Bánh Xèo

Bánh Xèo is a Vietnamese crispy crepe bulging with pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts with garnish of fresh herbs. To enjoy one like a local, cut it into manageable slices, roll it up in rice paper or lettuce leaves and dunk it in whatever special sauce the chef has mixed up for you.

Southern-style bánh xèo contains coconut milk and certain Central regional variety skip the turmeric powder altogether. They are served wrapped in mustard leaf, lettuce leaves or banh trang wrappers, and stuffed with mint leaves, basil, fish leaf and/or other herbs, and dipped in a sweet and sour diluted fish sauce.

In the Central region, it is often wrapped in fresh rice paper with a nem lui sausage and then dipped in a special sauce which consists of fermented soy bean and sticky rice sauce, ground pork liver, ground and toasted peanut and seasonings. It is widely believed that this dish is a derivative of crepes brought from France during the occupation of what was known as Indochina.

The dish is also popular in Cambodian cuisine, where the dish is called banh chao. It has also been introduced into Thailand where it known as khanom beuang yuan or ban sao.