Family Night Market: by car, early, with children

Our motorbike food tour takes nobody under twelve, and most families with young children would not want to put them on a scooter in town traffic anyway. That left families with a cooking class or nothing. This evening fills the gap: a car with a driver, an early start, a market where you can sit down, and a guide whose job is partly to find the food and partly to keep a five-year-old interested in it.

The Bai Truong night market sits along the Sonasea walking street, close to the resorts of the Long Beach south, and has more than a hundred stalls in two parts, one for food and one for shopping. The food side is the draw: grilled cobia, crab and squid, crab noodle soup, crab fried rice and wax coconut, with seafood cooked to order at the stall. Plates run from about 100,000 to 500,000 dong depending on the seafood, which is why it helps to have someone who asks the price first.

Adults get the same plates plus anything stronger they want to try - grilled fish with chilli salt, sea urchin with scallion oil. Nothing is spicy unless you ask, and the guide orders a plain rice or noodle dish for any child who has had enough of new things.

• Private - the default. Your family only, your own table, and the evening built around your children's hours. Adults pay by group size; every child 4 - 11 pays USD 35.
• Joined group. Shared with other families at one table. Runs once three guests have booked, maximum twelve; adults USD 39, children USD 29. If your date has not reached three guests two days before, you choose private at the private rate, another date or a full refund.

• Families who want a quiet restaurant - a night market is busy and loud by 19:00.
• Anyone with a seafood allergy: the market is built on seafood, though noodles and rice without it are possible.
• Couples or friends without children - Sunset Town Evening Eats or Night Bites will suit you better.
• Children who need to be in bed by 19:00.