Cat Ba Island is a perfect destination for budget travelers as plenty of affordable accommodations can be found on this scenic island in Northern Vietnam. When it comes to eating and drinking, Cat Ba food and drink prices shouldn’t break your budget as well.
For getting a better idea about how much food and drinks on Cat Ba Island cost, let’s go through menus of several local restaurants where we were having our meals recently. How much did we pay for this dinner in Cat Ba? The answer can be found at the end of the article!
Cat Ba Food Prices
Breakfast
If you will prefer local style breakfast which is normally just a baguette with some meat sold by vendors on the street, it can cost you just 20,000 VND or even less. Breakfast at local restaurants is a bit more expensive but still much cheaper than you would pay for such a meal back home. Several breakfast options:
- Banana, Mango or Pineapple pancakes – 35,000 VND
- Banana, Mango or Pineapple pancakes with egg – 45,000 VND
- Banana, Mango or Pineapple pancakes with butter or chocolate – 40,000 VND
- Breakfast set of fried eggs, sausage, vegetables and baguette – 40,000 VND
- Cheese omelet with vegetables and baguette – 45,000 VND
Noodle Soup – Pho
Vietnamese noodle soup Pho is one of the most popular local dishes around the country, including Cat Ba Island. The price of Pho normally depends on the chosen type of meat and the size of the portion. At one of the restaurants Pho prices were the following but it’s not difficult to find price lower than that:
- Vegetable noodle soup (Pho Rau) – 20,000 VND
- Chicken, beef or pork noodle soup (Pho Ga, Pho Bo, Pho Thit Lon) – 30,000-40,000 VND
- Fish noodle soup (Pho Ca) – 50,000 VND
- Shrimp noodle soup (Pho Tom) – 60,000 VND
- Crab noodle soup (Pho Ghe) – 70,000 VND
- Mixed seafood noodle soup (Pho Hai San) – 80,000 VND
Soups
Traditional Vietnamese soups don’t end with Pho and normally you can find various options on the menu such as:
- Chicken and vegetable soup – 40,000 VND
- Beef and vegetable soup – 50,000 VND
- Egg and tomato soup – 40,000 VND
- Pork, egg and tomato soup – 60,000 VND
- Chicken, egg and vegetable soup – 60,000 VND
- Pork and vegetable soup – 40,000 VND
- Shrimp and vegetable soup – 50,000 VND
- Fish and vegetable soup – 40,000 VND
- Crab and vegetable soup – 70,000 VND
- Seafood soup – 100,000 VND
- Shrimp soup – 60,000 VND
- Fish soup – 50,000 VND
- Crab soup – 100,000 VND
- Oyster soup – 80,000 VND
Spring Rolls
Fried, steamed or fresh spring rolls is another popular dish in Vietnam. On Cat Ba Island spring rolls filled with various types of seafood are especially popular and cost the following:
- Vegetable spring rolls – 40,000 VND
- Spring rolls with chicken or other meat – 50,000 VND
- Mixed spring rolls – 70,000 VND
- Spring rolls with shrimps – 60,000 VND
- Spring rolls with crab meat – 70,000 VND
- Crab and shrimp spring rolls – 80,000 VND
- Seafood spring rolls – 90,000 VND
- Steamed spring rolls – 70,000 VND
- Fresh vegetable spring rolls – 40,000 VND
- Fresh pork, chicken, shrimp, squid spring rolls – 50,000 VND
- Fresh beef spring rolls – 60,000 VND
Salads
Vegetable and fruit salads:
- Fresh cucumber, tomato or carrot salad – 30,000 VND
- Fresh mixed salad – 40,000 VND
- Fruit salad (pineapple, banana, mango) – 50,000 VND
- Fruit salad with yoghurt – 60,000 VND
Main Courses
Some of main courses prepared the local way:
- Fried beef with garlic / garlic lemon sauce / tomato sauce / sweet and sour sauce / pineapple garlic – 130,000 VND
- Grilled beef with lemon sauce, ginger and garlic – 150,000 VND
- Squid (grilled / fried battered / steamed with lemon grass and ginger / sautéed with celery, garlic and onion) with rice – 95,000 VND
- Clams (steamed with lemon grass and chili / sautéed with lemon grass and chili / with tamarind sauce / with sweet and sour sauce) with rice – 60,000 VND
- Oysters (grilled with garlic, butter sauce / grilled with onion grease / grilled with cheese) with ice – 70,000 VND
Western Cuisine
Dishes of western cuisines are normally more expensive than local dishes in Cat Ba:
- Fried Spaghetti with vegetables – 60,000 VND
- Fried Spaghetti with pork, chicken, shrimps, squids, fish – 80,000 VND
- Fried Spaghetti with beef – 90,000 VND
- Mixed fried spaghetti – 100,000 VND
- Fried Spaghetti with crabs – 120,000 VND
- Fried Spaghetti with seafood – 150,000 VND
- Pizza Size S (24 cm/9.5 inch) – from 90,000 VND to 145,000 VND
- Pizza Size M (32 cm/13 inch) – from 140,000 VND to 200,000 VND
- Pizza Size L (42 cm/17 inch) – from 200,000 VND to 280,000 VND
Cat Ba Drink Prices
Drink prices at local restaurants on Cat Ba Island are also reasonable such as:
- Can of soda, Sprite, Coca-Cola or Fanta - 15,000 VND
- Small bottle of water – 10,000 VND, big bottle – 15,000 VND
- Can of Red Bull – 20,000 VND
Fresh juice
The variety of fresh juice is quite wide and prices don’t bite:
- Fresh lemon juice – 20,000 VND
- Fresh watermelon juice – 30,000 VND
- Fresh pineapple juice – 30,000 VND
- Fresh passion fruit juice – 30,000 VND
- Fresh orange juice – 40,000 VND
- Fresh coconut – 40,000 VND
Hot Drinks
Vietnamese coffee is one of highlights of the country and on Cat Ba Island you can enjoy it without breaking your budget as hot drinks at local restaurant cost the following:
- Vietnamese black or milk coffee – 20,000 VND
- Lipton tea with lemon / milk / sugar – 15,000 VND
- Vietnamese tea with lemon – 10,000 VND
- Ginger tea – 15,000 VND
- Hot chocolate – 20,000 VND
Beer
Beer is very reasonably priced in Vietnam and Cat Ba is not exclusion:
- Bottle of Heineken beer – 30,000 VND
- Bottle of Tiger beer – 20,000 VND
- Bottle of Hai Phong beer – 15,000 VND
- Bottle of Hanoi beer – 15,000 VND
- Bottle of Sai Gon beer – 20,000 VND
- Can of Bia 333 – 20,000 VND
Cat Ba Island is located nearby Haiphong, so trying the local Hai Phong beer is recommended when visiting Cat Ba.
Wine
As Da Lat wine is the most popular wine brand in Vietnam, it is also available in Cat Ba:
- Bottle of red or white Da Lat wine – 150,000 VND
- Glass of red or white Da Lat wine – 30,000 VND
Liquor
Liquor prices in Cat Ba by shot:
- Jack Daniels – 55,000 VND
- Jameson – 45,000 VND
- Johnnie Walker Red – 40,000 VND
- Tequila – 45,000 VND
- Bacardi (White & Gold) – 35,000 VND
- Smirnoff Vodka – 30,000 VND
- Gordon’s Gin – 30,000 VND
- Kahlua – 45,000 VND
- Bailey’s – 45,000 VND
- Malibu – 45,000 VND
Cocktails
Cocktails such as Caipirinha, Cuba libre, Daiquiri, Long island ice tea, Mojito and others at local restaurant in Cat Ba normally cost from 40,000 VND to 55,000 VND.
How much to spend for food in Cat Ba?
If you are planning to eat at local restaurants in Cat Ba and choose local dishes and drinks, you can expect to spend about 60,000 VND – 100,000 VND per person per meal. Our expenses on food in Cat Ba were normally about 140,000-200,000 VND per meal for 2 persons.
This is the bill of our dinner seen at the start of the article: Fried Chicken Spriiing Rolls, Fried Rice with Pork, Steamed Clams with Lemon Grass and Ginger (extremly delicious!), a can of Sprite and a bottle of local Hai Phong Beer. In total - just a bit more than 8 USD!