Banh Cuon Hoa serves the best-looking bowl of mi quang in the city. This outstanding Vietnamese noodle shop on Veteran's Memorial near Beltway 8 was also the first restaurant to serve the noodle rolls called banh cuon in Houston.

Banh Cuon Hoa
11106 Veterans Memorial 
281-820-3388

Mi quang is an exalted noodle dish eaten on important occasions in the Quang province of Central Vietnam. It starts with wide egg noodles that have been tinted bright yellow with turmeric. In Central Vietnam, the noodles are only lightly wetted with a bone broth seasoned with shallot and black pepper.

It's not every day that I run across good banh cuon rolls, so I couldn't resist getting an order of barbecued pork banh cuon to go. The rolls came with a zesty nuoc cham—it made a nice light dinner. But in the South Vietnamese version of the dish served at Banh Cuon Hoa, mi quang is served as a soup with lots of broth plus shrimp, pork slices, pork roll (Vietnamese bologna), pickled bamboo, and herbs. The bowl is decorated with a huge rice cracker studded with black sesame seeds.