Food, in other words, eating is an indispensable activity in every travel trip. Traveling offers the perfect opportunity to try new and exciting foods from different parts of the world. You can enjoy for yourself the unique flavors that you have never tasted in your life. Bac Lieu foods & drinks are the link connecting the characteristics of the cuisine of the river with the tourists who have visited. Not only famous for its fruit-laden orchards, but this land also has countless delicious dishes that delight people to enjoy.

By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | Official Bac Lieu Visitor Guide

1. Bun bo cay

Bun bo cay (Spicy beef noodle soup) Address: Bun bo cay Nguyet Anh – 119 Cao Van Lau Street, Bac Lieu Town. The bowl of “bun bo cay” needs fried lemongrass and beef but won’t need shrimp sauce just like Hue beef noodle soup. Since it’s spicy, you must be a chili lover to enjoy this food. With a smoky dish and the thick broth, you won’t resist it any longer but try it immediately. The food is served with lemon, chili salt, and basil.

2. Three-striped crab

Three-striped crab (Freshwater crab in Bac Lieu) Ba khac is a type of seacream living in brackish water alluvial ground, under the canopy of mangroves, fish sauce. This is one of the famous specialties in the West. Traveling to Bac Lieu, visitors should not miss this dish. Ba khia is often used to create many attractive dishes such as salt, ba khia, three khat salad, mixed three knots. In which, ba khia sauce is the most favorite dish of customers.

3. Banh cu cai (White radish pies).

Banh cu cai (White radish pies). Address: You can find a lot of stalls selling radish pies along Hoang Van Thu street, Hoang Dieu Street, or 23/8 Street. Coming to Bac Lieu, there’s no way that you can miss stopping by at some street stalls to try out this unique radish pie. It looks elegant and stuffing at the same time. The crust is made of flour and the ground white radish flour. Looking inside it, it’s a mixture of shrimp marinated with some local ingredients.

4. Banh tam bi Bac Lieu

Banh tam bi Bac Lieu (Bac Lieu thick noodles & creamy coconut milk). Address: Ngan Dua market: 34 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, Hong Dan, Bac Lieu or at Bac Lieu night market: Ngo Gia Tu Street, Ward 3, Bac Lieu. There’s a Vietnamese dish that makes you cannot stop slurping, and that’s “banh tam bi Bac Lieu”. The food is an elegant combination of the thick noodle, coconut milk, fish sauce and lettuce. Feel free to reduce the fat taste by reducing the amount of creamy coconut milk. And don’t miss adding some slices of chili to the sauce if you want it to be spicier. Herbs can’t be lacking here, especially the leaves of lettuce, basil, and slices of cucumber.

5. Pho Ngheu Thanh Huong

(43 Tran Quynh; mains 25,000-47,000d) When you are likely to be able to buy similar pho (noodle soups) and banh mi (filled baguettes) from a street stall, this fine eatery serves a fairy-lit rooftop from which guests can watch the traffic zoom by.

6. Bon Bon Pickles

It is a popular dish of Bac Lieu people. Pickles are sour and crispy so they should be used to dip with soy sauce, fish sauce, shrimp sauce, and mixed salad shrimp … Bon bon pickles are also processed for other dishes such as fried meat, cooked sour soup with fish,…The price per kilogram of pickles is VND 40,000 – 50,000.

7. Hong Gam fish sauce hotpot

Address: No.3/225b Provincial Road 38, Ward 5, Bac Lieu or residential area of ​​Ward 2, go through Ngoc Lien Vihara, run about 100m, see on the left is Ben Ben karaoke, turn right on Nguyen Thi Nho Street to enter Hong Gam restaurant.

Opening hours: 10am – 10pm

The first delicious and famous restaurant in Bac Lieu that I want to share with you is Hong Gam fish sauce hotpot. This restaurant is not only mine, but many Bac Lieu people know it.  The fish sauce hot pot has a delicious, rich broth, and a lot of food, so order a pot of 2 people to eat, sometimes it takes 4 people to eat it all. As far as I know, this Hong Gam fish sauce hot pot restaurant has been open since 1994 and has 2 branches. There are types of fish sauce hotpot such as goby fish, pineapple fish, basa fish, potato fish, snakehead fish with prices from 170k – 250k/pot.  In addition to fish sauce hotpot, the restaurant has more Thai hot pot and sour hot pot for customers to choose from.

8. Bac Lieu night market food court

Address: Ngo Gia Tu Street, Ward 3, City.  Bac Lieu

Opening hours: 16h – 22h

This is an extremely attractive, nutritious, and cheap eating place in Bac Lieu that you should not miss. In the food court of Bac Lieu night market, there are many local specialties such as banh cong, banh beo, vermicelli, fish hotpot, silkworm cake… Besides eating and drinking, when you come to Bac Lieu night market, you can also eat and drink.  Go to shopping malls for clothes, jewelry, handicrafts to buy things for yourself or as gifts to take home.

9. Kachu Grilled Buffet 99k in Bac Lieu

Address: 81 Ninh Binh, Hamlet 3, Ward 2

Opening hours: 15h30 – 23h

This is an extremely crowded restaurant in Bac Lieu with affordable prices and delicious and diverse food.  There is a buffet with the price of 99k/person, you can eat about 50 different dishes, note that the price of 99k only applies to Mondays to Fridays, the rest of the days and holidays the price is 119k/person. Dishes at Kachu grilled restaurant such as pork roll with enoki mushrooms, grilled shrimp, grilled frog, crab soup, fried noodles, steamed clams with lemongrass, grilled octopus with salt and pepper, steamed clams with lemongrass…With delicious, nutritious and cheap standards, I see that this famous restaurant in Bac Lieu also has gift giving and lucky draw activities!

10. Co Ba shrimp and bean paste vermicelli noodles

Address: No. 2B Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street, Ward 8

This is a delicious restaurant in Bac Lieu that accepts delivery with each serving of 25k/person.  If you can’t eat shrimp paste, everyone can eat fish sauce, in general, fish sauce or mixed shrimp sauce are delicious.  I have a lot of vermicelli noodles with shrimp paste.

Free Itineraries from VeMekong

As a local travel expert, we have some ideas for you to think about.

From Vinh Long city center:

Route 1:

Route 2:

Route 3:

If you do not have much time left, it is easy to check out spots in one full day by boat or with bike or with motorbike and car. But there are much more than tourist sites like these in Bac Lieu. Make sure you have more time to feel and explore more about the hidden gems and the culture, food, night life, wildlife and forest as well. Top tip: Stay in a homestay nearby, so you have more chances to visit it and surroundings. If you are looking for the package Bac Lieu daily tours or Can Tho daily tours with local, you can contact www.vemekong.com or Hotline/WhatsApp/WeChat/Zalo +84939888559; email: hello@vemekong.com

Pro Tips

Here are our tips for easing your mind (and stomach) around food-handling environments that you may not be used to.

Make sure the food is freshly cooked. If you’re eating hot street food, it’s always safest (not to mention more delicious) to eat food you can see being cooked to order.

Look for lines and busy stalls. Busy street food stalls are an indicator of popularity, and their high turnover rate means the food is never sitting out for hours and developing dreaded bacteria. Yes, long lines can be discouraging when you’re hungry after a full day of exploring, but it’s not worth the risk of grabbing precooked food from the empty spot next door.

Eat when the locals are eating. The last and most important element here is when to eat. You’re likely already on a weird eating schedule while you’re traveling, but it’s important to try and adjust to the eating times of where you are. A bowl of pho might be lunch for Americans, but it’s breakfast for the Vietnamese. This ensures that you’re eating freshly cooked food and that you can find the best and most popular places to eat.

If you can’t drink the water, then you can’t eat the salad. Most people get so hung up on not drinking the water or skipping ice in drinks that they don’t think about all of the other ways in which water is used in food service. Fruits and vegetables tend to be washed with tap water in most places, rather than the filtered water that locals drink—or sometimes it’s not washed at all. If you’re really craving some produce, try fruits you can peel or cooked veggies.

Trust your gut. If you’re unsure about the food or the way that it’s being prepared, then keep moving. Eating street food all over the world doesn’t make you an expert. Every stall and every country are different, and sometimes the rules can be harder to follow. When something doesn’t look, smell, or feel right, don’t eat it! Trust your judgment. Chances are that there’s another spot close by that’s making something more delicious.

You can stay in a homestay which is near the riverside, this will help you out the best option. Then you can hire a scooter, car or bike and explore it by yourself and I hope you have an amazing Mekong Delta river sunrise.

If you plan to extend your travel to Bac Lieu homestay, do not forget to bring mosquito repellent cream.

Visit Bac Lieu or do any customized tours, please choose reputable providers with boat trips equipped with lifebuoys, jackets, motorcycle and cycling tours with the helmets and. Safety is a priority! Choose Bac Lieu responsible tours which help you give back while traveling. It’s a cliché, but it’s true.

Bac Lieu food & drink guide ranges from street food, authentic, fancy to fusion foods. As a tropical land of many fresh vegetables and homegrown gardens, which always make Bac Lieu cuisines fresh, close to nature and very traditional. If you are a food lover, don’t hesitate to put other bites onto your food lists such as Bun bo cay (Spicy beef noodle soup), Three-striped crab (Freshwater crab in Bac Lieu), Banh cu cai (White radish pies), Banh tam bi Bac Lieu (Bac Lieu thick noodles & creamy coconut milk), Pho Ngheu, Bon Bon Pickles

Bring your hat, sunglasses, and sunblock, scarf to wear when visiting temples, pagodas, and the cathedral.

Bring the raincoat if you’re planning a trip to Bac Lieu in the rainy season, as Bac Lieu always looks fantastic in the full rain and full sun.

Bac Lieu tourist attractions are magnificent itself, but if you have enough time, don’t forget to put other places onto your bucket lists such as Bac Lieu Bird Sanctuary, Bac Lieu Salt Farm, Buddha Temple Ba Nam Hai, Cong Tu Bac Lieu House, Ghositaram Pagoda in Bac Lieu, Bac Lieu Wind Farm, Ancient longan orchards, Vinh Hung Ancient Temple, Xiem Can Pagoda Bac Lieu, Can Van Lau Theater (Conical Hat Non La Theater), Tac Say Church, Cao Van Lau Musician Memorial Site, Nha Mat amusement park, Bac Lieu Beach and mangrove forests, Phuoc Duc Ancient Temple and Dia Mau Cung (Ba Pagoda).

Hopefully, the above tips will help you to come up with a great plan for your adventure in Bac Lieu province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Have a safe trip!

“Sleep less, travel more, respect more” – Thomas Vietnam – Local travel expert.

Thank you