We had both googled "best banh mi eden center" and found a WashPo article that said Song Que had some of the best sammies around, so there we went! We ordered at the counter and took a seat; the b.m.s were delivered to our table. I ordered the #8, grilled pork, with a thai bubble tea and Shenan got the #5, special braised ham. Both were super-cheap at $3 a piece!
So I've actually had banh mi in Vietnam. This was nothing like that, it was pretty tasty! The baguette was good, not too crispy on the outside, nice and chewy inside. The pork was also good--very tender, slightly sweet and salty, in small little chunks, and surprisingly lean. The jalepeno was generous, but not out of control...only about half my b.m. bites made me want to dunk my head in a bucket of milk, which means the other half gave my tongue a respite. :) The BEST part, though, was the "mayo," which S believes to be egg yolk and olive oil. Probably not good that I also had two eggs for bfast...I'm sure my arteries love me right now. Still...that mayo might be worth surging my blood cholesterol.I have to admit, though, the sandwich was not perfection. The carrots were cut a little thickly, and I don't think a knife got anywhere near the sprigs of cilantro. So some of the bites were a bit awkward. S's sammie looked about the same...chunky condiments aside, she seemed happy overall with her choice, as was I.
The bubble tea was more disappointing. I don't like my boba tea with ice, because it makes it really had to get at the boba! Though I wasn't too sad about that this time, since the boba were pretty flavorless. The tea itself was fine, although I think there may have been a bit too much dairy...my poor little Jew tummy is not particularly happy at the moment.Of course, we couldn't leave without taking home some goodies. S got some fun coconut mochi, and I got a pork bao, on which I will feast tomorrow! (portions x-posted to yelp.com)
First off, love the smiley fry at the top of your blog :) It's either new or I never noticed it.
ReplyDeleteSecond off: you are correct in all your guesstimations of my appraisal of my food! It was quite tasty- the "special braised ham" was sort of a fatty ham (they warned me of this ahead of time...it was fatty, but didn't taste gross-fatty) in some sort of red sauce which was delish. But it also had the yummy egg-oil mayo in addition.
And the coconut-peanut mochi (it had another Vietnamese name on the package which I forget) was definitely a good way to end the meal! Having no experience with bubble tea before that sip of yours, I'm definitely going to have to explore this area of beverages more in the future.