Bánh Vạc from Hoi An: The Delicate 'White Rose' Pastry I Keep Searching for in Da Nang but Can Never Find

There are dishes whose beauty makes you pause for a few seconds before picking up your chopsticks. Bánh vạc is one of them. At first glance, I thought someone had placed delicate little flowers on a plate: a layer of translucent white rice flour coating, so thin you could barely make out the soft pink filling peeking through inside, with the pastry edges gathered and twisted just like flower petals. Westerners back in the 90s called it the "white rose" – white rose – and that name has stuck ever since.

To call it by its proper name, this dish is "bánh bao bánh vạc" (white rose dumplings). The plate usually comes with two kinds served together: bánh vạc with finely pounded shrimp filling, and bánh bao with a filling of pork, wood ear mushroom, mushroom, bean sprouts, and onion. What intrigues me most is not the core, but the shell. They say the flour is made from carefully selected rice and kneaded with water from an ancient well in Hội An, so once you leave the old town, it's almost impossible to recreate the authentic flavor. The dough-making recipe is a family secret passed down for over a hundred years – they make it and deliver it to shops around the neighborhood, but it's not something just anyone can open up and do.

The flavor is delicate just as described. The cake crust is chewy and soft, not floury, not greasy. Sweet and fragrant shrimp, dipped in a bowl of diluted fish sauce with a light sour-sweet flavor, topped with crispy fried shallots. Eating one plate doesn't fill you up, yet you keep wanting to order more – it's the kind of afternoon snack food, where you sit leisurely watching people pass by rather than eating to fill your stomach.

To be honest, I tried to find a place in Da Nang to introduce to everyone so they wouldn't have to go far, but oh well. Bánh bèo, nậm, and lọc in Đà Nẵng are plentiful and delicious (Bà Bé shop at 100 Hoàng Văn Thụ, Hải Châu is a place I know well), but as for authentic bánh vạc, I wouldn't dare just randomly point you to an address I myself am not sure about. This dish has always been a signature specialty exclusive to Hoi An.

So here's a sincere piece of advice: if you're in Da Nang, make the effort to drive another 30km into Hoi An. The best place to eat is at Bông Hồng Trắng oven, 533 Hai Bà Trưng – where they still make pastries fresh on the spot for customers to watch, price around 50,000–100,000 dong. Sitting there, watching people pick each petal by hand, then eating a plate of still-warm pastry, you'll understand why this tiny dish has become the pride of an entire old quarter.

A plate of white roses, a bowl of dipping sauce, and a slow afternoon in Hoi An. For me, that is enough for a memorable trip.