For those who commute, and think about food first thing in the morning (like me)… you’ll have noticed an article in the food section of Metro today on Viet Baguette, a joint on Goodge Street serving the Vietnamese special.
To be honest, I was quite surprised that there was a place serving banh mi in London. In the current crunch, a place that opens for only 4 hours and only MONDAY-FRIDAY? It’s like saying “I’m doing so well, I have weekends off!”. How awesome is that?!
Foie Gras Banh Mi @ Ho Chi Minh City
Anyway, I reminisced about having banh mi in Ho Chi Minh on my holiday there during the summer. Filled with foie gras, pork meat, and the brilliant Vietnamese basil and herbs/salad; you’ll have to excuse how different yet how gorgeous these little bites can be. I take that back, they’re not bites. They are your equivalent to Pret A Manger baguettes, and although I proclaim myself to be the Number #1 fan of Pret, nothing can be quite as exciting as having baguettes that are not french/english/Subway.
I’ll be heading over to Goodge Street sometime. Hope you do too. According to Metro, the lemongrass meatballs and pork floss banh mi is quite the steal. At 5pounds each, I’ll have to see… And let’s argue if it’s authentic or not.
Viet Baguette
14 Charlotte Place,
London W1T 1SW.
Open: Monday to Friday
12noon-4pm
Filed under: Holiday | Tagged: baguette, banh mi, ho chi minh, london, Metro, vietnamese
I think the article on Metro suggest that the banhmi at Vietbaguette is a poor imitation of real Banhmi.My favourite banh mi in London so far is Banhmi11 @ Broadway Market on Saturday. You should try it out
12-4?!! lol I will never find the time to go.
Thanks Lily! I wasn’t aware banh mi was actually available in London, you know, too much attention on pho… I’ll check out Broadway market sometime. A bit of a trek from west london but one day, one day…
Sammy… too bad. I’ll have to tell you when I go then and say how delicious it is!
Apparently, they are running a 3 weeks pop up in Camden lock market until 8th Nov, maybe it’ll be closer for you? I’ve only been to the one at Broadway Market since it’s my local, but i reckon it should taste the same in Camden?
Yay, so happy that Banh mi made it to London. By the way, have you found a good Pho place?
North West London is nowhere near ANY foodie sort of area! I envy you.
I haven’t found a place for Pho, although I have yet to try it in the restaurants at Old Street… usually its a dinner occasion when we go so we don’t order Pho! It will have to be quite amazing to compare to the ones I had in HCMC though!
Some great comments from your readers, even though weve had 2 reviews one in the metro and one in the standard – its these blog posts that give me the most honest feedback! We sell over 200 banh mi thit a day so weve got no excuse to get it right, also for me personally it would be a huge insult to ‘westernise’ our product. My teachers in Vietnam would be devastated and that would break my heart. Saying that weve only been open 7 weeks now and everythings improving. Weve got the perfect rice flour combo bread now, we offer maggi to out Vietnamese customers or whoever demands it, a choice of chilli sauce and Vietnamese staff who write our menus and make sure everything tastes right. Our carrot and mooli is now pickled longer, as requested by Vietnamese customers who travelled all the way from Essex twice to check us out! (and took 14 home for their family)
Broadway market is still my favorite too, the whole atmosphere there is spot on, real streetfood style. We use the same coffee suplier, its like baileys in a glass!
we are open 12 till 4 because we cater for the lunchtime rush, after that time Charlotte Place is dead. I’ll work for free but my staff wont – it just doesnt make sense right now to open later, plus it gives us more time to put on our weekly specials. Everything is made in house btw, we even remove the germ from every clove of garlic, so no smelly breath!!
@Luke
Thanks for dropping by! You’re the first person whose appeared on these comments who actually runs the businesses we review! We’ll be sure to offer our comments when we visit Viet Baguette, which seems inevitable since you’ve told us some of your preparation details!