Da Lat has a cold-weather food culture that rewards specificity. "Banh uot long ga" — soft steamed rice sheets draped over seasoned chicken offal, finished with fried shallots, fresh herbs, and a thin dipping broth — is one of those dishes locals eat at a particular hour for a reason. Get the timing wrong and you'll find a closed shutter or a tray of dried-out rolls that sat too long.
What You're Actually Eating
The dish is built around offal: gizzard, liver, and intestine, cleaned and stir-fried with lemongrass, garlic, and a hit of fish sauce until just cooked through. That goes on top of "banh uot" — the same thin, slippery rice rolls you'd know from Hanoi's banh cuon, but here served flat and slightly thicker, still warm from the steamer. A fistful of dried fried shallots and a small bowl of clear dipping broth — light, slightly sweet, a little peppery — come on the side. Rau ram (Vietnamese coriander) and a few bean sprouts finish it off.
The offal is the whole point. If the idea puts you off, order it anyway — the gizzard has a clean, mineral snap and the intestine, when properly cleaned, tastes more like concentrated chicken than anything funky. It's closer to good charcuterie than to the challenging offal you might be imagining.
Tay Ho Street Is the Address You Need
Most of Da Lat (달랏 / 大叻 / ダラット)'s serious "banh uot long ga" vendors are clustered on and around Tay Ho street, near the northern edge of Xuan Huong Lake. This isn't a food street in the tourist-strip sense — it's a residential lane with a few low-key stalls that open on their own schedules. Google Maps gets you to the street; your nose and the sound of a steamer get you to the right spot.
The most established stall sits roughly mid-block, identified by a handwritten sign and four or five plastic tables arranged on the pavement. There's no English menu. Point at what the table next to you has and you'll be fine.
Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels
Morning: The Correct Answer
Locals eat "banh uot long ga" for breakfast, between about 6:30 and 9:30 a.m. This is when the rice sheets are freshest — the steamer has been running since before dawn, and each batch is pulled and served within minutes. The offal is also cooked to order in small batches during this window, so nothing has been sitting in a covered pan reheating.
A single serving runs around 25,000–35,000 VND. Add a Vietnamese iced coffee or a small cup of hot "ca phe sua da (연유커피 / 越南冰咖啡 / ベトナムアイスコーヒー)" from the stall next door and you've had one of the better breakfasts Da Lat offers, for under 50,000 VND total.
Come after 10 a.m. and the rice sheets start to stiffen as they cool. The offal gets a second cook to warm it through, which tightens the texture. It's still edible, but it's not the same dish.
Lunch: Possible, Not Optimal
A handful of vendors stay open until noon or just past it, mainly because Da Lat draws enough midday walkers around the lake to keep business moving. If you're arriving on a late morning and haven't eaten, you can find "banh uot long ga" at lunch — but check that the steamer is still active. If the vendor is working off a covered tray without steam rising, the sheets were made hours ago.
Lunch pricing is the same. The quality gap is real but not catastrophic if you're hungry and passing through.
Photo by Linh Tran on Pexels
Night: Don't Bother
This is not a night dish in Da Lat. The Tay Ho vendors close by early afternoon. Come evening, the street fills with the smell of "banh mi" and grilled corn from the night market stalls further toward the center. If you're looking for a late dinner in Da Lat, that's a different search entirely.
Some visitors confuse "banh uot long ga" with the after-dark offal skewer stalls that appear elsewhere in town — those are a separate category of eating, worth exploring, but not the same thing.
A Few Practical Notes
Tay Ho street is roughly 1.2 km from the Da Lat night market and walkable from most central accommodation in under 20 minutes. Arrive before 8 a.m. on weekends if you want a seat without waiting — the stall gets busy with locals on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Bring cash; no card machines. And if the vendor offers a small additional plate of "cha gio" on the side, say yes.
Last updated · May 26, 2026 · independently researched, never sponsored.
