“Best banh mi” – Vietnamese bread. One of the most popular street foods in Vietnam. Ha Noi will bring you countless bread vendors selling a huge number of banh mi’s variations,pending your days wandering from tourist Boulevard to local streets, from alleys to corners all over around, grab a baguette with a delicious selection of ingredients fillings.
Here’s how we found the Best banh mi in Vietnam
Step 1: We found Best banh mi out were the best meat based version of this sandwich of the gods was made. Our research told us about ‘Banh Mi Long Hoi’, a tiny restaurant run by a Vietnamese woman and her sisters who were made famous by a visit from the meat loving chef Antony Bourdain.
Step 2: Try to decipher the queuing system and ask awkward questions about the possibility of being able to veganize something that is predominantly made from meat, with more meat and some egg thrown on top. This is no small challenge; there are 4 women working at once, taking separate orders and they are busy. They’re not really in the mood for chatting, let alone chatting to people who don’t speak vietnamese and who want to be awkward by not having what’s on the menu.
Step 3: Wait patiently while they go to the kitchen in the back of the shop to do something special, we try to make a plan of what to do if she comes back with two meat laden Banh Mi; we even consider just running away as the other 3 women are already laughing at us and it’s not the most comfortable of experiences so far. But we’re on a Vegan Food Quest to find, eat and write about the best vegan food in the world and surely finding the best Best banh mi in Vietnam should be included in that? We suck up the discomfort and wait.
Step 4: Try to contain sheer joy and excitement when these arrive and a last minute check of “no meat? no fish? no fish sauce? no mayonnaise?” makes us feel happy enough to delve right in.
One thing is true, now we have tried the best Best banh mi in Vietnam, we need to have another. In fact, many others. There just aren’t enough eating opportunities in the day.