When a batch of banh beo comes to the table at Van Da, any confusion about how to eat them does not last long. Banh beo, a species of small rice cake, are a favorite afternoon snack in the central Vietnamese city of Hue. Each one is steamed in a ceramic dish just big enough to hold a few spare coins.

Faced with a platter of banh beo, you realize fairly quickly that you have essentially two choices: You can use a spoon, or hold the dish to your mouth and tip it up while throwing your head back, as if doing a Jell-O shot. If you go the Jell-O shot route, it may help to bring a pair of chopsticks or a fingertip into play at the last minute to encourage the banh beo to leave the nest.

You have now transferred to your mouth a warm divot of steamed rice and tapioca flours that has a consistency like panna cotta’s and a negligible flavor on its own. All the action is in the toppings. At Van Da, these include a spoonful of chopped scallions and the green oil in which they were sizzled, red rings of fresh Thai chile, some fish sauce, rehydrated dried shrimp and a flap of fried tofu skin, standing in for the pork rinds a banh beo vendor in Hue would use. The divot of rice cake is still warm, which helps the aromas drive their way into your head.

It’s over in a minute. If you’re lucky, there will be another banh beo on the table so you can start over.