Yoyo Banh Khot

One plaza over from Hu Tieu De Nhat and one minute’s drive away from Moozi Tea Bar, Yoyo Banh Khot has a tiny menu with a signature item: the Vietnamese “savory mini pancake” banh khot (bah-n cot), shown above. Like nearby competitor Banh Khot Vung Tau, Yoyo Banh Khot is a prime example of how Orange County’s incredible Vietnamese population density enables super-focused specialty restaurants to thrive here, even if they could not possibly survive in other parts of the United States. You can also order a handful of other dishes here, including com broken rice, salted shrimp, and popcorn chicken, but the star attraction is obvious.

Banh khot are typically made with rice flour, coconut milk, and turmeric powder, words that practically describe how the roughly shrimp-sized yellow discs taste: a little sweet thanks to the coconut, and a little earthy/gingery due to the turmeric, but mostly neutral, kind of like an egg or rice tapioca. They’re cooked in a special pan that helps them stay circular and crisp at the edges, then topped with herbs and either shrimp or pork.

You can eat them alone, wrap them in greens, or dip them into sweet fish sauce, the thrill in each case coming from the mix of crispy and soft, neutral and meaty, sweet and sour. To the extent that they’re cooked in a less controlled way, the edges of the banh khot become more uneven and crispy, which is actually a good thing. In different hands, with a slightly different recipe, banh khot can look more like eggs served sunny side up.