Long Xuyên.

Cơm Tấm Cây Điệp

Grab a low stool under the awning and order the dĩa đặc biệt. Cash only, around 45,000 VND. Service is brisk, leaving you fed and back on the pavement in twenty minutes.

Editor TipUnlike Saigon's large chops, Long Xuyên thinly slivers its grilled pork, marinated eggs, and chả over finely fractured grains, dressing the plate with scallion oil and pickled radish. Ask for extra nước mắm; their house blend has a gentle garlic bite that balances the rich, caramelized pork.

Bánh Tằm Bì Xíu

Walk down Lê Minh Ngươn to this quiet corner counter. Order a bowl of warm bánh tằm bì with herbs and thick coconut dressing; you will pay roughly 30,000 VND and be done in twenty minutes.

Editor TipMekong Delta cooks blend savoury pork skin with sweetened coconut milk, a culinary hybrid developed across southern markets where Cambodian palm sugar traditions met French-era urban street stalls. Drizzle the garlic chilli fish sauce over the coconut cream immediately. It looks counterintuitive, but it works.

Nhà Thờ Cù Lao Giêng

Take the short ferry to Gieng Island. Wander the 1877 French Romanesque cathedral compound, then order claypot pangasius at the simple open-air food shacks outside the gates for 60,000 VND.

Editor TipFrench MEP missionaries built this brick complex decades before Saigon Cathedral, while local cooks perfected braising fatty Mekong catfish in rich black caramel and cracked pepper. The church keeper usually leaves the side portal open until noon if you dress respectfully.

Thánh đường Cù Lao Giêng

Catch the wooden ferry from Long Xuyen to Gieng Island. Wander the 1879 French brick cloisters and grab hot chuối nếp nướng from the vendor outside the gates for 10,000 VND.

Editor TipBuilt under French supervision in 1879 using bricks hauled from Marseilles, this Catholic sanctuary sits in quiet isolation on an alluvial islet celebrated for orchards and roadside sweets. Arrive by 3 PM when the sun hits the bell tower facades and the banana vendors fire up their coconut-brazier coals.

Quán Bánh Cống 39

Pull up a plastic stool around three in the afternoon when the oil heats up. Order two hot cakes loaded with shrimp and pork mince, served with mountains of mustard greens.

Editor TipBánh cống fuses southern Khmer and Vietnamese traditions, fried in ladle cups with mung beans, rice batter, and whole freshwater shrimp harvested straight from the Hậu River. Wrap each piece tightly inside a fresh mustard leaf before dipping. The bitter green cuts right through the rich batter.

Bún Cá Bé Hai

Point to the bubbling pot of golden broth and take a table inside. A bowl costs roughly 35,000 VND; add a side of crispy fish head if you are feeling adventurous. Thirty minutes.

Editor TipThis An Giang staple uses wild snakehead fish simmered with fresh yellow turmeric, river-sourced fish broth, and aromatic ngải bún root, served alongside water mimosa and sesbania flowers. Dip the flaked fish pieces into the provided lime-salt-chili saucer before eating to cut through the earthy turmeric.

Lẩu Mắm Hiếu Miên

Take a table in the open-front dining room and order the lẩu mắm. Dinner arrives as a bubbling cauldron of broth packed with snakehead fillets, pork belly, and edible river blossoms.

Editor TipLong Xuyên sits along the Hậu River, where pungent fermented fish sauce broth anchors the Mekong Delta kitchen, simmered with local snakehead fish and wild flood-season greens. Dunk the yellow sesbania flowers and water lily stems for just ten seconds; you want them crisp, not limp.

Cù Lao Mỹ Hòa Hưng

Catch the five-minute Ô Môi ferry across to the island. Stalls along the main landing steam yellow palm-sugar cakes wrapped in banana leaves for roughly 10,000 VND a packet.

Editor TipMy Hoa Hung produces palm sugar from nearby Chau Doc palmyra palms, fermenting rice flour with coconut milk for an airy sponge that sustains river workers through mid-morning. Eat them while the steam is still rising. Cold palm cake turns rubbery within an hour.

Quán Lẩu Mắm Cây Dừa

Order the signature lẩu mắm with fresh cá hú catfish and a platter of yellow sesbania blossoms. A simmering hotpot costs around 200,000 VND and feeds two easily.

Editor TipThe Mekong Delta's defining dish relies on fermented snakehead or gourami paste to build a pungent, deeply savoury broth tailored to sweet river catfish and wild aquatic greens. Let the broth reduce for ten minutes before plunging the river greens in. It balances the fermented funk nicely.

Chợ Long Xuyên

Walk the perimeter along Hai Bà Trưng to view the 1920s French-Indochinese facades, then grab warm bánh bò thốt nốt from the pavement vendors for 15,000 VND. Allow forty-five minutes on foot.

Editor TipEarly twentieth-century mercantile shophouses along the river quay blended French louvered shutters with southern delta brickwork, sustained by local trade in rice and An Giang Palmyra palm sugar. Choose the pale yellow palm cakes wrapped in banana leaves; the bright yellow versions use food dye.