Mr Bảy Miền Tây - Bánh Xèo (Pancake) @ Hanoi in Vietnam #michelin

The prestigious Michelin guide for Hanoi came out only on June 2023, after my inaugural visit that ended a few months earlier in April 2023. I penciled a few reputable dining establishments to check out and one of them was Mr Bảy Miền Tây! 

I recalled walking past the shop, with its large woks cooking ban xeo that would capture the attention of every diner going in from the main entrance! I didn't manage to patronize back in 2023 but I was back a year later, at the end of 2024.

Seating on level two. Maybe because dinner time at Vietnam wasn't that early as we managed to secure a table immediately; quite impossible for a michelin eatery at 6.30pm. 

Loving this display of nutritional facts of the vegetables used in many Vietnamese dishes; including lettuce, perilla, mustard greens, vietnamese balm, mint and ambarella! 

Banh xeo, known as a Vietnamese pancake, has a way to eating them! I must have embarrassed myself in front of the Vietnamese when I first had it Ăn Là Ghiền in Singapore. Anyway, enough "talking", let's have our meals.

Muc Mot Nang Nuong Muoi Ot - grilled squid with salt and chilli; I was a tad apprehensive when I saw the reddish sheen as I can't take overly spicy food. Turned out it was pretty mild and more like sambal. Texture of the squid was good, not too rubbery, and I enjoyed the pickled vegetables which were perfect companions! 

Nem Nuong Lui - grilled mint pork in stick, which was more infused with a lemongrass marination that wouldn't quite appeal to most people (by that, I meant foreigners). To enhance the flavour and for that extra oomph, you can do something.

Lay the pineapple, pickled vegetables and the meat on rice paper, wrap them up and then took a bite after dipping it in the small bowl of gravy. Trust me, it has never tasted better! 

Our two huge banh xeo(s); Banh Xeo Nam Bo, which means fred rice pancake with pork and shrimp and Banh Xeo Hai San, translates as fried rice pancake with seafood! 

Fillings within for both our banh xeo(s), respectively.

And the platter of vegetables! p.s. please check the display I shared earlier on the different types of vegetables, and the benefits of eating them. Well, I admit that the display did entice me to eat them. 

Let's indulge, using the method shared on how to eat banh xeo! With thin, crispy batter that resulted in a crunch in every bite, I did encounter a slight bitter aftertaste that I attributed to a burnt batter. 

What's more important, however, would be the wide variety of vegetables added to alter the eventual taste, adding a layer of freshness! The one that intrigued us the most was the ambarella, which was strangely sour. 

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While we did clean up almost everything, save for the ambarella, I thought I would prefer a pancake with a bit of heft, instead of being all thin and crispy. Whatever the case, it was still enjoyable, and one thing for sure; it felt like a darn healthy meal. 

Address

79 Hàng Điếu, Cửa Đông, 

Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Muc Mot Nang Nuong Muoi Ot - 165,000 Dong

Nem Nuong Lui - 25,000 Dong a stick

Banh Xeo Nam Bo - 135,000 Dong

Banh Xeo Hai San - 165,000 Dong