Chaolong: Puerto Princesa's Vietnamese-style noodle soup
Chaolong is Puerto Princesa's Vietnamese-style noodle soup: a beef noodle soup that arrived with Vietnamese refugees after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and became an everyday local lunch, sweeter than phở. The long-running favourite is Bona's Chao Long Haus on Manalo Street, rated 4.3 on Google from about 757 reviews, where one reviewer's verdict is that a single bowl feeds two. Rene's Saigon on Rizal Avenue Extension is the alternative with a wider Vietnamese menu. The name is almost certainly wrong: in Vietnam, cháo lòng is a rice porridge with pork offal.
What is chaolong? A beef noodle soup with a local sweet tooth
Order chaolong expecting phở and the first surprise is the sweetness. That is how Palaweños adapted the dish, not a kitchen mistake.
Chaolong is a noodle soup: noodles in a rich, orange-tinted beef broth with stewed meat. The city's tourism office lists it as one of Puerto Princesa's own dishes, the result of Vietnamese and Palawan cooking meeting after 1975, and a feature on the refugee history describes it as a sweeter, localised version of beef phở.
At Bona's Chao Long Haus, the house most locals name first, reviewers keep coming back to two things. The portions are big — one reviewer on Restaurant Guru wrote that one bowl is already good for two people — and the taste sits somewhere between noodle soup and stew; the same reviewer called it a mix of pho and beef pares. If the sweetness is not for you, season it at the table before you give up on the bowl.
On price: we could not confirm 2026 menu prices from a dated source. The sub-₱100 bowls quoted in many guides come from blog posts that are years old, so read the menu board rather than trusting a number online. It remains a lunch you can eat without thinking about the bill.
How a Vietnamese soup ended up in Palawan
The refugees arrive
After the fall of Saigon, Vietnamese refugees began arriving in Puerto Princesa and sought asylum there. The city tourism office dates the arrival of their cooking — and of chaolong — to this point.
The Philippine First Asylum Center opens
The Philippine government set up the centre on the initiative of the Catholic Church, in partnership with UNHCR, beside the airport in Puerto Princesa. It housed eight to nine thousand Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese refugees at a time.
Viet Ville is built at Sta. Lourdes
When the centre closed, the roughly 2,000 refugees who chose to stay were moved north of the city to a new village: 13 hectares, about 200 cottages, a chapel, a Buddhist pagoda, a French bakery and noodle and fish-sauce plants. The village is still there, and mostly empty.
Resettlement
The remaining Vietnamese were allowed to resettle in the United States, Australia and Canada. By 2018 a reporter counted five Vietnamese families left in Viet Ville.
The dish outlived the camp
The village emptied; the soup did not. Chaolong is now an ordinary city lunch, eaten by people whose families never set foot in the camp.
Why is it called chaolong if it is not cháo lòng?
In Vietnam, cháo lòng is a rice porridge made with pork offal and pork broth. The Palawan dish is a beef noodle soup. They are not the same dish.
Nobody has documented how the Vietnamese name for an offal porridge ended up on a beef noodle soup in Palawan, and this site is not going to invent a story for it. What is documented is the mismatch itself, and it is worth knowing before you order — because if you go looking for cháo lòng in Hanoi on the strength of a good lunch in Puerto Princesa, you will be handed rice porridge with intestines and liver.
Rather book it?Rene's Saigon on TripAdvisor ↗
Where to eat chaolong in Puerto Princesa
Three places we could confirm are trading, each with the date of the source. Bona's for the soup, Rene's for a wider Vietnamese menu, Viet Ville for the history.
| House | Where | Status and source | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bona's Chao Long Haus 4.3 on Google (about 757 reviews) · 4.0 on TripAdvisor | Manalo Street, Brgy. Milagrosa | OPEN · Google reviews to mid-2026 | WORTH IT |
| Rene's Saigon 3.8 on TripAdvisor · fresh rolls, banh mi, chaolong | Rizal Avenue Extension, Brgy. Bancao-Bancao | OPEN · 2025 TripAdvisor reviews | DEPENDS |
| Viet Ville restaurant the village restaurant; you are paying for the setting | Km 13, Brgy. Sta. Lourdes, north of the city | OPEN · August 2025 visit write-up | DEPENDS |
None of these takes online bookings. Walk in, bring cash to be safe, and check each place's live Google Maps listing for current hours.
Bona's Chao Long Haus, in practice
Rene's Saigon, in practice
Current reviews
Nobody sells a chaolong booking and none is needed. What is worth two minutes is reading the latest reviews, because small places here change without notice.
Affiliate links: if you book through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Partners do not pay to be listed. How this site makes money
Chaolong questions, answered
What is chaolong?
A beef noodle soup that came to Puerto Princesa with Vietnamese refugees after 1975 and was adapted locally into a sweeter version of beef phở. The city tourism office lists it as one of Puerto Princesa's own dishes. Bona's Chao Long Haus on Manalo Street is the best-known place to eat it.
Why is it called chaolong if it is not chaolong?
Nobody has documented it. In Vietnam, cháo lòng is a rice porridge with pork offal; the Palawan dish is a beef noodle soup. The name and the dish do not match, and any confident origin story you hear is a story.
Where is the best chaolong in Puerto Princesa?
Bona's Chao Long Haus on Manalo Street, Brgy. Milagrosa: 4.3 on Google from about 757 reviews and 4.0 on TripAdvisor, with Google reviews running into mid-2026. Rene's Saigon on Rizal Avenue Extension rates 3.8 on TripAdvisor and has a wider Vietnamese menu.
Why is the chaolong broth sweet?
Because that is how Palaweños adapted the Vietnamese original: accounts of the refugee history describe chaolong as a sweeter, localised version of beef phở. It is the most common surprise for first-timers. Season it at the table before you give up on it.
How much does chaolong cost?
We could not confirm 2026 menu prices from a dated source, so this page does not print one. The sub-₱100 bowls quoted in many guides come from years-old blog posts. Portions at Bona's are big enough that one bowl can feed two.
Is chaolong vegetarian?
No. The broth is meat-based, and changing the noodles does not change the soup. Vegetarians should go to Ima's Gulay Bar on Fernandez Street, a mostly vegan kitchen.
Where did the Vietnamese in Palawan come from?
They were refugees who left after the fall of Saigon in 1975. The Philippine First Asylum Center opened beside Puerto Princesa's airport in 1979 with UNHCR and the Catholic Church, and when it closed, about 2,000 who stayed moved to Viet Ville at Sta. Lourdes in 1996. The remaining Vietnamese were allowed to resettle abroad in 2005.
Can you still visit the Vietnamese village?
Yes. Viet Ville is at Km 13, Brgy. Sta. Lourdes, on the road north towards Honda Bay. It is semi-abandoned, with a chapel and a pagoda, and its restaurant was still serving pho in an August 2025 write-up. Check its Google Maps listing before making the trip.
- Chao Long — Puerto Princesa City Tourism
- Palawan refugee camp history — Vietnamese Heritage Museum
- The Last Remains of Viet Ville (May 2018) — Roads & Kingdoms
- Echoes of Sanctuary: The Living Noodle Museum of the Vietnamese Boat People — Homes.ph
- Cháo lòng — Wikipedia
- Bona's Chao Long Haus ratings and reviews (Aug 2026) — Restaurant Guru
- Vietnamese Refugee Village in Palawan (Aug 2025) — Amojin Wanderland