12 Best Restaurants in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

This basic street food outlet serves a great version of the local specialty, bun nuoc leo, a murky pork noodle soup. Patrons can expect celebrity treatment at this place, with extra plates of spring rolls, fried prawn cakes, and banana-leaf-wrapped roast pork offered, along with wide smiles. Don't worry—if you don't eat any of the extras, you don't have to pay (but they are very good).

This humble street food eatery is as good a place as any to try bun nuoc leo, a Mekong Delta specialty of broth made with fermented fish, served over fresh bun noodles, with slices of fish, roast pork, shrimp, and local greens. Pair it with a glass of sugarcane juice.

Offering very basic Vietnamese café fare, such as stir-fried noodles, pork and rice, and baguettes, this café associated with the Que Toi Hotel is a place more for satisfying hunger pangs than enjoying fine dining. Like most Vietnamese cafés, it's a place for people to meet, drink coffee, and smoke cigarettes. On the plus side, it has an English menu, which most places in town don't have.

There's a range of street food stalls in the streets surrounding Ha Tien's impressive market, which comprises several buildings, including one marked "an uong" ("eat and drink").

Usually packed with locals, this big eating hall with metal tables and plastic stools is the best place in town to order hu tieu My Tho, a noodle soup that's the specialty of My Tho. The staff don't speak much English but the food more than makes up for any challenges with ordering. The menu, printed on the walls, is simple: hu tieu (rice-noodle soup), banh canh (rice-and-tapioca noodle soup), bot nui (rice-macaroni soup), and hoan thanh (pork wonton soup). There are different prices for hu tieu: thit (pork), xuong (pork knuckle), muc tuoi (fresh squid) and tom tuoi (fresh shrimp).

This modern café on the ground floor of an apartment block serves Korean and Japanese-influenced dishes, including ramen and bi bim bap. The dual language menu is useful to travelers.

This is a small outdoor market that sets up shop most evenings from 5 pm right on the riverside. You'll find Saigon beer for around 15,000d a bottle and stalls selling grilled meat and seafood as well as those with hotpot set-ups. Sit down on a little plastic stool alongside the locals and tuck in to plates of grilled squid and steaming bowls of pho.

There are two parts to the night market, one section selling clothes and tourist items and the other serving food from a variety of mobile stalls, with vendors who are well versed in the point-and-nod style of ordering. Most of the food can be munched while strolling and is more of a snack than a meal, but what's on offer can change from day to day, so it's best to just go and see what is available. Food stalls start appearing at around 6 pm each day.

Locals will tell you that this is the best pho in town. There's no English menu, but they really only serve one thing (beef noodle soup), so there shouldn't be too many mishaps. Unlike many other pho restaurants in Vietnam, this joint serves the national dish all day long.

A pint-size eatery near the market and just in from the river, casual Thanh Tinh serves mostly vegetarian dishes. There's plenty to choose from, including a flavorful vegetarian pho made with coriander, tofu, diced vegetables, and tender noodles as well as a piquant dish of tofu stir-fried with citronella (safe to eat—it's a plant) and red peppers that pairs nicely with fried wontons in a fragrant broth. Mix-ups seem to be fairly common, so double check your order after it's been taken.

Tran Hau Street, which runs east from the market, is packed with delicious, local mom-and-pop establishments. These small eateries are usually named after what they serve, so look out for all manner of southern favorites, including hu tieu (chewy noodles with pork and seafood), bun ca (rice noodle soup with fish), banh canh ghe (thick tapioca noodle soup with crab), com tam (broken rice with grilled pork), and che (a Vietnamese dessert).

Make your way through the bustling Ving Long Market to the food section at breakfast or lunchtime and inspect what the locals are eating. Point to what looks good and you will be chowing down on something cheap, authentic, and delicious in no time. One tasty local specialty is banh uot, which translates literally as "wet cakes" but in reality is a dish of steamed rice crepes, pickled vegetables, shredded pork, and barbecued pork patties topped with a tangy dressing. The market stalls start packing up at around 4 pm and are usually closed by 5 pm.