Chef Christine Ha, 2012 MasterChef winner, turned her downtown food hall counter-service spot into a stellar restaurant that’s worth the drive to Spring Branch. Expect dishes that reflect her signature blend of modern Vietnamese and Texas flavors, like the barbecue brisket fried rice and the phở birria tacos served on Tuesdays. The cocktail menu is also very fun; try the Mot Hai Ball with Japanese whisky, apricot, black sesame, cucumber, and Topo Chico.

While less famous than Crawfish & Noodles, this restaurant is just as worthy of your attention during crawfish season. Our go-to order is the Kitchen Special, a mix of green onion, garlic, lemon, orange, and butter.

This Viet-Cajun restaurant is practically a monument to Houston’s diversity. Here, Cajun delicacies and Southeast Asian flavors collide in dishes like Viet-Cajun blue crabs or crawfish, wok-fried noodles, and mực chiên giòn, James Beard finalist chef Trong Nguyen’s take on fried calamari.

This relative newcomer is made to look like the streets of Vietnam, complete with colorful, low-to-the-ground stools and photographs of Saigon. The service is super-friendly and likely to steer you toward a great recommendation, like the cơm tấm, broken rice with pork chop meatloaf.

While newer and buzzier Vietnamese restaurants have opened in the past decade, Huynh remains as the dependable standby you can always count on for a great meal, holding court in the old Chinatown. We come here on chillier days for comfort in the form of a steaming bowl of phở.

You’ll have to drive to the outer western edge of Asiatown, but we’re pretty adamant this is the best bánh mì in Houston, hands-down. Khang has all the classic variations, and the prices can’t be beat, either.

The oldest Vietnamese restaurant in Houston, opened in 1978, is one of a handful of businesses that have stayed in Midtown after the original Little Saigon packed up and moved west. It’s more so a restaurant of regulars than a destination, in the best way, serving a long menu of greatest hits.

Specializing in the regional cuisine of Huế, Nam Giao is the definition of a hidden gem. Start with a sampler platter of the steamed rice cakes, which are filled with ground pork, dried shrimp, and herbs, with a couple varieties wrapped in banana leaves. Then spring for a vermicelli bowl with well-seasoned grilled pork.

The 17 combinations of phở at this bustling restaurant on Bellaire are a cut above the rest. We like the tái chín, with brisket and rare steak that gently cooks as it wallows in the subtly aromatic broth. Consider pairing your bowl with a housemade salted plum soda.

There are several ways to do Saigon Pagolac, but there is one best way: ordering the seven courses of beef, which is exactly what it sounds like. For $31.95, you’ll get make-your-own spring rolls to start, followed by tenderloin slices you simmer in vinegar broth at your table, beef wrapped in betel leaves (bò lá lốt), meatballs mixed with peanuts and vermicelli, and a few other beef-centric delicacies.

Thien An may just be Houston’s version of the power lunch. The large restaurant bustles every weekday with nearby office dwellers, construction workers, police officers, and the like. Service is fast and friendly, whether you’re ordering a bánh mì to go or sitting down for a heaping plate of bánh cuốn.

If you’re craving bánh cuốn—the north Vietnamese rice rolls stuffed with things like ground pork, dried shrimp, fried shallots, minced mushroom, bean sprouts, herbs, and more—this is the place to be. Note that the restaurant is cash only.