Bánh hỏi are extremely thin rice noodles woven into intricate bundles or mats. The texture of fresh bánh hỏi is light and almost fluffy, while the taste is very similar to vermicelli rice noodles. “Same same, but different,” if you will (I’ve been waiting forever to use that phrase).
Bánh hỏi is often served layered on a plate and topped with scallion oil and a complementary meat dish. Thit heo quay (barbecued pork) and chao tom (shrimp paste wrapped around sugarcane) are two very popular accompaniments. The version above is topped with beautifully charred thit nuong (grilled pork) and cost 20,000 VND (187 Co Giang Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City).
that looks really good. i can easily eat banh hoi on its own with nuoc mam! i could go for heo quay right about now too!
Mmmm…one of my favorites–except I would add loads of that scallion oil! I’ve never made banh hoi at home but can’t wait to attempt it soon. 🙂
Wow, beautiful, glorious food! I especially like that little ” charred” just to bring out that smoky flavor ( problably raises the risk of cancer, but hey we only live once ) Now if we can combine the tasty thit nuong and chao tom with that yummy pizza from yesterday we may have a hit dish. Nah, that would be too much of a good thing.
I’m just wondering why they call it “banh hoi”?
Hien, I think you just answer your own question. I don’t know why either.
This looks delicious! And I definitely see what you’re saying about trying other foods available in HCMC. In Florence, we didn’t really have that option… it was just about all Tuscan. Which is nice, but sometimes you don’t want pappa al pomodoro or bistecca fiorentina…
Bánh hỏi has Khmer origins, (num banh hoi) which means rice thread noodles. It originated in the south of Vietnam, formerly inhabited by Khmers, and was brought to Hue as an addition to royal cuisine. There it was popularized and traveled down south again throughout the years. An interesting read on bánh hỏi: http://tintuconline.vietnamnet.vn/vn/sanh/111456/
N – Mmm, me too! The veggie restaurant Huong Vien makes an excellent meatless version for you know who ;-).
Tia – Oooh, will look forward to reading that on your blog and thanks for doing the research on the dish’s origins. Very impressive.
Htran – That would be a very interesting combination. Banh mi pizza thit nuong!
WC – Too easy! I always thought it was woven or something because I wasn’t lucky enough to have a mommy that made it from scratch. We always ordered from the caterers… You’re always making me feel bad about my lineage.
Hien – Check out Tia’s post 🙂 Amazing, huh?
Girlie – Like they say, variety is the spice of life. I like Posh spice best 😉
My all time favourite! Breakfast, lunch, dinner..anytime is a good time for bánh hỏi. 😛
Tia, thanks for the info. Neat.
htran: I wish I can answer all my own questions simply by asking! hihi
Tia: great finding!
I lived in Saigon for a while in 2004, and miss the food all the time. Your photos always makes me hungry, but this is the worst yet! It looks so good!
Thanks for the great blog – I’m counting the days until I can get back there.
ohhh the phrase “same same, but different” brings me back to when i was in vietnam and asked my neighbor whats the difference betwen rau cau and thach. ohhh joyous memories.
Banh hoi is from Binh Dinh. It’s extremely common there. There are many restaurants in BD that only sell one thing, banh hoi. Banh hoi and roast pork is also indispensable at ‘dam hoi’, a vietnamese custom. That’s probably where the name came from. The claim that ‘num banh hoi’ is khmer in origin can be traced back to the asshole behind the website khmerkromrecipes.com, not to mention the word ‘num’ is equivalent to ‘banh’ in vietnamese.