This is the ultimate Hoi An Family Food Guide covering all the great food experiences across Hoi An and An Bang. It's a bit mish mash right now, but give me a bit of time and it will be better! If you only have time for one place on your time here, make sure you read to the end because I saved the best until last.

Hoi An Family Friendly Food

Restaurants we tried and tested

Cua Dai Road is a main street which runs from the old town to Cua Dai Beach. It's home to many fantastic restaurants. Here are our favourites on this street: 

• Bon came recommended to us from our Kiwi friends living in Hoi An. It has the best restaurant prices we found with some of the best tasting Vietnamese food. Make sure you try the Cau Lau here for 28,000 VND. All Bon's local dishes are very cheap with great quality. This was the restaurant that delivered us 90% of our meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) during the Covid restrictions.
• Moon Night was also a recommendation from our friends who live in Hoi An. We ate here on alternate nights before it closed during the Covid restrictions. The fried spring rolls are some of the best we have had in Vietnam!
• Red Dragon was a recommendation we picked up in the Hoi An Expats Facebook group. It was one of the best value for money at the time. We did hear it was quite expensive before, but we were grateful to get three courses for 99,000 vnd and it was absolutely amazing. I would definitely pay more to eat there!
  • Tip, this may not always be so cheap. If you are travelling there beyond 2020, it might be a bit more expensive, but well worth a visit anyway.

• We didn't get to try this, but our friends said they found a riverside spot to eat with the locals. We will do it when we return later this year. Head to the bridge that takes you over to the Night Markets, but don't go over to the island. Instead, head West along the Thu Bon River until you find little tables and chairs. You can enjoy a delicious local dish with a bargain price-tag and a view that is just as good as what you'll get at the more expensive restaurants.

Other Expats Hoi An Family Food Recommendations 

• Havana. Tapas, Vietnamese and western food is here. There are  2 for 1 beer and cocktails every day from 3 - 7pm. We intended to try this place - right opposite Bon, but didn't make it there before everything closed for Covid restrictions.
• Tomato has Italian food - this was still closed after we returned to Hoi An after our time in An Bang.
• The Happy Buffalo came highly recommended. It's supposed to be a nice place to share your meals with Asian/Western fusion done really well. We liked the view, we had seen some photos but unfortunately didn't make it there. We are so sad we missed this place, it is on our list to try when we get back there!
  • It opens at 4pm daily, closed Sundays,
• Hola Taco is supposed to be the best Mexican food located on the outskirts of old Town - we didn't make it there yet. But we will make sure to give it a go when we return later this year. ?

From Hoi An to An Bang Beach Family Food

I may need to do another post just for this too!

• You can't miss the view from Shore Club. It's worth going to for a drink and catch the view, but it is also one of the most expensive places we visited in our time here. There is a pool next to the VIP cabanas and we enjoyed a good day here.

• Under the Coconut Tree was our favourite An Bang restaurant. Great food at great prices and the iced chocolate here was fantastic. The wall art was also fantastic. I have to go back for photos - clearly I was too busy having a good time and missed a good opportunity to take bright and colourful photos.
• The Cosy Corner deserves a mention here too. We didn't eat here that often as a family, but I definitely got my fair share of French Toast which was fantastic. There's a great selection of games like battleship and Uno, enough to keep the kids happy while you enjoy a coffee. They have a book exchange too, we did a few good book swaps there!
• Phuongs Fish and Chips was so good for seafood. This place was a couple of alleys away from our beach house and we visited this place a couple of times.
• Hidden Beach was also a fantastic spot. Look for the sign on the main road near the big bridge, go down the hill (if you are riding a bicycle, remember you have to get back up that hill - it's massive ?) and it is the last restaurant on the left. There are sun loungers out front so you can kick back and chill with a beer while the kids swim.
• Salt Pub & Restaurant was recommended to us because of the vibe, the food and the location right on the beach. We got to visit the day before it closed, and it was a really awesome spot to sit and enjoy the view!

Hoi An Family Food Spots with Pools

• Did you see Shore Club up above? That place has a pool too.
• If you want something awesome for breakfast, try Silk Beach Resort in Cua Dai. Their menu is cheap and easy (ok not the greatest, but it doest the job). The pool is awesome and the swim up bar is a great touch. We loved spending an entire day here when it was too hot to do anything else!

• Bungalow Beach Bar has a pool and it was a winner with our kids, the first time they had chicken nuggets over here. They had a selection of craft beer and cocktails and I got pretty excited about the Mexican food. We planned to go back there to give it a try, but ran out of time! 
• Our kids absolutely loved Kahunas and we were sad when it had to close when the Covid restrictions started. The pool and seating areas are great with a bar close by. Our friend advised us it's usually a backpackers spot, but while we were there we had the place mostly to ourselves. We were lucky to go to a reopening community day before we left and it was wonderful to see all the kids in the pool. There is a beach bar here but it wasn't open while we were there. 

Local Beach Eats 

I left the best until here. This is the very best option to experience Hoi An family food like the locals do. Skip the restaurants and eat like a local on a mat on the beach. I'm surprised I hadn't read about this anywhere before! I didn't do that much research on it though because we had only planned to spend four nights in Hoi An, we didn't even know if we would make it to An Bang.

Head down the alley where Shore Club is located and find the beach entrance. Down on the beach there are stands set up all along the beach. Mats are laid out on the sand and the kids are playing in the ocean.

Local dining was my favourite dining experience during our time here. We enjoyed clam chowder (30,000vnd), stingray and prawns. The clam chowder was delicious and just enough for me. It might not fill your average Western dad though, so make sure the dads get more than one dish. There is plenty available that I'm sure they'll enjoy. My daughter doesn't do seafood, so one of the women ran down to 'her friend' and brought back a dish of fried noodles with vegetables. It was one of the cheapest and tastiest dining experiences we had in An Bang!

If you can only go to one place on this list with your family, I'd say do the beach dining experience with the locals. I've never seen anything like it before. It wasn't about the price or the taste. It was enjoying this special part of the world alongside the people who call this amazing place home.

Have you been to Hoi An and An Bang? What would you put on the Ultimate Hoi An Family Food Guide?