Having missed the family long-weekend roast pork lunch yesterday, I had a hankering for some tasty pork and good ol' fashioned 'almost crack the teeth' crunchy crackling. I decided to go past Banh mi on my lunchtime walk, having been made aware of a Tuesday special that had been on, $5 per roll. I should note that I did pass a couple of other Banh Mi joints to go there, so expectations were high!
Although this special seems to now have ended, I nevertheless decided to brave the line, which by mid lunchtime was already out the door. I had Banh Mi banh mis (haha a bit confusing!) at work a few weeks ago, when our receptionist ordered a selection of tasty treats from BM for one of our inter-office lunchtime seminars. They were good then, and they are still good today.
I checked my watch. 1.23pm. A fairly sizeable lineup, I thought. I like to give places a shot at proving they deserve repeat patronage despite the lineup and BM smashed it. 7 minutes in and out. For a takeaway lunch joint in the CBD, I'd expect under 10 minutes. If not, either the food is REALLY good, or you're taking the mickey. Anyway, they got my order spot on (I specifically asked for extra hot chilli, which I got) and the service comes with a smile (although you could blame them for not being friendly, everyone behind the counter seems to be working really hard).
Once I made the short walk back to my office, I plowed into the spring rolls. Nice and crunchy, warm but not too hot, and a good core (also, extra bonus - BM give you a choice of sauces to have with your Springies. Not everywhere in CBD does that).
The banh mi roll itself was really well balanced. By balanced, I don't just mean flavour, I also mean the physical location of all of the ingredients. It seems like such a small thing, but if you're taking huge bites and getting nothing but carrot or coriander or chilli and no meat, you haven't built the sandwich well enough (I'm looking at you, other popular banh mi joint in the CBD whose name I won't mention!).
The bread had good crunch (not great, mind you, but good), the meats were warm and tasty, not too fatty and the salads were of perfect proportion.
All in all, despite missing the daily discount, I was very happy with my decision to eat here. I will certainly return, hopefully next time I can catch one of their specials! Thanks Banh mi!
Final side note, they do take EFTPOS, but there is a 25c surcharge for orders under $15. A good excuse to get your mate to pay - and if not it's worth it anyway! read more