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

Thim Hing

Quick review for my quickie...

Woo Hoo! I was able to squeeze in a banh mi fling before preparing for Mother's Day Feast~

Thim Hing is definitely a mom & pop's joint. If you can by pass a few things like the old run down joint, the rude daughters, old men smoking & drinking cafe sua da in front of the store, the banh mi will have you comin back.

Usually, I order bbq, chicken, or xiu mai because I like my meat fillings to be warm. The other day, I was at my moms and ate half of her Thap Cam from TH...it sure got me wanting more.

So this time I ordered the Thap Cam which is the usual cold cuts except TH adds Xiu Mai (meatballs) drizzled with the sauce. All that for $2.50! All the small banh mis are $2.50 and Large $3.50. The small was pretty filling to me, not sure how big is the large.

Growing up in Alief, TH was one of my favorite banh mi joints..still is...not because of the cheap banh mi, its their baguette. Its light, airy, soft & crispy, not too wide & round like other bakeries. Where you can taste all the ingredients in each bite. We also order loaves of baguettes, sadly they are not nice & warm. TH doesn't have the loaves displayed in the front store like other bakeries do. All the baguettes comes from the back kitchen, normally you would see the bread toasted in the front of the store, not at TH. I believe they have them in the freezer, who knows because its behind the wall. The loaf is quite flimsy and they bag it in a plastic sleeve from the Styrofoam cups..but once you toast it up, the baguette comes back to life! I believe its $1.50 for a loaf.

For more reviews on Thim Hing Click me

Service: It depends who's the cashier, if its the daughters beware for the attitude, this time she was nice to me. You get your banh mi within 5 mins max

Bread Quality: Baked fresh in store, warm light & crispy. thin & long

Meat Filling: 2 slices of each cut, they make their own pate, that's not a spread, cut into a strip.

Veggie Filling: thinly grated carrots, i got half of piece of jalapeno that was on one end of the bread, I think there was more cilantro than the carrots

Spread: Butter was yummy, wish they gave a little more.

Presentation: kinda sloppy.

Its been awhile since I've been to TH. I can't remember what the other sandwiches taste like..I guess I'll have to come back ^_^

Check it out if you're ever in bellaire area... BTW $CASH$ ONLY~

later gators,

bmg

Bo Ne

What is Bo Ne?

Bo Ne is the Vietnamese version of steak & eggs...For more info on Bo Ne click me

Tan Ba Le a banh mi joint that bakes their own baguettes also known for their "Bo Ne"

Before starting this venture, I had their banh mi every once in a blue moon because its not too far from my folks. Lets just say it was not tasty! Well at that time my sister was into the bbq with fried egg...that was asking for a heart attack..I dont recall tasting anything except grease. I tried the simplest banh mi; cha lua. They were out of regular Cha Lua so the owner gave me Cha Chien. The baguettes were so hard and yet again no taste. That was the last time I ever ordered banh mi from them.

The reason I came back to TBL was for their DIY steak & eggs banh mi.

It was packed for a Saturday lunch, about 95% of the customers ordered Bo Ne. My friend & I shared a Bo Ne and Chicken Curry. The place looks clean, not a hole in the wall, not to mention the shopping center is barely 5 years old? Its a cute lil mom & pops joint...along with some of their little roach friends.. I saw one crawling on the edge of the table but flicked it off, later on in the middle of eating the owner brought out a bowl for our curry and i spotted a smushed dead one on the outside of the bowl.

So don't expect me coming back...

On to the Bo Ne DIY banh mi:

Service: The waiter was kinda slow, looks like he was training. (the staff did not use gloves when handling the baguettes)

Bread Quality: Baked fresh in store, warm light & crispy, but bland. Its missing the baguette smell & flavor.

Meat Filling: cup of diced beef & 2 sunny side up eggs on a sizzling platter topped with black pepper & green scallion along with a side of lime salt & pepper dip.

Veggie Filling: a plate of iceberg romaine lettuce with cucumber & tomato slices, topped with thin white onion and a small amount of some kind of dressing (apologies, i forgot how it taste like)

Spread: Butter & Pate in a togo sauce cup (no taste on the butter)

Presentation: Baguettes in a basket, protein on a sizzling cow skillet.

Salad

The fresh baked Baguettes~They have the features of the airy & crispy but missing the aura & flavor of a baguette

Butter & Pate

Bo Ne

DIY Banh mi

Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry

We were hoping to enjoy this dish. Dipping our baguettes into the broth...but FAILED..It was overwhelmed with coconut milk where you can't really taste the curry.

My experience with Bo Ne was mission failed. My level of excitement was like a kid that dropped their ice cream on the ground. All the hype of ppl talking & the photos I saw was just a tease. Sadly, I do not remember what Bo Ne taste like it. If you were to ask me I wouldn't even know whats the ingredients besides..black pepper. For sure I will not be coming back to try out the banh mi or give Bo Ne another try. due to their little roach friends. It seems like its a common problem after reading reviews on it. For more reviews on Tan Ba Le click me

And another one off my list, next time I will have a fling on the other side of town..Veterans Memorial?

Have a good week~

later gators,

bmg

Pho one

Finally!!! I got my banh mi fling on today!

I was so hungry & couldn't decide so I ordered 2 banh mis!

Well I was craving Vietnamese food big time...and had less than 15 min to figure where to eat lunch. At 11:58 am I called Pho One and placed my order over the phone. I ordered a banh mi chay (tofu) & banh mi ga (chicken).

The person that took my order spoke english and Vietnamese fluently. But, he still managed to mess up my order :( I wanted the banh mi ga (stir fried marinated chicken and yellow onions) I ended up with banh mi ga nuong (char-grilled chicken) I made it to Pho One and back to work about 10 minutes. My banh mi was still nice and warm. However, they were not wrapped in parchment paper and each stuffed in a white paper bag. Not a bad thing, just something I'm not use to.

Now on to the banh mi:Service: Friendly and Fast *accepts credit cards* Took about 3-4 min to pay & pick up my food.
Bread Quality: Freshly baked- not in store, purchased through a vendor.
Meat filling: Not too much, Not too little
Veggie filling: grated pickled carrots, no pickled daikon, a julienne slice of jalapeno, even though I don't eat cucumber, it was nicely cut lengthwise..not too thick, not too thin.
Spread: homemade butter (delicious, you can taste it!)
Presentation: Nicely presented, it was missing black/white pepper
Price: $4.00 Chay $4.50 Ga Nuong

Banh Mi Chay (tofu):
There were 3 thin rectangular fried tofus layered across the bread with butter beneath it.

I was surprised that the soy sauce was drizzled on the bread, normally its drizzled on the veggie or meat filling. I was afraid that I was going to taste a very salty soy sauce sandwich. Come to surprise the sandwich was perfect. Not sure if drizzling soy sauce on the bread evens out the flavor or the soy sauce they use was not that potent. It was still delicious to me. Each bite I took, my Vietnamese craving was satisfied. Its been so long since I ate a authentic banh mi. Ugh I can go for another one right now. Lets just say I ate the entire banh mi chay and only half of the chicken...for lunch

banh mi ga nuong (chargrilled chicken):
The chicken kinda reminded me of
Xa-Xiu
(chinese bbq pork)

I believe there were 3 slices of chicken just like the tofu arrangement. I wish they can give more for the jalapeno, it was just a julienne slice that was a equivalent of 2-3 slices of grated carrots. The banh mi ga nuong didn't satisfy my taste buds. The chicken was good & cooked to perfection. .It just wasn't what I wanted..I'm still sad I didn't get the stir fried chicken. I guess a excuse for me to come back :)
First, I ate half of the tofu and then half of the chicken, but came back and devour the other half of the tofu. I was so done after that. I wrapped the other half of my chicken with a paper towel and store it in the fridge. 3 hours later, it was time to go home for the day. I grabbed my sandwich and ate it on my way home. Not so bad eating a cold banh mi, kinda like cold pizza. The bread was kinda dry, but amazingly the butter was still nice in tact. Haha I think the butter of the banh mi is the most important ingredient to me. From this day, my sisters & I still can just eat a baguette with butter. Oh so bad, but so good.

Off the banh mi subject:

All Green: Green Tea, Pink: Strawberry, Brown: Chocolate, Green & Yellow: Cantaloupe

While waiting for my banh mi, I was debating to get sua da nanh (soy bean drink) until I spotted French Macaroons in their cooler. I got suckered into buying the first box I saw. I believe the flavors were Chocolate, Strawberry, Green tea, & 2 Cantaloupes? There was also Durian ..OMG I wanted to vomit when the owner told me. He joked with me and did agree its a powerful smell. Luckily, it was in a separate box. I don't know how fresh they are, but it was kept in the cooler so it was quite difficult to rate these cookies. The cookie was chewy, no crispy crust...due to the cooler. The flavors were out there. I think my favorite was the cantaloupe. The chocolate was ok, the Strawbery was very berry and the green tea, boy you can sure taste the matcha powder. I did leave it sitting out for 15 min. The texture was still chewy, but no crispy crust.

Next time, I will need to hit up bellaire for some banh mis...because my lunch today for 2 banh mi and 5 macaroon cookies came out to almost $18! Overall, I was satisfied, now I want some Pho! For a pho joint that can serve banh mi like a banh mi joint..kudos for them!
More info on Pho One Click Me

So it looks like the rain is back on...its quite windy and the sky will have nervous breakdown any minute now...Be safe everyone, stay dry & drive carefully!
Shall update my cook off adventure..soon :)

Later Gators,
bmg

Dunobaby

I just want to say thanks for the help & motivation biff.jr.dyc.schmiggy.trannart. If not, I think I'll still be hella lagging with this blog.

When I had decided to finally start my banh mi adventure/blog, Dunobaby was my first fling. We hooked up about 3 months ago...here's the story


Dunobaby was one of the first boba-slushie that opened in HK4(Hong Kong Market)
I remembered ordering my usual green apple slushie with lychee jelly and sometimes strawberry milk ice with my gfs.
About 10 years ago they opened another location out in the westchase area...If it wasn't for Yelp I thought the place had went out of business. According to the reviews on Yelp, its under new management. I been here a few times for the past year and only saw another customer in there besides myself ONCE. You would think it would be busy for a lunch rush. My god, the menu is so overwhelming to look at. Its like House of bowls mix with Tap House food, along with crepes and banh mi. I was afraid to order something out of the ordinary like seafood pasta. Ever since I watched Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant Impossible I'm terrified that I'm going to eat something bad because the place looks so dead. I had the basil chicken nuggets lunch meal.. not bad...taste like from any other boba joints. As for the drinks, I only had jasmine green tea. College Students that lives in Alief or Westchase area, this would be a good place to study..not sure how late they're open.

Part of the picture menu

On to the banh mi:
Service: being the only customer there...it took about 8-10 minutes to get my banh mi
Bread Quality: purchased through a vendor, more than a day old
Meat filling: good amount
Veggie Filling: soggy grated carrots & Daikon (they were not mixed together), sliced round jalapenos, no cilantro or cucumbers (not a fan)
Spread: No taste, not sure if it was american mayo
Presentation: Sloppy
Price: $4.99 for a meal (Drink & choice of snacks from the basket)

Veggie banh mi:
It took me about 5 minutes to get back to work.
There was Fried tofu and dried wood ear mushrooms (the mushrooms in vietnamese eggrolls) topped with xiu-mai sauce. My banh mi was soggy from the xiu-mai sauce and the bread was so stale. There was no texture except mushiness.

Unmixed pickled carrots & daikons

Can you see how soggy it is

Teriyaki Philly Steak banh mi:
Hmm this was the first banh mi I tried last year...sadly I can't remember what it taste like. It wasn't great for a fact. I believe it was alright & edible. For sure it did not look like it was advertised in the picture.
<>

Overall, I don't think I'll come back unless I really want a banh mi and don't have any cash on me to go to bellaire. Good news, they except credit cards! There are two other places that accept credit cards and serves banh mi in the westchase area, Pho One & Kim's Teahouse.
Don't expect me to have another fling with Kim's Teahouse...it was disgusting. I want to barf just thinking about it.
Even though Pho One main courses are rice plates & Pho. Their banh mi have authentic ingredients. However, the one time I ordered a Thit Nuong there was no mayo spread. It was like ying with out the yang. I will give Pho One another chance. BTW their food is quite pricey.


For more info:
Dunobaby
Kim's Teahouse ( I think it should be called Kim's CrapHouse)
Pho One

March has been a busy month for me...and my calendar is full till mid April! Hoping I can squeeze in a fling somewhere. I'm hoping to try Bo Ne, even though it's out of the banh mi zone, but there's a few similar concept to it.
Have a nice weekend!

Don't forget to set your clock an hour forward for Daylight Savings March 11th!

Later gators,

bmg