A LATE NIGHT STREET FOOD TOUR IN DA NANG

When day turns to night, the dazzling lights of the coastal city are filling the street and shining through the darkness. Danang seems to shift gradually to its different appearance with the more vibrant and gorgeous version in the eyes of visitors. This is time for all people to pour into the downtown to enjoy night activities after putting in a hard day at work. As young adults lived inside Danang city for years but rarely, my friends and I truly dive into the midnight pace of the heart of this city - Da Nang. We were really curious about how the night pace of Danang was, whether it was as crowded as daytime or less dynamic. That was one of the primary reasons we decided to make an appointment in order to drive around the city center and pay a visit to any food stalls on the road with a spontaneous food list. That was a point when I suddenly discovered a marvelous secret alley inside the city that we all had never known before.

Initially gathering at Dragon bridge, I started my late night street food tour at 11 pm with 5 other members in a team. This was the first time that we explored one of the worth-living cities in Vietnam in the middle of the night so we all were totally excited about our trip.
The first destination in the list was a food store on the side of the street named Trần Kế Xương. We were served Cút lộn xào me with Bánh mì and Ốc hút by an extremely friendly food vendor. Cút lộn xào me (Half-hatched quail eggs in tamarind sauce) was a truly local rustic dish loved by mostly youngsters. Compared to Half-hatched duck eggs, half-hatched quail eggs seemed much smaller and less disgusting than ones to enjoy the whole. However, it was a little bit challenging for many people, especially foreigners, to eat them at first due to its slightly terrible appearance. Anyway, don’t cover the book by its cover was what I wanted to tell you about this food. Indeed, The taste of sourness mainly from tamarind sauce combined with the taste of sweetness and nutrition from half-hatched quail eggs had become a relatively harmonious dish. This food served with Bánh Mỳ as a norm to ensure that you felt full after that. The average price is around 20.000 - 30.000 per dish.

With Ốc hut (sucking snails), you had to suck from the snails and then gradually felt chilli taste and good aroma in your mouth. This food absolutely blew your mind. One thing I had to say was that sucking snails was not as easy as tasting other foods, it was very challenging to do that and I always had to use a toothpick as a power tool to help me in this task.
The best way to eat this rustic food was by hand, feeling the fullest of flavor. On rainy days, Ốc hút was really a great dish that should be tried.

Next, we continued our thrilling food tour and decided to land at Mẹ Liên store on Le Loi street to taste Cháo trắng (rice porridge). White rice porridge was eaten with additional dishes ordered with such as stewed fish, fried shrimp or others. A few minutes later, the smiley seller gave us 5 warm bowls of white rice porridge, a dish of fried shrimp, a dish of botanical eggs and a dish of dried fish. Needless to say, everything was perfectly mixed and made us not feel bored to eat rice porridge as normal. I highly recommend that you should try botanical eggs once as a new challenge to achieve. Like tasting durian or half-hatched duck eggs, it was not easy for anybody for the first time to taste because of its tainted smell, slightly bitter and black colors, and I was no exception. But I did and definitely felt amazing and scrumptious a bit after that. Feeling like being on the top of the world since I was bold enough to eat it ^^. However, as they are incubated for a long time, eating too many herbal eggs will not be good for your health.

Until 12:30 pm, we bought several glasses of warm milk for drinking and sought some empty seats by the bank of Han river. Just 10.000 vnd per glass, we could have such a good drink at amazing views to enjoy. From there, we could totally watch the swinging Han River which was called the first swing bridge in Vietnam. We realized that this city was still busy even at midnight. There were many people, especially young people, enjoying cups of hot milk while chatting to their friends at small street stalls along the road and I know that daytime or nighttime, each has its own beauty and its own fans. Then, We started to share our good and bad things in life and the upcoming plans with each other in the tranquil night vibe. I found myself grateful and fulfilled for that moment and for what I got in this city.

Last but not least, One of the most interesting things on our trip appeared surprisingly on the way home. Suddenly, I was the first person in the team to explore many gorgeous pictures drawn on the walls in a relatively small alley. It seemed to resemble Bích Hoạ town which is very famous for colorful and stunning walls in Quang Nam province. The alley was located on the main road Nguyen Van Linh street. As far as I know, A group of artists and architecture students had worked together for months to bring this magic to the city with the aim of educating and promoting tourism. The mossy and old walls completely disappeared and made way for the more lively, colorful and aesthetic ones.
I had to say that I could not hide my exciting and surprising face. It was not only a short painted alley but also a long line with other branches of it. It would be amazing. I was like where I have been during the 4 years of living here to visit here in person. If you have a chance to visit Danang, please do not miss out on this beautiful destination.

Nearly 2 am, we came back home and ended our first trip which was full of joy and unexpected things. We had many great moments and memorable experiences together. If you love my stories, traveling and food blogs,let follow my account. I will come back and bring more fun.