Sinh Giang
Banh xeo (bánh xèo) is a crisp, turmeric-yellow rice pancake folded over pork, shrimp and bean sprouts, and you eat it by tearing a piece off, wrapping it in leaves with fresh herbs and dipping the parcel in sauce. Its name copies the sound of batter hitting hot oil. It is not a northern dish, and it is not a Sapa dish: it belongs to central and southern Vietnam, and Hanoi's shops cook it in those styles. So the useful question is which style you are being served, because a palm-sized crisp pancake in Da Nang and a plate-sized soft one in Saigon are different meals under one name.
We are a Sapa trekking company, not a restaurant guide, and most of our guests meet banh xeo in Hanoi, in a hurry, with a menu they cannot read. This guide is for them. We checked every fact on 31 October 2026 against Vietnam Tourism, Michelin Guide coverage, Vietnamese and English-language news, the US CDC and listings with opening hours. We give the source and date for each number, we say where two sources disagree, and we say plainly what we could not confirm. For the wider map of what to eat, see Vietnam street food by region; this page covers one dish in depth.
Key Takeaways
- Banh xeo is a rice-flour and turmeric pancake, usually filled with pork, shrimp and bean sprouts, wrapped in leaves or rice paper with herbs and dipped in sauce (Vietnam Tourism, updated 11 October 2026).
- The south makes it big and soft-crisp; the centre makes it small and very crisp. Hanoi's shops cook one of those two styles, because we found no sign of a native northern version.
- Dated prices range from about 17,500 VND for a small pancake with greens to 110,000 to 180,000 VND for the big Saigon style. Always ask which size you are buying.
- Eat it with your hands and eat it hot. The CDC advises travellers to avoid raw vegetables and ice where water is unsafe, and the herb basket is raw.
- We could not confirm a dedicated banh xeo shop in Sapa. We say what we did find, and what the highlands eat instead.
What Banh Xeo Is
Banh xeo is a savoury pancake of rice flour and turmeric, usually filled with pork, shrimp and bean sprouts, fried until the edge turns crisp. That is Vietnam Tourism's description on a page updated on 11 October 2026. Tuoi Tre (about 14 October 2025) adds that the batter can be mixed with coconut milk or plain water, and that the greens served with it include mustard greens, lettuce, young mango leaves and a leaf called la cach. Coconut milk is typical of the Mekong Delta, but not every shop uses it: one long-running Hanoi stall described by Vietnamnet (3 September 2026) makes a batter of rice flour without turmeric.
The name is onomatopoeic. VOV, quoting Michelin Guide coverage on 30 March 2026, says "xeo" mimics the sizzling sound when batter hits hot oil, and Saigoneer (3 September 2016) translates the name as "sizzling cake". The same VOV article says a good pancake is eaten right off the pan, while it is still hot and loud.
Notice the tray in the photo. The pancake is only half the dish. The pile of leaves is how you eat it, the rice paper is for a different style of wrap, and the dips decide the flavour. A basic dipping sauce is fish sauce with lime, sugar, garlic and chilli, according to the VOV article; central shops add a fermented anchovy sauce called mam nem and some add peanut sauce.
Where It Comes From, and the Guesses
Nobody knows exactly, and the honest sources say so. Wikipedia, which we use only for orientation, states that the origins are unknown. VOV, relaying Michelin coverage, says the dish is believed to date back to the Tay Son era and to have started in central Vietnam. Tasting Table (18 October 2022) says the origin is unclear and also points to the central region under the Tay Son rulers, 1771 to 1802. Saigoneer (3 September 2016) says most people agree the original came from the centre.
Saigoneer lists three guesses about ancestry and labels all of them as guesses. The first is that today's pancake descends from banh khoai, the small folded pancake of Hue. The second is that the idea was borrowed centuries ago from Cham culture. The third is that it was inspired by South Indian cooking in the first millennium. We repeat them to show how little is settled, not to endorse any of them. We looked for a sourced French or Chinese origin and found none worth quoting.
One date is better documented, and it is about Saigon rather than origins. Saigoneer says the pancake was uncommon in Saigon in the 1960s and 1970s and became popular there from the 1980s. That means the giant pancake that foreigners now treat as the standard is a later, southern development of a dish that began as something smaller.
Five Pancakes Under One Name
Vietnamese regions disagree about size, crispness and what you wrap it in, and the disagreement is most of the fun. Read the cards below as a field guide to what you might be handed.
Southern (Mekong Delta and Saigon)
Giant, golden- Look
- Viet Nam News (7 April 2026) calls the crepe "giant, golden and overflowing with fillings". Saigoneer says the further south you go, the bigger the pancake gets, and Wikipedia gives about 12 inches, roughly 30 cm, for the western style.
- Fillings
- Mung beans, pork, shrimp and bean sprouts in the Saigon version Tuoi Tre describes (21 June 2024). In the Mekong Delta, Viet Nam News adds palm heart and Muscovy duck.
- Wrap
- Mustard leaf or lettuce, with herbs, then a dip in sweet and sour fish sauce.
Da Nang and Hoi An
Medium, very crisp- Look
- Vietnam Tourism (2026) says the Da Nang pancake is medium in size and fried very crisp, often with squid. Saigoneer says the pancakes in Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai and Quang Nam are medium and wrapped in rice paper.
- Wrap
- Dry rice paper rather than leaves, then a dip. Vietnam Tourism warns that wet rice paper makes the pancake soggy.
- With it
- Grilled pork skewers (nem lui) are the usual pairing at the shops we read about.
Quy Nhon (banh xeo tom nhay)
Small, shrimp only- Look
- VnExpress and FPT Shop describe a small cast-iron pan and a filling of tiny live shrimp, with sprouts, cucumber and sour starfruit or mango to wrap. We read these only as summaries, not the original reports, so treat the details as a likely description.
- Dip
- A chilli fish sauce or a sweet and sour sauce.
Hue (banh khoai)
Small, thick, folded- Look
- The Hue tourism portal Kham Pha Hue describes a cast-iron mould about 15 cm across, a pancake folded in half, with river shrimp, pork and egg. Other Vietnamese sources say it is smaller, thicker and crisper than banh xeo.
- Dip
- A thick sauce made with soy, peanut, sesame, liver and stock. The portal's page carries no date, so check it.
Hanoi shops
Imported, adapted- Look
- Hanoi Times and Vietnam Airlines describe shops cooking central or southern styles for Hanoi customers. We found no source for a native northern recipe and no date for when the dish reached the capital.
- Where
- Doi Can Street is known for banh xeo and nem lui; one article calls Ngoc Duong the oldest stall there, but that is one source.
The vendor in the photo shows why the central pancake is small: it is cooked in a row of little pans on one stove, a few minutes each, rather than on one large griddle.
Sapa Treks With a Village Lunch
1-Day Trek
Trekking Through Rice Terraced Fields
Lao Chai to Ta Van with lunch at a family restaurant in Y Linh Ho.
Homestay
Rice Terraced Fields & Homestay
Dinner and breakfast with a family in Ta Van, lunch on day one.
Local Favourite
Mountain Views and Villages Trek
Lunch at a restaurant run by local people in Hang Da village.
Where to Eat Banh Xeo
This table keeps to shops with at least one source, and it says how old the source is. Opening hours and prices change, so treat every line as a place to start. "BG" means Michelin's Bib Gourmand, a value-for-money listing, and "Selected" is Michelin's wider list. We could not open Michelin's own pages, so the labels come from news reports and guide sites.
| City | Shop | Address | Style, price and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanoi | Mr Bay Mien Tay | 79 Hang Dieu | Southern style, about 30 cm; BG from 2024, in the 2025 list (2026 not confirmed); about 95,000 to 140,000 (VnExpress, 2024) and 135,000 to 165,000 (a blog, 2025) |
| Hanoi | Banh xeo Sau Phuoc | 74 Cau Dat | Long-established, served with nem lui; undated listing, no hours |
| Hanoi | Ngoc Duong | 125 Doi Can | Small pancakes, often busy; undated listing |
| Hanoi | Thanh Sang | 55 Hai Ba Trung | Fresh shrimp in a Quy Nhon style; undated listing |
| Hanoi | Lang Que | 1 Hang Dau | Small pancakes, a balcony; undated listing |
| Ho Chi Minh City | Banh Xeo 46A | 46A Dinh Cong Trang, District 1 | About 25 cm; BG 2024; 110,000 regular and 180,000 special (Bao Quoc te, 2024); hours given as 9:00 or 10:00 to 21:00 |
| Da Nang | Banh Xeo 76 | 85A Le Van Huu, Ngu Hanh Son | BG in the 2026 list (Danang Fantasticity); hours about 10:00 to 21:00; price not confirmed |
| Da Nang | Banh Xeo Ba Duong | K280/23 Hoang Dieu, Hai Chau | Michelin Selected in 2026, not BG; over 30 years old, charcoal grill, peanut sauce, 9:30 to 21:30 (Saigoneer, 2022) |
| Hoi An | Gieng Ba Le | 45/51 Tran Hung Dao | 8:00 to 22:00 (VinWonders, December 2025); a set menu with banh xeo at 75,000 (Vietnam Tourism) |
| Hoi An | Co Anh | Thoai Ngoc Hau | 9:00 to 22:00 (VinWonders); cheaper and quieter than Ba Le according to Vietnam Tourism |
Three things to know about that list. First, only Mr Bay and 46A have a recent, named, dated source for price and Michelin status; the other Hanoi lines come from one undated listing, and the 6,000 to 15,000 VND prices that listing quotes look like old prices for a small pancake, so we do not use them. Second, Duong's at 27 Ngo Huyen is named in the same Michelin coverage as banh xeo, but a search snippet of its Michelin page highlights grilled fish, so we do not list it as a banh xeo specialist. Third, the Hoi An addresses vary between pages; a VinWonders page gives two different lanes for Ba Le, so use a map pin, not our line.
One Hanoi caveat deserves its own paragraph. Tien Phong reported on 11 February 2026 that the Hoan Kiem ward authorities fined a well-known Michelin-listed shop on the Old Quarter's edge 8 million VND over food-safety conditions: drainage, an open kitchen area and the risk of insects and animals reaching preparation areas. The report names Mr Bay. A Michelin listing is about the food, not an inspection. We pass the report on and let you decide.
For a Hanoi pancake with the least fuss, we would look at the small central-style shops around Doi Can, where the pancake arrives with a tray of leaves and a stack of rice paper. The unnamed stall in Yen Lang that Vietnamnet describes (3 September 2026) is a good model of what to look for: a couple from Quang Ngai, more than 31 years at the same spot, a cast-iron pan about 20 cm across and four pancakes with greens for 70,000 VND, about 17,500 each by our arithmetic. It has no name, so we cannot send you to it.
What It Costs
The price depends almost entirely on the size, so always ask whether the price you are quoted is per pancake or per plate. The most useful figures we found were these.
| Where | Price | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Hanoi, Southern style (Mr Bay) | 95,000 to 140,000; seafood 165,000 | VnExpress, 27 June 2024; a blog post of 15 May 2025 |
| Hanoi, small central-style stall | 4 pancakes with greens, 70,000 | Vietnamnet, 3 September 2026 |
| Hoi An, tourist set menu | 75,000 for banh xeo | Vietnam Tourism, 2026 |
| Ho Chi Minh City, 46A | 110,000 regular; 180,000 special | Bao Quoc te, 27 September 2024 |
| Whole country, general | 18,000 to 75,000 a pancake; 50,000 to 150,000 a portion | Vietnam Tourism, 2026 |
The pattern is that small central-style pancakes cost under 20,000 to 30,000 VND each, while the big southern pancake is sold as a shared plate at 100,000 VND or more. Vietnam Tourism converts its range to roughly 0.75 to 3 US dollars a pancake; we did not find an official exchange rate on the page, so treat the dollar figure as an estimate. Michelin-listed shops sit at the top of the range. If you want to try the dish cheaply, a small stall in the centre or in Hanoi is the better value, and if you want the experience of the giant crepe, 46A and Mr Bay are what the sources point to.
How to Wrap and Eat It
Use your hands. Viet Nam News (7 April 2026) says the best way to enjoy it is with your hands, and Local Vietnam (updated 11 May 2026) and Vietnam Tourism agree. The two main wraps work differently, and mixing them is how you end up with a soggy mess.
Southern leaf wrap
Saigon and Delta- Take
- A piece of pancake and a large leaf of mustard greens or lettuce.
- Add
- A few herbs and some shredded papaya or sprouts.
- Do
- Roll it, dip it in sweet and sour fish sauce, eat it in one or two bites.
Central paper wrap
Da Nang and Hue- Take
- A sheet of dry rice paper, a piece of pancake and a skewer of grilled pork if you ordered it.
- Add
- Herbs, sliced starfruit or banana if the tray has it.
- Do
- Roll it tightly, dip it, eat it at once. Wet the paper only a little, because wet paper makes the pancake soggy (Vietnam Tourism).
Two further points from the sources. Dip after you wrap, not before: a pancake dipped whole goes limp. And eat from the pan while it is hot, because VOV says a pancake that cools loses its crisp, and a crisp pancake is the point. Migrationology's guide to 46A suggests ordering one big pancake for several people to share, which is practical advice for the big southern style.
The dips deserve a word. The basic sauce is fish sauce, lime, sugar, garlic and chilli. Central shops add mam nem, which Vietnam Tourism describes as an acquired taste and warns contains shellfish. Hue's banh khoai comes with a thick sauce of peanut, sesame and liver. Da Nang's Ba Duong is known, per Saigoneer (7 October 2022), for a secret peanut sauce so good you could drink it. We have not tasted any of these, so we quote the sources, not our palate.
Herbs, Ice, Allergies and Diets
The pancake is fried hot, which is a good sign. The herb tray is raw, and the ice may not be what you think. The CDC's Yellow Book page for Vietnam, which shows an April 2025 review date, says tap water is unsafe to drink and that ice is also unsafe because it is often made from tap water. It advises avoiding raw vegetables, fruit you did not peel yourself, raw or undercooked seafood and street-vendor food, especially uncooked food. Several travel guides say commercially made ice at a respectable restaurant is usually fine, but that is not the CDC's position and we do not attribute it to the CDC.
Because the tray is part of the dish, we suggest picking a busy shop with a high turnover and asking for your leaves fresh. If you are cautious, eat the pancake and the cooked fillings and leave most of the herbs. That is our reading of the CDC advice, not a medical opinion; ask a doctor about typhoid and hepatitis A vaccines before you travel.
Allergies. Shrimp, squid and fish sauce are standard parts of the dish, and Vietnam Tourism warns specifically that mam nem contains shellfish and that people with shellfish allergies should ask before ordering. Peanut sauces appear in central styles such as Ba Duong's and Hue's banh khoai, so ask about nuts. We found no source on egg in the batter, so we cannot say.
Vegetarian. A vegetarian pancake exists. Local Vietnam describes a filling of tofu and mushrooms with a soy dip. Vietnam Tourism lists Amitabha in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 as a vegetarian banh xeo shop. VnExpress (2024) says Mr Bay offers a vegetarian filling. We could not find a vegetarian banh xeo shop in Hanoi with a good source, so ask at the counter and check what the batter and dip contain.
Gluten. Rice flour does not contain wheat, but we found no source on the soy sauce or other items in the dips of any shop. Soy sauce often contains wheat; that is general knowledge, not a sourced claim, so a person who must avoid gluten should ask each shop.
The Part We Do Sell
- Hanoi to Sapa transport — sleeper buses, limousines and the overnight train, bookable with your trek
- Hanoi to Sapa guide — what each option costs and how long it takes
- How to get to Sapa — the first leg, in detail
Banh Xeo and Sapa
We could not confirm a dedicated banh xeo shop in Sapa town, and we looked in several places. The nearest sourced mention is a Tripadvisor review dated 30 December 2024 for the Sapa 24 Restaurant on Fansipan Street, where a guest wrote that they ordered banh xeo and grilled fish with lemongrass and chilli and enjoyed both. That is one review. The restaurant is better known for bun cha and the review does not tell us whether banh xeo is a regular dish. In Lao Cai city, 35 km below Sapa, a Foody listing names Banh Xeo Ba Anh at 69 Ngo Quyen, but that is not Sapa.
Our advice is plain. If you want the real thing, eat it in Hanoi or in Da Nang, and eat what the highlands do best in Sapa. Vietnam Tourism's guide to Sapa food, updated 29 August 2026, mentions grilled street food at the night market near the stone church and leaf-grilled fish made by Red Dao people in Ta Phin; it does not mention banh xeo. A commercial page describes grilled corn cakes (banh ngo) and banh giay with pork roll around the Sapa market, with no date, so we pass that on as a lead and not a fact. We found no source for any H'mong banh xeo or northwest banh xeo, and we will not invent one. Our what to eat in Sapa and Sapa restaurants pages cover the food we can vouch for, and Lao Cai: Gateway to Sapa covers the city below.
A related pancake in the northwest is the fried sticky-rice cake of the Thai people in Dien Bien, called banh khau xen or banh chi chop, described by Mytour. It is a fried glutinous rice cake, cut and fried, so it is not a relative of banh xeo; we mention it only so you do not expect a pancake.
The Giant Pancake Festival
If you are in the south in spring, the Southern Folk Cake Festival in Can Tho is the only event we found that revolves around banh xeo. VOV (18 April 2024) reports that at the eleventh festival, 15 artisans fried a pancake 3 metres across in 30 minutes and cut it into 1,000 free portions; the ingredients included 30 kg of flour, 20 kg of grated coconut, 27 kg of shrimp and 65 kg of vegetables. The 2025 festival, held 4 to 8 April, featured a giant pancake with 100 Nha Trang lobsters, according to the agriculture newspaper Nong nghiep va Moi truong (5 April 2025). Bao Dau tu (14 April 2026) says the 2026 festival ran 26 April to 1 May with about 250 stalls and does not mention a giant pancake. We found no official national banh xeo day.
Sources and What We Could Not Confirm
We checked these on 31 October 2026. A "listing" is a commercial or user-written page and is weaker than a news report.
- Vietnam Tourism banh xeo guide, updated 11 October 2026; Vietnam Tourism Sapa food guide, 29 August 2026.
- VOV, 30 March 2026 (Michelin Guide coverage); Viet Nam News, 7 April 2026; Saigoneer, 3 September 2016 and 7 October 2022; Tasting Table, 18 October 2022.
- Tuoi Tre, about 14 October 2025 and 21 June 2024; VnExpress, 27 June 2024; Bao Quoc te, 27 September 2024; Tien Phong, 11 February 2026; Vietnamnet, 3 September 2026.
- Danang Fantasticity, 5 June 2026; VinWonders, 13 December 2025; Local Vietnam, updated 11 May 2026; Vietnam Airlines guide (undated 2025 page).
- VOV, 18 April 2024; Nong nghiep va Moi truong, 5 April 2025; Bao Dau tu, 14 April 2026.
- CDC Yellow Book, Vietnam page (April 2025 review date).
What we could not confirm: Michelin's own pages (they would not load), current Michelin labels for 2026 other than Danang Fantasticity's report, prices for the small Hanoi shops, hours for most Hanoi shops, any vegetarian banh xeo shop in Hanoi, a gluten or egg statement for any shop, any native northern banh xeo, and a dedicated banh xeo shop in Sapa. For details like these, the shop's own sign and your map app beat this page.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Banh xeo is a savoury Vietnamese pancake made from rice flour and turmeric, usually filled with pork, shrimp and bean sprouts and fried until crisp. You wrap pieces in leaves or rice paper with herbs and dip them in sauce. Vietnam Tourism describes it on a page updated 11 October 2026.
The word xeo imitates the sizzling sound of batter hitting hot oil. VOV, quoting Michelin Guide coverage on 30 March 2026, gives this explanation, and Saigoneer translated the name as sizzling cake in 2016.
With your hands. Tear off a piece, wrap it in a leaf of mustard greens or lettuce with herbs in the southern style, or in dry rice paper in the central style, then dip it and eat it hot. Dip after wrapping, because a pancake dipped whole goes limp.
Southern pancakes are large, golden and wrapped in leaves, and they grow bigger the further south you go according to Saigoneer. Central pancakes are small to medium, fried very crisp, wrapped in dry rice paper and often served with grilled pork skewers. Hanoi shops cook one of these two styles.
Mr Bay Mien Tay at 79 Hang Dieu has a Michelin Bib Gourmand listing from 2024 and serves a large southern pancake; one report in February 2026 says the ward fined it over food safety. Doi Can Street has several small central-style shops from an undated listing. Check hours on a map before you go.
Dated prices run from about 17,500 VND a pancake at a small Hanoi stall in September 2026 to 110,000 to 180,000 VND for the large pancake at Banh Xeo 46A in Ho Chi Minh City in 2024. Vietnam Tourism gives a national range of 18,000 to 75,000 VND a pancake. Ask whether the price is per pancake or per plate.
The pancake is fried hot, but the herb tray is raw, and the CDC advises travellers to avoid raw vegetables and ice where water is unsafe. It normally contains shrimp, pork and fish sauce. Vegetarian versions with tofu and mushrooms exist, and we could not confirm a vegetarian shop in Hanoi.
We could not confirm a dedicated shop in Sapa town. One Tripadvisor review from 30 December 2024 says a guest ordered banh xeo at the Sapa 24 Restaurant, but that is a single review. We suggest eating it in Hanoi or Da Nang and eating grilled highland food in Sapa.
