Anyone who's been to Saigon will be well across Banh Mi - crusty french baguettes stuffed with tasty ingredients - heavily influenced by the French colonisation of Vietnam - pate, mayonaisse - and vietnamese ingredients like grilled pork and pickled carrot, and loads of chilli.
I've noticed an increase in popularity (or a mainstream discovery, perhaps) of banh mi in Brisbane in the past couple of years. Previously banh mi cravings were sated by trips to Kim Thanh bakery at west end, or numerous spots in Inala and Sunnybank. But now Brisbane CBD has at least 2 spots to get a tasty (albeit CBD priced) banh mi for lunch. The Roll Shop (Vietnam On The Roll) is the latest banh mi venue, and slightly less pricey than the orginal provider of banh mi to the inner city population, Little Saigon.
You've got a few options for banh mi fillings at The Roll Shop, and the menu board tells you the kilojoules of each of your options... this is both good, and bad... it helped me make a slightly healthier decision with my lunch choice, however it permanently scared me off the pork crackling banh mi that I probably would have chosen if I wasn't aware of how kilojoule heavy it was... So I chose the sweet glazed bbq pork option. The roll was light and crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside but didn't seem super fresh. The filling had all my favourites - course textural pate, creamy mayo, pickled carrots, coriander, and firey birds eye chillies (optional) but the pork was a bit of a dissapointment. It was cold, rubbery, and all around bland and meh. Maybe it was my deep burning desire for pork crackling that made my choice so underwelming, but I really didn't enjoy the pork at all. I removed it from my roll and happily munched the rest but overall was disappointed by my lunch.
If I visit again, I'll definitely consider the pork crackling version more seriously.... but will it be worth a 30 minute spin class at the gym? I'd probably cry if it wasn't!
Other options at The Roll Shop, if you're not a banh mi fan, include rice noodle salads, and rice paper rolls. I've not yet tried either of these, but they seemed to be popular amongst the lunch crowd. read more