Melbourne, Australia, would give Twin Cities a run for their money for banh mis. There's a large Vietnamese community here from the war, South Vietnamese flags flying everywhere.
I can't get enough of the things. Some weekends I'll eat nothing else. When I went to Vietnam a couple of years back, I practically survived on banh mi and pho.
I think the best ones I had in Vietnam were on Cat Ba Island, in Ha Long Bay. They used used a sort rotisserie kebab to cook the pork, and added an egg.
I found it really interesting how every region had its own way of making them. Before I went to Vietnam, I had this idea that there was a "proper" banh mi, but the only thing they all had in common was the bread roll.
I take it that you are also a fan of Mister Truong's?
If you have not been, you're missing out on the best pork roll the city has to offer. I wasn't a fan of banh mi, and to be honest I don't really like Vietnamese cuisine in general, but a few minutes sitting in sweltering heat on shitty outdoor furniture on a table that rocks back and forth on a crack in the pavement by about 30 degrees and I finally understood why people might like it.
There’s a really crappy place in a really crappy shopping centre near Springvale but, Jesus wept, their fried chicken variation on the bahn mi is out of this world.
Can’t tell you where it is, of course. a) I have no idea unless I’m driving and b) the hipsters will catch on and then it’s ruined!
Melbourne, Australia, would give Twin Cities a run for their money for banh mis. There's a large Vietnamese community here from the war, South Vietnamese flags flying everywhere.
I can't get enough of the things. Some weekends I'll eat nothing else. When I went to Vietnam a couple of years back, I practically survived on banh mi and pho.