Posts Tagged: nha trang

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5
Nov 09

Phat in Nha Trang: Banh Xeo

Another late post..

So during our trip to Vietnam, we spent a few days in the beach town of Nha Trang. It was really chill and laid back, even the backpacker district was less douchey. Plus, a gorgeous strip of white sand beach runs along the entire city, so you are never too far from the water.

After a day of beach bumming and scooting around town, my alarmingly good-looking photographer and I wandered around in search of Banh Mi. We had just turned the corner from our hotel when we saw that a couple of ladies had set up shop down a little alley. Very curious. We went to investigate and found:

banh xeo!
Banh Xeo! (Vietnamese crepe)

Before this trip, I had never had banh xeo. I’d seen it on menus often, but it always looked pretty ehh… like a giant omelette or something from the asian version of Crepevine in SF. Not very exciting. But these were small versions, and they looked really crispy. The ladies cooking them up gestured for us to take a seat and we didn’t turn them down.

banh xeo
We ordered up a serving of the Banh Xeo (5 pcs for $15,000 VND = $0.84 USD). They came hot off the griddle, served with a bowl of fish sauce, a generous serving of fresh watercress, and lots of spicy chilis.

banh xeo
The banh xeo was a really nice treat. The crepe part was crispy all over, a perfect accompaniment to a filling of fresh bean sprouts, squid, shrimp, and green onions. The tricky part was trying to figure out how to eat these things. After watching a couple locals, it seems like the tried & true method is to dunk the entire thing into the bowl of fish sauce and slurp it all up. Its all about the technique.

Did i mention we returned the very next day?

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21
Oct 09

Phat in Vietnam: In Search of Banh Mi

Ok, so obviously by now everyone knows what the hell a banh mi is.

I remember getting $2.25 combo special banh mi from Lam’s Vietnamese on Taraval in SF. (sucks that its closed now). That was good, but I’ve always been on the search for something better.

First there was Banh Mi So on Broome st in NYC. Good, but the bread was a little too dense. But I liked the red pork and the guy behind the counter. I tried a few other places around NYC Chinatown. The Sau Voi (VCD & bra store) was close to my office, Banh Mi So (the jewelry store place) was good, Paris Sandwich was oookay but lacked SOUL… and then i found Ba Xuyen in sunset park. I’m really hesistant to blow up this spot any further, cause seriously, they serve the BOMB banh mi. I only hope the 40min subway ride will keep all you other foodies from crowding it up and buying all the grilled pork sandwiches before i get there!!


Ahh, the perfect sandwich. smear of pate, generous spread of homemade mayo, gratuitous fillings of headcheese, cha lua, godknowswhatelse, all topped off with perfectly pickled daikon & carrot. Finished off with cilantro and stuffed in a crispy and light baguette. Gimme a jackfruit shake and i’m golden!

Anyhoo, you can see how passionate I am about my banh mi. So when we got to Vietnam, I was pretty determined to find some damn good banh mi.


First attempt at banh mi was in Pham Ngu Lao (backpacker’s district) of Saigon. It was quite good, the bread was an appropriate ratio of light crust to bread innards. The fillings were a little meager tho. But of course this is Vietnam and apparently thats they way a banh mi should be. And for 20,000 VND (~$1.12 USD), can’t really complain. It seems the banh mi in Vietnam all come wrapped in recycled paper. Dunno what this paper was about.


Second attempt at banh mi in Pham Ngu Lao. This banh mi lady offered a much better sandwich. The bread was nice and crispy and this banh mi offered the additional green onion and pork floss. Yum!


Paired with a nice ca phe sua (ice coffee with milk), its a perfect lunch.


The best banh mi I had in Vietnam was acquired on a street corner in Nha Trang. And I’m not just saying this because the photography is the best! (thanks adrian) Look for this vendor! This banh mi was way better than the others because of the bread. It was superbly crispy, comprised of almost all crust! So light and the perfect wrapping for tasty banh mi fillings. Didn’t hurt that this banh mi lady had a toaster in her cart. Also, this particular sandwich, wrapped in Microsoft installation instructions, had plenty of pork floss and some kind of ground meat in sauce topping. AMAZING.

So in conclusion, the best banh mi? I feel like its hypocrisy saying this.. but… BA XUYEN! I guess i like my sandwiches big and beefy (err, porky). and brooklyn style.

The Porkchop Express has a fantastic banh mi guide for NYC, go get schooled.