It was named a “Bib Gourmand” restaurant by the Michelin Guide and is among the Houston Chronicle’s Top 100 restaurants.

Nam Giao also happens to be a favorite restaurant of my dentist, who also happens to be Vietnamese, which is why a routine check-up that ran against the lunch hour transitioned into a tour of central Vietnamese cuisine.

The ambiance is casual, and — as the Michelin designation suggests — the restaurant is family-friendly and moderately priced.

The Michelin Guide says that if you want to “eat like a local,” you should eat at Nam Biao. Is that a Houston local or a Vietnamese local? Either way, the dishes are right here in the International District of Houston.

“You could make an entire meal out of the appetizers at this beloved restaurant in Little Saigon, where the elegant cuisine of Hue in central Vietnam is front and center,” said the famous Guide. “At chef-owner Ai Le’s acclaimed Asiatown restaurant Nam Giao, the menu reads like a greatest hits of central Vietnamese cooking, but the translucent steamed rice cakes known as banh beo chen (less than $5 for eight!) are a must-order.”

Everyone starts with those little steamed rice cakes topped with fried pork rinds and chives, the guide and my dentist agree.

However, after my first visit, I became an instant fan of the pork-and-shrimp crystal cakes, banh bot loc la, which cost only $5.95 for six.

For $11.50, get a loaded combo platter with those and banh nam, pork and shrimp rice cakes.

The Michelin Guides are a series of guidebooks published by the French tire company Michelin since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in specific areas.

Since 1997, the Guide has highlighted restaurants offering “exceptionally good food at moderate prices,” a feature now called “Bib Gourmand.” Bib (Bibendum) is the company’s nickname for the Michelin Man.

One reviewer on Yelp echoed the Guide’s sentiments about the value of the delicious cuisine:

“The restaurant may not have the best ambiance or attentive service, but it more than makes up for it with their unique Central Vietnamese dishes.”

“I originally ordered eight banh beo, but the lady told me that eight is not enough, so I got 16 banh beo instead,” said another reviewer. “I think I devoured it all in 15 minutes. It was steaming warm when I got it, and the crispy pork skin made it all the better. For the price and the quality, it is unbeatable.”

Texas Monthly visited the restaurant, located in an International District strip center, and got a combo platter. “Of the trio, our favorite was the banh boc loc la, lovely little packages of translucent shrimp and pork dumplings that had been steamed in banana leaves,” the authors stated.

What did I tell you?

While I stuck to appetizers, Texas Monthly saved room for two entrées: marinated pork with rolled bundles of vermicelli and the Big Crispy Rice Pancake, “a stunning platter-sized crepe stuffed with shrimp, chopped pork, and sprouts.”

The Houston Chronicle also called the restaurant an “incredible bang for the buck.”

They echoed David Chang of the Netflix series, “Ugly Delicious,” who said Nam Giao could charge four times as much for the food.

For now, however, the paper menu, flavors, family-friendly ambiance, and location in the International District remain unchanged.

Nam Giao
6938 Wilcrest Dr.
Houston, TX, 77072

— Dorothy Puch Lillig