Best Banh Mi in the World?? @ Banh Mi Phuong on 22Dec2015

banh mi - vietnamese baguette sandwich

banh mi – vietnamese baguette sandwich

my youngest daughter has craving for banh mi. it’s a vietnamese baguette sandwich. ^^

we had an excellent vietnamese baguette at bricklane market in shoreditch london with son last may 2015.

only other time i heard the baguette association was at saigon baguette recently with my god-sis on 17.11.2015.

didn’t catch on the name banh mi then. haha! 🙂

banh mi phuong

banh mi phuong

eldest daughter did the research & led us to banh mi phuong just a short walk away, after we had the best pho bo at pho lien, . 🙂

well, according to anthony bourdain, banh mi phuong has the best vietnamese banh mi in the world! ^^

daughter did her research well. 🙂

banh mi phuong

banh mi phuong

there was a long queue for take away.

shop was quite full but we found a table to sit down and make orders.

banh mi phuong menu

banh mi phuong menu

& of course the menu boasts banh mi phuong is the best vietnamese banh mi place in the world according to anthony bourdain (in green words top of menu).

and why not indeed! 🙂

banh mi - vietnamese baguette sandwich

banh mi – vietnamese baguette sandwich

my eldest daughter not taking any, so we ordered 3 banh mi sandwich (no. 3, no.5, no.9) to share among remaining 4pax. 🙂

banh mi - vietnamese baguette sandwich

banh mi – vietnamese baguette sandwich

for me & my youngest daughter, no. 9 with some liver pate was the best! ^^

we went back the next day, our last day in hoi an.

guess what! this time we ordered 4 banh mi, no more sharing, haha! ^^

c.h.e.f andy

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Best Pho Bo (Beef Noodles Soup) @ Pho Lien Hoi An on 22Dec2015

best pho bo at pho lien

best pho bo at pho lien 

it’s the second morning after our arrival in hoi an.

the night before we had very good dinner at morning glory, where we also had pho. 🙂

that was good but hardly the best.

this morning we had pho too at hotel buffet breakfast. passable not morning glory standard.

pho lien

pho lien 

the night before, i googled the nice places to eat pho in hoi an & saw pho lien, pho tung, pho xua & hoi an market.

we took the free hotel shuttle bus to tran hung dao outside the ancient city & walked down le loi past phan  chau trinh. found pho lien easily.

pho bo at pho lien

pho bo at pho lien

pho lien2it was off hours & we were the only customers. place was clean but looked a bit squalor, i guess most local stalls looked that.

we ordered 2 bowls 40k dong each to try.

pho bo at pho lien2

pho bo at pho lien 

it was very good. so we ordered 2 more.

soup was light & clear yet sweet & well scented with the herbs.

pho bo at pho lien

pho bo at pho lien

it was much better than morning glory & the pho in singapore. beef were fresh & tasty.

we ate many other things afterwards, including com ga, cao lau, banh mi & later the grilled meat (like satay) on the streets.

pho xua

pho xua

so though we passed pho xua we were not able to try it. but it should be same as pho lien. thus far pho lien remains the best pho we have tried in vietnam.

c.h.e.f andy

Nice Dinner @ Morning Glory Restaurant Hoi An on 21Dec2015

white rose or banh bao vac

white rose or banh bao vac

this was our first meal arriving in hoi an on 21.12.2015, the start of our 5pax family to hoi an, hanoi & halong bay on 21-27.12.2015. ^^ a wonderful start to our vietnam trip! ^^

eldest daughter was reading up on the makan places & cafe.

we took the last free bus at 7pm from essence hotel where we were staying. bus stopped at phan chau trinh just outside ancient city, & we walked towards the river song thu bon. morning glory is located at nguyen thai hoc, along the same road as the japanese covered bridge.

morning glory restaurant hoi an

morning glory restaurant hoi an

restaurant was easy to locate.

morning glory restaurant hoi an

morning glory restaurant hoi an

& ambience is quite charming.

morning glory restaurant hoi an

morning glory restaurant hoi an

& mostly good reviews. 🙂

morning glory restaurant hoi an

morning glory restaurant hoi an

it is of course more expensive than the other local eating places but food was quite good.

we ordered the usual favourites. one was the white rose or banh bao vac. it’s a hoi an specialty, a shrimp dumpling in a translucent white dough bunched up looking much like a white rose (top photo). indeed it was very well done, very smooth skin & nice dumpling. 🙂

grilled pork with rice paper

grilled pork with rice paper

we ordered the grilled pork with rice paper or thit nuong. this another excellent dish that we took in the streets the next day. it was really nice wrapped with all the herbs. 🙂

beef with betel leaves

beef with betel leaves

& the beef with betel leaves..

beef with betel leaves

beef with betel leaves

this was a much better one than what we had in a local restaurant.

pho bo - vietnamese beef noodles

pho bo – vietnamese beef noodles

& of course the pho bo (beef noodles).

pho bo - vietnamese beef noodles

pho bo – vietnamese beef noodles

pho here was better than the hotel breakfast version & another local restaurant but not in the league of pho lien which we tried the next day. did not get a chance to try pho xua (though we walked past several times) nor pho tung.

grilled eggplants

grilled eggplants

the grilled eggplants were featured in other reviews. and indeed they were very good.

bun cha

bun cha

bun cha was good too. but i prefer chargrilled pork neck to grilled meatballs. i walked by dac kim in hanoi on my last day in vietnam on 27.12.2015 but didn’t have occasion to try, but surprisingly we did have a very good one at the airport (something quite unheard off…lol.)!^^

duck leg curry

duck leg curry

we ordered 2 curries – a duck leg curry,

prawn curry

prawn curry

& a prawn curry.

my first comment was it was not great, but almost immediately i announced to my family i changed my mind.

the curries were milder, not so lemak & intense like thai curries, but actually they were pretty tasty.

i enjoyed both of them. 🙂

mackerel in caramalised sauce

mackerel in caramalised sauce

we decided to add more food, so ordered bun cha, beef in betel leaves & a mackerel in caramelised sauce. mackerel was good.

dinner came to 1.2million dong. that’s like S$80 so S$16pax nett. i guess that was expensive in hoi an, certainly >2x the price in local restaurants. with the ambience, much better quality for the same food, i think it was quite worth the price. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy