As a seasoned traveler and obsessive foodie, I like to think that I can suss out where the good food is wherever I am. Sometimes though, it pays to have a little local knowledge, a fact that I very pleasurably experienced earlier this year in Vietnam’s third city, Da Nang.

Known to most Westerners for its American air base during the war (which, in the words of John Pilger, eventually turned the town into ‘a small American city’), today Da Nang is little visited by foreigners. Though this is probably part of the charm of the place, it’s also a shame more people don’t go to Da Nang, for this relaxed port city has some of Vietnam’s most beautiful scenery on its doorstep – and, as I discovered, some of its most delicious food.

Originally, I’d planned to go to Da Nang just for a day trip from the nearby beach where I was staying, and arranged, through the wonderful Couchsurfing.org, to meet up for dinner with a local young man by the name of Kent Lee. With a couple of hours to kill before I was meeting Kent, I decided to check out the city’s central market – and realized very quickly that I had vastly underestimated Da Nang.

The place was heaving, full to the brim with families doing their shopping for the upcoming New Year festivities. Da Nang-ites, I now appreciated, were serious about their food. A colourful (and delicious) snack outside the market only whet my appetite for more, and I looked forward to dinner with mounting anticipation.

Thankfully, within minutes of meeting Kent, I discovered that I was in excellent hands. As well as being fantastic company (he is, among many other talents, the Vietnamese translator of Bridget Jones’ Diary no less!), Kent is also a consummate foodie, and as soon as he learned of my interest in food, resolved on showing me Da Nang’s best.

We started with one of the Central coast’s most famous dishes – My Quang, a beautiful bowl of springy, bright yellow rice noodles, served with beansprouts, herbs, shrimp, quail's eggs, chopped peanuts and crunchy flatbread. Kent took me to an utterly undistinctive-looking corner restaurant, but whose brisk business and fresh ingredients (above) attested to its quality.

This is my mixed-in My Quang, waiting to be devoured, which it duly was. I could easily have eaten a second bowl, but Kent advised me to keep some space for dessert –

Che, a kind of cross between a drink and a pudding, of which there are countless varieties – ours contained mango, coconut milk, and (joy of joys!), durian.

After a quick drink with Kent’s friends in a surreal bar full of fortune tellers and snake-charmers, I went back to my beach-side hostel pleased to have seen a side of Vietnam unknown to most tourists – so you can imagine my delight when Kent called me the very next day to invite me back to Da Nang, this time for lunch with his family.

As you can see from the photo, it was a sumptuous spread. My favourite dish was the one you can see to the right of the soup – a salad that I guessed contained, among probably many other ingredients, fresh herbs, raw onions and chicken. I was overwhelmed by my hosts’ generosity, but when I thanked them profusely for it, was told by Kent that the best way of showing my appreciation was by eating a lot. I was, as you can probably understand, starting to fall for Vietnam big-time.

But the delights of Da Nang didn't end there. After a couple of hours swimming at this beautiful nearby beach,

Kent took me for a dinner which was probably one of the best I ate in Vietnam (but which sadly I have no pictures of): at a street-stall down a tiny, scruffy alley, we ate snails and salad – the former which I am not normally a big fan of, but whose flavours I was so overwhelmed and delighted by that I completely forgot to ask what was in them, or their name. Which at least gives me a good excuse to go back to Da Nang one day.

My Quang restaurant
Corner of Le Hong Phong and Nguyen Chi Thanh.

Che cafe
Tran Phu Street.

Snail and salad vendor
Unknown alley.

Snack food in Vietnam...what can I say? Words cannot describe how good it is. Available everywhere, at almost every time of the day...I never went hungry. Ever.

It almost seemed that the snacks I ate in Vietnam were trying to outdo each other in deliciousness, having themselves a little competition of Vietnamese snacks. So, I hereby present to you the competitors in this epic battle; I never decided which one I loved the most, so will let you decide for yourselves who should be the winner.

Though the north and Hanoi were of course also excellent snack purveyors, the competition really started to hot up once I got to Hue, the old imperial capital on the central coast. Here, as I explored the morning market, I came across a lady with a bamboo pole - at one end of which was a kind of cabinet:

and at the other, a kind of bucket.

Immediately my curiosity was peaked - what could she possibly be selling? - so I hung around to see the product - which, it turned out, was tofu. First, the bucket lid was lifted,

and then the vendor would carefully scoop out flat slices of the fresh beancurd into an awaiting bowl.

Then, from the cabinet, a quarter of lime was produced, and a spoonful of sugar, the two would be stirred into the tofu...and that was it. So, so simple, but I cannot begin to overstate how wonderful this snack was - sweet, sour and beautifully calming on a morning stomach. I lapped up every slippery morsel.

After Hue, the next stop on my snack tour of Vietnam was Hoian, which provided the next two competitors in the battle. First was the snack you see in the opening photo and above - banh beo, small steamed rice pancakes, with a variety of toppings.

This particular banh beo was accompanied by an orange, tomato-y sauce, fried shallots in oil, chilies, and some more mysterious crispy things. Sooooooo good, and with wonderfully contrasting textures. And a friendly vendor.

The second wonderful snack I ate in Hoian was along the riverfront - an area filled with expensive restaurants and boutiques, and so not a place where you'd expect great streetfood. Nonetheless, among the delights on offer here were BBQ corn, cau lau, and this lady and her stall:

who served up this:

I have to say I'm rather proud of this shot - the colours, I think, are particularly gorgeous. As the sign says, this was simply a sweet black sesame soup - but my, how moreish it was. So moreish, in fact, I almost had a second bowl, a decision against which I am still regretting.

Finally, the seaside town of Quy Nhon provides the last two contenders in this battle of the snacks. Again, as I wandered the morning market, I sampled two fantastic breakfast-time snacks - the first, another example of banh bot loc,

served at a stall which also had lovely looking banh beo,

but which I achewed in favour of this:

banh khot, more rice pancakes, this time fried in a special pan rather like that for poaching eggs, and served with a simple chilli sauce. Again, great texture, and great for a sore stomach.

So, what do you think? Who will triumph in the Vietnam Battle of the Snacks?

Some people like to know what they're putting in their mouth. Not me. I relish trying unknown foods, and many things I've eaten remain a mystery.

Not this beautiful plate though, which I devoured in Da Nang the other day. Thanks to my wonderful local friend Kent (more on whom coming soon), I learnt that the dumplings on the right and back of the plate are called banh bot loc, a recipe for which you can find at this marvelous blog. With the pink and grey dumplings on the left (which I guess are both kinds of cha lua, Vietnamese ham), the blob of chilli jam in the middle, and the chilli powder and fresh coriander sprinkled on top, it made the most delectable snack to satisfy the mid-afternoon munchies.

Banh bot loc vendor
Bach Dang street, near the market
Da Nang

I’m continually amazed at how much variety there is in China. Towns just a few hours apart will have some produce in common, but what will be most noticeable are the differences.

This was exactly how it was when I and fellow foodie Reed went to Yibin last month, which is only about 3 hours away from Chengdu. We particularly felt the differences in several narrow streets in the downtown that were lined with vendors, where I saw many things that I’ve never found in Chengdu. This fermented fresh tofu for example...

...these trumpet-shaped mushrooms...

...and this bewildering array of pickles.

I also really liked this market because of how beautiful the food was – amazing, really, considering what a wet and miserable day it was.

More posts on our Yibin adventures coming soon...