Discover the Top 16 Most Famous Local Dishes in Con Dao

Moon Crab is a rather unique type of crab, usually found at depths of 3 to 4 meters in coral reefs. On its shell, there are vivid circles of deep red mixed with bright pink, resembling the moon. Hence, it's called the moon crab. Another interesting point to explain that name is during full moons, the crab meat seems even more flavorful.

The meat of the moon crab is delicious, fragrant, and firm, completely different from the soft flesh of other crab species. Therefore, never miss the opportunity to savor this unique specialty if you visit Con Dao.

3. Sea Hau Sauce

Sea Hau Sauce stands out as the most renowned delicacy of Con Dao, the next gem Mytour wishes to unveil to you. This dipping sauce is crafted from sea hau, a marine creature inhabiting the rocky shores around Con Dao's islets.

For the locals of Con Dao, sea hau sauce is an indispensable condiment in their daily meals. Sometimes, it takes the spotlight as the main dish on the dining table during rough sea days. As for tourists visiting Con Dao, they often carry sea hau sauce back to the mainland as gifts for their loved ones.

Though a newly emerged specialty of Con Dao, sea hau sauce, with its distinct oceanic flavor, has already secured a significant spot in the islanders' lives.

4. Red Grouper

Red Grouper ranks among the most renowned delicacies of Con Dao. Red grouper is quite rare and expensive. However, as the saying goes, 'you get what you pay for,' almost all parts of this red grouper can be crafted into delicious dishes, making them extremely appetizing.

The red grouper of Con Dao features white, firm, and aromatic flesh, making it perfect for sauces and salads. According to a certain country's belief, this red grouper symbolizes luck, especially during the beginning of the year. If you are treated to a dish of red grouper by the host, you are undoubtedly an esteemed guest. When visiting Con Dao, don't forget to indulge in the delicious dishes prepared from this specialty fish!

5. Sun-Dried Squid

Sun-Dried Squid refers to a type of squid dried under one round of sunlight, ensuring the exterior is completely dry while the interior remains fresh. This sun-dried squid is a delicious specialty, 100% pure, that you shouldn't miss when visiting Con Dao. Sun-dried squid has a milky white color, even size, thick flesh, and an enticing aroma. Con Dao squids are caught at night, ensuring they are fresh and carefully selected for their size and uniformity to create premium sun-dried squid, full-bodied.

This Con Dao specialty is not too expensive, starting from 300,000 VND, you can enjoy it or buy it as a gift for the mainland.

6. Red Lobster

Red Lobster is not unfamiliar, but the red lobsters in Con Dao are truly exceptional. This is one of the most famous and enticing specialties of Con Dao that attracts many tourists.

The meat of red lobsters in Con Dao is very firm, crunchy, sweet, and resilient to every tiny bite. Moreover, this species of red lobster also has an extremely enticing layer of coral inside. The coral on the lobster's body is formed into a golden strip on its back and a large patch on its head.

In addition to enjoying the lobster meat, the lobster coral with its sweet, creamy flavor will undoubtedly easily conquer even the most discerning guests.

7. Goby Salad

Goby Salad is one of the most famous and enticing specialties of Con Dao that attracts many tourists. This dish is a fusion of many different unique flavors.

The soft and fragrant taste of fresh fish meat combined with numerous natural spices such as starfruit leaves, coriander, ginseng, starfruit, green bananas, pineapples, and star fruits, rolled in a layer of rice paper. All are dipped in a dark red, spicy, sour, and fragrant sauce, creating a distinctive flavor for Goby Salad in Con Dao that cannot be found anywhere else.

If you want your fish piece to be more flavorful, you can pour the sauce over the fish meat before rolling it with vegetables. This way, the goby salad will be much richer in flavor.

8. Fermented Nhum Fish

Fermented Nhum Fish is a type of fish sauce made from nhum, a marine animal belonging to the mollusk family, related to clams and oysters, living in rocky coastal areas with warm water currents. Nhum is also known as sea urchins or sea hedgehogs because they have a round body, many sharp spines, and are easily breakable.

The meat of nhum is processed by locals into various dishes, such as stewing, braising with eggs... but the best is still making fish sauce. Fermented Nhum Fish has a rich, cloudy red color, with a fragrant aroma. The sweet taste of nhum meat spreads along with the salty taste of the sea, the sourness, the richness, and the umami flavor, all blending together to create a seductive fish sauce.

9. Candied Bàng Seeds

Candied Bàng Seeds is a unique specialty in Con Dao, seemingly rarely found elsewhere. Candied Bàng Seeds are made from the seeds of the natural bàng fruit. Although called candied, in reality, these are bàng seeds roasted with salt or sugar, quite similar to salted or sugared peanuts that we often enjoy.

Candied Bàng Seeds is one of the most famous and enticing specialties of Con Dao. This unique specialty gift bearing the distinct mark of Con Dao attracts many tourists.

10. Elephant Ear Snail

Con Dao Elephant Ear Snail resembles an elephant's ear, and is very large, up to 10kg each. To get delicious snail meat, you need specialized tools to remove the shell because the snail shell is very hard. Due to its large size with two shells overlapping each other just like an elephant's ear, this soft-bodied animal is called Elephant Ear Snail. Elephant Ear Snails belong to the group of snails with the largest size among marine snail species, with a shape similar to an elephant's ear.

After opening the snail shell, you will find large snail meat inside. When cooked, Elephant Ear Snail meat is very crispy and fragrant, producing a crunchy sound almost like chewing cartilage. The white Elephant Ear Snail meat is very crispy and chewy. Therefore, this type of snail can be cooked in many delicious ways such as grilling, steaming, porridge, stir-frying with garlic butter... According to fishermen's experience, Elephant Ear Snails weighing about 1kg are the most delicious.

Elephant Ear Snails are processed into many delicious and nutritious dishes such as porridge, spicy garlic butter stir-fried Elephant Ear Snails, blind dipping Elephant Ear Snails, steamed Elephant Ear Snails... all dishes are delicious and memorable for tourists visiting Con Dao. Meanwhile, Elephant Ear Snail shells are used to create handicrafts or decorative items for the home.

Catching Elephant Ear Snails is not easy because they usually live clinging to underwater rocky areas or inhabit in coral reefs. The food of Elephant Ear Snails is small organisms or plankton. Elephant Ear Snails are very good for human health as they contain many nutrients such as vitamin A, C, iron, zinc, calcium, and unsaturated fatty acids. This species of snail is also quite rare, so if you're lucky, you might get to enjoy them!

11. Razor Clam

Razor clam, also known as sea worm, is a marine creature commonly found in the sandy pools of Con Dao. Similar to squid or many other types of sea fish, it can be processed and dried for long-term use.

Razor clam specialty is used as the main ingredient to create various delicious dishes such as razor clam salad, razor clam soup, porridge, or sweet and sour stir-fried razor clam... Especially renowned is the grilled razor clam with lime pepper dipping sauce - a dish that every tourist visiting Con Dao admires. Grilled razor clam will allow you to fully experience the crispiness, richness, and slightly chewy texture of this dish.

Con Dao is a land blessed by nature with pristine beauty, magnificence, and the diversity of indigenous flora and fauna. Thanks to the abundant natural ingredients, the locals have created many dishes with distinctive flavors for the region. Among them are dishes like moon crab, nipple snail, bang seed jam, sun-dried tuna, fermented stingray,... but perhaps Con Dao horseshoe crab porridge is the most widely spread rumor among tourists when visiting this 'resort paradise.'

Con Dao horseshoe crab porridge is a long-standing popular dish made from delicious fresh sea horseshoe crabs and rice from the countryside. The cooking method is extremely simple because the main ingredients, the crabs, are already rich in nutrients, making it easy to create a nutritious and famous dish. After the crabs are caught, they are cleaned, marinated with spices, and stir-fried to absorb the flavors. When the porridge is cooked, just add the crabs and season to taste. The dish, seemingly easy for anyone to make, however, Con Dao horseshoe crab porridge has its own distinctive characteristics that cannot be confused with other local dishes.

After a day exploring the sacred land and experiencing the recreational activities in Con Dao, eating a bowl of horseshoe crab porridge at the Con Dao market provides enough energy and nourishment to continue the journey, making it a perfect choice for everyone.

Con Dao Horseshoe Crab Porridge, steaming hot with a fragrant aroma, refreshing sweetness of the crab meat, soft porridge accompanied by a hint of pepper, cilantro, and purple onions. The dish has the ability to impress even the most discerning and gourmet travelers. Any tourist who has tried it once will want to return for more to enjoy all the finest, most wonderful aspects of the cuisine.

Golden crab resembles field crab but smaller, the largest size is the size of a big toe, the crab body is brownish-purple, similar to the color of wine. Perhaps that's why they are called golden crabs. If you have the opportunity to travel to Con Dao, don't forget to enjoy the golden crab stir-fried with tamarind, dipped in salt and pepper lime. The crispy, fragrant, and delicious taste of this unusual dish will make you want to eat more...

The people of Con Dao often catch golden crabs on rainy nights. The new burrows with a diameter of about a thumb are the homes of newly returning golden crabs, people just need to use their hands to pick the crabs out and put them in a basket. Golden crabs, though small, are delicious, and can be cooked into many dishes such as: boiled golden crab dipped in salt and pepper lime, golden crab cooked with vermicelli, cooked with porridge, stir-fried with salt…

Sweet Seashells are sea snails living along the coast (similar to freshwater rice snails), with thick, tough shells with rough veins, grayish-green in color, and without a lip. Sweet seashells appear in two water cycles each month, moving away from the beach during high tides and clinging to rocky crevices when the water recedes. Locals wait for the tide to recede to catch these seashells. There are two ways to prepare sweet seashells: making salad and boiling with green pepper salt dip. Regardless of the cooking method, the flavor remains fragrant and distinctive, unlike any other type of snail.

If you visit Con Dao once, you can buy this type of snail at the market for 25,000 VND per kilogram to prepare at home. Surely, this flavor will be unforgettable.

Sun-Dried Tuna is a unique specialty of Con Dao. It would be a great miss if you travel to Con Dao without choosing this delicacy as a gift for your loved ones. Because there is nowhere else that can prepare such a unique flavor

According to seafood processing facilities in Con Dao, after catching, tunas weighing from 3-7kg are brought ashore, processed by fishermen, sliced ​​into pieces about 2.5-3cm thick, soaked in diluted saltwater for about 2 hours to give the fish a rich flavor. Then the fish is removed to drain, and then taken out to sun-dry. On sunny days, it takes only 5-7 hours for the fish to dry.

Each piece of fish, dried under the bright sun by the sea, helps preserve the flavor, sweetness, and richness of the fish. Sun-Dried Tuna in Con Dao does not have the fishy smell of fresh fish, nor is it as tough as dried fish. It's all thanks to the perfect combination of the freshness of fresh fish with the rich saltiness of dried fish. All of this results in an unforgettable flavor, bursting with taste.

According to Con Dao travel experience, if you come here and really don't want to enjoy various seafood, you can consider and choose broken rice with grilled pork rib, an extremely delicious, safe, and famous dish in Con Dao.

The attraction of this dish is the marinated pork rib, grilled to perfection, fragrant, tender, and piping hot. In addition, the rice comes with fragrant and tender pork skin, sunny-side-up eggs, pork skin cracklings, pork floss, and egg meatloaf, which make tourists exclaim in admiration. Served with broken rice is a bowl of sweet and sour fish sauce along with pickled radish. The taste is very distinctive, unlike many other places. If you have the opportunity to travel here, then you must try this dish.