Banh Xeo Is a Vietnamese Crepe. In Seoul It Comes With Kitchen Scissors.
I work in Seoul. On a Friday four of us walked to Sindang Station for lunch instead of eating near the office.
The restaurant is on the second floor of the building next to an Ediya. The green sign outside says Premium Vietnam Restaurant, so it is not hard to find. The stairs are the hard part. They are narrow and steep enough that someone has taped a sign at the bottom about watching your head.
Upstairs it is a different building. Rattan lamps in a row, wood on the walls, more tables than the stairs suggest. There is a self-service corner by the entrance for spoons, chopsticks, sauces, and the basket of vegetables. You get up and get them yourself. Nobody brings them.
Set B
We ordered Set B: one banh xeo, one small brisket pho, and a plate of fried nem. 31,000 won. The menu says it is enough for three. It was enough for four, with the pho split.
The banh xeo covers the plate. Turmeric batter, crisp at the edge, folded over shrimp, pork, and bean sprouts. It arrives with a basket of lettuce, perilla leaves, cucumber, and raw onion, and a stack of rice paper.
And a pair of kitchen scissors.
That is how banh xeo is eaten in Seoul. You cut the crepe into strips with the scissors, lay a strip on a lettuce leaf or a softened rice paper, add perilla, roll it, dip it. Perilla is not a Vietnamese herb. Scissors are not a Vietnamese tool. Nobody at the table thought about either. In Korea, if it is flat and needs to be smaller, scissors come out. Samgyeopsal, naengmyeon, kimchi at the table. Banh xeo joined the list without anyone voting.
The nem were six pieces, thin skin, shattered when bitten. The pho was the clear kind, not the cloudy kind, with thick slices of brisket.
What to know before going
There was a note up saying one person was running the kitchen and food could be slow. It was a little slow. If your lunch break is exactly one hour, this is not the day to test it. If you have some room, the tables are spaced far enough apart that four people can talk without hearing the next table’s meeting.
Details
- Pho Green, 11 Dasan-ro 35-gil, 2F, Jung-gu
- Sindang Station exit 7, about 255 meters
- Mon–Sat 10:00–22:30, closed Sunday
- Set B (banh xeo + small brisket pho + fried nem) 31,000 won
- No parking; takeout and delivery available
Banh xeo is a crepe. In Sindang it is a crepe that has been cut into strips before anyone asked.
