Quan Dong Xanh Nha Trang

In Xuân Lạc, Vĩnh Ngọc, nearly 5 km northwest of the 2/4 square. Across the Cái river, in fields and villages rather than the tourist strip. The sign reads "Quán Đồng Xanh (Green Field) — countryside dishes". Open 10:00–22:00. This is a local restaurant: the room is rows of tables under red check cloth beneath a metal roof, no English menu, and the customers are family groups.

The food matches the name: charcoal hotpot with greens and rice noodles, sour soup cooked with foraged herbs, whole grilled fish cut into pieces, chicken fried in fish sauce, green-papaya salad with rice crackers, and a plate of dark grilled meat in the roast-bird style. No live tanks like the seafront places and nothing European. This is Vietnamese food eaten with Vietnamese people.

Who it is for and who it is not. For: anyone staying a while who wants to eat what visitors do not; anyone with a bike; a group settling in for beer without a crowd. Not for: anyone on foot, or with two days in the city. 5 km each way is half an evening, and the centre has dozens of comparable kitchens. Do not go expecting brilliance; go because it is the real thing.

Getting there: over the Trần Phú bridge and up Phạm Văn Đồng, or along đường 2/4 and into Vĩnh Ngọc. Its Maps address is a plus code rather than a street number, so follow the pin. This is also the road towards Từ Vân pagoda and the craft villages north of the city, so it fits an afternoon spent outside the centre.