When I travel, one of my favourite things to do is to visit the local food market to look, see, smell, listen and, of course, eat there. More often than not, it turns out to be the highlight of the trip - the food markets of Hue are no different. My first taste of Hue banh khoai at Chuồn Village Market is a memorable foodie experience, I highly recommend it to you too. 
The imperial city of Hue in central Vietnam was the capital of Đàng Trong Kingdom (1738 - 1775) and Nguyen Dynasty (1802 - 1945). To appreciate the history of Vietnam, a visit to Hue is a Must. The food is great too as many Hue dishes were influenced by imperial court recipes. The monuments of Hue were accorded UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1993 - I think Hue food should be considered for UNESCO Intangible Heritage status too. (Source: UNESCO.) 
Our guide Nguyen Ngoc An of Connect Travel brought us to Chuồn Village Market which is less than 30 minutes drive (10 km) from downtown Hue.
It's just a small market with fresh vegetable, fruit, poultry, meat, seafood, and hawker stalls. There are many markets just like this throughout Vietnam, serving the villagers. Most of the stall holders and customers are women as An pointed out to us.
View this post on Instagram Eating banh khoai in Hue. This morning, we went to the wet market, bought our own fresh seafood and gave it to the banh khoai hawker to cook (just like locals). It's seafood on a crispy rice pan cake (like ban chien kueh with seafood). A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Mar 3, 2020 at 11:09pm PST 👆Follow me on Instagram There were several hawker stalls selling different forms of noodle and rice dishes. At least 3 or 4 stalls were selling banh khoai. Banh khoai or banh xeo?I struggled a bit trying to pin down what this is at Chuồn Village Market.Both banh khoai and banh xeo originate from Hue and have similar vegetable, seafood, and meat topping. Banh khoai means "happy pancake" because it is always served folded into a semi circle shape to look like a smiley face. According to legend, banh khoai is shaped this way for the king's pleasure as it is first served in the palace. Banh xeo means "sizzling pancake" and is served either open faced or folded.Banh khoai batter is thicker to make it foldable while banh xeo batter is thinner, crispier.Banh khoai is eaten with an elaborate thick sauce of grounded peanut, minced pork and grounded pork liver held together with soy sauce. Banh xeo is eaten with a simpler watery sauce made with fish sauce, cut chili pepper and chopped garlic.The version at Chuồn Village Market is a hybrid form known to locals as Bánh Khoái đầm Chuồn - the pancake is crisp, served open faced and eaten with watery fish sauce and cut chili.
Every banh khoai hawker have their own fans. The customers sit or squat on small, low plastic stools around a low table. The hawker cooks the banh khoai in a battery of small pans or skillets over small gas stoves with low, slow flames. The hawker lands the freshly made banh khoai in front of the customer, much like an omakase or teppanyaki chef. They exchange banter about the latest happenings in the village. It feels very intimate like the relationship with your regular hairdresser or barber.
View this post on Instagram Banh khoai is a crisp thin rice crepe topped with many different possible ingredients. This one with prawns, fatty pork belly, bean sprouts and spring onion. It's a combination of crisp and tender textures with savoury and sweet flavours. It's eaten with fish sauce and cut chili pepper dip which add another savoury layer and sharp spicy heat. Must try when you visit Hue, Vietnam. Pro-tip - get your fresh seafood at the food market and have a banh khoai hawker cook it for you on the spot (like a local). A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Mar 4, 2020 at 11:07pm PST 👆Follow me on Instagram Banh khoai is a thin crisp rice pancake with toppings of bean sprout, spring union and seafood, meat, liver etc. It is a very versatile dish as there can be many possible toppings. The rice pancake is like a white canvas on which the hawker and customer paint with different textures, flavours, and aromas. There are also many variations of banh khoai, some pancakes use thicker batter, often turmeric powder is added, while others are like the thin plain ones at Chuon Village Market. View this post on Instagram One of the things I like to do while travelling is to visit the local food market as it helps me know the place better. We visited a small market in Hue just outside the city. There were fresh fruit, vegetable, poultry, meat and seafood. Our plan was to buy some seafood and let one of the banh khoai hawkers cook it for us - this is the local custom here in Hue. We got some rabbit fish (pek tor herr), squid, and prawns. They were all absolutely fresh and many were sold live. A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Mar 4, 2020 at 8:12am PST 👆Follow me on InstagramCustomers can get their toppings from the banh khoai hawker or buy them from the fishmongers at the market. We got ours (with the help of An's wife) from the market stalls as we can handpick our uber fresh ingredients and it is also more fun. View this post on Instagram There were several noodle and rice stalls, and at least 3 banh khoai stalls in this small food market. All the banh khoai stalls were busy, each with their own fans. Banh khoai are small rice pancakes topped with seafood, meat, vegetables etc. It is a versatile dish as there are many possible toppings. We bought our own seafood at the market (just like locals) and let this stall make banh khoai with it for us. We waited at least 45 minutes as there was a long queue. Not a problem as we enjoyed watching her cook. A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Mar 4, 2020 at 8:37am PST 👆Follow me on Instagram The hawker makes banh khoai by splashing some watery rice batter onto a small lightly greased pan. She then adds in the fatty pork and/ or seafood toppings which can be prawns, fish, oysters, squid etc. These are complemented by bean sprouts and spring onion. We went to the banh khoai hawker with the shortest queue but still waited at least 45 minutes before our sizzling pancakes were ready. View this post on Instagram Eating banh khoai for breakfast like a local in a food market. Enjoying freshly cooked local food on a small plastic table, sitting/ squatting on small kindergarten size plastic stools. To me that's really fun. When I travel, I look for opportunities like this. A post shared by Tony Johor Kaki (@johorkaki) on Mar 4, 2020 at 5:56pm PST We ate our banh khoai like locals - squatting on tiny stools and on a small low plastic table.
It's more fun that the best way.
Banh khoai is served open faced but I ate mine by folding the thin crisp rice pancake over like a ban chien kueh. The crisp pancakes broke when I did that as they were very thin and light.
It is eaten by dipping it in savoury fermented fish sauce with cut chili pepper. I love the combination of crisp and tender textures in the mouth and savoury sweet flavours with a subtle bit of spicy heat. Don't try it 😜 It's really addictive 😋 I lost count of how many I ate that morning at Chuồn Village Market.
Attraction: Chuồn Village MarketAddress: Phú Thị, Phú Vang District, Thua Thien Hue, VietnamHours: 4:00am - 11:00am Our food tour to Hue was arranged by Nguyen Ngoc An of Connect Travel. 
I flew to Hue by VietJet Air (via Danang). Date visited: 4 Mar 2020
What Must Eat Food in Hue Vietnam? Banh Khoai Seafood Pancake @ Chuồn Village Market
Reviewed by amfy
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مارس 16, 2020
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Reviewed by amfy
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مارس 16, 2020
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