I’ll have a banh mi over a vegemite sandwich any day

Having grown up eating vegemite sandwiches, banh mi is a treat for the taste buds. This is Vietnamese street food at it’s best – convenient to eat, healthy and delightful to eat.

Inside a fresh and crispy baguette, earthy and delicious pate and delicate meats are matched with juicy and crunchy pickled vegetables, and tasty zing is derived from fresh coriander and chilli. Of course, these are just the basic elements, and every banh mi vendor has their own signature ingredients.

In New Zealand you’ll only find Vietnamese restaurants in the ‘big’ cities. Our small town is one of many that claims to have Vietnamese food at a local restaurant, but actually doesn’t, and it got closed down recently for a while due to bad hygene – the old ‘diarrhoea dragon’ scenario.

Today however, I had the pleasure of trying local Vietnamese street food for the first time. Not only was the banh mi delicious, although not quite as juicy or spicy like those in Viet Nam, but I thought it was marketed very well. Love the packaging!