Like other coastal areas of North Vietnam, Halong has a wide variety of seafood specialties. The most popular are:
- Arca: Lives under mud and has two shells, it is as big as a cup and it can be steamed, grilled or made into soup. "Ruou ngan" (arca wine) is a specialty of Halong, which is highly nutritious and simple to process.
- Sopuncuchlac (sa sung): are varieties of sea worm that live in the sand and are about 4 cm in long, with tiny veins running lengthwise. This species is peculiar to Halong. After processing the fresh sopuncuchlac it should be stir-fried with celery and leeks or grilled. It goes well with beer drinking, especially as a noodle consommé.
- Holothuriodiac: is referred to as sea ginseng. There are two kinds, black and white. It looks like a cucumber with a soft body. It is prepared with pork, chicken, and bamboo shoots and dried pigskin as a dinner dish.
- Sepia esculenta: is a kind of large cuttlefish weighing up to 2kg., which can be prepared with leeks, garlic leaves or boiled. The fresh Sepia esculenta can be dried, grilled or fried with sweet and sour source. It goes well with beer and is makes a good present for friends after a trip.
- "Blood" shellfish: has been a famous seafood specialty in Indochina for some years. It can be steamed with beer, fried or boiled and eaten with pepper-salt.
- Teredo: lives in the aegiceras and mangroves, mostly at the foot of the mountains. Opening two hard and sharp shells reveals the teredo's meat. It is prepared with egg and flour or used for soup and is a popular dish.
Besides these sea products, there are the usual seafood specialties such as: shrimp, crab, garruppa fish, pomfret fish, threadfin fish etc.
Apart from bars and cafes in the larger hotels, there are many other cafes:
- Trung Nguyen Café No 1, Nguyen Van Cu Street, Halong City.
- Trung Nguyen café No 2, Cong Doan Hotel, Halong Street, Baichay.
- Thang Long Hotel: House on Stilts café, "ruou can" (rice wine drunk out of a jar through pipes). Tel: 033.847276
- Noinho Café, 10 Tran Hung Dao Road, Halong City Tel: 033.628027, 033.629128.
There are numerous cafés and refreshment locations in Halong Street (Baichay) and Le Thanh Tong Street (Hongai).
Seafood specialty restaurants in Ha Long.
1. Sea Food Restaurant in Halong Street, Baichay Tel: 033.845.822
2. Thu Huong Restaurant, in Halong Street, Baichay Tel: 033.845.142
3. Bin Bop Restaurant in group 10, zone 1, Tran Hung Dao Ward Tel: 033.627.686
4. Noi Nho Restaurant, Tran Hung Dao Street Tel: 033.825614
5. Bien Xanh Restaurant, No. 8 Le Thanh Tong Street Tel: 033.825112
Apart from the restaurants on the mainland, customers can contact the floating restaurants if they want to have an appetizing meal on the sea: Bien Mo floating Restaurants, No 1 and No 2, belong to Quangninh Marine Products Export Company.
Customer reception at 35 Bentau Road, Halong Tel: 033.828951; 825196 Fax: 033. 826683 Visitors can also arrange with the tourist boat owners to have an appetizing meal aboard ship.
