Best Vietnamese Restaurant: Nam Giao

Celebrity chef David Chang sang its praises when he visited Nam Giao for his Houston episode, but you don’t have to take his word for it. Step inside the modest, family-owned restaurant and you’ll discover an almost entirely different menu than the one found at the majority of Vietnamese restaurants around town.

Nam Giao, (pronounced “nahm yow”) is one of the only restaurants in Houston to specialize in central Vietnamese cuisine. The appetizers are wonderful: chewy dumplings filled with pork and shrimp known as banh quai vac, steamed rice cakes in individual saucers called banh beo chen, and banana leaf-wrapped flat rice cakes known as banh nam. Also worth the trek to Asiatown? The bun bo hue spicy beef noodle, mi quang turmeric noodle with pork and shrimp, and com hen rice with clams — dishes that are hard to find elsewhere, but are staples at Nam Giao.

6938 Wilcrest, Houston
281-568-8666

Readers' Choice: Mai's Restaurant
3403 Milam, Houston
713-520-5300
maishouston.com

• Best of Houston