Cash-only Chinatown restaurant specializing in bánh cuốn also serves some unusual Vietnamese dishes, including bún ốc and bánh bột lọc.

11210 Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX 77072
(281) 564-0419
Website

8 am–7 pm Wed–Mon (closed Tuesdays)
Cash only

We came for the bánh cuốn but found more. In what is fast becoming a familiar refrain on this blog, Thiên Thanh is an inexpensive, cash-only Chinatown strip mall café. It offers a narrowly focused menu featuring bánh cuốn Thanh Trì, a Hanoi version of the popular rolled rice noodle dish, along with a few other, mostly Northern Vietnamese specialties. Since Houston Press awarded “Best Vietnamese” to Thiên Thanh in 2017, we recently drove out to Bellaire with cash in hand to find out what all the fuss is about. Bright and clean, with an emphasis on function, the dining room is supplied with gallons of fish sauce. Every table includes a mammoth carafe of what we first mistook for iced tea but turned out to be sweetened nước mắm, and one table is stacked with styrofoam to-go containers, each pre-loaded with a cup of the same sauce.

Bánh cuốn thịt nướng (rice paper with BBQ pork, $7.79). By all means, do order the bánh cuốn. The BBQ pork option includes chewy, slightly crispy slices of seasoned pork wrapped in a soft, silky sheet of steamed rice batter, topped with crispy fried shallots, and served with steamed bean sprouts topped with chopped cilantro. The contrast in flavors and textures between the wrapper and filling creates a magical and sublime dining experience. Despite our struggle to lift the slippery morsels with chopsticks and dip them in the fish sauce, we greedily gobbled the whole plate in little time.

Bánh bột lọc (clear dumplings with shrimp and pork, $6.49).  Thought to have originated in the imperial cuisine of Huế, bánh bột lọc are clear tapioca starch dumplings, each containing a whole shell-on shrimp and a piece of pork. Nothing in Western cuisine really quite approximates these bundles, which differ from other dumplings we have tried. The protein fillings are not enveloped in a wrapper, but are embedded in thick, chewy, translucent tapioca dough. Eating shrimp shells might be unfamiliar, but we found they add to the textural complexity. Compared to the smaller and more delicate bánh bột lọc served at Nam Giao (an excellent Chinatown Hue-style restaurant), Thiên Thanh’s are larger, chunky, and hearty. We enjoyed them dipped in fish sauce, with an occasional nibble of the tiny, hot, red chili pepper provided as a garnish.

Bún ốc (snail vermiceli soup, $7.85). One of us had a slight premonition of a head cold, so we ordered a bowl of this spicy Hanoi-style noodle soup, loaded with chewy escargots and a bright-red tomato. The menu warned that this soup is HOT, but we found the broth to be only moderately and pleasantly piquant (and if it’s still not hot enough for you, reach for one of the containers of chili paste provided on each table). An assortment of condiments arrived with the soup: dabs of fermented shrimp paste and grated ginger, along with a larger plate of raw bean sprouts, fresh herbs (perilla and Vietnamese mint), and a wedge of lime. On its own, the stock was tasty and a bit spicy, but not especially complex. Adding the condiments boosted the flavors remarkably: the minty, earthy complexity of the herbs, when combined with the intense shellfish funk of the shrimp paste and the umami of the snails and broth, produced a startlingly synergistic flavor combination. We also enjoyed dipping cubes of fried tofu ordered as a side dish ($1.45) into the broth. Our only major complaint about this dish is the noodles were quite soft and overdone, reminiscent of best-forgotten grade-school cafeteria spaghetti lunches.

If you’re looking to break out of your (admittedly very pleasant) Houstonian phở and bánh mì rut, Thiên Thanh is a great place to start. If you find the menu unfamiliar and intimidating, we suggest starting with the restaurant’s specialty, bánh cuốn. One order is enough for two to share as a breakfast or light lunch. Pre-wrapped to-go items occupy space by the cash register. And remember to bring cash!