Bánh Mì Huỳnh Hoa was one of my must-visit stops on my short trip to Ho Chi Minh City. It is to be found in recommendations everywhere. Food blogs, food guides, and friends who have been to Ho Chi Minh City. And if you tell a friend, you've just come back from Ho Chi Minh City, the first question they'll ask you will be, "Did you try that very famous bánh mì shop? You know, that one."
I'm glad that I can say, "Yes I did."
Bánh Mì Huỳnh Hoa opens in the afternoon til late evening, so it's more of a afternoon snack/supper option than a breakfast option. A pity as I think bánh mìs are great for breakfast.
While there are a fair amount of locals (or actually, local food delivery riders) making a stop here, most of the patrons are tourists. That long queue you see? 100% tourists.
The Bánh Mì
It perhaps makes everybody's lives easier that there is only one thing you can order here. You just tell them how many you want.
The bánh mì, that is, the Vietnamese-style baguettes (smaller, lighter, softer than the French ones) are toasted til crisp in a traditional oven first.
The bánh mìs are then filled with an assortment of cold cured meats, a garnishing of greens, and a few slices of chili. Unfortunately, I'm not too educated on the variety of cured meats to be found in a bánh mì. But for an explanation of the more common fillings found in banh mi, this article (link) is really good.
When you finally get your hands on one! So exciting!!!
If you've eaten at one of the other normal bánh mì stalls before, you can immediately tell this bánh mì is much longer and bigger than normal.
And the bánh mì is super fat too. You can tell it's really very full of all the good stuff that goes into bánh mìs.
A warning though. The chili they use is quite potent. It heats fast, though thankfully it doesn't linger that long.
The bánh mì is a delightful mix of textures. The crisp casing of the bread with it's soft, slightly sweet insides is the perfect casing for all the filling. It contrasts delightfully with the more rubbery texture of the cold cuts. There is a huge variety of cold cuts that you won't even be able to tell exactly what you're eating, just an assortment of different hams in a bite, and thus also a variety of subtly different flavours. There is also a very savoury pate that, for lack of a better word, lubricates the insides of the bánh mì and brings everything together. The greens, refreshing and lightly crunchy balance the richness of the cold cuts and keep the bánh mì from being too greasy.
While I enjoyed all bites I took from this bánh mì, I definitely recommend sharing. It is quite a huge bánh mì to down, especially if this is only a snack for you and not an entire meal. The richness of the bánh mì can also get jelak (tiring to eat) very fast.
Is it worth it?
At 42000 VND (SGD$2.50) for a bánh mì, it is almost twice as expensive compared to a regular bánh mì from the other stores.
Part of its price is certainly due to its popularity with tourists. But as we see, the bánh mì is bigger than normal and packed with more ingredients, so it's still well worth the price.
This bánh mì won't become a daily breakfast haunt for me (much prefer Bánh Mì Hồng Hoa for that), but it is still a place I might stop by if I'm with a group of friends up for sharing this massive bánh mì.
I would still recommend this to friends visiting Ho Chi Minh City, but not without warnings about its massive size and its richness.
Location
This stall is located within the Bến Thành in District 1.
About a 10 min walk from Bến Thành market (tourist spot), and a 15 min walk from Saigon Centre (shopping centre). There are some other well-known bánh mì stalls within the same vicinity as well.
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