Banh Khot Vung Tau

There are a few restaurants in and near Little Saigon that specialize in a dish that can be found as a street food at Vietnamese night markets, and sometimes at larger restaurants: Banh Khot (bah-n cot). Traditionally, these “savory mini pancakes” are little fried discs made with rice flour, coconut milk, and turmeric, topped with shrimp, meat, and/or herbs, then served for you to wrap in mustard leaves and dip in fish sauce. The turmeric gives them a distinctive bright yellow color and gingery flavor.

At Banh Khot Vung Tau, the crispy little rice disks are a different style – Vung Tau-style, named for a coastal city in southern Vietnam – omitting the turmeric and tweaking the coconut milk levels. The result is a version of the dish that isn’t commonly found elsewhere in Orange County: crispier around the edges, soft in the center, and decidedly not bright yellow.

The positive to Banh Khot Vung Tai’s recipe is that it enhances the texture variations, enabling each of the mini rice-coconut pancakes to serve as a more complex cracker-like base for either shrimp or pork – we recommend ordering both to try them. However, you lose the more complex turmeric flavor, which can be earthy and bitter.