What to Eat in Cat Ba: Seafood and Local Dishes

Cat Ba is a fishing island, and almost every meal here starts at the harbor. Mantis shrimp, clams, squid and grouper come off the boats each morning, and Hai Phong's famous noodle soups and stick bread fill in the gaps. Here's what to eat in Cat Ba, where to find it and what it should cost.

Updated October 2026.

1. What is Cat Ba food known for?

Seafood, first and last. Cat Ba sits on the Gulf of Tonkin, and the island's restaurants serve what the local boats and fish farms bring in that day. Most places keep live seafood in tanks out front. You choose, they weigh it and cook it the way you ask: grilled, steamed, stir-fried with garlic or roasted with salt and chili.

Cat Ba also belongs to Hai Phong, a city with a strong food identity of its own. That's why you'll find Hai Phong's crab noodle soup and its skinny spiced baguettes in Cat Ba Town alongside the seafood.

2. Seafood to try in Cat Ba

These are the dishes locals point visitors toward first. Seasons shift a little each year, so ask what's best that week.

2.1. Mantis shrimp

Called be be in Vietnamese, mantis shrimp are the island's signature catch. The flesh is firm and sweet, a little like lobster. The classic way to eat them is roasted with salt and chili, but they're also good with tamarind sauce or steamed with beer. Peeling them takes practice, so ask the staff to show you. They're usually at their best from spring into summer.

2.2. Tu hai clams

Tu hai is a large clam with a long siphon, often translated as geoduck or elephant trunk clam. The meat is sweet and crunchy, and it's at its best grilled with scallion oil, steamed or cooked into rice porridge. Local sources put its peak season from around September to March.

2.3. Grouper

Grouper, or ca song, is the fish to order for a group meal. It has rich, slightly crisp skin and firm white flesh. You'll see it steamed, grilled, cooked into hotpot or rice porridge, or served raw as a salad. Wild fish costs more, so ask what you're getting.

2.4. Squid and cuttlefish

Cat Ba squid is known for firm, sweet flesh with very little fishy taste. Order it grilled with lemongrass, stir-fried with vegetables or simply steamed with ginger. Cat Ba Market also sells squid sausage. Cuttlefish is said to be at its fattest from September to November.

2.5. Crab

Blue crab and green crab are both easy to find, usually steamed and served with salt, pepper and lime for dipping. Crabs are fullest in the cooler months, with local sources citing September to February as the peak season for sea crab. Look for heavy crabs with firm shells.

2.6. Oysters, clams and sea snails

The cheapest way to eat well in Cat Ba is a table of shellfish. Grilled oysters topped with scallion oil and crushed peanuts, clams steamed with lemongrass and plates of sea snails with dipping sauces turn up on almost every menu. They're ideal with a cold local beer at sunset.

3. Local dishes and street food

You don't need a big seafood budget to eat well in Cat Ba. These Hai Phong and island staples cost very little.

3.1. Banh da cua

Banh da cua is Hai Phong's best-known dish: reddish-brown rice noodles in a broth made from pounded freshwater crab, topped with crab paste, prawns, fish cakes, beef wrapped in betel leaves and water spinach. It's a classic breakfast. Look for it at small noodle stalls and around the market in the morning.

3.2. Banh mi que

Unlike the stuffed baguettes of Hanoi or Saigon, Hai Phong's banh mi que is a thin stick of bread spread with pork pâté and brushed with chili sauce, then crisped over charcoal. It's a snack rather than a meal, so order two or three. It's cheap, fast and very good with a coffee.

3.3. Nem cua be

These crab spring rolls are a Hai Phong specialty. The filling mixes crab meat, minced pork, egg, mushrooms, bean sprouts, carrot and glass noodles, wrapped in rice paper and deep-fried until crisp. They're often served with fish sauce from nearby Cat Hai Island.

3.4. Shrimp noodle soup

Bowls of noodle soup with fresh shrimp, sometimes thickened with crab paste, are a common lunch in Cat Ba. They're filling, cheap and a good way to taste local seafood without ordering by the kilo.

See also: 15 Best Things to Do on Cat Ba Island

4. Should you eat horseshoe crab?

We'd suggest skipping it. You may see horseshoe crab on menus in Cat Ba, but a similar-looking mangrove species contains a dangerous toxin, tetrodotoxin, and Vietnam's Ministry of Health banned it as food in 2015 after a series of poisonings. The two are easy to confuse once cooked. Horseshoe crab populations are also under pressure, and the tri-spine horseshoe crab is listed as Endangered.

5. Where to eat in Cat Ba

You have three main choices: the market, restaurants in town and the floating restaurants on the bay.

5.1. Cat Ba Market

Cat Ba Market sits in the middle of town, a short walk from the waterfront. The seafood section is busiest early, roughly 6 to 9 a.m., when boats unload. You can buy seafood by the kilo and have a nearby restaurant cook it for a small fee, often around VND 30,000–50,000 per kilo. Agree the price before anything goes on the scale. Wear shoes you don't mind getting wet.

5.2. Seafood restaurants in Cat Ba Town

Most seafood restaurants line the waterfront and the side streets behind it. Expect tanks of live seafood at the entrance and menus priced by weight. Parts of the waterfront have been under construction in recent years, so the quieter side streets are often more pleasant.

5.3. Floating restaurants at Cai Beo

Cai Beo fishing village, about 1.5 kilometers from Cat Ba Town, still has floating restaurants on rafts among the fish farms. It's a five-minute boat ride from Ben Beo Pier. The setting is the draw. Prices can be higher than in town, so confirm the price per kilo, the weight and the boat fare before you order.

See also: Sea Restaurant

6. How much does food cost in Cat Ba?

Prices rise in summer and on weekends. These 2026 ranges are a guide only:

• Banh mi: Around VND 25,000–35,000.
• Pho or noodle soup: Around VND 30,000–50,000 a bowl.
• Local rice or noodle meal: Around VND 60,000–100,000 per person.
• Seafood dinner in a restaurant: Around VND 200,000–400,000 per person.
• Mantis shrimp: Around VND 250,000–350,000 per kilo in restaurants.
• Local beer: Around VND 15,000–30,000 a bottle.

7. What food can you take home?

The best souvenirs from Cat Ba are edible:

• Cat Hai fish sauce: Made from anchovies and fermented for a year or more on Cat Hai Island, next to Cat Ba.
• Dried squid: Sold by the kilo at the market. Prices vary a lot with size and quality.
• Sun-dried fish: Lightly dried mackerel and other fish, ready to grill at home.
• Wild honey: Collected from Cat Ba's forests and sold at the market and small shops.

Check your home country's customs rules before packing seafood or honey.

8. Good to know

• Agree before you order: Ask the price per kilo and watch the seafood being weighed.
• Cash: Small restaurants and market stalls usually want Vietnamese dong.
• Freshness: Choose seafood that's alive in the tank, and eat shellfish where turnover is high.
• Night market: From around May to September, a waterfront night market runs roughly 6 to 10 p.m., with street food stalls.
• Allergies: Fish sauce and shrimp paste appear in many dishes. Say so clearly if you're allergic.

9. FAQs about what to eat in Cat Ba

Knowing what to eat in Cat Ba comes down to two things: order the local seafood in season, and fill the gaps with Hai Phong's noodle soups and stick bread. Agree prices before you order and you'll eat very well for very little.

At Flamingo Cat Ba Sea & Sand Resort, the bay's catch comes to your table. Sea Restaurant on the 1st floor of the Sea tower serves Vietnamese, Asian and seafood dishes from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Higher up, Lan Ha Restaurant on the 17th floor offers an international à la carte menu, and Lan Ha Sky Bar pours sunset drinks high above Lan Ha Bay.

Photo: Vuong Tri Binh, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.