Bustin' my banh mi cherry
Aug. 26th, 2008 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fancycwabsToday at lunchtime I had a meeting with the musical director for Sweeney Todd so we could go over my songs and get the tempo changes and a pointer or two about breath support while singing falsetto. It didn't take as long as I figured (I don't have many songs), and I was wondering what to pick up on the way back to work, when I remembered that I hadn't tried the only place in all of Memphis (to my knowledge) that serves banh mi, Indochina.
I'd been intrigued by banh mi by a number of food articles, but mostly by Lore Sjoberg's description of his first time. Knowing that the restaurant only a slight detour on the way back to work, I decided to give it a shot.
The last time I'd been to Indochina it was called something else, although the owners haven't changed, and they still a sparse Vietnamese/Chinese lunch buffet (For locals wondering where it is, it's near the northwest corner of Madison and Cleveland). Parking is located between the hardware store that's actually on the corner and it's generally easier to go in the back door--even if it might look a little scary:
Going through the back door leads you into a closet, where you get to play "which unmarked door leads into the restaurant?" It's not a hard game, by any means, but it's not the normal way one enters most dining establishments--then a quick saunter up to the counter, where I ordered my sandwich. It's not on the menu, exactly, but there are signs around. The proprietor hollered to the old lady in the kitchen that there was an order for a banh mi, and she asked if it was the tofu version. I requested meat, and he shouted at her "tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit!" Which is the suffix for meat, I guess.
We chatted for a good while while the sandwich was made back in the kitchen--actually longer than I'd expect to make a sandwich, but there might have been opening jars and slicing meats and splitting buns involved, so I'm not one to complain. I also took the time to look over the rest of the menu, which was mostly Chinese-American and Vietnamese for the (mostly) unadventurous, although they did have a jellyfish dish or two.
Eventually the sandwich arrived, and $3 (cheap--but I understand they're cheaper in other cities) later I wandered out to the parking lot to take a photo of it before chowing down.
The meat was unidentifiable--it looked like there were medium-thickness slices of some sort of cured sausage, and some roasted sliced meat as well; it didn't look especially appetizing, but it couldn't have been any stranger than the normal ingredients of a hot dog. Besides, as you can see, the sandwich was mostly vegetables--carrot, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno. I'm not sure what was pickled and what wasn't, exactly, but I believe some of it has been preserved. A little mayonnaise was on the roll, as well. I started the car and started the sandwich immediately thereafter.
The meat on a banh mi is practically an afterthought, where flavor is concerned. Having a little fat to distribute flavors is good, but that's probably well-accomplished by the mayonnaise, and the flavors are almost all contained in the vegetables: the cool sweetness of the cucumber and carrot, the (very muted) hotness of the jalapeno, the crispness and freshness of the whole thing, and the excellent, chewy, crusty roll. I'd been worried, given the sorry state of bread in Memphis, that they might take a shortcut and use supermarket french bread or something similar for the sandwich, but the roll provided was sublime.
The only sad part of the experience is that there is not basis for comparison; I'd have to go to a larger, cooler city to get a different banh mi--and I understand there are plenty to choose from elsewhere. Still, I'm pleased that it actually exists in Memphis, and seems to be the real deal (I understand that one of the trendy hipster restaurants in town made a fake one for a while). Adventurous locals should definitely check it out. Everyone else, check it out elsewhere.
I'd been intrigued by banh mi by a number of food articles, but mostly by Lore Sjoberg's description of his first time. Knowing that the restaurant only a slight detour on the way back to work, I decided to give it a shot.
The last time I'd been to Indochina it was called something else, although the owners haven't changed, and they still a sparse Vietnamese/Chinese lunch buffet (For locals wondering where it is, it's near the northwest corner of Madison and Cleveland). Parking is located between the hardware store that's actually on the corner and it's generally easier to go in the back door--even if it might look a little scary:
Going through the back door leads you into a closet, where you get to play "which unmarked door leads into the restaurant?" It's not a hard game, by any means, but it's not the normal way one enters most dining establishments--then a quick saunter up to the counter, where I ordered my sandwich. It's not on the menu, exactly, but there are signs around. The proprietor hollered to the old lady in the kitchen that there was an order for a banh mi, and she asked if it was the tofu version. I requested meat, and he shouted at her "tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit!" Which is the suffix for meat, I guess.
We chatted for a good while while the sandwich was made back in the kitchen--actually longer than I'd expect to make a sandwich, but there might have been opening jars and slicing meats and splitting buns involved, so I'm not one to complain. I also took the time to look over the rest of the menu, which was mostly Chinese-American and Vietnamese for the (mostly) unadventurous, although they did have a jellyfish dish or two.
Eventually the sandwich arrived, and $3 (cheap--but I understand they're cheaper in other cities) later I wandered out to the parking lot to take a photo of it before chowing down.
The meat was unidentifiable--it looked like there were medium-thickness slices of some sort of cured sausage, and some roasted sliced meat as well; it didn't look especially appetizing, but it couldn't have been any stranger than the normal ingredients of a hot dog. Besides, as you can see, the sandwich was mostly vegetables--carrot, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno. I'm not sure what was pickled and what wasn't, exactly, but I believe some of it has been preserved. A little mayonnaise was on the roll, as well. I started the car and started the sandwich immediately thereafter.
The meat on a banh mi is practically an afterthought, where flavor is concerned. Having a little fat to distribute flavors is good, but that's probably well-accomplished by the mayonnaise, and the flavors are almost all contained in the vegetables: the cool sweetness of the cucumber and carrot, the (very muted) hotness of the jalapeno, the crispness and freshness of the whole thing, and the excellent, chewy, crusty roll. I'd been worried, given the sorry state of bread in Memphis, that they might take a shortcut and use supermarket french bread or something similar for the sandwich, but the roll provided was sublime.
The only sad part of the experience is that there is not basis for comparison; I'd have to go to a larger, cooler city to get a different banh mi--and I understand there are plenty to choose from elsewhere. Still, I'm pleased that it actually exists in Memphis, and seems to be the real deal (I understand that one of the trendy hipster restaurants in town made a fake one for a while). Adventurous locals should definitely check it out. Everyone else, check it out elsewhere.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-28 04:06 pm (UTC)