Hoi An Eats on a Budget: 10 Cheap Dishes
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Hoi An is a food destination first and a heritage town second, and almost none of the best eating here needs a sit-down restaurant budget. Most dishes below run 25,000-50,000 VND ($1-2) a plate. Here are 10 worth tracking down.
Street food and stalls
- Banh mi at Banh Mi Phuong (2B Phan Chau Trinh). The most famous banh mi stall in town, stuffed with layered meats, pate, and pickled vegetables for around 25,000-50,000 VND.
- Banh mi from Madam Khanh, “the Banh Mi Queen” (115 Tran Cao Van). A quieter, equally loved alternative to the queues at Phuong.
- Cao lau from a Central Market noodle stall. Thick, chewy noodles, char-siu pork, greens, and crisp croutons. Legend says it only tastes right made with local Ba Le well water, which is why you rarely find good cao lau outside Hoi An.
- Com ga (turmeric chicken rice) at Com Ga Ba Buoi (22 Phan Chu Trinh), serving the dish since the 1950s.
- White rose dumplings (banh bao vac) from a market stall. Translucent shrimp dumplings that reportedly trace back to a single family recipe.
- Mi quang, the turmeric noodle from neighboring Quang Nam province, at any local eatery.
- Banh xeo and fresh spring rolls from street stalls, best eaten hot off the pan.
Sit-down and drinks
- Reaching Out (131 Tran Phu), a deaf-run social enterprise tea house and restaurant. Orders are placed by written card, service is quiet by design, and the food is genuinely good, not just a charity stop.
- Riverside cafes on Bach Dang for egg coffee or coconut coffee while watching the boats.
- A cooking class with a market tour (roughly 350,000-700,000 VND), usually covering cao lau or white rose dumplings from scratch.
What is cao lau and where do you find it?
Cao lau is Hoi An’s signature noodle dish: thick, lye-treated rice noodles, sliced pork, fresh greens, and crispy croutons in a light broth. It’s cheapest and most authentic at Central Market stalls rather than tourist-menu restaurants, and it genuinely doesn’t travel well since much of its character comes from local water and ash.
Is street food safe to eat in Hoi An?
Yes, if you follow the usual rules: eat where locals queue, pick stalls with high turnover, and stick to bottled or boiled water since Hoi An’s tap water isn’t potable. Prices are honest and posted or easily asked for in VND at almost every stall.
Daily food budget
| Meal | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Banh mi | 25,000-50,000 VND |
| Bowl of cao lau or mi quang | 30,000-45,000 VND |
| White rose dumplings (plate) | 30,000-50,000 VND |
| Egg or coconut coffee | 25,000-40,000 VND |
| Cooking class with market tour | 350,000-700,000 VND |
Eating your way through Hoi An costs less in a full day than one sit-down meal back home, which leaves more VND for a comfortable place to stay or a booked cooking class if you’d rather learn the dishes than just eat them. Hoi An Ancient Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed 1999, official listing ), and most travelers need an e-visa first through the official evisa.gov.vn portal, not a copycat site. For more ways to spend a cheap day here, see our things-to-do guide .