Grilled corn, plastic stools, and evening street-food snacking in Da Nang

After dinner, roughly between 7 and 10 p.m., another layer of food stalls opens up in Da Nang: pushcarts, mini gas stoves, plastic stools lined up along the sidewalk. This isn't a meal — it's a snack, and it's more of a social activity than a matter of hunger.

Stir-fried corn is the most iconic dish: sweet corn kernels stir-fried with butter, dried shrimp, spring onion, a bit of sugar and chili. Scooped into a paper cup and eaten with a small spoon. Priced at 15,000–25,000 VND, best eaten hot, with the buttery aroma reaching you from afar.

Items in the same group:

• Snails — boiled snails, tamarind stir-fried snails, salt and chili roasted snails. Eaten with picks, dipped in ginger fish sauce. A dish for leisurely enjoyment. • Balut — fertilized duck eggs, boiled, eaten with rau ram and salt-pepper-lime. This is our most talked-about dish among foreign guests – if you'd like to try it, please do, and if not, that's absolutely fine! • Bánh tráng nướng — charred rice paper topped with egg, scallions, and dried shrimp. Often called 'Vietnamese pizza'. • Grilled chicken feet on skewers — charcoal-grilled, dipped in salt and green chili.

A few things you should know:

Prices are usually not posted. Asking for the price before ordering is completely normal, and nobody minds. Low plastic stools and low tables are the standard, not a sign of a run-down shop. • The snack shop is busiest on weekends and on cool days. • This is the easiest place to strike up a conversation with locals — the tables are set close together, and people in Da Nang are pretty open with visitors.

If you want to understand the rhythm of this city's life, one evening spent sitting on a plastic stool eating stir-fried corn tells you more than any tourist attraction ever could.