Thanh Noi

Thanh Noi Sandwich located in the hear of Diho Shopping Center...
along with 2 other banh mi joints (B10 and Don's Cafe) For more info on Thanh Noi Click Me

I wanted some banh mi for lunch and Thanh Noi was the only one with a open spot in the parking lot for me to rush in and rush out. As a kid, I don't recall my family taking me here to eat. I think I been to TN once or twice like 10 years ago..TN also serves noodle and rice plates.. The place is old, but looks clean compare to the other hole in walls. The pre-packaaged plates also looks fresh..Not sure if it was made by Thanh Noi or resale.

I believe there was 4-5 ppl dining in and I was the only take out at the moment. I was surprised it wasn't that busy for lunch time. I wanted to check the place out and see what kind of sandwiches they were serving..plus I read on reviews on the Ga-chicken....too bad, I ended up with Thit Nuong. I felt like I was suckered in to ordering Thit Nuong. Not because the lady was suggesting me to buy it..I guess seeing the fresh grilled batch of Thit Nuong she was putting out caught my attention. Majority of the times, all the other banh mi joints the bbq would be reheated in the microwave.

Clear is good-Homer Simpson

Service: Not so rude or too friendly. Cash Only. Was in and out in 5-6 minutes $3.90 for a banh mi & can of tea

Bread Quality: Not baked fresh in store, Bread was over baked and uber crispy

Meat Filling: nice and fresh from the grill, very generous on the Thit Nuong, but was quite bland. no green onion oil topping

Veggie Filling: grated carrots, chopped cilantro, chunky halves of jalapenos, decent cut of cucumber

Spread: even spread of Butter(no taste)

Presentation: Sloppy from the grease & veggies.

As you can see the banh mi looks very brown...extremely crispy. Since I didn't see any bread for sale, its obviously bought. My jaws weren't in that much pain compared to my last bite I had last time with Parisian Bakery.

Notice the big chunk of jalapeno? Boy, did I sure taste that heat! It was quite overwhelming with the jalapeno, to where my mouth went slightly numb. I think if they had the butter spread ed on the top of the veggies, instead of under the hot fresh bbq would've been better. My banh mi was just leaking grease from the melted butter. The carrots were grated and wasn't quite the pickled-crispy texture. So not a fan of chopped up cilantro. Since my bf doesn't like Cilantro, I have been neglecting that in my food lately. That's one powerful herb, and chops of cilantrot over powered my banh mi. If you were to ask me how was my banh mi...I can't even describe anything except the hot jalapeno & cilantro.
Debating if I want to go back and try the chicken.

and another one off my list...
I have so much more blogging to do...no joke...haha my family & friends were looking through my camera the other day..they said I should be a food junkie instead of banh mi with all the foodie pictures I took. I do not qualify myself as a food critic lol...I have the most random taste buds and picky with a few things I eat.. Food entertains me rather than fashion or beauty. Fashion, I feel is a recycle of style/trends or new look. You like it today and its replaced with something else the next. As for beauty...as I get older I'm leaning towards more to natural than cosmetic..Don't get me wrong, I have my moments to play dress up and be pretty..but just for a moment. With food, its art to me. People can be so creative with the ingredients and materials they use to create something OMFG-so effin delicious-melts in your mouth- that feeling that will have you talking or thinking for days! Cooking by yourself or with someone can be fun. Food is something we need in our system. Too bad the unhealthy food sucks for me...i supppose everyone else too. It satisfy my taste buds, but makes me fluffy. Dieting isn't on my to do list, but eating clean is. I'm learning to use natural spices rather than salt(baths..KIDDING) bake or steam, rather than frying. Going Organic...umm I'm not a baller so I'll be ok with unorganic stuff.

Oh yea..GUESS WHAT??!? I was able to squeezed in TWO banh mi flings in NEWYORK!
I will try to turn my blog back into my banhmi related...if not something about food blog...haha since my emo random rants are getting boooorrrrinnnggggg! hey, its a free therapy session for me...don't hate... ^_^

That's all for now folks,
later gators,
bmg

Jawbreaker

Ouch! Feels like I got sucker punched!

Got so much on my mind at the moment that i forgot I had a quickie the other day. I picked up a banh mi at Parisian Bakery (wilcrest & beechnut)
It was about 6:30, staff was getting ready to close up.

I ordered the banh mi ga (chicken) with carrots only and no pate.
The bread was hard, it looked like it was sitting in the warmer for awhile. Chicken was shredded, I guess it's like pulled pork, except very dry. My chicken was heated up in a microwave. I wished the lady spread out the butter. She put a slab on there, where I would get eat a glob of butter or none. My banh mi was ok, I had better. Not sure if it was because I came during closing hours, and got bad quality or something.

I was so hungry, I took a bite while walking to my car. My 15 minute ride home was quite painful. Each bite I took, I can feel my jaw muscles working. A friend of mine told me he wasn't a fan of banh mi, because of the texture. How his jaws hurts everytime he eats one. Now I understand what he means.

There was a lot of food sitting around Parisian. I saw a cup of Bo Kho just sitting out for sale...is that safe?
Now I'm curious to know how fresh are those pastries/dishes left sitting out. Or what's the life shelf?

I'm going to have to go back & review Parisian again. Lesson learned, don't come 30 minutes till closing time!

Anti banh mi...for now...

Later gators,
Bmg