Rating:

Seastar is a resort on Long Beach about a 10-minute walk north along the beach from Mai House. They have a beachfront restaurant with open air seating and a good-sized Vietnamese menu. They also serve the best chili lemongrass shrimp I’ve ever had. We discovered it on our first night in Phu Quoc, and returned just almost every day for another hit. Yesterday we discovered you can order it on top of bun noodles instead of rice, which makes the arrangement very much like Tamarind Tree’s chili-lemongrass chicken bun.

Tonight we squeezed in a second 1/2-dinner just so that we could savor the chili lemongrass shrimp as our last bite of Phu Quoc (never mind that we had eaten at Seastar today already for lunch).

The rest of the food we had at Seastar was enjoyable, though not as mind-blowing. Salads were very fresh, with a spicy fish-sauce and lime dressing. The Seastar spring rolls were crispy and well-textured, though the seafood inside didn’t have much in the way of additional flavor.

Overall, Seastar has a nice view, good prices, friendly wait staff, and chili-lemongrass shrimp to die for. If you’re on Phu Quoc Island, take a stroll along the beach and check it out!

Chili lemongrass shrimp from heaven

Papaya salad with seafood

I had many chances to practice my shrimp de-tailing technique: spear bottom with fork, hold spoon face down, and wedge under the tail. Pull out tasty morsel.

View from the restaurant. We never saw anyone actually playing volleyball here.

Seastar
Ba Keo, 7 ward, Tran Hung Dao Street
Duong Dong town, Phu Quoc, Vietnam
+84 (0)77-3982-161

Lunch, Dinner

Rating:

In addition to offering fabulous lodging and a private beach, Mai House also  boasts one of the better restaurants on this stretch of the island. Along with the included breakfasts, we’ve had a few dinners here while overlooking the amazing sunsets.

Mai House is run by a French expatriate, but the menu is distinctly Vietnamese. Our favorite dish (which we had 3 times) was the pomelo salad. Sweet, tart, and spicy with fresh pomelo, lime juice, shrimp and a generous topping of sesame seeds. We also liked the fish in lot leaves, a variation of the classic beef in lot leaves that incorporated blackened fresh fish into a Vietnamese dolma.

Overall, we enjoyed every dish that we ordered at Mai House, including a few memorable dishes. Good food and a stunning view, it’s hard to ask for more!

Awesome pomelo salad – we ordered ours sans pork

Fish in lot leaves

Tuna in clay pot – caramelized and tender

Goa-style shrimp curry. While not much to look at, it was so tasty I ordered it twice!

Mai House Restaurant
Long Beach
Phu Quoc, Vietnam
+84 (0)918123796

Daily: Lunch, Dinner