DISH OF THE WEEK: Banh Beo at VAN ĐA

Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City

Regionality is only something I’ve recently discovered in international food. Growing up, Chinese food didn’t mean anything but Americanized sweet greasy fried chicken and pork.

Similarly, other cuisines from Italian to Mexican to Thai usually fit into a general category when sought out in this country. It was really hard to discover things like Venetian, Oaxacan, or Isan cuisine, which are all very different than what we had been accustomed to.

Vietnamese is another one of those cuisines that when discovered in this country tends to be mostly about noodle soups (pho) or baguette sandwiches (banh mi). There wasn’t a ton of regionality in the Vietnamese cooking here. Until Van Đa came along.

The menu at this sleek modern dining room (which is below the cozy bar area) is divided up by street food and then three of the major cities in Vietnam: Hanôi, Saigòn, and Huê.

I was mostly interested in the bites from the royal city of Huê, which is a place I had the chance to visit a few years ago, and is not the cuisine of your typical New York Vietnamese restaurant.

In Vietnam, the texture I remember most is that of chewy thick rice cakes. It seemed like many things were wrapped around this ingredient or they were inside a soup or as a side order.

The two things I tried off the Huê section at Van Đa brought me right back to my time in Vietnam. And it was wonderful.

Of the two rice cakes I tried, the most complex were the Banh Beo. These were served in little ceramic bowls and the bulk of the dish blended in very well with the white of the bowl. It almost looked like this was a dish of garnishes.

But when I dug my spoon underneath the rice cage, I saw how this was composed and it was lovely.

It was somewhat of a trick, but not impossible to get the entire patty in one bite. The textured bubbly and chewy steamed cakes were a wonderful vessel for the bold toppings of funky and sweet minced shrimp, fiery chiles, and pungent scallion oil. For crunch, there was a sliver of fried yuba (tofu skin).

These little bites are literally fit for a king (they were royal food historically) and a great way to start your countrywide journey through Vietnamese cuisine at Van Đa. Something you couldn’t really do in this country until very recently. Price: $8