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Best Spot to Get Work Done - Nourish

Nourish and I didn't get off to the best start. My first visit brought an underwhelming iced americano and “fish” tacos with tortillas that fell apart before I'd made it halfway through. But something about the place made me come back — and I'm glad it did.

On every subsequent visit, the food was fantastic. Hot coffee done properly, a bowl that was genuinely well put together, and those tacos again — this time, everything held. It turns out my first visit caught someone on an off day, because Nourish more than redeemed itself.

Beyond the food, it's simply a great place to work. Focused, calm, and the kind of spot you find yourself returning to without really questioning it. Sometimes a place just has to earn your trust the hard way.

Location: 220a Nguyễn Duy Hiệu, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam 560000, Vietnam

Hours: 9am to 4pm

Best Brunch Downtown - Buttercup by Rosie’s

Buttercup is the sister café of Rosie's — and honestly, the better of the two. It's a cute little spot right near the waterfront and the Old Town market, and the vibe here just works in a way Rosie's didn't quite manage for me.

I had the vegan mushroom medley, and it was genuinely excellent. There's something about that fleshy, meaty texture of mushrooms that the West tends to overlook — here they're treated as the main event, served on a thick slice of grainy toast. Could have been toasted a touch longer, but that's a minor gripe. The espresso was great too.

After eating, it's worth taking your time to wander the markets or Old Town before the crowds arrive. The location makes that very easy to do.

Location: 12/9 Đ. Bạch Đằng, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam 560000, Vietnam

Hours: 8am to 3pm or 4pm

Best Banh Mi (Ancient Town) - Lê Hội Bánh MÌ Chay (Le Hội Vegan Banh Mi)

We were in Hội An for a long time, and we didn't make it into the Ancient Town every day. But when we did, I always tried to make sure we swung by Le Hội for lunch.

This is about as classic a Vietnamese street food experience as it gets. A small cart on the side of a busy road, a stack of plastic chairs, no tables, and a chef who doesn't speak much English. It doesn't need any of that.

The banh mi are delicious — fresh, packed with mushrooms, and spiced to your liking if you ask. At 20k dong, they were the best priced I found in Hội An. Simple, brilliant, and worth going out of your way for.

Location: 3 Nguyễn Huệ, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam

Hours: 6am to 9pm

Best Banh Mi (Delivery) - Bahn Mi Mr Hieu

I have been accused of eating too much bread. But honestly, what a judgmental thing to say to someone. We live in Indonesia, so we don't always have access to great bread — and the Vietnamese know how to do bread so damn well.

So yes, I may have ordered a banh mi almost every day we lived in Hội An. Do I regret it? Not in the slightest.

After working my way through a fair few places, Mr Hieu became my go-to. Great bread, a little heat, tofu and mushrooms — everything you want. They also do a brilliant salted coffee, which pairs better with a banh mi than you might expect.

If you're not a vegetarian, or you're travelling with someone who isn't, the menu stretches to pho and bun cha too.

Location: 644 Đ. Hai Bà Trưng, Hội An, Quảng Nam 51000, Vietnam

Hours: 7am to 8pm

Best All-Day Café - Good Eats

Good Eats became one of my go-to spots for working while I was in Hội An. It was consistently busy, but never so packed that you couldn't find a seat or settle in — that sweet spot where there's just enough background noise to actually get things done.

The menu is fully vegetarian and covers a lot of ground. They do a brilliant bagel with avocado, and their sourdough is worth ordering on its own. It's the kind of place where you sit down for a coffee, end up staying for lunch, and don't feel bad about it.

Location: 409 Cửa Đại, Cẩm Châu, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam

Hours: 8am to 4pm

Best Fancy Dinner (Ancient Town) - Êm - Comfort Food

We stumbled across Em's on our first night in town — down a narrow alleyway, lit up and looking incredibly inviting. We didn't stop that night, but it stuck in my mind, and when friends recommended it shortly after, we went back without hesitation.

We sat outside and watched the steady stream of tourists wander past. There's something lovely about eating well in a busy alleyway — the world keeps moving and you just sit there with a glass of red, perfectly content.

The gnocchi was fantastic. Little clouds, light and fluffy on the inside, gently pan-fried to a crisp on the outside. It was exactly what comfort food should be.

The menu is broad and genuinely interesting — we wished we'd discovered it earlier in our stay so we could have come back to work our way through more of it. There are plenty of Vietnamese dishes as well as western options like the gnocchi.

Location: 54/2 Đ. Phan Chu Trinh, Phường, Hội An, Đà Nẵng, Vietnam

Hours: 10am to 9pm

Best Oceanside Views - Sniff

The beaches around An Bang, Hidden Beach, and Cam Dua are lined with restaurants, but a lot of them let you down — menus that don't excite, or food that doesn't deliver on the setting. I think that's exactly why Sniff stands out.

You can grab a table inside, sit out overlooking the beach, or settle onto a lounger for the full experience. The coffee is great, the Wi-Fi is strong, and the food is genuinely good. But the real highlight? The cookies. Crunchy, chocolatey, and dangerously easy to justify ordering twice.

It's also the base for Run and Fun Club every Wednesday — a gentle, social 5km followed by a swim, a coffee, and, if you've decided you've earned it, a cookie. (You have.)

Location: 20/10 Nguyễn Phan Vinh, Cẩm An, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam

Hours: 7am to 6pm

Best Local Vegetarian Food - Mein Hein 2

Minh Hien 2 was my go-to for a proper Vietnamese vegetarian meal — and I discovered it the lazy way, via Grab, before I ever made it to the restaurant itself.

I ordered from them several times before finally visiting in person, and the food held up every single time. The dish to order is the Cơm Tứ Quý — a rice set with four accompanying plates: tofu skin salad packed with herbs, a light soup, and vegetables with tofu. Each component simple, each one done well. It's the kind of meal that reminds you that vegetarian food doesn't need to be complicated to be brilliant.

The whole Minh Hien family of restaurants is known for cooking without MSG, which you can taste — everything is clean and flavourful without being heavy. Prices are very reasonable, making it just as good a choice for a quick lunch as a longer, unhurried sit-down meal.

Location: 30 Đinh Tiên Hoàng, Sơn Phong, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam

Hours: 7.30am to 10pm

Best Pasta - Lion’s Room

I wasn't expecting to feel like I was in a Roman alleyway in Hội An, but this town was full of surprises. Lion's Room is tiny — four tables inside, two outside — but it more than makes up for the size in flavour.

I ordered the Purple Gnocchi with a glass of house red. Fluffy, pillowy bundles of sweet gnocchi with generous slices of chewy mushroom, finished with a crispy topping that adds just the right bit of texture. It was exactly the kind of meal that makes you slow down and savour every bite.

We also came back one evening just for the tiramisu. If a place can pull you back in for dessert alone, it's doing something right.

Location: 290 Cửa Đại, Cẩm Sơn, Hội An, Quảng Nam 51000, Vietnam

Opening hours: 5pm - 9pm

Best Oat Milk Latte - Cafe Slow

Not all cafés get oat milk right — frothing it properly takes a bit of care, and you can tell immediately when someone hasn't bothered. Cafe Slow bothers. The latte here is excellent, and the fact that they offer several bean varieties and extraction methods tells you everything about how seriously they take it.

The setting is the other reason to make the trip. The café looks out over Tra Que vegetable village — neat rows of green stretching out in front of you, quiet and unhurried. It's the kind of view that makes it very easy to order a second coffee.

A word of warning: this place is not the hidden gem it might appear to be. It gets busy. Come early, claim a spot outside, and settle in.

Location: Thôn Trà Quế, Cẩm Hà, Hội An, Quảng Nam, Vietnam

Opening hours: 7.30am - 6.30pm

Best Downtown Hidden Gem - Hy - Vietnamese Restaurant in Hội An

Hỷ is the kind of place that rewards the curious. Take the little alleyway just behind the Japanese Bridge and you'll find it sitting quietly beside the river — one street back from the tourist bustle, but with all the gorgeous Hội An riverfront energy you came for.

This was the first place I had banh xeo where the staff actually showed me how to eat it properly. I don't think our waiter spoke any English, so he walked me through the whole thing in pantomime, using a tissue as a prop. Somehow it worked perfectly. Vietnamese food often feels like it should come with an instruction manual — and banh xeo absolutely does — but this was a much better way to learn.

If you're after a quiet dinner downtown without the crowds, this is exactly where to go.

Location: 10/15 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, Phường Minh An, Hội An, Quảng Nam 51000, Vietnam

Hours: 10am to 10pm

Honourable Mentions

I didn’t visit these places, but they were recommended to me several times. So please visit and let me know what you think.

Jeremy’s Desserts

I love the Sniff cookies. But there were people who corrected me every time I said they were the best cookies. I was repeatedly told that Jeremy’s cookies were better. Unfortunately, every time I tried to order them, they were sold out. So this place is high on my list for next time I’m in town.

Tok

This looked like such an incredible restaurant. If you’re looking for a restaurant for a celebration and don’t mind not being in Ancient Town, then this should be your spot. Everything on the menu looks great, especially the roasted cauliflower.