Banh Beo, Nam, Loc and Ram It — the Hue Cake Set, Eaten Together
Nobody orders just one. People in Hue order the whole set, a few of each — and each one comes with its own dipping sauce.
This page is translated from Vietnamese. Prices and opening hours are checked against Vietnamese sources — see the Vietnamese version for the most recent update.
Photo: Nha Nghi La from Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons (cropped to 16:9 and resized)
In Hue these four cakes almost always arrive together on one tray: bánh bèo, bánh nậm, bánh bột lọc and ram ít. Every Hue cake shop has all four, and regulars order the set.
Telling the four apart
| Cake | Wrapper | Filling | Shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bánh bèo | steamed rice batter | dried shrimp floss and crackling on top | individual small dishes with a dip in the middle |
| Bánh nậm | rice batter spread thin | minced prawn and pork | flat, wrapped in leaf, opened to eat |
| Bánh bột lọc | tapioca starch, translucent | a whole prawn and a piece of pork | oblong, some leaf-wrapped, some bare |
| Ram ít | a soft dumpling on a fried crisp base | prawn and pork | round, crunchy below and chewy above |
The quick version: bèo comes in dishes, nậm is flat, lọc is see-through, ram ít is crunchy plus chewy.
Banh beo — why it comes in little dishes
Hue bánh bèo differs from the southern version in being steamed in the dish itself and brought to the table still in it, never turned out.
Each dish holds one thin layer of batter with a dip in the middle, topped with tôm chấy — dried shrimp pounded into floss — and pork crackling. You eat it with a small bamboo spoon, running it around the rim to release the cake.
A serving is usually ten to twenty dishes arranged on a tray. It looks like a lot; it goes very quickly.
The sauce is what decides it
The dipping sauce separates a good shop from an ordinary one, and it is where most people cooking at home go wrong.
Each cake has its own sauce, and they are not interchangeable:
- Bánh bèo — thin sweetened fish sauce, poured straight into the dish.
- Bánh nậm — saltier, less sweet.
- Bánh bột lọc — strong fish sauce with chilli, sometimes with a little spring onion oil.
- Ram ít — sweet-and-sour, to balance the richness of the fried base.
Hue-style dipping sauce is thinner and less sweet than the southern version. If you are used to a strongly sweet sauce it will taste weak at first — it takes a few goes.
Mixing it at home, a reference ratio for bánh bèo: 1 part fish sauce : 1 part sugar : 4–5 parts warm water, plus lime and chilli. But the foundation is still the fish sauce — a concentrated first-press one gives a clear, fragrant sauce, while a pre-diluted one gives only salt.
Where and when to eat them
- These are an afternoon food in Hue. Many places open from around 14:00 or 15:00 into the evening.
- Order the set, a few of each, rather than a lot of one. That is how people here eat, and how you find out which one suits you.
- Eat them hot. Bánh nậm and bánh bột lọc stiffen as they cool and lose their chew entirely.
- Prices are very low, charged per piece or per dish.
Taking them home
Bánh bột lọc travels — leaf-wrapped, and you steam it again at home. Many households sell it by the dozen, vacuum-packed for people going a long way.
Bánh bèo and bánh nậm do not travel; eat them where they are made.
Read more
- Cơm hến — the dish these go with best
- Bún bò Huế
Specialties used in this dish
Nước mắm Nhĩ Nhựt Hoàng – chai 1 lít Prices are in Vietnamese đồng.
Food
- Bun Bo Hue — the Shrimp Paste Is What Gives the Broth Its DepthBones for sweetness, lemongrass and chilli for aroma. That thick, lingering depth behind every spoonful — that is the shrimp paste.
- Com Hen — the Poor Man's Dish, Served With Cold RiceCold rice, clams the size of a chopstick tip, and chilli heat that stops most first-timers. This is the hardest dish in Hue to get on with.
- Nem Lui — Pounded Pork Grilled on Lemongrass SkewersWhat decides this dish is not the meat but the sauce — thick, rich, faintly sweet, cooked from liver and peanuts.