By Hoang Phong  March 13, 2024 | 03:25 pm PT
A banh mi is filled with cold cuts in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran
Readers of international food magazine Taste Atlas have voted Vietnam's popular banh mi as the best sandwich in the world with a rating of 4.6 out of 5, along with Turkey's Tombik doner, a variety of kebab.
Despite being a culinary remnant of French colonialism, the Vietnamese add ingredients such as cilantro, chili, and pickles to create their own banh mi, with unique taste that has achieved global spotlight for a long time.
In the beginning, most banh mi consisted of bread, meat, and seasonings, with no added vegetables but now banh mi are stuffed with cold cuts, French butter, fresh mayonnaise, pate, cucumbers, cilantro, pickles, oyster sauce and garlic.
A banh mi costs from VND15,000 ($0.65) to VND70,000, though a luxury restaurant in HCMC has invented its $100 banh mi to serve the rich.
Considered Vietnam’s most expensive banh mi, it is topped off with French foie gras, truffle, a traditional garnish of sliced cucumbers, cilantro and mint and served with a side of fried sweet potatoes and caviar.
"The meat on the inside can be chicken, pork, beef, seafood, cold cuts, or pâtés, sausages, and terrines, but it is extremely important not to overstuff the sandwich," according to TasteAtlas.
Shawarma, a juicy sandwich-like wrap of the Middle East made of grilled lamb, chicken, beef, turkey, or other varieties of meat, came in third, followed by Mexico’s Tortas.
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