Hung Map, one of my favorite destination in Da Nang. Everytime I visit my beloved city, I stop by Hong Map to go all out on fresh seafood of all sorts. Hung Map is a family run business and is non-franchise, even though there is Hung Map #1,2,3,etc all in the same area. I tried Hung Map #2 and #1. I prefer #1 because the atmosphere is extremely nice.
It’s not one of those fancy restaurants with superb lighting, but rather is one of those place where you like to get down the nitty gritty of eating. I had the pleasure to take a few of my US friends to try this place, believe me, they loved every bit of it. The place is located on Son Tra Dien Ngoc street, between Pham Van Dong.
If you’re an avid traveler to Da Nang, you must know Son Tra Dien Ngoc street is the best place to access the ocean front. It also host all the premium 4 to 5 star restaurants. But enough of the street, at Hong Map, you get to see the ocean front while enjoying your food. I prefer to go in the late evening around 7PM or so to avoid the sun and that’s when the ocean breeze kicks in.
When you first arrive at the restaurant, make sure to grab a table and tell the waitress that you will choose your own seafood from the “tank”. Its located near the kitchen area, inside this tank…they have all sort of live fishes, lobster, crabs, oysters, oc “escargo”, etc. If you don’t know how to pronounce the names of it in English, you can point it to them.
There’s two main option for handling your seafood with them..its either: steam or fried. I would recommend you getting their oyster & clams steam with their stew. It’s very fresh, because the seafood is not refrigerated. Each time I enter this place, I feel like a kid who just walk into a toy store, because all I need to do is point to what I like and get it. They have this one type of fish that looks like a swordfish, see the pictures below, is extremely good when fried. You can take the meat of it and wrap in banh trang “rice paper” and eat it with fish sauce “nuoc mam”.
Also have one beer or two to wash down the great taste. The place houses many types of beer you would find normally throughout Vietnam. Such as Tiger, Heineken, Saigon, San Miguel and etc. Prices for the food are quite moderate. I had a table of 9 people and my bill came out to be $90 USD. So on average if a person can spend $10 USD, they will be full in their stomach and be a happy camper.
Now to the main specialty of their dish, which is lobster. I was quite amazed at the size of lobster they have. It was extremely delicate and delicious when steamed. They charge by each lobster, not by Kgs. It was 100,000 dong per lobster, but well worth it! You get two choice of sauce for your lobster, either lemon pepper mix or mayonnaise. They also have ketchup for those weirdos out there who like to eat seafood with ketchup.
This place is great for a group get together, rather than a dinner for two. The only downside to this place is that they allow hawkers to sell bubble gum,banh trang “fried rice paper”, quail eggs, and fresh fruits. I don’t mind them being around, but I dislike it when they interrupt us during our conversation. Word of advice: if hawkers put their food on your table and you eat it, you will have to pay for it.
Now if they put it on your table, you can disregard it and put it aside so that it will not be charged to you. Other than that, this place is by far the least expensive restaurant that offers great seafood. You can pay for the same seafood but with triple the price if you go to the opposite side of the beach road, for example, Blue Whale Beach Restaurant. Take a few friends with you to Hong Map, you won’t regret it!
This is a guest post by Hieu Tran.
Hieu Tran is a GM @ Ramada Hotel & Suites: Website
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