The Tailor, the Banh Mi, and the Lanterns: A Conversation with Minh, Hoi An Local Since Birth
Minh Nguyen is 38 years old, born in Hoi An, and runs a bicycle tour company out of a converted merchant house on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. He's watched his hometown go from a quiet fishing and trading town to one of the most visited places in Vietnam.
"When I was a kid, the old town flooded every year and nobody cared because nobody was here," he says, stirring his ca phe sua da (iced milk coffee) at a table overlooking the Thu Bon River. "Now when it floods, CNN shows up."
On the Tailoring Industry
Q: Is the tailoring in Hoi An actually good?
Some of it is excellent. Some of it is garbage. The problem is, tourists can't tell the difference until they get home and the stitching falls apart.
The good shops — BeBe, Yaly Couture, A Dong Silk — use proper construction. Canvas interfacing in suit jackets. Lined seams. Quality zippers. They've been operating for 20+ years.
The bad shops — and there are hundreds of them — use cheap fabric, skip the interfacing, and rush the work. They can make a "suit" in 12 hours. A real suit takes 48-72 hours with two fittings.
My advice: don't go for the cheapest quote. If someone offers a full suit for under 2,000,000 VND ($80), the quality will show. Budget 3,000,000-5,000,000 VND ($120-200) for a men's two-piece suit with decent fabric. And always, always do a fitting before the final pickup. Try it on, move your arms, sit down. If it pulls anywhere, they fix it on the spot.
Q: Can you get shoes made too?
Yes — Friendly Shop and Lotus Shoes do custom leather shoes. A pair of Oxford shoes: 1,200,000-2,000,000 VND ($48-80). The leather quality is good, the construction is decent for the price. Not Goodyear-welted Italian shoes, but better than most mass-produced options.
On Where to Eat
Q: Everyone talks about Banh Mi Phuong. Is it really the best?
Phuong is very good. But it's become a tourist line. I eat banh mi at Madam Khanh on Tran Cao Van Street — she's been making banh mi longer than Phuong and doesn't have a 30-person queue. Her "Queen" banh mi with pate, roast pork, fried egg, and fresh herbs is 30,000 VND ($1.20). Better than Phuong? That's a war I won't start. But she's in the conversation.
For cao lau — Hoi An's signature noodle dish — skip the tourist restaurants on Bach Dang and go to the Central Market (Cho Hoi An) on Tran Phu. The food stalls inside the market sell cao lau for 30,000-35,000 VND ($1.20-1.40). The noodles are thicker and chewier than the restaurant versions because the market vendors use the traditional preparation with water from the Ba Le Well (the only well whose water supposedly gives cao lau its correct texture).
Q: What about com ga?
Com ga Hoi An (chicken rice) at Ba Buoi on Phan Chu Trinh Street. She's been making this one dish since the 1960s. Turmeric-infused rice, shredded chicken, pickled papaya, fresh herbs, and a watery nuoc mam dipping sauce. 30,000 VND ($1.20).
The line is long at lunch. Go at 10:30AM or 1:30PM.
Q: What about the white rose dumplings?
White Rose is the name of the dish and the factory. There's literally one family in Hoi An that makes white rose dumplings — translucent rice paper filled with shrimp, steamed, and topped with crispy fried garlic. They supply every restaurant in town.
You can visit the White Rose factory (371 Hai Ba Trung Street) and watch them being made. Free entry. Buy a plate for 30,000 VND ($1.20). The factory experience is worth it — the speed at which the women shape the dumplings is mesmerizing.
On the Old Town
Q: Do locals still live in the old town?
Fewer every year. The heritage houses on Tran Phu and Nguyen Thai Hoc are being converted to shops and hotels. Families who've lived in these houses for generations are selling or renting because the tourism income is too good to pass up.
My family's house is two streets behind Tran Phu. We still live there, but half the neighbors have moved out to the new town (Cam Nam or Tan An) and rent their old town houses to businesses.
The old town ticket system (120,000 VND / $4.80 for foreigners, valid for 24 hours, includes 5 site visits) was supposed to fund preservation. And it does — the Assembly Halls and heritage houses are well-maintained. But it also means the old town is increasingly a curated experience rather than a living neighborhood.
I'm not bitter about it. Tourism feeds 80% of Hoi An's economy. But when tourists ask me "where do real people live?" I say: cross the river to Cam Nam. That's where the actual town is now.
Q: Is the full moon lantern festival worth seeing?
Absolutely. On the 14th day of each lunar month, the old town turns off electric lights and switches to candles and lanterns only. The river fills with floating paper lanterns (10,000 VND / $0.40 to buy and release one). Musicians play traditional instruments on the bridge.
It's touristy. It's crowded. And it's genuinely magical. The reflection of hundreds of colored lanterns on the river surface — you can't fake that.
Go on the actual full moon night, not the nights before or after when shops try to recreate the effect.
On What Tourists Get Wrong
Q: What's the biggest mistake visitors make?
Not going to An Bang Beach. Everyone stays in the old town and does the tailoring-food-lanterns circuit. An Bang is 4km east — a 10-minute bicycle ride or 30,000 VND ($1.20) motorbike taxi. The beach is excellent. Long, clean sand. Good swimming. Beach bars with cushions and cocktails (80,000 VND / $3.20).
Tra Que herb village is another miss. It's 3km north. You can do a farming experience — plant herbs, ride a water buffalo, learn to make spring rolls. 250,000-400,000 VND ($10-16). It sounds like a tourist trap but it's actually run by the village's farming cooperative.
Q: Any scams to watch out for?
The main one: tailor shops that promise "same fabric" as the good shops but at half the price. The fabric is not the same. If a shop shows you a fabric and says it's "Italian wool" for 1,500,000 VND a suit, it's polyester blend. Real Italian wool fabric costs more than 1,500,000 VND per meter.
Also: the sampan boat rides on the river. They should cost 50,000-100,000 VND ($2-4) for 30 minutes. Some boatmen quote 200,000-300,000 VND to tourists. Agree on the price before boarding.
Q: One thing you'd tell every visitor?
Rent a bicycle. Not a motorbike — a bicycle. Hoi An is flat, compact, and has bike lanes along the river. The best way to experience the town is at bicycle speed — slow enough to smell the food, fast enough to cover the old town, An Bang Beach, and Tra Que village in a day.
Bicycle rental: 30,000-50,000 VND ($1.20-2) per day from any hotel. That's the best $2 you'll spend in Vietnam.
