01Nem nướng Ninh Hòa
Grilled pork skewers, Ninh Hoa style
Finely ground seasoned pork is moulded onto skewers and grilled over charcoal, then rolled at the table in rice paper with lettuce, herbs, green mango, star fruit, cucumber and a deep-fried rice-paper stick for crunch. What separates one shop from another is the thick dipping sauce, which the better places build from twenty or more ingredients.
The dish is named for Ninh Hoa district north of Nha Trang, and local accounts trace it to Thanh Hoa migrants who moved south under the Nguyen dynasty bringing their own way of preparing pork. It has since been listed by the Asia Record Organisation among Vietnam's recognised regional specialities.
Where it is famous: Ninh Hoa, about 30 km north of Nha Trang; in the city the long-established shops cluster on Lan Ong, Le Loi and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai. 50,000-132,000 VND per set (2026, Nem Nuong Dang Van Quyen price band)
Order: Nem Nướng Đặng Văn Quyên, Nha Trang Xưa
02Bún chả cá
Fish-cake noodle soup
A clear, light broth simmered from fish bones and tomato, poured over rice vermicelli and topped with house-made fish cake, either steamed or fried. It is a breakfast dish above all, eaten with a plate of raw herbs, a squeeze of lime and chilli paste on the side.
The style is defined by the fish cake being made in-house from mixed sea fish rather than bought in, which is why the long-running shops advertise 'chả cá nhà làm'. Bun Cha Ca Nguyen Loan on Ngo Gia Tu has been trading for more than 40 years.
Where it is famous: Ngo Gia Tu and the streets around Xom Moi market; almost every neighbourhood has a morning stall. 35,000-45,000 VND a bowl (2026)
Order: Bún Cá Nguyên Loan, Bún Sứa Năm Beo
03Bún sứa
Jellyfish noodle soup
The Nha Trang speciality: blanched sea jellyfish, crunchy and almost flavourless in itself, served in the same clear fish broth as bun cha ca, usually with a slab of fish cake alongside. The texture is the point, and it is at its best in the hot months when the jellyfish are running.
Jellyfish is treated as a summer ingredient along the Khanh Hoa coast; the shops boil it until it turns crisp and springy before it goes into the bowl. Bun Sua Nam Beo, which started at the Cho Dam apartment blocks, is the name most often cited by locals.
Where it is famous: Hoang Hoa Tham and the Cho Dam area; sold by most bun cha ca shops in the city. 20,000-45,000 VND a bowl (2026)
Order: Bún Sứa Năm Beo, Bún Cá Nguyên Loan
04Bánh căn
Clay-mould rice cakes
Rice batter is poured into a rack of small fired-clay moulds over charcoal, so the cakes crisp outside and stay soft inside with almost no oil. They come in pairs, plain or topped with quail egg, shrimp, squid or minced beef, and are eaten with scallion oil, shredded green mango, herbs and a bowl of diluted fish sauce.
Banh can is a central-coast dish shared with Phan Rang and Da Lat, distinguished in Nha Trang by seafood toppings and the green-mango garnish. The busiest shops are afternoon-and-evening operations where a 30-60 minute wait is normal.
Where it is famous: To Hien Thanh and Phan Huy Ich in the centre, Thap Ba and Nguyen Trai to the north; Phung The Tai in the southern suburbs. 9,000-43,000 VND per portion depending on topping; plain cakes from 2,000 VND each at neighbourhood stalls (2026)
Order: Bánh Căn 51 Tô Hiến Thành, Bánh Căn Thủy
05Bánh xèo mực
Squid rice crepe
The Nha Trang version of banh xeo is small, cooked in a heavy pan and filled with whole baby squid rather than pork and bean sprouts. It is eaten straight from the pan with herbs and a thin sweet-sour fish sauce, and is an afternoon and evening street dish rather than a restaurant one.
Where it is famous: Thap Ba and To Hien Thanh streets, the Bach Dang alleys, and Hon Chong. 10,000-30,000 VND per cake, roughly 15,000-25,000 VND a portion (2026)
06Bò nướng Lạc Cảnh
Lac Canh charcoal-grilled beef
Cubed beef marinated in a house recipe built on honey and spices, brought raw to the table and grilled by the diners themselves on a small clay charcoal brazier. It is eaten with rice paper, herbs and a peanut-sesame dip, and it is the one restaurant dish that locals will name as a Nha Trang institution.
Lac Canh has been grilling beef on Nguyen Binh Khiem for over 40 years and moved from its old address at number 44 to number 77 on the same street. The marinade recipe is the family's and has never been published.
Where it is famous: Nguyen Binh Khiem, north of the Cai river. 95,000-160,000 VND per plate (2026)
Order: Bò Nướng Lạc Cảnh
07Bún cá dầm
Noodle soup with chunked fish
A close cousin of bun cha ca in which thick boneless chunks of fish are broken into the bowl instead of, or alongside, the fish cake. The fish used are ca bo (leatherjacket) and ca co (marlin or sailfish), both firm enough to hold together and sweet enough to carry the broth.
The distinguishing point is the broth, which the best-known shop simmers from leatherjacket and marlin bones alone rather than pork. Nguyen Loan on Ngo Gia Tu has served it for 42 years.
Where it is famous: Ngo Gia Tu, and the long-running shops around Xom Moi market. 45,000 VND a bowl at Nguyen Loan (2026)
Order: Bún Cá Nguyên Loan
08Tôm hùm và hải sản
Lobster and beachfront seafood
Khanh Hoa is Vietnam's main lobster-farming province, so spiny lobster (tom hum xanh, the green or rock lobster) and the larger ornate lobster (tom hum bong) appear on almost every seafood menu, usually grilled with scallion oil or served as sashimi with the head made into porridge. Everything else on the tank list - grouper, mantis shrimp, blood cockles, sea urchin, oysters - is sold live and priced by the kilo.
Lobster farming in floating cages made Cam Ranh and Nha Trang the country's main source of live lobster, most of it exported. A June 2026 case in which a Nha Trang floating restaurant charged 2.9 million VND/kg for a boxfish ended with three administrative violations, one of them failure to display prices.
Where it is famous: The Cau Da fishing port at the southern end of Tran Phu, the 'bo ke' embankment strip on Nguyen Binh Khiem north of the river, and the beachfront restaurants on Tran Phu. Ornate lobster around 1,800,000 VND/kg under 1 kg; mid-size lobster of 300-500 g from roughly 400,000-450,000 VND each; grouper wholesales at 1.2-1.5 million VND/kg and can retail at double that (2026)
Order: Hải Sản Thanh Sương, Costa Seafood Restaurant, Hải Sản Mộc Quán Nha Trang, Bờ Kè Tháp Bà
09Yến sào
Bird's nest (salangane nest)
The hardened saliva nests of the edible-nest swiftlet, harvested from sea caves on the islands off Khanh Hoa and sold either as dried raw nests or as ready-to-drink sweetened bottles. It is bought as a tonic and as the classic Nha Trang gift, and is the single most expensive thing on any souvenir shelf in the city.
Khanh Hoa is the country's largest producer of wild island nest. Cong ty Yen sao Khanh Hoa was created in November 1990 under the provincial People's Committee as the sole body permitted to manage and harvest the island nests, and now manages 32 nesting islands with 162 caves from Van Ninh down to Cam Ranh.
Where it is famous: Company outlets and pharmacies across the city; the island caves themselves are managed and closed to the public. Roughly 2,500,000-3,500,000 VND per 100 g for farmed house nest and from about 9,000,000 VND per 100 g for wild island nest (2026)
10Bánh mì chả cá
Fish-cake banh mi
The local banh mi swaps pate and cold cuts for slices of the same house-made fish cake that goes into the noodle soups, made from mackerel, lizardfish, marlin, barracuda or flying fish depending on the day's catch. It is finished with a tomato-shallot sauce, pickles, herbs and chilli, and is a morning and late-night street item.
Where it is famous: Street carts city-wide; the Yersin, Hong Bang and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai carts are the usual names. 15,000-30,000 VND a roll (2026)
Order: Bún Cá Nguyên Loan
11Bánh ướt Diên Khánh
Dien Khanh steamed rice sheets
Paper-thin rice sheets steamed to order and served one per plate with scallion oil, dried shrimp floss and fish sauce, so the plates stack up in front of you as you eat - hence the local nickname 'banh uot chong dia'. It is a breakfast dish and a ten-plate sitting is unremarkable.
Where it is famous: Dien Khanh, the old citadel town about 10 km west of Nha Trang; in the city, Le Dai Hanh and Hong Linh. 2,000-20,000 VND per plate, most commonly 15,000-20,000 VND for a serving (2026)
12Chè
Vietnamese sweet soups
Bowls or glasses of sweetened beans, jellies, fruit and coconut milk over crushed ice, sold from small shops that open in the afternoon and run into the evening. The Nha Trang list runs to che thap cam (mixed), che trai cay (fruit), che troi nuoc, che sam bo luong and che bong co.
Where it is famous: Ngo Duc near the western quarter, and Quang Trung in the old centre.
13Buffet hải sản
Seafood buffets
Nha Trang's fixed-price seafood buffet is a genre of its own: a hundred-odd items covering live tank seafood you pick and hand over for grilling, hotpot, sushi and sashimi, hot dishes and a dessert counter, often with refillable draught beer. Prices split into a mass-market tier around 200,000-330,000 VND and a hotel tier where lobster is included.
Where it is famous: Nguyen Thien Thuat in the western quarter for the volume operators; Tran Phu hotel restaurants for the upper tier. 189,000-329,000 VND per person at Mr Moc (2026); hotel lobster buffets are several times that
Order: Buffet Hải Sản Mr Mộc Nha Trang, Ngon Gallery Nha Trang
14Cơm gà Nha Trang
Nha Trang chicken rice
Rice cooked in chicken stock and chicken fat until it is yellow and fragrant, served with poached or grilled chicken, herbs, pickles and a distinctive egg-butter sauce that is the local signature. It is a lunch dish sold from dedicated com ga shops rather than general restaurants.
The best-known shop, Com Ga Tram Anh at 10 Ba Trieu, had traded for over 30 years when it was at the centre of a mass food-poisoning outbreak in March 2024 that affected 345 people, 201 of them hospitalised; it was shut down. Treat that as the standing caution about high-turnover poached-chicken dishes rather than about the dish itself.
Where it is famous: Ba Trieu and the streets around the old centre. 30,000-65,000 VND a plate (menu prices recorded in 2024)
