Seafood is what Vung Tau does best. The fishing fleet in Front Beach harbour lands prawns, crabs, squid, snails, and clams that arrive at the city's restaurants the same day. The strip behind Back Beach is the obvious place to head — a long line of seafood places where you pick from tanks at the front and they cook to order: chargrilled tiger prawns with salt-and-chilli, steamed crab with green peppercorns, snails sautéed with coconut milk.
The local speciality is bánh khọt — small turmeric-yellow rice-flour cups topped with a single prawn, eaten wrapped in lettuce and herbs with sweet fish sauce. The most famous place is Bánh Khọt Gốc Vú Sữa on Nguyễn Trường Tộ Street, but every neighbourhood has its own version.
For breakfast, look for bánh canh ghẹ — thick noodle soup with crab.