Couple of months ago, a new banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) place popped up in the CBD, right at Tanjong Pagar Centre. Really glad to see that as I love Vietnamese food a lot. Probably even more after I visited Hanoi last year. ?
Banh mi and pho are my kind of soul food. ? So there’s really no reason to give this a miss.
My Banh Mi hails from Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon) and is a takeaway food kiosk that specialises in Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, noodles and rice dishes. The original My Banh Mi Saigon was set up by Frank Chinn, father of celebrity chef Bobby Chinn.
The Menu
The types of banh mi here are quite standard. However, one thing that makes them unique is that they have 5 special homemade sauces that you can choose from so you can customise your sandwiches differently. And this was what really caught my fancy in the first place.
This was the Roasted Pork Banh Mi ($7.50) with spicy garlic sauce. When I took a bite of this banh mi, I thought the baguette tasted rather similar to the ones I had in Vietnam previously. It was light and crispy but wasn’t brittle like some baguettes you’d get elsewhere.
Meat was tender and moist. The cucumbers, coriander leaves and chillies added a lovely crunch and fragrance too.
My only gripe was that, there weren’t a lot of fillings so the layers of ingredients were quite thin. And therefore I didn’t get that same satisfying bite as I would with the banh mi from NamNam Noodle Bar or Pho Street.
The spicy garlic sauce was quite pungent but flavourful. If you like the taste of garlic (anti-oxidants!), you can give this sauce a try.
We also tried the Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi ($7.50) with creamy smoked roasted black pepper sauce.
Even though chicken breast was used, the meat was rather soft and moist. The sauce that it was cooked in was flavoursome and had a nice aroma of lemongrass that really lifted the flavour. The black pepper sauce was rich and bold but I still preferred the garlic sauce so next time, it would be a Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi with spicy garlic sauce for me. ?
Banh Mi lovers, go check this kiosk out if you haven’t. Worth trying. And if you have room for dessert after your meal, Henri Charpentier is just nearby. ?
11.00am to 5.30pm (Fri)
11.30am to 3.30pm (Sat)
Closed on Sundays