Best Bahn Xeo in Vietnam: Food Adventure in Hue

I was in Hue for one day before taking the train to Danang/Hoi An and while I was there, I thought I would see the Citadel and have some bun bo hue. What I didn’t expect was to come across the best bahn xeo I would have in Vietnam. My day in Hue was probably the hottest out of my entire trip, with temperatures at 40 degrees Celsius but felt like 50 degrees. After wandering through the Citadel, which is definitely worth the cost of admission, we were hungry, sweaty and exhausted. We went to Lac Thien, a restaurant about 5 minute walk from the Citadel and was recommended to us by the front desk at our hotel.

Lac Thien was a small and unassuming local restaurant with writing and doodles from guests around the world. The server was nice and had a pretty good grasp of English. The English menu with pictures also helped.

We ordered the bahn xeo (specialty pancakes), the specialty grilled meat, and bahn beo (steamed rice cake) to start. It was so hot that we both had beers and iced tea (literally tea with ice) to try to cool ourselves off. We saw the staff make the bahn xeo to order. That’s a good sign. Bahn xeo size varies depending on the area in Vietnam. In the south, it’s about the size of a toddler’s torso. In the north, it’s about the size of half a dinner plate. When this bahn xeo arrived, it was about the size of the palm of my hand. We split the bahn xeo in half, added the herbs and sauces and took a bite. The bahn xeo was soooo crispy but light. It had the crunch of a hard kettle chip but still very airy like a super thin potato chip. I originally thought my comparison would be strange but then after asking a friend, I found out part of the secret is that they do use potatoes in the batter. So somehow in central Vietnam, they’ve figured out a way to make the perfect potato chip and is using it as a vessel for more delicious foods. It was so delicious that we had to order seconds because it disappeared so fast.

Bahn Xeo

Up next was the bahn beo. I love soft but chewy foods, especially when they’re in small dishes. The bahn beo came out warm from the steamers. They were sticky and slightly gooey. The shrimp and fried onions/garlic was a nice textural contrast, while the sweet fish sauce brought brightness to the dish. We couldn’t stop ourselves from polishing off that plate. We’re not monsters. To be fair, the bahn beo came in small, bite size dishes…

Bahn Beo

Lastly, our grilled meat platter arrived. It came with 4 sticks of meat on chopsticks. You put everything you want on the rice paper in your hand, close your hand and pull out the chopstick. You get the grilled meat off the chopstick and into your wrap without any mess. The meats had a lot of salty, savoury goodness of all the grilled meats in Vietnam. While it wasn’t the best grilled meat I had in Vietnam, I would be happy eating it any day of the week.

Grilled meat platter

If you’re in Hue, please do yourself a favour and go to Lac Thien. Go hungry and order at least 2 bahn xeo to start. People are nice, prices are more than reasonable, everything was fresh and delicious. You can’t go wrong and you definitely won’t go hungry.