Our first meal in the new neighbourhood was from a little shop on Atlantic called Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches. Anyone who’s been to Vietnam or Cabramatta or had a bakery owned by Vietnamese people near by will be familiar with them.

There’s been a few articles on some food blogs I frequent extolling the virtues of Banh Mi recently so I won’t bother going too much into them other than to say I love them. Crusty bread, pickles, pate and that strange mayo you never see anywhere else, and luncheon meat in your “classic” style Banh Mi.

I opted for a pork chop version and it was pretty good. Bit of heat from chilli, nice crunch from the pickled carrots and radishes. The chop itself was sweet and savoury with a hint of five spice and fish sauce and a little bit of fat. All in all rather happy with myself. I bought Sam a Portobello Mushroom banh mi which was also good other than being over chillied (I’d asked for mild as she is a bit of a wuss like that). Sam’s major criticism was that the bread was a bit too crusty and in addition to the chilli was cutting up the roof of her mouth. A fair call i have to say.

Imagine my surprise when on my way to work I find another Vietnamese Sandwich shop next to the station that also serves bubble tea, Hanco’s. We stopped in here one Saturday on our way into town to Bed Bath & Beyond (which is great if you enjoy shopping for homewares, sadly i do…). I again chose the pork chop banh mi and Sam a tofu salad and as we were still peckish some garden rolls as well. This place was doing very brisk trade and understandably. We sat in and ended leaving smelling like a chip (or chop) shop but its a shoebox so it’s expected. The version here was also very tasty.

Do i have a clear favourite? Not at all on the Banh Mi front. I’ll have to go back and compare the classics to be fair. Sam would prefer Hanco’s I guess as they do a range of salads. Nicky’s though have introduced Pho which i’ll also happily try out in the interests of the public.

But my all time favourite banh mi? It’s a meatball version. Pork meatballs quite peppery if my memory serves me cooked in a tomato based sauce stuffed into the baguette and garnished as usual. There was a bakery near the corner of Hughes and Railway Parade in Cabramatta (which is probably long gone) which i dare say was my favourite ever, i seriously loved that shit as a kid. Hmmm maybe i can suggest it to the people at Nicky’s and Hanco’s and get it added to their winter menus, that’d be so frigging sweet.