rev:text
| - Just past Spadina on Queen West sits a small sandwich shop called Banh Mi Boys. Serving up Vietnamese street food, the restaurant follows a long history of similar underground global eats in the city, and hosts another location near Yonge & Gerrard.
Bánh mì is actually a Vietnamese term for a variety of breads, and is a cuisine that has been adopted as a tiny niche market in Toronto's cross-cultural food scene. With fillings like five spice pork belly, braised beef cheek and duck confit sandwiched between soft "baguettes" and pickled carrots, cilantro and cucumber, Banh Mi Boys manages to elevate this strand of Asian food to new levels.
The shop is bright and popping with colour, and while the seating is cramped, a high volume of people are constantly moving in and out of this popular restaurant which makes it possible to get a seat every once in a while.
The star standouts of Bahn Mi Boys include their fusion dishes like the Americanized Kimchi fries and Vietnamese-style tacos; the spin on poutine comes loaded with perfectly spiced, fermented napa cabbage with small dollops of house-made mayo on top of pulled pork and a smattering of green onions. The dish is reminiscent of a New York fries concoction, but the mayo proves to be a little exorbitant for this already heavy dish.
In a city that is receptive to multi-cultural, fusion cuisine, it only makes sense that Banh Mi Boys will continue to thrive considering its location on the verge of Chinatown, and its creative re-imagining of cultural delicacies.
|