At Ba Chi, a food stall that has run for 60 years in a Hue alley, most customers are now foreign tourists. The specialty is b\u00e1nh ram \u00edt\u2014a bite-sized snack that layers a crispy fried cake with a chewy one, wrapping shrimp and pork inside. After a tasting video by a US-based creator spread, shops are selling more than 2,000 a day, and tourist numbers have tripled or quadrupled. Why does a local snack costing about 180 yen a plate draw foreigners across the sea to Hue itself? For Vietnam residents and for Japanese travelers heading to the central region, it's worth following as a real example of \u201cfood-quest tourism\u201d\u2014traveling to the source for a single dish seen on social media.<\/p>\n
According to VnExpress (July 26, 2026), Tran Thi Quynh Loan, owner of Ba Chi, a 60-year-old eatery in Hue, says tourist numbers have risen three- to fourfold and each of her shops now sells more than 2,000 banh lam it a day. Once a small place serving mainly locals and a few travelers, it now counts many foreigners among its customers.<\/p>\n
Banh lam it is a humble dish with roots in Hue's royal cuisine, pairing the crisp texture of fried banh lam with the chewiness of steamed banh it on one plate. It is eaten topped with fish sauce, scallion oil, and dried shrimp powder. Besides Ba Thi, Hue has scattered shops known for this dish, such as Ba Do on Nguyen Binh Khiem Street. The very structure of hard and soft coexisting in a single bite is what is driving its spread now.<\/p>\n
What lit the fuse was a tasting video posted by a content creator based in California. The footage played up the contrast between the \u201ccrunch\u201d of biting into the fried cake and the chewy texture inside, and it struck a chord; the introduction video by creator Julia Vuong is reported to have reached about 2.9 million views.<\/p>\n
Short videos that put sound and texture center stage spread easily across language barriers. Even without knowing a dish's name, the urge to 'hear that sound for myself' arises, and it links straight to searches and visits. Tasting videos shot abroad lit the fuse first, and that heat drew interest back to Hue itself \u2014 this flow carried a dish from the provincial city of Hue to eaters beyond its borders. Two viewer reactions: Christine (US, 30s) said 'the coexistence of hard and soft in a single bite is the biggest appeal,' while Bichev Aleksandr (Russia, 40s) said 'the crisp sound of the fried base is just so satisfying.'<\/p>\n
What turned the buzz into actual spending is the price gap. In Hue a plate of five costs about 30,000 dong (about $1.2, roughly 180 yen). The same plate runs $12-16 at Vietnamese restaurants in the United States (roughly 1,860-2,480 yen at about 155 yen to the dollar). The exchange rate is only a guide and nothing is certain, but that works out to a gap of more than tenfold. Among those who paid the high price in North America, some come away wanting to check for themselves what it costs and tastes like at the source. The high prices abroad, in turn, push people toward a 'pilgrimage' to the origin.<\/p>\n