Vung Tau Fine Dining: Where to Splurge on Vietnamese Food

Vung Tau gets written off as a weekend beach escape for Saigon residents, but its restaurant scene has matured considerably in the last five years. A handful of chefs here are doing genuinely interesting things with Vietnamese ingredients — not fusion-for-fusion's-sake, but considered cooking that makes regional dishes taste like they were always supposed to be this good.

Quay 55 — The Benchmark for Elevated Seafood

Sit down at Quay 55 on Tran Phu street and you'll understand immediately why locals book tables a week in advance on weekends. The kitchen leans hard into the coastal identity of Vung Tau (붕따우 / 头顿 / ブンタウ) — nearly everything on the menu comes out of the South China Sea — but the execution is far removed from the boil-and-dip style you find at the beachside shacks.

The standout dish is their take on "banh khot", the small coconut-milk rice cups that Vung Tau is arguably more famous for than anywhere else in the south. Here they arrive topped with tiger prawn, a thin smear of house-made mam tom (shrimp paste) cream, and a micro-herb garnish that sounds unnecessary but actually works. A plate of six runs around 180,000 VND.

For a bigger spend, the whole grilled crab with lemongrass and salt comes in at roughly 650,000–850,000 VND depending on market weight, and it's the thing to order if someone else is paying. Reservations are strongly recommended Thursday through Sunday. Call ahead — they don't do online booking.

Citron — Vietnamese Classics, Refined

Citron sits inside one of the older French-colonial buildings near the Back Beach area and has the kind of interior that makes you want to linger. The chef, who spent time in kitchens in Saigon (사이공 / 西贡 / サイゴン) before returning to his hometown, runs a menu structured around familiar dishes reimagined with better sourcing and cleaner technique.

His "bun bo Hue" is the dish that gets the most attention — a slow-cooked pork and lemongrass broth served with hand-cut rice noodles and a piece of braised beef shin that falls apart without any prompting. It's 145,000 VND for the full bowl and sits somewhere between a refined restaurant experience and something your best friend's mother would cook. That's a compliment.

The "goi cuon" here use Mekong Delta (메콩 델타 / 湄公河三角洲 / メコンデルタ) shrimp rather than the frozen product most places default to, and it shows in the texture. A plate of four rolls is 95,000 VND.

Citron is closed Tuesdays. The wine list is short but functional, and the staff are genuinely knowledgeable about the food — a rarity in a beach town.

Photo by 🇻🇳🇻🇳 Việt Anh Nguyễn 🇻🇳🇻🇳 on Pexels

Nha Hang Bien Xanh — Worth the Drive

About 8 km north of the main drag, past the lighthouse road and out toward the quieter residential coast, Nha Hang Bien Xanh has built a reputation entirely on word of mouth. The setting is a converted private house with an open terrace that catches the sea breeze properly. Tables are spaced. The noise level is human.

The kitchen does a stripped-back menu — six starters, eight mains — that changes with whatever's freshest that morning. On a recent visit, the "cha gio" were made with crab and glass noodles rather than pork, wrapped in rice paper that had been fried to a translucency that's difficult to achieve at scale. They arrived with a nuoc cham dipping sauce that had actual balance — not the sugar-forward version that's become the default everywhere.

Mains hover between 200,000 and 450,000 VND. The grilled squid with green mango salad (around 280,000 VND) is the kind of dish you'll describe to someone on the way home.

Getting there without a motorbike or taxi is awkward. Grab works fine from central Vung Tau — budget about 60,000–80,000 VND each way.

The Veranda at Grand Ho Tram — If You're Going Big

About 40 km up the coast from Vung Tau proper, The Veranda at the Grand Ho Tram Strip resort is a different category of dining — proper white tablecloths, a sommelier, mains in the 400,000–900,000 VND range. It belongs on this list because the Vietnamese section of their menu is handled with more seriousness than you'd expect from a hotel restaurant.

The "mi quang" — the turmeric-stained noodle dish from Central Vietnam (베트남 / 越南 / ベトナム) — appears on the menu as a starter here, with poached prawns, roasted peanuts, and a sesame cracker, and it's genuinely faithful to the original rather than a decoration. The "cao lau"-inspired noodle dish, served with slow-braised pork and a pork crackling crumb, runs 320,000 VND and is the best argument for ordering off the Vietnamese side of the menu rather than the international options.

This is a 45-minute drive from Vung Tau. Worth it if you're spending a weekend along the coast rather than just a day trip.

Photo by Pew Nguyen on Pexels

What to Expect on Pricing

Vung Tau's fine dining still undercuts Saigon significantly. A full meal with drinks at Quay 55 or Citron — two people, no holding back — lands around 800,000–1,200,000 VND total. At The Veranda you're looking at 1,500,000–2,500,000 VND per couple with wine. None of these places add a service charge automatically, but rounding up 10% is standard practice and appreciated.

Practical Notes

Most of the better restaurants in Vung Tau are busiest on Saturday evenings when the Saigon day-trip crowd is still in town — book ahead or arrive before 6:30 pm. Dress codes are relaxed by any measure, but beach clothes read as dismissive at the nicer spots. A Grab from central Vung Tau gets you to most addresses here without drama.