Before discovering my favorite Da Nang restaurants, let’s have a look at the culinary scene in Vietnam.

Considered one of the healthiest and most balanced kitchens in the world, it is also a cultural moment in Vietnamese daily life. Vietnamese kitchen is influenced by Chinese traditions, and you can experience that in every local meal.

 

Food philosophy

There is an entire philosophy behind it. Vietnamese dishes are a combination of taste, fragrance and colour. And a combination of liquid, powder, mineral, protein and fat. All five senses should be involved: color stimulates the sight, crisp attracts the hearing, spices stimulate the taste, aromatic herbs stimulate the smell, and finger food stimulates the touching.

Vietnamese kitchen is based on the concept of “the five elements“, which represents our five main organs, five different colors, tastes and feelings. If you include every element in your dish, it means that you are eating a healthy dish.

It is the same concept of Yin and Yang. In this case, a balanced meal means a healthy body and mind.

 

Local cooking

Vietnam’s cuisine is known to be very spicy, this means that they use many spices and aromatic herbs when cooking. Meat and fish (including seafood) are almost always present and served with rice, noodles or soups. Food can be deep-fried, stir-fried, dry-fried, steamed, stewed, slow-cooked, clay-pot cooked, grilled, sautéed, roasted, in soup, and so on.

It is difficult to describe flavours, you just need to taste. As our guide in Ho Chi Minh used to say “you don’t know if you don’t do”. So true!

 

Restaurants in Da Nang

In a popular and modern destination like Da Nang, there are many restaurants, but there is also street food. Both offering local and international foods. The meals’ prices vary a lot, you can find cheap eats (and good quality), but also refined cuisine. It all depends on your desires.

We were impressed that sometimes street food was more expensive than restaurants.

 

Vegan Restaurant

One of our favorite restaurants was this little vegan restaurant, located in a secondary street. The place was really nice, and the atmosphere was zen.

They had quite a big menu, offering many options. You could eat for 2-3 $ per person, and have a full dinner. The brown rice with pumpkin was so delicious, one of the bestsellers! Good taste, good price, definitely recommended!

Unfortunately, it seems they don’t have a website…

 

4P Restaurant

If you feel like having an Italian dinner, we highly advise visiting the 4P restaurant. It is very popular, so you need to book in advance. There, we had the best pizza and pasta of the entire Vietnam. Ovens are in the middle of the room, visible, so you see how pizzas are prepared and how much dedication cooks put in it.

The orders are taken via an iPad, and the interesting thing is that you can order a half-half pizza. If you are in doubts between 2 pizzas, and you can not eat both, well you can take a half-half pizza and taste both of them!

4P is quite expensive, but it is worth a visit if you need a little break from the Vietnamese cuisine 🙂

 

Revolution of Mushroom

This is another vegetarian restaurant called the Revolution of Mushroom (ROM), not too big but the food was really tasty.

 

Cafes in Da Nang

Being a digital nomad and modern destination, Da Nang offers many, many cafes with WIFI where you can freely work. In addition to that, we must say that in Vietnam they drink a lot of coffee, in general. When you walk along a street, you will find so many bars that it is difficult to choose one.

 

Goblin Cafe

At Goblin Cafe we drank by far the best cappuccino ever had in Vietnam, and it is one of the best-decorated bars we visited.

The bar is organized on two floors, and both are very well decorated and very welcoming. They have stable WIFI, so it is great to work there.

Goblin Cafe is located not too far away from 4P Restaurants. It is perfect if you want to have a coffee after a good dinner 🙂

 

The Local Beans

This is a coworking space and bar, offering good coffee, space to work and a stable WIFI connection.

The only downside is that you are sitting outside. So, when it is too hot, it is difficult to work and concentrate. Despite that, it is a great place to visit.

 

These are only a few suggestions, but you have a much bigger choice if you search on the web. Enjoy!