Bánh cuốn: Hà Nội’s steamed rice rolls, and how to watch them being made

At a bánh cuốn stall, the show is the cook. She ladles a thin rice batter onto a cloth stretched over a pot of boiling water, covers it for a few seconds, then lifts the sheet off with a bamboo stick, so thin you could almost read through it. A spoon of filling, a quick roll, and it is on your plate.

What it is

• Bánh: the steamed sheet of rice batter, soft and slippery.
• The filling: minced pork, wood ear mushroom (mộc nhĩ) and shallots.
• On top: crispy fried shallots (hành phi) and herbs.
• On the side: a bowl of nước chấm, fish sauce with lime, sugar and chilli, and often slices of chả, Vietnamese pork sausage.

The kinds to try

• Bánh cuốn nhân thịt: the classic, rolled around pork and mushroom.
• Bánh cuốn Thanh Trì: plain, paper-thin sheets with no filling, from the village of Thanh Trì just south of Hà Nội, eaten with chả and fried shallots.
• Bánh cuốn trứng: an egg cracked onto the sheet while it steams.
• Bánh cuốn Cao Bằng: from the far north, served in a bowl of hot broth instead of with a dip.

How to eat it

1. Season the dipping bowl with chilli and lime to your taste.
2. Pick up a roll with your chopsticks and dip it. The sheet is slippery, so take it slowly.
3. Eat the chả between rolls, or dip it too.

A few old Hà Nội stalls keep a tiny bottle of cà cuống, an essence from a water beetle with a sharp, flowery scent. It is rare now. If you are offered one drop in your sauce, say yes.

How to order

• “Cho tôi một đĩa bánh cuốn.” One plate of bánh cuốn, please.
• “Thêm chả.” Extra chả.
• “Có trứng.” With egg.

When to go

Bánh cuốn is breakfast, like phở. Stalls are busiest from early morning until mid-morning. Pick one where you can see the steamer working and a queue of locals.

Taste it with us

Our Dawn Phở Run comes with a plate of bánh cuốn next to your two bowls of phở, in the Old Quarter at 6 a.m.