From Royal Feasts to Street Eats: Discover Top Hue Restaurant

Hue, the captivating city of ancient beauty, boasts not just a mesmerizing history but a captivating culinary scene. Dive into a world of flavors that transcends time, from the meticulously crafted dishes of Hue Imperial Cuisine to the vibrant energy of street food stalls. Deluxe Group Tours guide you to the top Hue restaurant, ensuring a delectable adventure for every palate and budget.

1. A Glimpse into Hue Cuisine

Hue is famous for the iconic Trang Tien Bridge, the dreamy Perfume River, the sacred Thien Mu Pagoda, and the magnificent imperial architecture and tombs. However, Hue is not just about these attractions; it also boasts a cuisine that many people crave.

Especially noteworthy is Hue royal cuisine, characterized by its refined dishes that showcase meticulous preparation, presentation, and decoration, as well as the manner of enjoying them. Each dish is a work of art, reflecting the meticulousness, sophistication, and essence of Hue’s royal culinary tradition. Simple ingredients are transformed by skillful hands into delicious, appealing dishes that leave you with an unforgettable impression.

Hue’s cuisine possesses both luxurious and exquisite dishes, as well as imple and rustic. They always leave a lasting impression on anyone who tastes them. Visiting Hue means indulging not only in the elegant royal cuisine but also in the simple, hearty dishes that reflect the charm of Hue’s lagoons and mountains.

Hue’s dishes have clear and rich flavors because the locals view food as a life philosophy, encompassing all tastes from salty, sweet, fatty, and nutty to sour, astringent, bitter, and spicy, each distinct and well-defined.

It can be said that enjoying Hue’s cuisine is an experience that awakens all your senses. From the delicate flavors and eye-catching colors to the graceful sounds of the dishes, everything blends together to create the unique charm of Hue’s culinary journey. Join Deluxe Group Tours to explore the top restaurants in Hue and embark on a mesmerizing culinary journey.

2. A Journey Through Hue Restaurant Types

When visiting Hue, you don’t need to worry about finding a restaurant that fits your budget. With the following suggested restaurants, ranging from luxurious restaurants to casual eateries, all you need to do is be ready to enjoy delicious food and experience the unique culinary culture of Hue.

2.1. Fine Dining Hue Restaurant

2.1.1. Khong Gian Xua Restaurant

This Hue restaurant is designed in the style of an ancient traditional house, combined with a garden filled with lush green trees, creating a rare, serene, and antique atmosphere. With its ancient ambiance and elegant traditional house structure, Khong Gian Xua is the perfect place for you to enjoy a meal, whether with family or for hosting guests.

No matter where you choose to sit, the restaurant will provide a complete and attentive dining experience.

Khong Gian Xua leaves a lasting impression with its simple, rustic, yet flavorful traditional Vietnamese dishes. If you find yourself craving these rustic dishes, head straight to Khong Gian Xua Restaurant. Famous for dishes like clay pot rice, shrimp and pork fig salad, boiled jackfruit with fermented fish sauce, and braised pork with lemongrass, this place promises to provide you with a satisfying meal.

In addition to family meal sets, Khong Gian Xua is also a destination where you can enjoy Hue’s specialties such as beo cake (water fern cake), loc cake, and baby clams rice.

Khong Gian Xua is especially loved for its diverse range of services. Besides main services like lunch, dinner, and royal meals combined with Hue Royal Court music, the restaurant also offers river cruises on the Perfume River, gala dinners, and buffet parties to meet all your needs.

• Address: 205 Dien Bien Phu, Hue or 76 Le Loi, Hue
• Opening hours: 10:00 a.m. to 09:00 p.m.
• Price range: 100,000 VND to 200,00 VND

2.1.2. Cung Dinh Hue Restaurant

With its classic, spacious, luxurious, and warm ambiance, Cung Dinh Hue Restaurant offers a dining experience that feels like attending an ancient royal banquet. This is not only because the restaurant is designed in a traditional, ancient architectural style with royal furniture and artworks but also because you have the opportunity to dress up as kings, queens, and court officials to fully immerse yourself in the royal atmosphere.

You can also choose a luxurious private dining space to immerse yourself in a noble-style feast, enjoying exquisite dishes while listening to the elegant melodies of Hue songs.

If you love Hue’s royal dishes, such as phoenix spring rolls, imperial grilled chicken, coconut water steamed shrimp, and more, this is definitely the place you’re looking for. With a team of chefs who are hereditary artisans and descendants of the royal family, you will enjoy delicious and authentic royal cuisine when you visit.

This Hue restaurant’s menu is also incredibly diverse. In addition to the enticing royal dishes, it features popular local specialties such as grilled pork lemongrass skewers (nem lui) and water fern cakes with shrimp (banh beo tom).

Stepping into Cung Dinh Restaurant, you will feel as if you have returned to ancient Hue, lost in the unique eras of the old royal courts. This is not only a distinctive culinary destination but also a place to connect, learn, and explore the history of Hue’s royal heritage. If you are a history enthusiast, Cung Dinh Restaurant will surely be your top choice when visiting this ancient capital.

• Address: 03 Nguyen Sinh Sac, Hue
• Opening hours: 11:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
• Price range: 260,000 VND to 1,400,000 VND

2.1.3. Ancient Hue Garden Houses

Located on the street near Thien Mu Pagoda, Ancient Hue Garden Houses boasts a large area designed in a strong traditional style. The name itself reflects the characteristics of this Hue restaurant. It features traditional design elements such as bronze urns, ancient wells, and lotus ponds surrounding it. With its traditional beauty, this place is more than just a restaurant; it is a combination of cultural, artistic, and culinary complexes you shouldn’t miss when visiting Hue.

Moreover, with a capacity of over 300 people, Ancient Hue Garden Houses can delight you with premium meals, tea parties, wedding receptions, and cultural experiences through its architecture and performances of traditional court music and dance.

Ancient Hue Garden Houses will easily overwhelm you with its luxurious, tranquil atmosphere and lush greenery. It is also a wonderful space for enjoying authentic Hue royal cuisine.

However, it’s not just the spacious garden setting that makes Ancient Hue Garden Houses special. The menu is another compelling reason to choose it for your meal. Ancient Hue Gallery Cuisine offers an incredibly diverse menu, featuring both royal Hue dishes and rustic Hue countryside ones. In addition to the restaurant’s set menus, the chefs at Ancient Hue Gallery Cuisine are happy to prepare dishes according to your preferences.

At Ancient Hue Garden Houses, you can enjoy delicious dishes while taking in the serene scenery and admiring the distinctive culture of ancient garden houses along with still-life paintings created by renowned artists. This will be a wonderful culinary experience in Hue.

• Address: 4/4/8 35 Pham Thi Lien, Kim Long, Hue
• Opening hours: 08:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
• Price range: 1,000,000 VND to 2,750,000 VND

2.1.4. Aroma Hue Restaurant

Aroma Hue Restaurant captivates you with its elegant beauty that combines Asian and European styles. It is rated as one of the best and most affordable restaurants in the ancient capital. With an open space entirely enclosed in glass, you can comfortably watch the bustling street traffic while enjoying your meal. Here, you can choose different seating options, either indoors or outdoors.

Hue’s traditional cuisine and the restaurant’s modern European design might seem like two elements that couldn’t possibly blend. However, once combined, they create a unique and impressive culinary experience. Dining at Aroma allows you to experience and explore the subtle fusion of traditional Hue flavors within a contemporary, romantic setting.

In the cozy space illuminated by warm yellow lights, savoring Hue specialties such as sweet braised shrimp and pork, fried eggs with scallions, and baby clams, you will seemingly rediscover your sense of taste with each dish.

In addition, this unique Hue restaurant not only serves Hue set menus but also offers Asian set menus, Western set menus, and Alacarte menus, allowing you to comfortably explore dishes that suit your taste.

Especially if you’re interested in the Hue culinary experience and want to discover the secrets of mastering Hue dishes, the restaurant also offers cooking class services.

• Address: 34 Chu Van An, Hue
• Opening hours: 08:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
• Price range: 200,000 VND to 500,000 VND

2.1.5. Song Huong Floating Restaurants

Song Huong Floating Restaurant is the only restaurant in Hue located on the gentle Perfume River, beside the picturesque Truong Tien Bridge, which has become part of history and poetry. This Hue Restaurant is a luxurious and unique destination, where you can enjoy Hue cuisine while admiring the beauty of the Perfume River and the dreamy Truong Tien Bridge.

The restaurant is impressively built with luxurious and unique architecture, designed in the shape of a giant lotus flower floating on the waves, becoming a highlight of the beautiful scenery of the ancient capital. With over 350 airy seats, this unique floating Hue restaurant will allow you to enjoy your meal in a romantic and poetic atmosphere.

At Song Huong Floating Restaurant, you can savor a variety of European and Asian dishes, especially seafood specialties unique to the brackish waters of Tam Giang Lagoon, along with dishes that embody the distinctive flavors of Hue.

At the restaurant, you will have the wonderful opportunity to experience Hue’s unique and luxurious culinary services. It is also the ideal place to host parties, birthdays, conferences, celebrations, and year-end events.

The floating restaurant on the Perfume River is an ideal destination for those seeking a romantic and relaxing space amidst the bustling urban landscape. With its beautiful setting, distinctive cuisine, and tranquil atmosphere, this Hue restaurant is one of the most attractive destinations for your culinary exploration journey in the ancient city of Hue.

• Address: 3/2 Park, Le Loi, Hue
• Opening hours: 08:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
• Price range: 100,000 VND to 500,000 VND

Additionally, if you want to experience Hue cuisine in more luxurious settings, you might consider choosing accommodations that include high-end dining options. This will be a great choice that not only saves you from worrying about “what to eat in Hue?” but also offers you unlimited culinary choices. You can refer to the list of hotels with diverse dining services at Find Your Best Hotels in Hue Vietnam: Luxury, Boutique & Budget Options.

2.2. Casual Dining Hue Eateries

2.2.1. Bun Bo Ba Tuyet (Mrs. Tuyet Hue Beef Noodle Soup)

Bun bo Hue (Hue beef noodle soup), a specialty dish of Hue, carries the flavors of this ancient land and is renowned not only in Vietnam. Wandering through the alleys of Hue, you’ll find countless eateries offering this dish, but there’s only one Bun Bo Hue Ba Tuyet that you must try when visiting Hue.

This is a long-standing eatery that originated from a street vendor and has now grown and expanded with its location in the center of Hue City. Despite being a humble eatery with simple decor, the taste of bun bo here will surely leave a lasting impression after just one bite.

With a fairly clean and airy space that is cozy and familiar, as soon as you step in, you can see a simmering pot of broth emitting a fragrant lemongrass scent, making you unable to resist and curious to taste it.

At Bun Bo Hue Ba Tuyet, a bowl of beef noodle soup is not just a simple combination of noodles and beef or delicious pork knuckle. Here, you can freely choose from various options, such as bun bo, bun cha (sausage noodles), or bun cua (crab noodles).

The most special thing about this Hue beef noodle soup eatery is the rich, fragrant broth carefully simmered from beef bones and distinctive spices such as onions, pineapple, etc., giving the broth a natural sweetness and aroma. A bowl of Hue beef noodle soup here is characterized by the sweet and clear flavor of the broth, combined with chewy, crispy blood cake slices, all with a hint of shrimp paste and lemongrass that you won’t find anywhere else.

When in Hue, you definitely need to recharge your energy in the morning with a bowl of Hue beef noodle soup from Mrs. Tuyet’s stall to experience the special flavor of this dish.

• Address: 47 Nguyen Cong Tru, Hue
• Opening hours: 06:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
• Price range: 30,000 VND to 50,000 VND

2.2.2. Quan Banh O Le (Mrs. Le Hue Cakes)

If you’re looking for a place to enjoy dishes like beo cake (water fern cakes), loc cake (tapioca dumplings), nam cake (flat steamed rice dumplings), and banh ram it (fried sticky rice dumplings), Quan Banh O Le would be a perfect choice for you and your family. With over 50 years of history, this eatery is a wonderful destination to indulge in various specialties of Hue cake.

The eatery is essentially a local household, with a garden designed in the traditional Hue style, and notably, the pathway leading to the establishment is paved with old bricks, giving you the feeling of walking on a path back to childhood. The ambiance of the establishment is simple, with just a few plastic tables, yet it provides a sense of intimacy and warmth, as if you were dining right at home.

Coming here to enjoy the specialty cakes of Hue cuisine, you’ll sit outside in the garden, savoring the refreshing natural atmosphere. You’ll especially witness firsthand the process of making hot and steamy cakes.

One thing special about this eatery is that their cakes are full of flavors and colors. Just looking at them is enough to whet your appetite. You will surely experience a pleasant surprise when you enjoy the freshly cooked cakes. Especially when the loc cakes are dipped in the salty Hue sauce with chili, it’s irresistible. Moreover, when the other cakes are dipped in a sweet sipping sauce, the taste is unusually balanced.

If you ever have the chance to visit Hue, don’t forget to take the time to find Quan Banh O Le and indulge in a delicious and authentic Hue meal.

• Address: 104/17/9 Kim Long, Hue
• Opening hours: 06:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
• Price range: 15,000 VND to 35,000 VND

2.2.3. Com Hen Hoa Dong (Hoa Dong Baby Clams Rice)

Hue baby clam rice, a famous specialty of Hue, is no less renowned than Hue beef noodle soup. This humble yet exquisite dish has become a delicacy of imperial cuisine. It’s a must-try on your list of foods to sample in Hue.

When it comes to baby clam rice in Hue, you shouldn’t miss Hoa Dong Baby Clams Rice. This long-standing eatery boasts a rich and distinctive flavor, unmatched by any other restaurant. The ambiance of this eatery is simply a small stall inside an old Hue-style house with a few low tables and some small plastic chairs.

A bowl of baby clam rice here is just a few noodles placed in a plastic basket, cold rice in a tray, various types of fresh vegetables, and finely shredded water spinach. Alongside these, there is a glass jar containing peanuts that have been lightly roasted with oil to make them glossy. The special and indispensable ingredients in this small space are jars of shrimp paste and spicy chili sauce. Though it may look simple and easy to find, the taste here will leave you extremely impressed.

The baby clam rice here is of very high quality, with various toppings including rice, banana blossoms, baby clams, fried pork skin, peanuts, and aromatic herbs, served with boiled clam broth. With just one bite, you can clearly taste the delicious flavor of the baby clams, along with refreshing herbs and crunchy peanuts. By enjoying baby clam rice at Hoa Dong, you not only satisfy your hunger but also awaken all your senses, offering you an incredibly impressive culinary experience in Hue.

• Address: 64/7 Ung Binh, Vy Da, Hue
• Opening hours: 07:00 a.m. to 09:30 p.m.
• Price range: 10,000 VND to 20,000 VND

2.2.4. Dong Ba Market

Dong Ba Market is a name not unfamiliar to those seeking unique culinary experiences in Hue. It’s a culinary paradise of Hue street food, offering you a taste of all the specialties, from savory dishes to desserts.

With its spacious layout and numerous adjacent eateries creating a lively and bustling atmosphere, Dong Ba Market will help you enjoy a complete feast of Hue’s specialties. The aroma of Bun Bo Hue, the hot and crispy Banh Khoai, the flavorful grilled meat vermicelli with its rich sauce, and the 36 varieties of Hue sweet soup all beckon you to explore.

One special highlight of Dong Ba Market is that you can enjoy most of Hue’s specialties at affordable prices. Therefore, you can easily experience a variety of dishes without having to travel to multiple places.

The food court of Dong Ba Market is like a miniature culinary world of Hue cuisine, an enticing address that will captivate you. Crystalized in the dishes and drinks here are the exquisite and distinctive cultural aspects of Hue. Coming here, you’ll gain further insight into the daily life as well as the cultural identity of the people of Hue.

• Address: 02 Tran Hung Dao, Hue
• Opening hours: 07:00 a.m. to 07:00 p.m.
• Price range: 10,000 VND to 30,000 VND

Whether you opt for a luxurious restaurant or a humble eatery, Hue promises to deliver unique and unforgettable culinary experiences. Especially with the Hue restaurants shared from my personal experiences above, hopefully, you’ll have more choices to explore and savor the culinary essence of this ancient land.