A whole row of pancake stalls lines Diên Hồng street, iron pans blazing hot, vendors scooping a ladle of live, jumping shrimp straight into the pan — the shrimp are still leaping as the rice batter sizzles into a golden crust around them. That's exactly where bánh xèo tôm nhảy, 'jumping shrimp pancake,' gets its name. Gia Vỹ (No. 14) and Ông Hùng (No. 24) are two old shops that have each run on this street for over 20 years.
State media specifically reported on the founder, and the official tourism site has a dedicated page
State outlets Tuổi Trẻ and Người Lao Động both ran dedicated features titled 'Cha đẻ của bánh xèo tôm nhảy' specifically reporting on this dish's founder, Lý Thị Thu, known as Bà Năm. Bình Định province's official tourism site, dulichquynhon.binhdinh.gov.vn, also has a dedicated page for her shop, while multiple independent travel outlets including VinWonders, Mia.vn, and Eva.vn cross-confirm that Diên Hồng street is the cluster of jumping shrimp pancake shops within Quy Nhơn City proper. The story behind the 'jumping shrimp' name is also consistent across multiple reports: live tôm đất (a small type of field shrimp) are scooped straight into the hot pan, still jumping as they cook, which is where the name comes from.
Honest clarification: the founder's original shop is actually in neighboring Tuy Phước district, not within Quy Nhơn City
It has to be said honestly that Bà Năm's original shop actually sits in Mỹ Cang village, Phước Sơn commune, in the former Tuy Phước district — about 15km from downtown Quy Nhơn, and not within Quy Nhơn City's boundaries at all. This snack, widely treated as 'Quy Nhơn's signature dish,' actually traces its true birthplace to the neighboring district. This guide therefore anchors instead on the verifiable, 20-plus-year-old cluster of shops on Diên Hồng street within Quy Nhơn City itself (Gia Vỹ, Ông Hùng), to keep every anchor point within Quy Nhơn's own boundaries. This isn't a denial of Bà Năm's historical standing — it's an honest distinction between 'where it was born' and 'the verifiable Quy Nhơn City shops this guide can anchor on.'
How to Eat It Authentically
- Order it fresh off the pan to get the crisp-outside, soft-inside contrast — it turns soggy if left sitting.
- Live, jumping tôm đất shrimp are the soul of this dish, and what determines how sweet and fresh it tastes.
- Wrap it in lettuce and herbs and dip it in fish sauce to balance out the richness of the fried batter.
An Honest Look at This Dish's Origins
- The recognized founder Bà Năm's original shop actually sits in neighboring Tuy Phước district, not a Quy Nhơn City original.
- The old shops on Diên Hồng street within Quy Nhơn City itself have their own verifiable 20-plus-year track record.
- This guide honestly distinguishes 'where it was born' from 'the verifiable shops within Quy Nhơn City' — two separate things.
Bite into a jumping shrimp pancake and the crisp batter and springy shrimp deliver exactly what countless travel sites have crowned Quy Nhơn's signature snack — but the true founding story is actually written in a small village in the next district over. What the old shops on Diên Hồng street carry forward is Quy Nhơn City's own 20-plus years of craft.