls (ram cuon), grilled pork (thit nuong), herbs, pickled veggies, rice paper, dipping sauces, and beers.

Untitled
I like to carefully build these giant spring rolls.

Untitled
Hoi An is a popular place for getting custom-made clothing and brimming with mishmash of good and bad tailor shops. Thanks to my friend Austin’s recommendation, I had a wonderful experience at Peace Tailor Shop (89A Tran Hung Dao St). It was really fun picking out the fabric, buttons, lace trims, and working out the details, and of course getting measured and fitted. I was a bit nervous, but both of my dresses turned out just as I had imagined and I didn’t have to break the bank.

Untitled
And here is one of my dresses: my custom-made yellow dress with peter pan collars! It’s a bit wrinkled now because I crammed it inside my suitcase, but I’ll take a better photo of me wearing it soon.

Untitled

14 Comments

  • Reply
    Eliz
    August 4, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    lovely foodie photos!* 🙂

    • Reply
      Sewon
      August 5, 2012 at 9:28 am

      Thanks, Eliz! I eat so much 😛

  • Reply
    ねこちゃん
    August 4, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    Beautiful Sewon! The picture of you is gorgeous! the wooden old door looks stunning and your tan is just lovely~ I’ve rarely seen such exceptionally beautiful photos… the food looks to die for and the kewpie shirt is cuuute =)

    • Reply
      Sewon
      August 5, 2012 at 9:30 am

      Thank you! Hoi An’s such a lovely town and I really loved taking photos of all the architectural details. 🙂

  • Reply
    potsandwalks
    August 4, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    the aesthetics are amazing—the details, the colours, the shapes and lines. and they weren’t even actively trying (unlike the show homes and restaurants featured on regular design blogs)!

    • Reply
      Sewon
      August 13, 2012 at 7:42 am

      I totally agree with you. I love how everything seemed to have been built up slowly, over time.

  • Reply
    Amelia
    August 5, 2012 at 3:43 am

    That dress looks lovely.

    • Reply
      Sewon
      August 13, 2012 at 7:43 am

      Thank you, Amelia!

  • Reply
    indie belle
    August 5, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    oh, i´m in love with your custom dress! ^^
    Hoi An looks very beautiful and the local dishes melt my mouth…

    have a nice Sunday!

    love,
    stella

  • Reply
    Bonjour Juliette
    August 6, 2012 at 5:52 am

    Oh i’m definitely putting Hoi An on my traveling “to go” list. I had planned on going back to Vietnam in a few months, your beautiful pictures just awoke my craving for vietnamese food!

  • Reply
    ai
    August 8, 2012 at 4:13 am

    I could go there just for food alone! Everything looks really beautiful. So exactly how hot is it over there?

  • Reply
    Jesslyn
    August 9, 2012 at 6:30 pm

    You get to get around so much! Nice~

  • Reply
    coco
    September 14, 2012 at 7:20 pm

    fried wonton! yum

  • Reply
    Stylefia
    April 10, 2013 at 4:52 pm

    LOVELY photos!
    I am planning on maybe going there 🙂 – and now when having seen your photos I am even more convinced.
    Maybe indiscrete question, but the dress is SO lovely and I am really wondering what it would cost to get such a detailed and cute dress made?

  • Leave a Reply to coco Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.