Bánh Khọt Vũng Tàu Restaurant

VIETNAM 🇻🇳

COVID-19 UPDATE: The small restaurant is open for indoor seating only. Staff are wearing masks.

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: The flag of Vietnam is used as a placeholder and not a political statement.

Throughout California you will see the city of Vung Tau's name invoked in restaurants and other Vietnamese businesses. As well as being a major port city, Vung Tau was once a French colonial town and because of its long stretch of beach is now very popular with holidaymakers from Ho Chi Minh City, who travel out to the coast by hydrofoil.

The beaches and tropical setting, with tall residential buildings and mountains serving as the backdrop, seem much further from the metropolis than they actually are. Vung Tau is also a land of its own due to the sheer ubiquity of eateries specializing in banh khot, a specialty of the area.

Unlike the banh khot found nearby at Brodard Restaurant and some other Orange County eateries, this banh khot is created without mung bean, only coconut and rice flour. Its thinness makes the whole thing very crispy without the soft center of the other style. The almost two year old restaurant serves three versions of banh khot ($9.20, above), shrimp (tom), ground pork (thit), and a vegetarian option (chay). These can be combined like the plate above which includes banh khot tom and banh khot thit.

Alongside plates of these specialties, your table will receive fish sauce dip for each diner as well as a pile of lettuce, mustard leaf, mint, basil, and perilla. Take a big leaf of lettuce, stuff some herbs, shredded green papaya and carrot, and the banh khot, dip everything, and try stuffing the whole thing into your mouth like you were back in Vung Tau.

While all customers here will come for the banh khot, many at lunch also had bowls of hu tieu suon non ($10.20, above), a pleasant savory noodle soup usually eaten for breakfast in Vietnam. The pork bones that have been simmering in the broth make it almost seem sweet when it finishes. Along with chives and onions, the main heft of the ingredients are braised pork ribs.

There is also a wonton soup (mi hoanh thanh) and a couple different rice dishes to round out the very small menu. These all seem to be complementary items to join your banh khot, as not many people will come here for those dishes on their own.

📍 9110 Edinger Avenue, Fountain Valley, Orange County

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