Banh Dap Snack Shack

In Nha Trang recently, after an early morning hour of 'hit and giggle' tennis, our team of mixed ability hacks hit this banh dap snack shack for some championship eating. A few forehand drives and approaches to the net for a volley do wonders in activating the appetite. Racquet-wielding and ravenous, the five of us practically commandeered the joint and started ordering up big.

"Just keep them coming until we say stop", I believe, was the call!

The dish in this 'ma and pa' eatery, in amongst the sleepy inner-district streets of this big seaside town, is a pancake arrangement called banh dap. Dap means slap in English and these numbers were being slapped on tables at a furious pace the morning we dropped in. A close relative of banh cuon, these rice batter membranes are steamed on a cloth plate over a pot of boiling water, peeled off and flung on a plate. Showered with shrimp dust (tom kho) and sweated, chopped spring onions, they are ready for despatch.

Problem is, the skins keep getting skirted around our table, sometimes directly under our snouts, to other bloody customers! It seemed that the system here was 'shout loud, get served' and my team was up for it and, we had tennis racquets for back up! Suddenly, the plates started stacking up...literally. No clearing dirty dishes here, as the method for calculating the bill is to count the plates.

But we weren't done yet. My companions were astounding me with their vigilance, at getting what seemed like an unfair share of the cakes being churned out to our table. I am no longer agape, however, at the Vietnamese' capacity to put nosh away. If there were Wimbledons for eating, for enjoying food, for gourmandising or whatever - as a nation, the Vietnamese would be holding up the golden plate. They can eat!

Banh dap is a winner, too. Served with a fermented shrimp sauce called mam nem (a browner, less pongy version of mam tom) loaded up with more of the green onion tops, these rice crepes are great as they are, even better slapped between two halves of a crunchy rice cracker.

Plate Count

15 plates of the crepe, 15 plates of crackered crepe, iced tea all round - 38,000VND (USD$2.40, AUD$3.20) - a dirt-cheap fourth entry in Extreme Cheap Street Eats.

Comments

[drifter1dc]

Sticky, Luv the site and I'm coming to Nha Trang in Sept. I'll look you up and you can show me some of the best nosh ports.

[Elvis]

Snack Shack looks great...I could sure go for some shaved barramundi dressed with armando mani olive oil per me, fresh and salted plum puree, mango-miso and black salt

[Robyn]

Sticky, IMO this may be your yummiest post yet!! Though I'm gonna have to take issue though with yr assertion of Vietnamese as gold-medal eaters. The proof's in the pudding (or in the girth) ... pc rate of overweight-ness in Vietnam versus in Malaysia? No contest! ;-)

[foodcrazee]

o.0....no mam tom pls...cant stand the smell....

nice and i am now missing all the fun of cheap food in Vietnam

*wish i'm there syndrom*

[Sticky]

Drifter - You won't find me in Nha Trang. It's only an annual excursion. We're up in Hanoi.

Elvis - you could do recitals for foodies in menu-speak!

Robyn - Thanks. I think that's the amazing thing about the Vietnamese...they eat truckloads but they remain as twigs.

foodcrazee - I'm with you on the stand alone mam tom but it's fine in soups.

[genevieve]

i LOVE street food, and that banh dap looks absolutely yummy (i live in the States and don't have the opportunity to just stop in somewhere and have a taste...). i am jealous.

[blooming tea girl]

I've always wanted to try Vietnamese food. I saw on television, I think it's NatGeo, the process of making the crackered crepe made from rice, and it's fascinating how they do it. Not an ordinary delicacy, a bit hard to make, only Vietnamese can do it I guess.