Places to eat in Dalat

Dalat Market

As we walked into the heart of Dalat, we found the Dalat Market, which in the day is a bustling and incredibly vibrant market, offering various products like jams, sauces, clothes, fruits, vegetables and many more items.

There are a few places that sell local Dalat food in the day but it really comes alive when the night market starts, at 5pm. The roads are closed to traffic and the space is filled with lots of pop up restaurants and street vendors.

These places offer the cheapest food in the city and we found local delicious meals like deep-fried tofu with chilli (dau hu chien), seafood hotpot (lau hai san), spring rolls (nem mrong) and that’s just to a name a few.

There are also a few daring dishes that aren’t for the faint-hearted like snake red curry (ca ri ran) and fried frog (ech nup bui rom) with snake red curry being our choice of approval after we finally tried it. The cost is generally around VND20-40,000 for the majority of the dishes at the night market.

Vietnamese Food

Another excellent part of Dalat for trying some authentic and good quality foods is the area surrounding Truong Cong Dinh street as there are plenty of dining options.

We tried Vinh Loi, which serves a great range of local and Vietnamese dishes and we recommend rice noodles and marinated beef (bun cha), caramelised fish in clay pot (ca kho to) and sizzling pancake (banh xeo).

Other good areas to check out are Phan Dinh Phung, Thang 2 and Tang Bat Ho streets as there are a great deal of restaurants to choose from with most prices under VND60,000 per meal.

Dalat is famous for its imperial cuisine and we tasted some delicious dishes like cold noodles and grilled pork (bun thit nuong), crepe stuffed with pork belly and shrimp (banh khoai) and steamed rice cakes with herbs, shrimp, fish sauce and pork crackling (banh beo).

Western and International Food

If we have scared you with some of these dishes then don’t worry there is something for everyone as there are a huge amount of international restaurants to pick from.

Streets including Tran Phu, Le Dai Hanh and Bui Thi Xuan have non-Vietnamese restaurants dotted all along them and we tried Italian, Mexican, Greek, French and many other cuisines.

We thought the best pizzas (VND100-200,000) in the city were made at Larry’s Bar on Tran Phu with every combination you could think of. Also on Tran Phu is Le Rabelais and we scored it as our number 1 French restaurant, which has received many international prizes for its food and service and is regularly used for special occasions. V Café on Bui Thi Xuan has a wide international menu choice and Viet My Café on Le Dai Hanh has Italian and French food with excellent views and live music.

Cafes and Coffeehouses

If you love your coffee you are going to love Dalat as there are plenty of them, from street vendors to local cafes to established international coffee companies, you are never too far away from one.

We tried a fair few of these and every single place we went knew how to make a good cup, which are roughly VND20-60,000.

The most unique was Bicycle Up Café found on Trong Cong Dinh with their 80s theme and hip menu that is actually pasted inside a children’s book.

We also recommend checking out Xuan Huong Lake because you can take in the breath taking scenery around you whilst sipping on your latte.

With Dalat having strong French connections, there’s no surprise to see quite a few authentic French-style bakeries, as well as Vietnamese bakeries, with the majority found along Truong Cong Dinh and Hai Thuong streets. We bought baguettes, croissants, cakes, pastries, slices and much more.