Bread bin

While I’m a big fan of Saigon’s sarnie scene, as a stand alone food item devoid of jungle filling, your regular Vietnamese street loaf - banh my - is largely lacking in… errr… loaf. Airy it is, at 1,000VD it's cheap too and it's well light, but tasty? Well not really. It’s not one of the world’s great breads, but its lightness probably lends itself better to a hot climate than some heavy rye bread brick. I buy it once a week or so from this seller who trades from the entrance of the local market next to a flower flogger and a che merchant. The executive style loaf on the left is covered in sesame seeds. Occasionally, if I’m feeling flush, I splash out on this more expensive 2,000VD chap. After 9am, this seller’s normally all out of sesame bread. Heated at home with salted butter, and a wee bit cheese, it works well enough for snack-mode moments. For the record, the best bread I’ve found in Vietnam comes from Hoa Sua restaurant shop in Hanoi. A charming rustic round loaf with a crusttastic crusty crust.

Comments

[ecr]

Vietnamese baguettes are on the light side bec they are made with rice flour, in addition to the regular bread flour.
For my money the best (non-Viet) baguette in HCMC is the baguette farinee at Pat au Chou, a bit more chew than their plain baguette. But some of the best bread overall (a few varieties -- rye, sourdough, pumperknickel, seeded etc.) is the stuff peddled by the bread lady in An Phu ... available at some stores and they deliver too.

[lirelou]

Yes, much better bread in Nha Trang and Hue.

[remittance girl]

I kind of got sick of the 500 dong/baguette bread. It's a little on the collapsable side. But Bon Banh Mi makes an excellent baguette at a much lower price than Pat Au Chou. Although ecr is righ, PAC rocks... for that and for their Opera cake.

[pieman]

Thanks for the tips. An Phu's a bit of a trek. Any tip on where I might find the PAC bread in D1? I'm also quite partial to the Bon Banh Mi bread remittance girl. However, the branch on Vo Thi Sau closed down a while back, not sure why. I haven't seen another branch.

Has anyone sampled bread from the LoveBread chain? They're newish, a bit naff looking but always empty. Haven't ventured inside yet.