- Short baguette: rice-flour blend for the crackle and airy crumb
- Pate, Vietnamese cold cuts (cha lua), or grilled pork
- Pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, cilantro, chili
- Mayonnaise and Maggi seasoning or soy sauce
Banh Mi
A banh mi dac biet (special combo): pork belly, pork roll and pate in a crackling baguette, Saigon. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Banh mi is the baguette the French left behind and the Vietnamese perfected: a short, crackling loaf with an airy crumb, split and filled with pate, cold cuts, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, cilantro and chili. Crisp outside, cool and sharp inside.
The name simply means 'bread', but the sandwich is pure Saigon street food: sold from carts on every corner, assembled in under a minute, eaten standing up. Banh Mi Phuong in Hoi An became world-famous after Anthony Bourdain's visit.
Key ingredients
Where to try it
- Banh Mi Huynh Hoa (Saigon): the famously overstuffed original.
- Banh Mi Phuong (Hoi An): the Bourdain-famous cart.
- Any corner cart in Saigon at breakfast: watch the queue, join it.