Best Thing I Ate This Week: Crispy Vietnamese Crepe Cake at Hai Chi Em

I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for any dish that comes with assembly instructions. K-BBQ lettuce wraps, Vietnamese spring rolls, tacos spilling all over your plate—if it involves getting my hands a little messy, I’m already sold. 

So when a friend and I visited Hai Chi Em Modern Vietnamese Cuisine for lunch, and co-owner Mai Le leaned over our table to explain the proper way to eat their crispy Vietnamese crepe cake (bánh xèo), I knew we were in for something special. 

Helmed by Le, her brother Tony Huynh, his wife Kim Ngo and close friend chef Bac Do, the family-run restaurant first opened on Fraser Street in 2022. They relocated to a more spacious location on Kingsway in late 2024, bringing their elevated and modern flavours to Vancouver’s “Little Saigon.” 

From their wide selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, we opted for sweet and refreshing iced teas to sip on as we chattered in anticipation: a citrusy lemongrass calamansi black tea with malty notes and a pleasantly lip-puckering soursop jasmine tea (each $8). And more zest was to come.

The pomelo shrimps & pork salad ($20) was a generous plate of pork belly and shrimp, thinly-sliced carrots and onions, combined with peanuts, sesame seeds, and coconut flakes. Bringing together this zesty medley, the juicy, bittersweet pomelo was the hero we didn’t know we needed. 

The spicy beef short rib noodle soup ($25) arrived with tender meat swimming in a tangy, warming broth (though I wouldn’t have minded a bit more heat), but the hearty goat curry ($35) was so aromatic we smelled it before we saw it. Think rich goat broth mingling with coconut milk, creamy peanut and curry, and served with baguette or rice (we couldn’t decide, so we got both). The best part? The small pile of goat bones that served as a reminder for the rest of the meal of the buttery bone marrow I so quickly finished.

Still, nothing compared to the crispy Vietnamese crepe cake ($26) that had both my elbows up on the table and my face pointed down, trying to catch the fish sauce dribbling down my chin.

Even before we ordered, Le told us the special place that bánh xèo holds in her heart. “Bánh xèo is near and dear to me because my brother and I grew up eating it with my dad—that’s his signature dish,” she explained. “We didn’t have it at our old restaurant because we didn’t have the space capacity, but now the kitchen is freaking huge, so we added many different things onto the menu.”

The kitchen was not the only thing huge at Hai Chi Em. 

When two enormous crepes made of rice flour arrived at our table, I made an audible gasp. Each golden crepe larger than my face was stuffed with plump shrimps, thick pieces of pork belly, bean sprouts and mung beans still steaming. But what immediately caught my attention next was the dainty pair of scissors.

Seeing our confused expressions, Le walked us through the ritual: cut yourself a generous piece of crepe, place it on a lettuce leaf with fresh perilla, basil and pickled daikon and carrots, wrap it all up and finally dip in into the flavourful fish sauce.

The first bite was revelatory. As soon as I bit into the crepe’s crispy exterior, savoury pork, sweet shrimp and crunchy bean sprouts met my tastebuds. The herbs added brightness, the pickles brought tang and the fish sauce tied it all together with a wash of umami.

And yes, my hands were a mess. It was glorious.

My friend and I happily divided up the leftovers from that night without a fight, but my composure did not hold up once I returned home. The next morning, before my poor partner even had a chance, I was greedily devouring the remainders of the crepe—fresh out of the air fryer.  

2172 Kingsway
haichiem.ca