200,000 Vietnamese Dong Ganh Buffet @ Hoi An Memories Land in Vietnam

I knew I was rushing for time when visiting Hoi An Memories Land in May 2025 as it was on our first night arriving at Danang and the attraction was closed on our last night in Hoi An! 

Therefore, it was decided we should have our dinner, also mom's first Vietnamese meal in Vietnam, within Hoi An Memories Land. I opted for something simple and with variety; a buffet it shall be! 

Setting was nice right; traditional with tables and stools made from bamboo. In good weather, the outdoor would be fine but if you are worried about the risk of rain, indoor seatings were available too.

At 200,000 Vietnamese dong, about S$10, per adult, I thought the variety was decent and I figured while not everything will be nice; some would be better than average. If worse come to worse, I just need the food to be edible.

Dishes available for your reference.

Live stations included banh xeo, banh mi, cao lau, bun cha, mi quang. I can't wait to try cao lau, which was a noodle specialty in Hoi An! I didn't try so far as I am not so much a noodle person, and if need be, would go with safe ones like bun cha. 

Not everything was included in the buffet; like the drink sections, where you can pay extra for beer, soft drinks, homemade drink. Put it in context, a local larue beer only cost 35,000; less than S$2, and this was in a tourist attraction! 

Another not-free item would be the ice cream. Thank god I am no longer of teenager age, where my tummy was a bottomless pit. Nowadays, if I want ice cream, it better be of top quality like Haagen Dazs! 

Let's start with the food review! In a nutshell, the food wasn't fantastic and you would be sorely disappointed if you associate the food here as authentically Vietnamese. I shall elaborate more shortly.

Banh mi was toasted well but tasted more like subway sandwich and banh xeo was so pathetic; I might as well be eating just the shell without the fillings. The one I made from the Hoi An Village Experience Cycling Day Tour was way way better. 

Buncha and Mi Quang; former was more like noodle soup with pieces of ham whereas the latter was the same topped with peanuts and chilli. Nothing impressionable.

Cao Lau, an udon lookalike with a rough texture and tasted like the noodles were dunked in a braised pork sauce. Maybe I am just biased again soupy noodles; preferring our local prawn noodle soup instea.

Fried wanton was not bad tasting although it would have tasted better with Kimball Thai chilli sauce. p.s. filling was negligible and I would be better off with fried wanton skin instead.

Seafood soup - well, you remember the fake shark's fins soup from night markets in Singapore? Same same and would have been the same if I could find the vinegar to add it in! 

A staff member suggested mixing the different desserts together and it was actually taste with the different layers of flavor from the bean paste, corn soup, red beans and coconut milk.

Small slice of steamed sweet potatoes.

Indonesian one was sweeter. 

Ending with fruits! Loving the guava which was soft and the chilli salt dip was a nice departure from our standard sour plum powder. Those mini apples were similar in taste to fresh dates. 

What's mom's verdict?

Edible; she prefers seafood. 

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Location

Within Hoi An Memories Land.

Hoi An, Vietnam

Pricing for Buffet

Adult - 200,000 Dong

Day Two of Our 3-Day Trip to Sapa @ Vietnam

<<< Day One

Detailed Postings for the Day

• Sun World Fansipan Legend
• Muong Hoa Funicular 
• Cable Car from Hoang Lien to Fansipan Stations 
• Funicular Train to Top of Fansipan 
• 3,143 Meters Rooftop of Indochina 
• Cafe Du Soleil 
• The Spiritual Attractions
• Sapa Rose Valley 
• May Village
• A Beo Restaurant 
• Minh Châu Food 
• Shuttle back to Hotel 
• Viettrekking Coffee & Restaurant

While our hotel room at ALIANA Boutique Sapa Hotel & Spa was heated, stepping out meant going right into the winter cold of Sapa, and a welcoming sign was this coal burner that gave us much needed warmth! 

First thing - let's fill our tummies with breakfast, complimentary as part of our hotel stay! p.s. breakfast was super good even though the variety wasn't as wide. 

Venturing out and encountering another foggy day. Well, I did mention in Day One that minimally, I hope that there wasn't any rain! There was some rain but it was more a super light drizzle. 

Temperature - 7 degrees celcius.

Where the heck was the mostly sunniness?! 

Let's venture up to Sun World Fansipan Legend; starting with the Muong Hoa Funicular, where w didn't bask in the glory of the valley beauty and then taking the Cable Car from Hoang Lien to Fansipan Stations, where we finally caught a few glimpses of the blue skies and sea of clouds.

A dead dragonfly on the floor.

Guess it froze to death.

Base of the The Spiritual Attractions section, at a height of more than 2,000 meters! The cold at this elevation was exacerbated by the strong wind! It was freezing, and my lips were drying at a unprecedented pace! 

Not wanting to endure the tortuous 600-step climb to the Rooftop of Indochina, we took another Funicular Train that would bring all of us up to the 3,143-meter summit! 

Checking out the rest of the Spiritual Attractions after Cafe Du Soleil, which felt more like a religious pilgrimage for Buddhists. Impressive no doubt, and comfortable to a certain extent since it's hard to break out into a sweat in the cold weather.

A wooden hut in the middle of nowhere. 

Taken along the cable car ride from Hoang Lien station.

Dad was pleased with Sapa.

Phew........

Rewarding myself with a bag of popcorn that cost just 25,000 dong (about a S$1.22). Lukewarm and not very crispy. I seriously think Eureka should set up a few branches in Vietnam; sure can sell. 

Do allocate some time at Hoang Lien cable car station! There were plenty to see and look; first of all would be the captivating Sapa Rose Valley, which was so devoid of visitors, we literally almost have the whole place to ourselves.

There was even a village, called May Village, made up of traditional houses of the various ethnic minority tribes like the red dao, giay, tay, xa pho, ha nhi, and showcasing activities like beewax painting, making of incense sticks! And yes, that's a real pony; albeit a bit temperamental.

More to explore but we were pretty shagged out by then; not to mention that it was way past lunchtime! I could only be comforted by the fact that we all had a heavy breakfast, and did manage to catch some bites at Cafe Du Soleil.

After taking the Muong Hoa Funicular back to Sapa Town, the first thing we did was to have a late lunch at A Beo Restaurant! Not sure if it was because of hunger but the bun cha and salmon hotpot were delicious!

Following a short rest back at ALIANA Boutique Sapa Hotel & Spa, we hit the streets again! As it was our last night in Sapa, we didn't see the point of giving our legs a rest! 

And our tummies were only partially filled at A Beo Restaurant; hence, let's dine again! This time at Minh Châu Food where we had pizzas and banh mis! They were good even though the banh mi felt more like a subway sandwich. 

The alluring lights in Sapa Town after sunset, and the absolutely gorgeous Sun Plaza! As there was a light drizzle and I was too tired to drag my feet over 600 meters to ALIANA, we opted to take the golf buggy shuttle back to the hotel! Only 50,000 dong for three of us; money well spent! 

Given the foggy weather, I didn't realize there was a Viettrekking Coffee & Restaurant right opposite ALIANA! It had a nice and relaxed atmosphere and was said to have a great view of the valley that unfortunately, we were not blessed to see throughout our three-day Sapa stay.

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Click here for my summarized itinerary of my 3 days trip to Sapa