If you want to eat seafood from Vung Tau, follow the smell of kitchen smoke to Xom Luoi market.

chợ Xóm Lưới - Ảnh 1. — Visit Xom Luoi seafood market to buy seafood to eat - Photo: HOANG LE

The special feature of Xom Luoi market is that customers who want to buy seafood to cook themselves can do so, thanks to the on-site processing service.

That is why this place has become a familiar address for tourists when coming to Vung Tau, now Ho Chi Minh City.

When you come to Vung Tau, visit Xom Luoi market.

Xom Luoi Market is located on the central route, at the intersection of Nguyen Cong Tru Street and Phan Boi Chau Street, Vung Tau Ward, Ho Chi Minh City. Here, all kinds of shrimp, crab, squid, crab, octopus, snails, and fish are sold.

Grilling fish, octopus, okra on charcoal stove - Video : HOANG LE

The market is open from morning to night but is busiest from 3pm until late at night, especially on weekends.

In addition to seafood stalls, Xom Luoi market also has a number of carts selling seafood processed on the spot. The dishes are quite simple, mainly grilled and steamed. Octopus and squid marinated in satay sauce. Customers choose whichever one they want to grill. Sea urchins are cleaned and grilled with quail eggs.

Grilled snails. Scallops, cockles, and oysters grilled with scallion oil or grilled with cheese. Various types of mackerel, scad, and orange fish wrapped in foil and grilled.

chợ Xóm Lưới - Ảnh 2. — Octopus and okra marinated with satay sauce, customers choose which one to grill - Photo: HOANG LE

At 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday, Ms. Thu's family and her two children stopped at the seafood stall to buy and wait for the seller to grill fish, snails, and octopus to bring back to the hotel to eat.

Ms. Thu said that her house is in Go Vap (old). Every time she comes to Vung Tau, she rents a motorbike to go around and visit, then stops by Xom Luoi market to look around and buy seafood processed on the spot.

Tomorrow Sunday, I will continue to visit the market to buy some dried goods as gifts to bring back.

"I know this market because the locals show me. The food here is not too expensive. I just need to buy it and eat it, I don't have to do anything else," she said.

The smoke from the kitchen flickers, only going out when there are no more guests.

According to the locals, in the 1980s and 1990s, a group of people went fishing from Hue to Vung Tau to live.

When the fishing boats reach the shore, they sit on the roadside, displaying the seafood they have harvested on small trays. People passing by find the seafood fresh and delicious, and the prices are cheap, so they stop to buy.

chợ Xóm Lưới - Ảnh 3. — Tourists choose octopus to grill at Xom Luoi market - Photo: HOANG LE

The good news spread far and wide, and many customers came to buy. Some people saw the potential and came to rent a business space, thus forming a spontaneous market called Xom Luoi.

From a few trays, Xom Luoi market now has dozens of shops selling all kinds of seafood. Initially, the market only sold fresh seafood. Later, there was an on-site processing service for tourists to conveniently take home. The price for each processing session is from 30,000 to 50,000 VND.

chợ Xóm Lưới - Ảnh 5. — Grilled oysters with spring onions, soft and fatty, with the aroma of peanuts - Photo: HOANG LE

Mr. Nhan Hau, born and raised in Xom Luoi market, is currently the owner of Nhan Hau seafood warehouse, with 3 restaurants operating around the market. Because the restaurant has seating, the dishes are more diverse.

He said that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the market was packed with people on weekends, sometimes even unable to get a foot in. Now it's much quieter. His store used to sell 400 to 500kg of crabs a day, which was normal. Now it's only about a hundred kilos."

Ms. Hoa's seafood processing truck supports a family of eight. Her husband, who was once on a fishing boat and was detained by foreign police for a while, passed away two years ago.

Every afternoon, mother and daughter push the cart, light a charcoal stove to grill seafood to sell to tourists. She said, the fire will only go out when there are no more customers.

Mr. Quang Anh is a regular visitor to Vung Tau and visits Xom Luoi market. He commented: "Xom Luoi market has become a culinary feature of Vung Tau.

However, to develop further, I think the hygiene of the market area and food safety must be given top priority. The situation of garbage and wastewater flowing on the street is making the market gradually lose its appeal."