Melia Vinpearl Danang Riverfront

We stayed for 5 nights at the hotel Melia Vinpearl which is a huge hotel with over 30 floors located on the Han River.  We had breakfast included with our stay which was super packed and we finally realized the best time to go was closer to 9am after everyone had left for their sightseeing tours.

Dragon Bridge

One of the coolest sites to see in Danang is the Dragon Bridge that goes across the Han River. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night at 9pm the Dragon actually breathes out fire and spits water into the crowd of people watching the show.  We just missed seeing the show Friday night but Sunday we got to enjoy it from the rooftop bar of our hotel where we accidentally ordered way too much Soju.  We also got to see more cat displays next to the Dragon Bridge that were put up to celebrate Tet.

Cat Tet statues and the Dragon Bridge

Crafty Cow Ice Cream

Of course we had to find a local ice cream shop so that Zach could get his ice cream fix.  We went to the Crafty Cow where we were served by an expat from the East Coast who had been backpacking in Danang right before Covid hit and then she decided she never wanted to leave the city.  It sounds like she has a pretty “sweet” gig now.  The ice cream was no Kintaam but it was American-style homemade ice cream with unique flavors including Vietnamese Coffee and pumpkin-spice.

Pre-dinner ice cream at Crafty Cow!

Brewhaha Beer House

One evening after I “forced” Zach to eat ice cream at the Crafty Cow and have a happy hour drink at Time, we went out to dinner at a cool expat restaurant called Brewhaha.  It is a fun brewery and there were quite a few groups out celebrating that it was Friday.  The beer “tasters” were a bit bigger than expected and were probably about 2.5 pints worth of beer.  The pork shoulder was also enormous and Zach needed a to-go box for the leftovers.  He was not feeling fantastic the next morning but to this day he still thinks it was because we had ice cream and cocktails before dinner.  I guess we'll never really know ?.

Zach and his flight "taster"

4Ps… take 2!

Zach wrote about this restaurant in detail in his Ho Chi Minh post and we loved it so much that we HAD to go to the Pizza 4Ps location in Danang.  The pizza, wine and beer did not disappoint!

4Ps Pizza with Burrata cheese, yum!

Lang Quan Vietnamese Restaurant

Don’t worry, we didn’t just eat pizza and bar food the whole time. One of our favorite Vietnamese restaurants in Danang was Lang Quan which was right down the street from the Melia (they don’t have a website or social media so you would never know about it from searching online!).  The staff and owner are super friendly.  We had some delicious Pho and also tried fresh spring rolls with pork grilled on lemongrass skewers (THỊT NƯỚNG).  One of my to-do items in Vietnam was to have a Bahn Mi sandwich so I was happy that I got to order a tasty egg Bahn Mi at Lang Quan.

Bahn Mi and the river view from Lang Quan

Bún Bò Huế 

When I was in grad school I often ate out at a Vietnamese restaurant near our office in Cincinnati.  I can’t remember the name of the restaurant but I remember we would always order Bún Bò Huế which is a spicy beef and noodle soup.  I never knew where the name of the soup came from since I was apparently too busy learning about ghrelin and GLP-1 but the soup is named after the city of Hue that is just north of Danang. So of course I HAD to order some while I was in Vietnam.  We found a place called Tre Viet where we ate our soup while I shared my grad school memories with Zach.  One of my colleagues in Cincinnati always tried to order the soup as spicy as they could make it and then she would bring her own pepper flakes because they never made it spicy enough for her.  It is fascinating how memories are retrieved when we experience new things because I hadn’t thought about that memory in ages!

Zach enjoying his delicious Bun Bo Hue and my delightful stories

Vietnamese Coffee

The coffee scene in Vietnam is very unique in that they use a lot of different flavors that aren’t common in the US.  They have egg coffee that became popular in North Vietnam during the war out of necessity. Affordable condensed milk was not accessible in cities in the North including Hanoi so they used egg yolk and sugar instead.  The drink is now popular across Vietnam.  We had some great egg coffee at Little Hanoi Egg Coffee which Zach wrote about in a previous post, Vietnam- Ho Chi Minh City.  We also got tasty salt coffee at EM Coffee but Zach’s favorite salt coffee was from the Hideout Cafe. 

Salt Coffee at Hideout Cafe

Tie Tag Coffee was a great spot for coconut coffee and toasted almond coffee which we enjoyed on their cute back patio.

If you are in the Seattle area, Coffeeholic House is owned by a Vietnamese couple that makes Vietnamese inspired coffee drinks.  Definitely try the “Coffeeholic Dream” with salted cheese foam (it is similar to the salted coffee we had in Danang).  It is to die for!

This is our last post about Vietnam so say goodbye to these cool cats and get excited to read more about our adventures in Laos next!