noodlepie

Banh mi thermidore

Well... not quite. But Twitter newbie Santos delivers a banh mi with pots and pincers on. You won't find a banh mi lobster on the streets of Saigon, but you might find one on the beach in Guam,

"i have been making longer shaped rolls. these are perfect for little sandwiches, especially vietnamese-style banh mi, which use french-style bread. i love the flavours and textures in banh mi--the crusty, airy white bread... this particular one was inspired by one of chef mario batali's entrees in "iron chef america" mango battle." link.

No pig skin, pate or innards in Guam. That's them American island territories for you.

"Some of the most delicious sandwiches I’ve ever had"

So says Caitlin from California on eGullet about my own favourite sandwich in Saigon. It's not just Larry. This sandwich stall has legs,

"Bahn mi thit nuong at a pavement stall in front of 37 Nguyen Trai in District 1 (about a block past an intersection of at least 3 or 4 streets that appears as a circle on my map). The sandwich lady sets up around 5:30 p.m., and sells some of the most delicious sandwiches I’ve ever had. They consist of grilled pork meatballs on a French roll with barbeque sauce, cilantro, and some other veggies. At 5,000 VD (roughly 33 US cents) each, you can’t go wrong."

There's more on eGullet.

Still the best

Reader Larry emails to tell me what he thought of Saigon's best sandwich,

"We went to the banh mi woman at 37 Nguyen Trai in Saigon. Wow, that is a damned good sandwich. We had to go twice because we showed up too late (~9 PM) the first night. Well, either that or... it might have been on a Sunday. Anyway, we went back the next day and it was worth the 9000+ mile flight just to eat those 5,000 dong sandwiches. We bought three of them. The woman has a helper and apparently a second cart that serves soups. The helper smiled at me when I bought my third sandwich."

I'm sure she did Larry. Three sandwiches. I respect your appetite and glad the sarnie was a resounding hit. If you're in town, don't miss it. I do...

technorati tags:Vietnam, Saigon, sandwich

The Vietnamese pate mystery

I get a lot of mail through this 'ere blog. Much of it interesting, some of it odd and yet more I can't help out with, but maybe you can. I spent a lot of time guzzling down Saigon's top street sarnies. It appears I didn't spend an equal amount of time considering what goes inside a Vietnamese banh mi pate. Can someone please help frustrated reader Lorna who just wants to get her pate on,

"Have you in your travels run across a recipe for the pate they spread on their banh mi? (I'm afraid I never have) I am trying one this week that I found on Egullet, for a Vietnamese-flavored pate, but am not sure if this is it. I have learned from several Vietnamese markets that sell banh mi that the pate uses both pork and pork liver (that sounds about right to me...), but when they make the sandwich the pate is very spreadable, not like a pate de campagne. (Absolutely. It's rather pastey, kinda catfoody) Got any info about this? (Zip...)

Also, the mayonnaise-like spread on the bread. (Huh?? Warm margarine or cheap butter, no?) I have heard that it is simply homemade mayonnaise from some purveyors, while others say it is flavored with garlic, like an aioli, and others claim it is flavored with more nuoc mam. (Oooh Yum, that sounds like a yank twist, no?) Any ideas there about the classic combo? (Not here, but hopefully in the comments...)

I have given up on figuring out how to make the rice/wheat flour combo of bread, as the only recipe out there appears to be a flop (made with ingredients here in the states, at least), but the pate and mayo are still somewhat of a mystery to me.

I sense the Vietnam pangs are kicking in. I live in France. I have two Chinese/Vietnamese/Asian supermarkets very near my gaff, but... they just ain't the same. In fact all those pre-prepared, plastic boxed, cellophane covered 'authentic' Vietnamese specialities are a total turn off. And then there's the dark mornings... my first cold weather experience in about a decade... broadband installation purgatory and the pavement. At this particular moment in time I would wrestle a medium sized mammal, or a large fish with small teeth for one of these.

In London last week I talked to a whole bunch of media/blogging folk, many of whom I was fleshmeeting for the first time - more on that later - the one question at least five of them asked me within five minutes of meeting was,

"Why did you leave?"

I'm starting to ponder the wisdom of the contents of my answer :)

Blue stall

Afternoon sandwich at a street stall in District 10, Saigon.

Saigon sarnies

Banh mi sarnie stall in District 10, Saigon, Vietnam.

Name that sandwich filling

Spotted at stall on Dinh Cong Trang street in District 1, Saigon.

Saigon sandwich supersub

In the comments, on what might just be Saigon's best sandwich stall holder, reader Matt wrote, "I dont think she works on Sunday." Matt, I don't think she does either. I waded through the hellish 7pm Sunday di choi traffic for a repeat fix and, like you, came up empty and worried. A local xe om driver confirmed she doesn't do sarnies on the Lord's day. Shit. Now, I don't know about you, but if I set out to buy something edible and find it unavailable I get a mite tetchy, determined tetchy, but tetchy all the same. In a situation like this you need local knowledge. The xe om driver thinks he knows another spot. We head north up Cach Mang Thang Tham street.

We find this stall on the right hand side of the mega-long Cach Mang Thang Tham street about 100 metres before the turning into To Hien Thanh street. If you meld this videocast with the first half of this videocast you'll cover much the same turf. This seller flogs a variety of sandwiches - including traditional pate, grilled minced pork balls and canned sardine sarnies - from her confusingly named hotdog stall, but it's banh mi xiu mai I want to try tonight. Xui mai is the spicy minced pork balls in tomato sauce you can see warming in the hotpot above. More on xiu mai earlier today.

Topped with cucumber, coriander, hot sauce, freshly chopped strands of red chilli and wrapped inside a page from an old copy of the Vietnam Yellow Pages, it makes for a stunning 7,000VD sandwich. The chilli kicks some serious volts down your gob and you might want to forego these if you're not into near death experiences. But the xiu mai itself is a soft, sweet, hot, hit. A few more pictures here.



More sarnies please. They're grrrreat. Will definitely be hunting down more banh mi xiu mai.

Tip off: Is this the best sandwich in Saigon?

I've ummed and arrggghhhhed about this award. 2006 was going to be HP Sauce year, Irn Bru or my favourite Scottish fish n chip shop. Toss as I might, I couldn't quite settle on a single winner. Being the decisive so and so I am, I decided to stick the award somewhere nearer home instead. The 2006 TasteEverything award goes to The Best Sandwich in Saigon and the stallholder at 37 Nguyen Trai street in District 1, Saigon, Vietnam. She serves weekdays only, from 5pm until the stall runs dry. I've tried many a sarnie in this mad megalopolis, but this particular specimen is undeniably the bread's bollocks. Enjoy. I did. Burp.

I received this in the comments some two months ago. "Another sarnie tip-off. A woman sets up (after 5:30pm) a "banh mi thit nuong" stand. The thit nuong are like little grilled sausages. Plus, she throws on some bbq sauce. Best sandwiches I've had in Saigon. A real gem of a find." Upon reading the suggestion I grabbed a camera, snatched the nearest notebook, powered out of fortress pie, hailed a passing chariot and headed out in search of this "gem". A mere 64 days later I alight at this pavement stall at 37 Nguyen Trai street in District 1. I'm hungry, but zen. I've arrived. I grab the plushest, fur lined, plastic stool I can find and order.

And here it is. Banh mi thit nuong translates vaguely as a meatball sub (kinda). It's 5,000VD. I'm a sucker for an electricity bill wrapped sarnie. Is it a internationally common cultural thing? Between the ages of 8 and 16 I was raised by bedouin tribes people who insisted on a strict intake of roughly 10% Fish n chips from the Hillmorton Fish Saloon on Featherbed Lane, Rugby in the UK. Used to have to queue down the street to get in there at dinner time. Fish n chips, like banh mi, come wrapped in paper. Normally newspaper; The Sun, The Mirror, maybe the local rag. Never The Telegraph, Times or Guardian. Why? It's an interesting intercultural phenomenon - this paper wrap business - what paper is used, where, is the crossword already completed? or soaked in vinegar?



One banh mi thit nuong takes less than a minute to assemble in the construction bay. Inside the baguette it's warm, snug and saucy. It's filled with wee charcoal grilled pork patties, pickled carrots, radish, fresh slices of cucumber, some chopped spring onion, fresh coriander and a dash of hot sauce. I've yet to install the sniffablog plug in on this blog, but when I do, you'll receive beams of steamy hot sweet, meat soaked vapours direct to your desktop. It's seductively warm, a harlot of a hoagie. It has a confident aroma. The smell of a successful sarnie.

I hope the satellite imagery above will help you navigate the terrain. Shame you can't do a Google Earth and zoom in, crashland in amongst that arty sprawl of scoff, just wallow in it for a bit... Oh well. Technology - marvellous innit - has it's limits though. And so for now, you're just going to have take my word for it. This is the best sandwich I have ever had in Saigon. Thank you NoStar Where. I may be slow. But you were not wrong. More snaps.

The $12 banh my

Joe DiStefano over at Slashfood rates the banh my served at 5 Ninth in West Village New York City as 'perfect' - no shit?

"The bánh mì itself was perfect. The crisp baguette shattered, a perfect foil to the roast pork and creamy sweet mayonnaise. The only downside of 5 Ninth's sandwich was the price. At $12, it's not cheap, but it's a price I'm willing to pay to my end my search for a top-notch Vietnamese sandwich." Slashfood.

$12 is roughly 188,000 dong in old money. If you're not good with conversion rates, trust me, we're in big dong territory. While Joe's picture (see above) looks well tasty, I'll wager there's better butties on the streets of this fair town. A Saigon side banh my is about 30 cents or 5,000 dong. Therefore.... 188,000/5,000 = 37.6.... 5 Ninth's sarnie is almost 40 times more expensive than the Saigon equivalent. Hmmm... I'm just imagining forty Saigon banh my sitting there next to Joe's one? It's quite a powerful image.

Bring on the grease

I find this lady selling something fried and bready from a stainless steel bucket on Tran Phu street in front of the main market in the ancient and popular tourist town of Hoi An in Central Vietnam. She tells me it's called Banh mi cha chien. I might have the cha bit wrong there. - se comments. I buy a 2,000VD bag and tuck in. As far as I can tell it's simply bread, with some pork meat melded to it via a deep fat fryer.



It's a pretty good, greasy street nibble and not one I can ever remember seeing before. Maybe it's more of a northern thing? I'd buy it again. Nice.

Tip off: Pig skin sarnies

This stall outside the barfsome - and then barfsomemore - Lotteria at the corner of Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Nguyen Dinh Chieu streets in District 1 is famous. Well, that's what my taxi driver tells me. It 's a morning only deal and it serves Banh mi bi (pig skin/pork sarnies). Toan, my driver, isn't sure why this particular pig skin outlet is the 'famous' one, but it most definitely is yumadelic, he assures me. It's about as simple as a sarnie stall gets in Saigon - and we've tried a few... In the cabinet, on the left, we have chopped pork, on the right, shredded fried pig skin. And that is pretty much that.

Take one petite banh mi (yes - it's smaller than your average banh mi) Add the usual fixings; crinkle cut shredded pickled carrot and raddish, a dash of red chilli flake suspension sauce, a scratch of pepper and you're done. It comes wrapped in an old electricity bill, sealed with an elastic band and handed to you in a plastic bag. It costs a mighty 3,000VD. I've tried this twice now, once with chilli sauce, once without. I'm not massive on hot sauce, but for this specimen I'd advise you to go that way. Fire, pigskin, pickles and bread - it works way better than the straight version which I found too dry.

In the picture above - and in a first for the internets - you can clearly see the sandwich strata as it evolved from the bread base into pigskin, pork and pickled greens. This is a quality find, amazingly light and an excellent tip off. Definitely my new favourite "if I'm in the area and peckish at breakfast time" street score. Recommended. More pics.

Ooh.. you are offal

Come 6pm opposite the Saigon Tower on Pasteur Street and a foxes fart away from Le Loi Street you'll find two sandwich stalls. The traffic lights make this stretch of road prime scoff real estate, but if you ask me it's a precarious way to earn a living. Let's face it - a business plan that is heavily reliant on Saigonese folk stopping at a red light is fundamentally flawed. These sellers have a slim window of opportunity in which to tempt buyers. Their display of cooked innards, entrails, intestines and parts is mouthwatering and tonight I just can't resist snagging a takeaway.

This seller is further south on Pasteur than her blue pyjama clad rival a sneeze or two up the road. I'm not sure if they're in competition, if they're family or if they have signed a sandwich trade pact. This merchant is half Chinese, half Vietnamese. They're both pig parts specialists, so don't expect to find a big girl's banh my pate here. My knowledge of veterinary science is limited, but this seller explains that absolutely everything on her tray comes from the inside of a pig. What no bacon?

You choose what you want, although I'll admit I don't actually know what it is I'm choosing, and she slaps the lot inside a sauce smeared banh my. She has a range of sauces, I choose the brown number which I think is a hoisin based thing with nuoc cham leanings, but I'm not sure. I skip the chilli.

She adds the regulation Vietnamese sarnie crinkle-cut pickled carrots and radish garnish and a hacked up cucumber for my vitamin and iron packed thriller. It's 10,000VD. I'll be honest and say it tastes about as good as it sounds. It's not really my bag anyway. All a bit too 'visual'. It wasn't awful offal, but I'm not sure I'll be back for a second bite. However, if perchance I do get those pig's innard pangs I know exactly where to come. Very pleasant service.

Meatwich

Strolling central downtown I find this guy tossin' his meat over a hot coal grill on Cao Ba Quat street in District 1. He tells me he's been flogging from here for the last ten years, but I've never noticed him before. I'll confess I was fully intent on hitting the KFC opposite for my monthly junk hit when I spot him. However, I've never seen this particular street combo sandwich before and decide to ditch my deep-fried date and get my grub from the gutter. He tells me he sells Banh my thit heo nuong (Grilled pork sarnie). Sounds good, I'll have one please. Apologies for crap snaps, my digital is bollocks in the dark, or I am.

The vendor hacks up a kebab and stuffs it inside a banh my (baguette). The condiment shelf is limited to a choice of chili and soy sauce. I elect for the soy and in go a few pickled carrots and raddish with that 70's crinkle-cut effect. The minced pork kebab is quite sweet. Probably the same marinated as a bun thit nuong. This seller's 'expert consultant' pictured on the right (An 'expert consultant' never fails to appear from nowhere whenever a tay hangs around a streetstall for more than ten seconds, trust me) Anyway, tonight's consultant helpfully informs me that this guy's sandwiches are ngon (yum).

Clearly he's not an expert for nothing. It is ngon, not very ngon, but ngon enough for me thank you very much and for 5,000VD I'm not expecting sarnie nirvana anyhow. It's also an interesting addition to my growing street sandwich portfolio. Personally, I think this could do with a trip to the salad bar to spruce it up. Maybe some shredded cabbage, tomatoes or sommit. Make it look pretty.

Not a Hotdog

When is a hotdog not a hotdog? When it's a croque monsieur shaped sweet coconut cake filled with cream cheese and shoved in a Breville toasted sandwich maker at 130 Cach Mang Thang Tam Street in District 3. Hotdog my arse. This couple have been serving their bizarre after dark snack from this mobile stall for the last three years. There are five fillings to choose from, Hotdog banh pho mai is cheese. Laughing Cow have had a monopoly of cream cheese in Vietnam since the year dot and it sounded like the safest bet to me.

'Hotdogs' go for for 2000VD a throw. If the idea of sugary, coconut cake stuffed with cream cheese gets you off, be my guest. You're welcome to it. It's odd, but crap odd.

Best breakfast in South east Asia

Mia da & Banh mi 6,500VD (£0.20/$0.40) 2bis Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, District 1. The best breakfast in South east Asia. I shit you not.

Sell bread, make bread

Of the 135 posts I've blogged to Noodlepie over the last eight months, it's the simple sarnie that has thrown up the most response off-blog. I didn't realise how passionate people were about their butties. Today I swing by Thien Phuc's stall at the corner of Nguyen Sieu street and Hai Ba Trung Street in District 1. She's been flogging Banh mi (Sarnies) from here for eighteen years. The morning shift sees her at this location. In the evening she wheels her two-woman stall over the road and flogs from there. On an average day, she'll sell 300 sarnies. At 5,000VD a sniff, that's a daily turnover of around $100 a day.

There must be well over a thousand of these stalls in Saigon alone. Outlay is minimal, a second-hand stall'd do the job, ingredients are bargainsville, any hired help's a snip and no doubt any street stall license is too. Buy three or four stalls, run a wee chain and you've got yourself a nice little business with a potential turnover of... quick calculation... between $100,000 and $150,000 per year for the chain. Take out your costs and the view still looks pretty good in sandwich-land. I don't know if there is a kind of 'banh mi collective' in Saigon, but I was wondering, why isn't there a plush chain of sarnie parlours or swanky mobile merchants in town?

Pho, has dragged itself in off the streets with the ever expanding, and seemingly rather successful, Pho 24 chain. Pho 24 flogs Pho for almost three times the street price. A snazzy chain of Banh mi parlours serving the bread's bollocks at three times the price would, I think, be a hit. For the record, Thien Phuc's sarnies kick crust, but to be honest I'm buggered if I can tell the difference between one stall and another. Use the Google bar on Noodlepie to find previous sarnie posts.

More street sarnies

Previously on Mac Dinh Chi Street in District 1, I've scored a beltin' good beefy Pho at Cao Van and glugged back Asia's best beer in Vietnam's first genuine Czech micro-brewery. There's plenty more mastication to be had along this lengthy street. There's a decent Korean restaurant, Saigon's best Malaysian shack, a not so good Thai joint and a rack of Vietnamese lean-to restaurants serving noodle soups like Bun bo Hue and Hu tieu. On this visit I skirted the lot and took the alfresco option at the stall pictured above at 6 Mac Dinh Chi Street, just over the road from the US Consulate. I originally blogged this for a Moveable Feast feature at The Food Section.

There's nothing much to Banh my opla (Fried egg filled baguette), other than a couple of slack-fried eggs, a dose of greens and a crispy baguette. This seller hammers out quality cholesterol fayre from 6am til 6pm, seven days a week and she's had her stall in the same spot for the last ten years. Vietnamese chicken eggs are far tastier than those I have had in Europe. I'm not sure why that is, but it was the same story the last time I had Banh my opla down Chinatown way. The price might have gone up sharply since bird flu sent a chill through the land, but the taste remains topnotch.

This stall also sells Banh my pate (Chicken liver pate baguette), Banh my phomai (Cream cheese baguette) and slabs of cold meat tucked away inside banana leaf wraps on the table. For a Banh my opla, there's a whole bundle of add-on choices; spring onion, sliced cucumber, pickled carrot and raddish, red chilli slivers and a splash of hot sauce. I ordered everything minus the cucumber and chili. It's a barnstormin' baguette. You'd be hard pressed to find finer, fresher street scoff than this. And at 5,000VD you won't find cheaper either.

Street sarnies

Sink your gnashers into a Banh my pate and experience a crust cracking crunch alien to any Brie, tomato & basil muncher down at Pret a Manger. Banh my pate (pronounced 'ban me' Saigon-side, 'bang me' in Hanoi) is a breakfast, lunch or dinner - 'anytime's-a-banh-my-goodtime' - kinda snack. You'll find stalls, run exclusively by women in my experience, flogging these brimful baguettes at every other pavement stall in Saigon. This sarnie has no sell-by-date and comes sans cellophane, but is wrapped in the cut out advertising section of the local rag. The raw baguette goes for 1000VD a throw, the meat in the proverbial bumps the price up to 5,000VD.

There are options on what to put in and what not to, but normally I go for 'the works' which means a smattering of: chicken liver pate, cucumber slivers, sliced red & yellow chilis, a sprig of coriander, spring onion, shredded carrot, mortadella luncheon meat, thin strings of dried, shredded pork and a splash of hot sauce. As you take a bite, the breadcrumbs scatter - you might need a bib if you're a messy eater - the veggies crunch and meats meld into one magic mouthfull. Be careful, the chilies the baguette babes throw in are among the hottest you'll find in Vietnam. There are baguette boffins  bangin' out the banh my in the Seattle Deli in the US, but I'll wager whatever snazzy American twists are added stateside they don't match the Saigon street original. A bumper baguette will set you back $3.50 at the Seattle Deli. That's a budget bustin' 55,000VD or 11 - count them - ELEVEN - times the Saigon price.