Dinner at Morning Glory Restaurant in Hoi An

5 March 2026

We went to the Morning Glory Restaurant for our first dinner at Hoi An Ancient Town. I remembered eating at the already famous and popular Morning Glory Restaurant during my first visit to Hoi An in 2017. In fact, the food was so good that we ate there twice.

Located in the heart of the old town, the Morning Glory Restaurant at that time was operated by Ms Vy who also runs a cooking school. This restaurant offers gourmet Vietnamese dining experience within the ancient town. The menu is extensive, prices are slightly higher than what you could expect in Hoi An but the food is value for money.

The restaurant is named after “morning glory“ or “water spinach”, which is one of the most common vegetables consumed in Vietnam. In South East Asia, the vegetable is known as “kangkong” and is a popular dish where the tender shoots along with the leaves are stir fried with garlic and sambal belacan. This plant is resilient, thrive in muddy waters and very easy to grow.

Like the plant itself, Morning Glory has thrived and grown. There is now 4 Morning Glory Restaurants within the old town. The one I went to previously is now named Morning Glory Original, still focusing on authentic Vietnamese cuisine. The newer stores includes Morning Glory Signature, co-located with Morning Glory Lounge Bar and Restaurant that features modern Vietnamese cuisine and live music in the bar, and Morning Glory Countryside highlighting the charm of the countryside.

Map showing the locations and addresses of each Morning Glory restaurants in Hoi An.

On this trip, we went to the newer Morning Glory Signature Restaurant, located just next to the river. Although we did not make any reservations, we had no problem getting seated immediately. We were seated on the 2nd floor of the two-storey house.

Our travel group of 4 couples seated at the 2nd floor of Morning Glory Signature Restaurant.

It is advantageous to dine in a large group of 8 .We could order a larger variety of dishes to share. 

On this night, we ordered the chicken curry, banh xeo, grilled half chicken, tofu, squid, prawn salad, beef rice an of course morning glory stir-fried with garlic.

Crispy Banh Xeo with pork skewers and delicious peanut sauce.

Pomelo salad with prawn and pork.

Mango and squid. 

Tofu dish.

Grilled half chicken with rice. Surprising tender chicken.

Vietnamese curry chicken with local vegetables served with steamed white rice and baguette to dip into the curry sauce. The curry taste sweeter than what we are used to. But still delicious. 

Beef with fried rice. This was the only disappointing dish.

Morning Glory or kangkong as it is called in South East Asia, stir fried with garlic and chilli.

The local beer is extremely cheap and is a must try.

The local beer such as the Huda and Larue is extremely cheap but is quite light in taste. The Larue looks like the  stronger tasting Singapore’s Tiger beer but is actually named after a Frenchman, Victor Larue. It is a Vietnamese lager brand, originally brewed in 1909 by a Frenchman, Victor Larue, It is currently owned by Heineken Vietnam.

Overall, the food was delicious but rather pricey compared to what we had for lunch.

We also went to check out the night views from the roof terrace. Since the restaurant is located by the Thu Bon River, we could see the busy streetscape below. Hoi An seemed to be more crowded than before.

View of the Hoi An riverside from the terrace of the restaurant.

Every night, Hoi An glows with thousands of silk lanterns, especially along the river banks. Visitors can ride boats on the river and release candle-lit paper lanterns for good luck but I find the practice not good for the environment. 

Boats waiting for passengers at the riverbank.

We walked around riverfront a bit to enjoy the vibes before meeting the driver of our chartered van to take us back to Hoiana New World Hotel. We will have more time to explore the old town the next day.

The iconic Japanese Covered Bridge still stands strong. This landmark actually features on the 20,000 VND banknote.

Interesting name for a cafe/restaurant. Beware of the coffee.

Shop selling the iconic Hoi An lanterns.

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Our Stay at New World Hoiana Hotel in Hoi An

5 and 6 March 2026

A visit to Da Nang must include a few nights stay at Hoi An, located approximately 25 to 30 kilometers southeast of Da Nang city center. Hoi An is an old trading port in Southern Vietnam, with well-preserved buildings that reflects both indigenous and foreign cultures, especially Chinese, Japanese and later European. The famed UNESCO World Heritage ancient town features exceptionally preserved 15th-century buildings, lantern-lit streets at night, unique local cuisine, interesting cafes and riverside shops.

In my previous visit to Hoi An, I stayed 4 nights in a boutique guesthouse within walking distance to the ancient town. In this trip with my friends, we stayed two nights in the more luxurious Hoiana Integrated Resort set on a secluded stretch of Vietnam’s central coast just south of the Hoi An's Cua Dai estuary.

Hoiana opened in 2020 as a world-class integrated resort featuring championship golf, luxury accommodations, and state-of-the-art entertainment facilities.

The integrated resort consists of several hotels:

• Hoiana Hotel & Suites

• New World Hoiana Beach Resort

• New World Hoiana Hotel

• Hoiana Residences

We stayed at New World Hoiana Hotel but could use the facilities within the integrated resort. There is free buggy service so travelling within the integrated resort was pretty convenient. Most times, we chose to walk between the hotels and the beach.

Layout of Hoiana Integrated Resort in Hoi An.

        

Getting there from Da Nang

It took us about an hour’s drive to get to Hoiana from Da Nang city center. Although the distance is less than 30 km, the speed limit on the single lane coastal road is low and the driver of our chartered van was careful.  

Once there, checking in was fast. Our luggage was handled by the hotel staff and brought to our rooms.

Spacious lobby in New World Hoiana Hotel.

View of the swimming pool and restaurant where we had our breakfast as viewed from the lobby.

Nicely lit at night.

Decent sized and well appointed rooms in this luxury hotel. 

View from my room. The hotel is quite isolated. Guests had to dine within the hotel’s many restaurants or take a short trip to the ancient town.

Casino

One of the highlights of staying in Hoiana is their casino. Actually not for me but my travelling companions loves visiting casinos at Genting Highlands in Malaysia. So the first thing we did was to take a short walk to the casino, located in Hoiana Hotel & Suites. 

The casino is located at the Hoiana Hotel & Suites. 

To enter the casino, we had to sign up as a member. There was a promotion for new sign ups during the month of March.

We are to choose one of the following freebies for new members.

We were each issued a personal membership card that is used to pass through the gantry at the entrance of the casino. This card is also used as a cash card at the slot machines. Each card was also loaded with free USD20 credit that we had chosen.

In my previous visit to Macao (another place with plenty of casinos), we stayed clear of the casinos due to cigarette smoke. On this visit, there was only slight smell of cigarette smoke as the casino was not very crowded when we visited. The interior of this casino was quite nice with crystal chandeliers, many gaming tables and more than 200 slot machines.

We used the credits to introduce ourselves to playing the slot machines and roulette. Free flow of drinks and beer are provided for the players at the slot machines and tables.

We did not spend too much time in casino as we planned to go to the Hoi An ancient town for dinner in the evening although there are some nice and probably pricey restaurants in the resort.

One of the fancy restaurants in the resort.

Breakfast and morning at the beach.

Our stay at Hoiana included daily buffet breakfast at Aroma Restaurant, an all-day dining restaurant located on the ground floor of the New World Hoiana Hotel. The buffet spread is good, including pho at the noodle station and pastries. The highlight for me was the classic butter croissants in the pastries section. 

It was raining while we had breakfast on the first morning but fortunately the rain stopped by 10.30AM and we could take a walk to the resort’s private beach.

There was no one there at the beach, except us and a lifeguard stationed on the beach. A red flag fluttering on the flagpole warned that sea activity and swimming is not allowed.

The friendly and probably very bored lifeguard offered to help us take photos. He did a great job, recommending the best shots and best pose for us. 

 

The Edge – infinity pool and bar

Another recommended place to visit within the resort is the infinity pool and bar located on the 16th floor of the Hoiana Hotel & Suites. We could enjoy the sea breeze and excellent views of the coast. This is a good place to chill till it was time for our next activity.

Hoiana Hotel & Suites as seen from the beach.

View from the 16th floor of Hoiana Hotel & Suites.

Chilling on the swings and nest chairs until it is time to go for our coconut boat ride and visit to Hoi An ancient town. 

Swinging nest chairs.

Infinity Pool. It started raining again when we left.

Coconut Boat Ride

One of Hoi An’s popular tourist activities is to the coconut boat tour and there are many operators offering this activity in the Bay Mau area, just north of the Cua Dai Estuary and 5 minutes drive away by private van from our hotel.

I will describe more about our adventures on coconut boats and afternoon in Hoi An Ancient Town in a separate post.

Entertainment Hub 

Besides visiting the casino on both nights, some of us went to check out the Entertainment Hub. It is located at Lower Ground Floor of Hoiana Residences and opens from 10:00 AM till 2:00 AM. This place offers bowling, pool, karaoke, arcade games, virtual golf, sports bar and games zones.

  Large TV screens showing live sports at the bar.

Mini putt – 9 Holes.

The staff manning the place is quite friendly. She allowed one of my friends to try the virtual golf machine.

Cyber Golf Lounge

Overall, Hoiana is a nice place to stay while visiting Hoi An. The only downside is that it requires a 20 minutes drive to get to the ancient town. The hotel provides free shuttle services to and from the old town (and also the Da Nang International Airport) but the service runs on a fixed schedule and requires prior reservation. For us, we had booked a private van with driver to ferry us to and from the old town during our stay.

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Lunch at An Thoi Restaurant in Da Nang

5 March 2026

We had our first taste of authentic Vietnamese food in an excellent restaurant in downtown Da Nang right after our arrival by Vietjet Air from Singapore. Our friends, who organised this trip, had dined at this restaurant before and told us this is a must-try restaurant when in Da Nang.

An Thoi is a two-storey restaurant in a shop-house with a blue and yellow façade. The restaurant is situated in the Old Town area, overlooking the Han River. Google Map Location here.

Due to its popularity, this Michelin awarded restaurant is always busy. Be prepared to wait, as they do not accept reservations

Even though we arrived at 2.30 PM, past the peak lunch time hours, there was a queue at the entrance.

8 hungry souls waiting for a table outside An Thoi Restaurant.

The queue is orderly and systematic. The highly trained, customer oriented staff will give a ticket with your queue number and update the queuing status on a flipchart.

Simple but effective queue tracking system.

Plastic chairs and large umbrellas made the wait more comfortable. The staff even offered complimentary bottles of cold water to those in the queue.

Since we came during non-peak dining hours, we only waited for about 20 minutes. It could be up to 1 hour during peak time. However, my friend who recommended this restaurant assured us it was well worth the wait! Let’s see.

We were seated upstairs, on a long table for our group of 8. The interiors were nicely decorated and air-conditioned. Artificial windows on the wall together with artificial plants and bamboo-weaved lanterns hanging from the ceilings gave an al-fresco dining vibes.

The An Thoi menu features a wonderful selection of local Vietnamese cuisine, including seafood. It was good that we were a fairly large group and could order a variety of cuisine to share.

These were what we ordered: 

8 pieces of grilled oysters with scallions and peanuts for 139,000 VND.

8 pieces of grilled scallops with cheese for 175,000 VND. 4 pieces had been taken by the time the plate came to me for the photo!

2 x Banh Xeo or crispy Vietnamese pancakes with rice paper, sliced mangos, herbs and dipping sauces.  The savory pancake was filled with shrimps, pork, and bean sprouts

How to eat the Banh Xeo:

• Place the lettuce on a sheet of dry or slightly damp rice paper.
• Add fresh herbs like the sliced mango, bean sprouts,
• Add a piece of the hot, crispy pancake on top of the lettuce.
• Roll the rice paper into a tight cylinder. Dip the roll into the sauce before eating.

The lazy ones could just take a piece of the pancake, add the herbs and veggies onto the plate with the pancake, mix a little of the dipping sauce and eat it like that.

Goi Cuon or Vietnamese spring rolls with dipping sauce for 115,000 VND.

Cha Gio or Vietnamese fried spring rolls for 135,000 VND.

Banh Hoa Hong Trang or Hoi An White Rose Dumplings for 109,000 VND. These steamed, translucent dumplings shaped to look like rose petals are filled with savory minced shrimp and pork, topped with crispy shallots, and served with a special dipping sauce.

2 x Pineapple seafood fried rice for 129,000 VND. The rice is served in a half pineapple. The friendly and “ever-happy-to-serve” staff even cut the pineapple into cubes for our dessert after our meal. 

We also had a pomelo salad for 165,000 VND which were devoured by the hungry souls before I could I get a photo!

For drinks, the gents in the group had the local Vietnamese beer. They were really cheap but not that good. The ladies had the fresh coconuts which were cheap and good. Fresh coconut imprinted with the restaurant’s logo.

The staff split the coconuts for us and provided spoons to scrap the white fleshy parts inside.

All of the dishes we tried at An Thoi were delicious and we all agreed that we should eat here again. There is so much more in the menu that we had not tried.

Entrance to the Han Market.

The restaurant is conveniently located next to the Han Market, so those who like shopping can couple a visit to this excellent restaurant with a visit to the market that offers a large range of high quality but faked branded goods.

Alternatively, go take a walk along the promenade by the Han River in front of the restaurant.

Sculptures decorate the waterside by the Han River.

We did not have time to do the above or explore Da Nang on this day. After lunch, we made an hour long journey to Hoi An, where we would stay for the next 2 nights.

But we will be back!

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