Last weekend, I had a short vacation at Hoang Minh Hotel, located right inside the Sam Son Beach tourist area. 🌊 Because I went on the weekend, Saturday – Sunday, during peak season, the price was a bit higher than usual, but I want to share my real experience for anyone planning to visit this place.😆
I checked in at 1:00 PM. The room had 2 beds, price 800,000 VND/night (~34 USD). Since it was the weekend, the price was higher than weekdays, but still acceptable.
The room was clean, airy, service was good. In the fridge, there were 4 free bottles of water – small thing but a nice plus. The hotel has 7 floors, and has a children’s swimming pool, suitable for families. There's also a restaurant downstairs, so moving around is convenient.
The next morning, I ordered both chicken pho and beef pho (because it was free). Beef pho had thin slices of meat, rich broth; chicken pho had clear broth and firm chicken meat.
Big plus is the free breakfast, saving around 2 USD per bowl – because food in this tourist area is 2–3 times more expensive than where I live. So having free breakfast is really good.
That evening, I ordered a big seafood meal, just like going to the beach should be:
🦐 Lemongrass steamed shrimp
Shrimp was sweet, chewy, not mushy. Steamed with lemongrass so it had a nice smell, didn’t need fancy dipping sauce to taste good.
🦑 Lemongrass steamed squid with roe
Squid was crunchy, juicy, with fatty roe inside, very enjoyable to eat. Not fishy, not tough – I think it’s because the squid was really fresh.
🐚 Steamed sweet snails (ốc hương)
Snails were small but crunchy and clean, smelled good from lemongrass and lime leaves. This dish dipped with mustard was very tasty.
🪼 Jellyfish salad with green mango, carrot, peanuts
This was my favorite dish! Jellyfish was crunchy, eaten with sour green mango, fatty peanuts, and fresh herbs. This dish was cool, not greasy😆
🥩 Stir-fried beef with butter and garlic
Very fragrant, very rich, if I ate this at home, I probably wouldn’t leave a single bite. But at the beach, everyone focused on seafood so this was the only leftover dish. But I must say: the chef cooked this really well, beef was soft mixed with buttery flavor!
🥣 Crab soup with malabar spinach
Soup was naturally sweet, crab was fresh, vegetables were soft and cooling – a good dish to refresh the taste after a full table of seafood, also good with rice.
🥖 Bread dipped with beef sauce
This dish was simple but fun. Hot bread dipped with beef and beef sauce – fun to eat, a change of flavor among all the seafood.
One full table with many dishes, average about 10 USD per person, every dish was quality, full stomach, not expensive. Price like this in a crowded tourist area is very reasonable.
Because this area doesn’t allow private cars, I rented a motorbike right at the hotel, price 4 USD/hour. I rode around to see the beach, visit seafood markets, cafés, check-in at other places.
Good food, reasonable price, clean room, good service. Not luxury but very worth it for relaxing and enjoying fresh seafood. Especially the free breakfast – sounds simple but when traveling, that saves a good amount!