Tag Archives: vietnamese

Banh Mi

Hoi An

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Our friends just opened a banh mi shop in Chelsea Market called Hoi An. They offer a ton of great food at good prices.

We tried two of their sandwiches: the classic/house sandwich, and the brisket pastrami pho sandwich. Tough to choose a winner between these two.

The brisket is equal parts Katz deli, and equal parts your favorite bowl of pho from Chinatown. Totally unique and delicious.

But the traditional sandwich hits hard, packing a ton of flavor from house made pate and meats. This is a top three banh mi for me.

We also loved their papaya salad with beef jerky. Tender and delicious. A nice mix of sweet and spicy.

But don’t sleep on their summer rolls. These sausage summer rolls might have been my favorite of the day.

They also serve some nice Vietnamese egg coffee, tea, and this coconut and coffee slush:

I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu!

HOI AN
Chelsea Market
75 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10011

Banh Mi, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

After Eden

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

This spot serves up some great happy hour cocktails, and you can munch on a nice banh mi while you sip.

This is a top five banh mi sandwich for me. The bread could use a little work, but the meats are really high quality and feel home made.

The pastry dishes you can skip. The dough was a little soggy from steam, if not undercooked. Of these, we liked the sweet one better (second pic).

The crispy rice noodle rolls with pork were great, on the other hand.

Nice coffee drinks too. We will definitely go back.

AFTER EDEN
162 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002

Banh Mi, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Union Square/Flatiron, Vietnamese

La Dong

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First, check out the video of our food HERE:

My wife and I stopped in here to try some stuff at the bar just before they transitioned from the lunch shift to the dinner shift. Here’s what we had:

Vietnamese Beef Carpaccio:

This was awesome. Great herbs on top, nice tender American wagyu beef, raw, thinly sliced, and dressed nicely with fish sauce, shallots, and crispy garlic.

Crab Cakes:

Also awesome. These were basically patties made from egg, pork, and lump crab. The dipping sauce served with this was incredible, and if you take a bite each time with some of the Thai basil, you’ll be in heaven.

Pho Hanoi:

The northern style pho had a nice cinnamon aroma, but it was more mild on flavor than it smelled. There was a generous amount of quality beef in the bowl, along with nicely cooked noodles.

Banh Mi:

We ordered the traditional Banh Mi, but one glaring thing that stood out as not traditional was the presence of lettuce on the sandwich, and the absence of daikon. We still liked it, and the bread was very good, but we took the lettuce off.

Duck:

We ordered the crispy roasted duck as well. The sauce was a bit sweet, so it was important for me to eat each bite with one of the dried chili peppers that came with the dish. The little supremes of grapefruit helped cool it down afterwards.

We also tried four cocktails, all of which were really interesting. They definitely sit outside the box of traditional cocktails.

Overall I liked this place and would probably go back. I think there may be a bit of Thai influence in the dishes, but I enjoyed.

LA DONG
11 East 17th Street
New York, NY 10003

Banh Mi, Lower East Side/Chinatown

Phe

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Phe is a small Vietnamese coffee and banh mi shop on Forsyth Street in Chinatown. I picked up two banh mi sandwiches and drank a fish sauce caramel iced coffee while waiting for the food. The coffee was delicious. Don’t let the presence of fish deceive you. As for the sandwiches, they rank in my top three, along with Banh Mi Co Ut and Banh Anh Em.

The bread is so good here, made in house. I got both the ham (traditional) and crispy skin roasted pork belly. The other option they offer is tofu (skip). The Cake Dealer approved.

Between these, the crispy pork belly was my winner, but I know friends who feel otherwise. The Cake Dealer agreed with me though, so that speaks volumes. There was a hint of something spicy in it, and there was also a cured egg yolk spread of some kind, I think, that really made it pop.

In either case, I’ll definitely be back for more.

Phe
72 Forsyth Street
New York, NY 10002

Chinese, Fusion, Japanese, Korean, Midtown West, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews, Thai, Vietnamese

SEA by Jungsik

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This place is a sister restaurant to the Michelin-starred Jungsik restaurant. We went big here, so I’m going to make it quick. Check this out:

First off, the oysters here are probably the best I’ve ever had. I think that has to do with the jalapeno and cilantro granita (ice), and their version of a mignonette.

I also really enjoyed their steak tartare.

The prawn rolls, sticky rice sausage, and fried eggs were great too, but my focus on a re-visit might be on the other stuff above.

The stars of the show were the short rib special and the crispy pork belly.

I would get these every time I visit. The pork belly was the best version of this dish I’ve ever had. The fat was completely rendered and soft, the meat extremely tender (no stringy bits), and the skin was nice and crisp without being too hard and hurting your teeth/mouth.

The crab fried rice was a bit fishy, but beautiful nonetheless. It went nicely with the curry, actually.

The soft serve dessert sundae was a great way to end the meal.

I will definitely be back here again. I highly recommend it.

SEA BY JUNGSIK
151 W 30th Street
New York, NY 10001

Brooklyn, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

High Lua

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My wife and I stopped in this small Vietnamese joint for a quick lunch. I had the turmeric noodles with pork and shrimp, and she had the special pho.

Both were decent, but not at the level of our favorites. It did hit the spot though.

HIGH LUA
182 S 2nd Street
Brooklyn New York, NY 11211

East Village, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Moc Mac

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This new Vietnamese joint specializes in hot pot, but their regular menu items are pretty great too.

We tried the pork jowls, the baby clams, and the beef pho. All were awesome, and I think the pho here is my favorite of all time. Also huge props to the wagyu betel leaf wraps. I really loved those as well.

The hot pot we ordered was a mix of seafood and beef. I felt the broth was a bit too sweet, but over all it was very good.

MOC MAC
79 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003

Pho, Queens, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Cyclo

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If you’re in LIC and looking for Vietnamese food, one option you have is Cyclo.

I stopped in here with a few of my ebike friends for a bowl of pho and some other snacks.

The quail egg fried wontons were unique. I would skip on the sweet chili sauce.

The beef skewers were a bit better, in my oopinion.

The clay pot beef stew wasn’t hot enough to crisp up the rice on the bottom of the serving vessel (which wasn’t really hot), but it was tasty and came with a side of veg.

The pho was pretty good. This is on par with some of the basic Chinatown spots near me. This runs you $18, and it came with sliced eye round and brisket.

CYCLO
5-51 47th Ave #573
Long Island City, NY 11101

Banh Mi, East Village, Pho, Vietnamese

Banh Anh Em

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First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

It is seriously tough to get a table at this new Vietnamese place, but luckily my wife is a rock star and made it happen for us. All of the sandwiches here are great, and the traditional banh mi here is the best I’ve ever had. But the simple and small pate with pork floss is magical. The bread they make in house here is insane!

We tried a few soups and a porridge. My favorites were the pho dac biet and the rice porridge with offal meats. So much rich flavor there.

The rice roll tower and steamed rice cups were sort of redundant, but the tower is the way to go because it comes with a whole shitload of things to put on it before rolling up and chowing down.

The steak and egg breakfast style dish had a bit of sweetness that was really warming and comforting. And their house hot sauce should be jarred and sold at high volume. It is incredible!

The iced coffee and coffee flan were both great too, but I was so full from everything else that I couldn’t eat much of the flan.

This place definitely deserves all the hype it’s getting. All of the staple items here are amazing, and they also offer some dishes that are much harder to find at most of the other Vietnamese places around town.

BANH ANH EM
99 3rd Avenue
New York, NY, 10003

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Pho, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese

Pho Ga Vang

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First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

My wife and I tried four items here. We would have tried more, but a few things were not yet available (they just opened).

The pork belly was thinly sliced and really delicious. The rice quality here is top notch as well.

I really enjoyed the egg rolls as well.

We tried two soups: the chicken pho and beef pho.

Both were good. My wife preferred the beef over the chicken, and I was the reverse.

My wife makes both better at home, but this place is good for the price, I think it’s better than a lot of the other spots in Chinatown in the same price range. We will definitely be back to try more items when they are fully rolling.

PHO GA VANG
30 Market St.
New York, NY 10002