Dalat cuisine: snacks and good eateries in Da Lat

If you want to rest in the fresh air of the cool weather and explore the beautiful scenery of the highlands, you must come to Dalat city. Not only that, the collection of delicious food in Dalat with dishes that are characteristic of the cool mountain town “just blow and eat” will certainly bring full of joy to your Dalat trip.

Dalat night is cold; put a jacket on, wear a scarf, and walk around the streets are comfortable for enjoying the taste of the rich culinary world…

Dalat is a very popular tourist destination, so it is a place to eat and discover delicious food with local features.

Delicious food in Dalat that visitors should try

The grilled girdle cake – also known as “Dalat pizza”

Unlike other dishes that can be eaten at any time of the day, Dalat grilled girdle cake is only sold from around 03:00 pm. When the sunset falls on the ground, the hot coal stoves also are made up by the vender and gradually warm up the heat.

Rice papers with black sesame seeds are topped with a layer of cooking oil, fish sauce, and chili, after that put on the grill. Break the chicken eggs directly into the rice paper and sweep the surface with a small brush. Next, sprinkle fresh chopped onion; add fried onion and meat floss (the type is used in mixed rice paper). Because there is a layer of cooking oil mixed with fish sauce and chili, so should not worry about the burnt cake.

One hand rotates the cake to ripen eggs in a quick way, another one controls two bamboo chopsticks, a chopstick is clamped on the cake and the other is clamped under the cake.

When the egg layer on the cake turns to yellow color, use a chopstick to wrap the cake in a circle. Use the newspaper clamp the cake to protect the hand from the heat when eating. Now you can enjoy the taste of aromatic sauce, hot and spicy of chili. If you love spicy, you can add chili sauce.

With people love salty, you can ask the seller to add more fish sauce; reduce or rise the level of spicy, salty, more or less onion depending on the preferences of the eater. If you do not like the grilled girdle cake with chicken eggs, then you can ask the vender add quail eggs. You may require two quail eggs or more if desired.

Avocado smoothie with ice cream

Strangely in a cold area like Dalat that is famous for ice cream that make you feel colder. However, if you try you will get the feeling of fatty and sweet of this dish that combined with the cool air of this land is the great thing. Avocado is blended and you spoiled for choosing of taste that you love.

The price of “a best avocado smoothie and ice cream glass” in Thanh Thao shop is about 20,000 VND. (Updated May 19, 2018)

Corn spring rolls

No need to argue, this dish is very delicious. If you are a person who likes to eat snacks and hot fried dishes, then we ensure that you will be very full because eating this dish and forget that you have eaten too much.

From the fresh corn, people cut corn kernels from the cob then marinate with spices, wrapped by rice paper and then fry in hot oil pan….

The delicious factor of this dish are in addition to corn spring rolls also has a small sauce bowl of sauce made from  pureed peanuts + kinds of salted vegetable + fresh Dalat vegetable that is very attractive. You take a rice paper and put on a plate, put in a piece of corn spring rolls + salted vegetable (cucumber, carrots, turnips…) + raw vegetables (lettuce, herbs, basil, shiso (beefsteak plant)…) roll together to be neat and beautiful, add some chili in the cup of sauce and then dip and eat.

This special food is called “corn spring rolls”, rare in any place other than Dalat. Many people think that it is like a normal spring rolls but it is not.

Corn spring roll is made quite elaborately. Thin rice paper is wrapped with young corn inside, chopped onion, add seasoning, grinded pepper… frying in an oil pan until rolls become crispy and yellow. The taste of young corn kernel in the core is very sweet and fragrant; making the corn spring roll has a strange attractive flavor.

The Dalat delectable food is eaten with vegetables, salted vegetable, girdle cake and sauce made from fatty soybean with grinded pork, very delicious. This unique sauce created the attraction of the food and formed the rank of the eatery.

Corn spring rolls eateries on Nguyen Cong Tru Street and the area near Dalat University junction are popular with many people, usually open from 15:00. Each set of corn spring rolls is very reasonable price, only about 30,000 VND / plate (Updated May 18, 2018).

The bloating fern-shaped cake

It is not made entirely of rice flour, Dalat bloating fern-shaped cake is added a bit of tapioca starch, so the cake is slightly clear-looking, tough and sticky into the spoon, not too soft or hard. The shrimp pork sauce is not too thick with orange color full of attractive next to the fatty green onion is seasoned properly, add a little chili and fish sauce will taste better than usual.

A regular set of bloating fern-shaped cake consists of four small porcelain bowls or you can order more bowl depending on your ability of eating. Especially the bowl of bloating fern-shaped cake is very cheap, only about 2,000 VND – 3,000 VND per bowl.

In the cool air of Dalat, sit next to the hot stove, wait for the cake to bake and enjoy immediately are so wonderful. The fragrant aroma of smoke makes the people more desire for the next cake is quickly cooked and brought out of the oven. It depends on the skillful hands of the baker that the sauce has different taste, creating a distinct flavor of the eatery.

Frog porridge

Although newly joined in “the family of Dalat delicious dishes” few years ago, but frog porridge Hoang Anh conquered hearts of gourmets. The location is slightly out of the main road, the curiosity with hangover feel waits to be paid off when you come here. The first interesting thing was the frog bowl that surrounded by the warm pink flame. Let’s open the lid gradually, the yellow of the frogs are added a few slices of yellow ginger, green onion and red chili on the boiling thick sauce at the bottom. The fragrant scent with vibrant colors of the dish makes your nose and salivary glands to be activated.

Take a bowl of white porridge, pick up the yellow frog’s thighs slowly and add a little brown thick sauce. Three tiers of taste guide you when you bite into the frogs. Welcoming you is the aroma of the delicious sauce, followed by the sweet taste of frog meat, finally the spicy taste of chili and pepper on the tongue. The body warms up with the ginger and hot porridge, the fire just keep warm and keep the frog hot longer in the cold of Dalat.

Dalat cold weather makes the food even more delicious, frog bowl is kept warm on fire and cheap price for big amount are the advantages that are not available when you eat in Singapore or Saigon.

In addition, you can visit and buy many items of high quality wool here at good prices.

Address: Lot H100, Nguyen Thi Nghia Planning Area, ward 2, Dalat City. 0906782288 – (0263) 6266668

Opening hours: 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm.

Thick noodle soup

In Dalat, there are many thick noodle soup shops. Some have a little reputation such as thick noodle soup eatery of Phan Rang on Tran Phu Street or the eatery on 22 Hai Ba Trung Street. However, the most famous eatery for thick noodle soup, which all tourist must come when they visit Dalat is Xuan An eatery on Nha Chung Street.

In the cold air of Dalat city, the bowl of thick noodle soup smokes up; add some yellow pieces of cha ca (grilled minced fish), a little bit green onions, make everybody want to eat immediately. Add a little bit lemon and chili sauce, “just blow and eat”. Not only beautiful outside, the taste of the dish is also very good with thick noodles are handmade and very soft. Grilled minced fish is also crispy and smooth. Broth is very delicious. In the morning, this eatery sells beef rice noodle soup; and in the afternoon, they sell thick noodle soup with the price about 25,000 VND – 30,000 VND / bowl.

Address: Xuan An thick noodle soup, 15A, Nha Chung Street. Dalat City, Lam Dong province

Can cake (Banh Can)

Can cake is not originated from Dalat but this is the favorite dish of many people. Visitors can find this dish in every corner of Dalat but the most delicious and famous shops are located on Tang Bat Ho Street.

The most delicious thing of Can cake is dipping a dash of hot cake in the bowl of sauce, then bite a piece of cake has been infiltrated with sauce, which is spicy and fatty with fried onion. It seems like very simple, but in Dalat air, it becomes different. The deliciousness of the cake is made from the feeling of the cold, the eager wait for the cake of the eater, or from the pink cheeks of the young woman diligently put powder into the mold. Or simply from the bowl of the sauce has a tiny meat ball, which is different from other regions.

A pair of Can cakes priced at between 5,000 VND – 6,000 VND depending on the ingredient of the cake. (Updated on May 18, 2018)

You should enjoy this delicious cake in the early morning or late afternoon.

Hue–style beef rice noodle soup in Anh Sang hamlet

Anh Sang is called hamlet, but it is just a street selling Hue–style beef noodle soup, cooked by the women from Hue, next to Xuan Huong Lake. The road is quite small, this restaurant is close to the other but there is no pulling or scramble diners like other places. Visitors come here from the beginning to the end of the road, choose a consistent restaurant, step in and enjoy food without fear of being ripped off because all the shops have the same price, quality also the same.

Unlike other places, Hue–style beef noodle soup here has clear broth, medium size of pork piece, fried green onions and small pieces of blood pudding. Except for the lack of green chili presented on plate like the restaurants in Hue, beef noodle soup here almost keep the full flavor of the dish.

The grilled pork rolls (Nem Nuong)

The most famous restaurant for Dalat grilled pork rolls is Ba Hung on Phan DinhPhung Street. This is the famous address of all travelers when coming to Da Lat. Unlike spring rolls of Ha Noi people, Dalat grilled pork rolls are diverse with many ingredients such as grilled pork, rice paper, vegetables, pickles, sauces….

The main ingredient of the dish is roll, made from fresh pork. Pork is washed, grinded, seasoned properly, make the ball shape, stick them on long skewers and grilled on the hot charcoal stove. Dalat grilled pork rolls are served as fresh spring roll of the Saigonese, using a slice of thin rice paper, topped with a slice of lettuce, green banana, star fruit, pickles, pork rolls and some slices of crispy rice paper, roll up, dip in sauce and enjoy.

Strawberry ice cream

I do not like this but almost the girls love this dish!

This is a unique dish of “the city of flower”. The most famous is the Strawberry Ice Cream Shop on Phan DinhPhung Street, where you cannot find a place to sit in peak time. Ingredients are simple with strawberries, ice cream and little strawberries syrup, peanuts… but delicious and strange taste of the dish is enough to satisfy the visitors when coming here.

He sweet soup in Dalat

At first, almost everyone was wondering about this special name: “He” sweet soup. But the truth is that there is no kind of sweet soup “He”, the name of the sweet soup was born by the iron door of the eatery is only opened a little bit (“He” in English means opening the door slightly), so gradually people get used to call it “He” sweet soup.

Sweet soup here is very good, but there is a clear distinction of price. If you order hot sweet soup is only 5,000 VND for a bowl but if you want to eat cold sweet soup, the price will be double.

Xap Xap

Although the name sounds like strange with a lot of people, but actually this dish is a papaya salad with beef jerky that many people know. The name “XapXap” comes from the sound of the scissors every time it is used to cut the ingredients of the dish.

Mac Mac juice – passion fruit juice

If you just listened to the name and being hurried to order “mac mac” immediately, you would certainly surprise when receiving a glass of passion fruit juice. Because it is just like “XapXap” above, Mac Mac is another name of the passion fruit. However, if you love sour taste, you can also buy yourself a bottle of pure passion fruit juice to bring back and drink gradually.

Banh Uot Ga – Vietnamese steamed rice rolls with chicken

The eatery selling steamed rice rolls with chicken is always crowded. Both locals and tourists alike want to experience the strange taste of this unusual dish. Do not eat with Vietnamese pork ham, spring rolls, tom cake, or fermented pork roll like other steamed rice rolls, this dish in Dalat are eaten with chicken and chicken viscera. The combination of soft and sticky cake with sweet chicken and crispy viscera, making the food becomes very delicious and strange taste. If you have the opportunity to visit the city of flowers, do not miss the opportunity to enjoy this delicious food.

To enjoy this food, you can go to the eatery on Tang Bat Ho Street, near the market of Dalat, there are also grilled pork rolls here, the price is from 30,000 VND to 60,000 VND, and the sauce is very good. Alternatively, you can also go to Dalat University junction near TinhDoi Gate with a cheaper price for student.

Hot soymilk can be mixed with green beans, lotus seeds, black sesame seeds

One of the drinks enjoyed by the young of Dalat in cold weather is hot soy milk. Soy milk is sold everywhere in Dalat and you can see large pots of milk at the entrance of the shop. Soy milk is cooked in large pots.

One specificity is when drinking soy milk in Dalat, the seller will bring you some cakes to eat together. You can eat the cake or return them back to the owner.

In addition to soy milk, recently, the shop has offered more kind of milk from black sesame, black beans, green beans, and lotus seeds to enrich their drinks menu.

Silkworm Cake (Steamed cassava cake)

If you stroll around the Dalat market, you will see the cart selling colorful (red, green, white, pink…) cake is very beautiful. That is silkworm cake or steamed cassava cake.

Silkworm cake is made from cassava, tapioca starch, sugar, coconut milk and food color to make the cake has beautiful colors. When eating, the seller sprinkle a little roasted peanut on the cake for more aromatic and tasty.

Steamed cassava cake has good smell, sweet and fatty taste of coconut milk. Silkworm cake is very colorful attracted eater’s eye.

This snack is sure to make you happy not only by the beautiful form but also by the simplicity, sweetness and aroma of coconut milk, grated coconut and peanuts along with the toughness of each piece of cassava is cut into noodle shape.

In cold days like this, with the hunger when walking, let’s try exploring the things we have suggested above. Make sure you are completely satisfied.

Meatballs or chicken with Vietnamese baguette (Banh mi xiu mai and banh mi ga)

The name is familiar, but the way of processing creates special taste of the food. The meatballs baguette is available in many places in the city: school gate, market gate… the most popular place is at the corner of Tran NhatDuat Street – Hoang Dieu Street crossroad. They only sell baguette with two dishes are meatballs and mixed meatballs but from 6:00 AM – 9:00 AM always full of guests. Therefore, if you want to eat this food for breakfast, you should get up early and enjoy this cheap and delicious food.

Each set is presented in a small bowl, filled with soup, meatballs, pork skin, and sliced pork ham, sprinkled with onions above. The bread is also delicious, hot, crispy and fragrant.

Enjoy the sweet taste of stewed bone, with the hot spicy chili in the broth with freshly baked bread, green onion and fatty meatballs make the morning in Dalatperfect.

It is great that the price of this delicious Dalat food is quite cheap, from less than 15,000 VND only. (Updated on May 18, 2018)

Artichoke and pork soup (main specialty)

A specialty is only in Dalat, if you eat this dish in anywhere else, you will not find the proper taste like in Dalat. Not only good food, artichoke and pork soup is also a tonic. It helps people eat and sleep well, diuretic, support the liver and improve health.

Artichoke and pork soup is served hot, with spicy chili fish sauce. The fresh and sweet broth, soft stewed bone, fatty taste make the dish attracted many customers. Not only the women who are pregnant or nursing, but also healthy people or men can hardly refuse this delicious and healthy food.

This dish is on the menu of almost hotels and restaurants with prices ranging from 80,000 VND to 150,000/a big bowl depending on place.

In any dish, it is easy to recognize the Dalat’s taste: spicy, hot and smoky but they are easy to please customers. Cuisine of Dalat is like the people style here; friendly, elegant and enthusiastic in the calm lifestyle, all create a gentle Dalat, but hiding the strength of the mountains and the forest.

Some delicious and safe restaurants in Dalat

– Bun Cong eatery 6:00 am -19:00, selling beef noodle soup, grilled minced fish noodle soup….

– Snail eatery 1BPhu Dong ThienVuong Street: about 200 m from Dalat University junction, with clam porridge, fried banana snails, snails stuffed with meat, the shop open until 22:00.

– Tau Cao restaurant specializes in egg noodle soup with wontons, selling from 6:00 am to 21:00 – 22:00.

– Bloating fern-shaped cake No. 4: Phan DinhPhung Street, beside Bridge 4.

– Le Dung goat restaurant, Chi Lang market area

– Thung Lung Ca Restaurant: near the intersection of Phan Chu Trinh

– Hung Phat Restaurant 1, No. 1 QuangTrung Street

– Long Nga Restaurant, 4 Yersin Street, near Xuan Huong Lake

– Long Hoa Restaurant, No. 6, 3/2 Street

– Nga eatery sells mien ga (Soya noodles with chicken): Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, behind the Bank of Commerce and Industry opposite HoaBinh, opened to 23:00.

– Night dining area at Anh Sang hamlet, with soy milk, duck porridge, Vietnamese crepe, rice noodles soup, Quang style noodles soup, chicken noodles, Hue dishes.

– Tea, ice cream, fruit Thanh Thao, 76 Nguyen Van Troi.

– Vinh Loi rice eatery, 3/2 traffic roundabout, specializing in egg noodle soup with wontons, fried rice…

– Breakfast Nam Giao, No. 8 Chu Van An Street with Hue-style beef noodle, Quang-style noodles, beef.

– Xuan An thick noodle soup on the head of Nha Chung Street.

– Snail 33 in Hai Ba Trung Street.

– Vietnamese crepe Chi is in the alley next to Doan Thi Diem School, near Hoa Binh.

– Grilled pork rolls Ba Nghia, 4C Bui Thi Xuan Street.

– Dalat night market has many delicious dishes such as snails, soy milk…

– Can cake on Tang Bat Ho Street (they sell yogurt as well).

– Quang-style noodles Co Xi is in Mac Dinh Chi Street.

– Clear rice noodle soup Di Sau Dan, Bui Thi Xuan Street.

– Fish porridge is on Hai Ba Trung alley, located on the way to the restaurantSnail 33.

– Crab rice noodle soup shop is at the end of Nguyen Van TroiStreet are also near Thao shop.

– Grilled quail is beside Xuan Huong Lake, only in the evening, near the old gas station and Mei Ho Xuan Huong coffee shop.

Some interesting cafes and ice cream shops in Dalat

Travel to Dalat, you should not forget to visit the unique and romantic coffee shops on the land of the highlands.

– Moc music coffee shop 34 Hai Ba Trung Street.

– Cung To Chieu music coffee shop, 27K Le Hong Phong.

– Cung Dan Xua music coffee shop, 83 Ba Thang Hai Street

– Violet Ngay Thu Tu, 16 Tran Hung Dao Street

– Thuy Ta on Xuan Huong Lake.

– Rainy 24B / 1 Hung Vuong Street.

– Cafe Thien Ha, 44A Phan Dinh Tung.

– Song Vy Coffee Shop, 22 Nguyen Du Street.

– A row of coffee shops is on the slope up to Hoa Binh area (one side of Nguyen Chi Thanh Street).

– Tung coffee shop is located in the Hoa Binh area only serves with a classical music, for music and coffee connoisseurs.