Can Tho Dessert Tour: 5 Stops from Che to Mooncakes

Can Tho is a river city that takes its sweets seriously. From afternoon "che" carts along Hai Ba Trung to Teochew-style mooncake bakeries that have been mixing lard and lotus paste since before most tourists were born, the dessert culture here is layered, regional, and worth a dedicated afternoon.

Stop 1 — Che on Hai Ba Trung Street

Start around 2 p.m., when the heat is at its worst and cold che is at its most logical. The cluster of "che" stalls on Hai Ba Trung, between the Ninh Kieu wharf and the central market, is the easiest entry point. A plastic stool, a bowl of che ba mau (three-color sweet soup with mung bean, pandan jelly, and coconut milk over shaved ice) runs about 15,000–20,000 VND.

If you want something more substantial, look for che bap — sweet corn in coconut broth, thick and slightly smoky — or che dau trang, white kidney beans in a light ginger syrup that sounds boring and isn't. The vendors here keep their pots going until early evening, so timing is flexible, but early afternoon gets you the freshest toppings before the tapioca pearls turn to glue.

Stop 2 — Banh Pia and Traditional Cakes at the Central Market

Can Tho (껀터 / 芹苴 / カントー)'s central market (Cho Can Tho, on Hai Ba Trung at the riverfront) has a dry-goods section in the back where a handful of stalls sell packaged and loose traditional cakes. This is the place to try "banh pia", a flaky, layered pastry from the Mekong's Teochew-Chinese community, filled with durian-tinged mung bean paste or salted egg yolk. The commercially packaged ones you see in supermarkets are fine; the ones sold loose here, slightly oily and fresher, are better.

While you're in there, look for "banh bo" — steamed rice cakes with a honeycombed interior that come in pandan green or plain white — and banh cong, a fried shrimp-and-mung-bean fritter that blurs the line between savory snack and dessert depending on how much sugar the vendor adds to the batter. Budget 50,000–80,000 VND for a small mixed selection.

Photo by Nguyễn Thị Thảo Hà (Ha Nguyen) on Pexels

Stop 3 — Mooncakes at a Teochew Bakery

Can Tho has a visible Teochew-Chinese community, and their contribution to the city's food culture is most obvious in the old bakeries near Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street, a few blocks back from the river. These shops make "banh trung thu" — mooncakes — year-round, not just around the Mid-Autumn Festival, because locals buy them as gifts and eat them with tea without needing a calendar reason.

The standard filling is lotus seed paste with a salted egg yolk center, baked in a mold that stamps the top with Chinese characters. At around 25,000–40,000 VND per piece, they're not cheap by Mekong standards, but they're dense — half a mooncake with hot tea is a meal in miniature. A few shops also make snow skin versions (banh deo), which are softer, uncooked, and refrigerated. If you're visiting around Tet Trung Thu, the bakeries set up full shopfront displays; off-season, ask inside.

Stop 4 — Kem (Ice Cream) Along the Ninh Kieu Waterfront

By late afternoon, walk back toward the Ninh Kieu riverside promenade. The stretch from the night market area toward the passenger ferry pier has a handful of "kem" carts and small shops. The local style is kem dua — coconut ice cream served inside a young coconut shell, topped with peanuts, dried shrimp (optional, but go with it), and condensed milk. It sounds like a mistake and tastes like a good decision.

For something more conventional, there are soft-serve stalls offering pandan, taro, and durian flavors at 20,000–30,000 VND a cone. Durian soft-serve divides people cleanly; if you're on the fence about the fruit, this is a low-commitment way to settle the argument.

Photo by Jimmy Liao on Pexels

Stop 5 — A Modern Dessert Cafe for the Final Round

End the tour at one of the dessert cafes that have opened in Can Tho's cafe-dense backstreets over the last few years. The area around De Tham and Ngo Duc Ke streets has the highest concentration. These spots serve Vietnamese takes on bingsu (Korean shaved milk ice), matcha-and-coconut milk combinations, and updated che served in mason jars with instagrammable arrangements of toppings.

The quality varies, but the better ones — look for a line of locals rather than a placard in English — do a decent "che thai" (Thai-style mixed fruit in coconut milk and condensed milk over ice) and a smooth, not-too-sweet taro layer cake. Prices here run higher than the street: expect 45,000–70,000 VND per dessert. Sit, order Vietnamese iced coffee or lotus tea alongside whatever you pick, and let the afternoon wind down.

Practical Notes

The full route covers roughly 1.5 km and works best done on foot between 2 and 6 p.m., when street vendors are active and the heat begins to ease. Can Tho's dessert culture is deeply tied to its Teochew-Chinese and Khmer influences, so you'll notice flavors — pandan, taro, coconut, salted egg — that recur across every stop, not because the city lacks imagination but because they genuinely work. Bring cash; none of these stops take cards.