A central Vietnamese platter in Burnaby worth the wait

I walked into NÉN knowing basically nothing except “people won’t stop talking about it,” and walked out already scheming about what to order next time.

NÉN lives on Canada Way in Burnaby and does home-style central Vietnamese cooking. Central Vietnamese food is bolder, a bit more layered. We showed up hungry and went straight for the special platter, with bánh bèo to warm up.

The bánh bèo arrived first, a little flower of tiny dishes circled around a bowl of dipping sauce. If you’ve never had them, picture delicate steamed rice cakes, each topped with a savoury crumble and crispy bits, built to vanish in one happy spoonful. They’re a texture game, soft underneath, crunchy on top.

Then the platter landed, and it’s a showoff. A big bamboo tray piled with grilled skewers, lá lốt-wrapped beef (those dark green smoky little parcels that taste like a campfire), a small garden of lettuce and herbs, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, and rice paper to roll the whole thing yourself.

The food was genuinely lovely. My one honest gripe: the wait ran a little long. But it ran long because the place was packed.

I barely scratched the menu, so consider this a to-be-continued.

If you go: it’s in Burnaby on Canada Way, there’s a happy hour earlier in the week, and if lining up isn’t your idea of a good time, aim for a smidge before the dinner rush.