Monday, May 23, 2011 The Most Amazing Sandwich You Never Had… Bánh Mì
Since I moved into food yesterday (post-cooked, as opposed to the pre-cooked variety of the fishing village!) I’ll stick with that theme for a couple of days.
I’m a big fan of Anthony Bourdain’s show “No Reservations”. Truth be told, I’m a fan of all he does. I’ve enjoyed the most amazing burger of my life in the (formerly his) restaurant Les Halles in New York. Besides the perfect ground beef and bun and all the other normalcies of a stellar burger, it was topped with seared foie gras and served with a port wine reduction au jus, along with a side of the best frites outside of Belgium. I love his writing and have read all his books, and he’s probably number one on my list of people I’d Most Like To Have Dinner With. Hell, I’d even love to cook for him. Anyway, in the past I’ve made a point of checking out episodes of the show filmed in a place I’m preparing to visit, and with Vietnam, this was no exception. And in one of the episodes, he sampled the street sandwich known as bánh mì, which I immediately knew I simply had to find. After all, done exceptionally, it features something he and I both adore—a fried egg. If you don’t believe me, just watch this clip.
We had a few of these along the way. In fact these shots are from a sandwich stand in Mui Ne, and we went back there for lunch a second time, waiting nearly two hours for her to open. Fortunately, a café with an abundance of cold beer was stationed nearby.
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Above our lovely sandwich lady is cutting open a fresh baguette. The bread in Vietnam is very French, but very not. The crust is incredibly crispy, and the insides extremely airy. They are delicious, but also suck all the moisture out of your mouth. It’s a curious way to do bread, and to be sure it was any good, we had to eat a lot of it while there.
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The stall, as you can see, isn’t much. It’s a tiny little glass box on wheels with no refrigeration (that’s in a cooler behind her), and a hodge-podge of ingredients. Most people I’m sure tell her exactly what they want on their sandwich. We just sat there grinning and pointing and nodding. “Yeah yeah, that too!!”. There are meats and pattés, sweet pickled cucumber and I think carrots, one of those simple foil-wrapped triangle-shaped cheeses is spread on like butter to start the construction process, and a sauce that I guess is a fish sauce of sorts, but who really knows. And these vary from region to region. I think this documents our favorite, in Mui Ne.
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The fried egg is, I guess, not a regular option. We had to ask for it, and we only knew it was there because another customer (obviously a friend of hers) came up and made her own egg in that little pan. We saw that and it was game-over. Oh yeah baby, we definitely need one of those, too.
By the time the sandwich was done, we were so excited to get into it that the proper camera got put away. Therefore, the only evidence of its final glory was captured as Instagram photos…
This sandwich is probably the number one reason I want to return to Vietnam. Really.
Reader Comments (2)
Do you remember where in Mui Ne this was? I'm here now and still have not had a proper Bahn Mi in Veitnam and dying for one!!!
Mackenzie,
I can tell you where to start and what direction to walk… hopefully that will help!
We stayed at a the Vietnam-Austria house, which has changed names but this is definitely the place. This is roughly here on the map [A]. From there walk north-east (walk "up" the country) and after about 10 minutes it'll be on the right (ocean-side of the street). You'll know you're at the right place when on the left side of the street you see a funky hippy cafe which I kind of think is open 24 hours. (I've marked it as [B] on the map, but I really am not confident that's right). At night they watch movies in the living room. Cool place for a drink. Anyway the Bahn Mi stand is on the right side of the street, and she doesn't seen to be there until 1:00 or later. We waited around ages on day for her to show up. But the stand was there even when she wasn't, so that helps. Take a close look at the photos, or put 'em on your iPhone if you have one so you can view them when you get there to be sure you've found the right place!
Good luck and let me know if you find it!!
-Joseph