Banh mi with meat and vegetables
Vietnamese-style sandwich banh mi broke into a list of 50 best-rated street foods in the world as compiled by international food magazine TasteAtlas.
The baguette, which was brought over to Vietnam during the colonial period,” is one of the few happy legacies from the time,” TasteAtlas said.
Banh mi, a symbol of Vietnam’s street food, is a fusion of cold cuts and vegetables like coriander, cucumber, pickled carrots, daikon and cilantro combined with condiments from French cuisine like pate and mayonnaise. However, a wide variety of popular fillings are used, including cha lua (Vietnamese pork bologna), fried eggs, grilled pork, and meat balls.
The magazine recommended some famous addresses to try banh mi like Huynh Hoa, Hoa Ma and Hong Hoa stalls in Ho Chi Minh City or Phuong and Madam Khanh in Hoi An ancient town.
A loaf of banh mi costs from VND15,000 to VND50,000 ($0.63-2.10) depending on toppings. Anan Saigon restaurant even serves $100 banh mi.
The list also included China’s pan-fried variety of the Chinese jiaozi dumpling called Guotie, Japan’s karaage, Indian bread called Paratha, the Philippines’ Lumpiang Shanghai, a crispy deep-fried Filipino snack, and Poland’s Pierogi.