Cez and Gaz are two travelers from Wales (UK) who share a dream of traveling around the world . Having met five years ago and sharing a common interest, they have been traveling together ever since.
The couple is on an adventurous journey, exploring many new countries and lands. Their shared personal channel is where they preserve memories from their destinations and sample new foods, experiencing local cuisine .
During their recent trip to Ho Chi Minh City, they had the opportunity to enjoy many types of bread, from inexpensive, everyday street food to upgraded, high-end dishes that cost many times more than usual.
The first sandwich shop the two customers visited was located on Huynh Khuong Ninh Street. It was originally a budget-friendly sandwich shop.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, the British couple ordered their meal and were served within about a minute.
The sandwich was cut in half for easier enjoyment. At 24,000 VND per piece, the two customers were surprised by the flavor of the sandwich, which had a crispy crust and a soft, juicy filling soaked in sauce, topped with butter, pâté, thinly sliced meat, vegetables, and pickles.
After that, the two British tourists moved on to a new location. This time, they wanted to try a more special type of banh mi at an eatery located in a small alley near Ben Thanh Market.
The restaurant is often full, and the majority of customers are foreigners (Photo: Morgana Lamb).
The restaurant is designed with a cozy atmosphere like a family kitchen, serving a variety of authentic Vietnamese dishes, ranging from street food (such as banh xeo, goi cuon, cha gio) to family-style dishes (cha ca La Vong, fried pork, beef skewers, grilled chicken legs) and desserts.
In addition, the shop offers a variety of sandwiches at different price points to suit customers' preferences and choices.
The cheapest option is the original baguette, priced at 75,000 VND per piece, which includes ham, spring rolls, shredded pork floss, cucumber, pickles, cilantro, and creamy egg butter sauce.
Alternatively, customers can choose a cold cuts sandwich, priced at 85,000 VND per piece.
In the higher price range, there's grilled beef skewer sandwich for 215,000 VND, grilled pork rib sandwich with mushroom sauce for 265,000 VND/piece, and grilled beef rib sandwich with mushroom sauce for 755,000 VND/piece. With this type of sandwich, customers are served a whole slab of ribs.
However, wanting to enjoy the most special dish, the British couple decided to order the grilled lobster sandwich, priced at 1.07 million VND. Upon arrival, they learned that this dish needed to be ordered a day in advance and required a deposit of 500,000 VND.
After paying the deposit, they both returned to the restaurant the next day. They seemed quite excited, wondering what the food would be like.
Finally, the couple was served a generously arranged platter of sliced bread, steamed lobster with butter, salmon roe, cucumber, pickles, scallions, cilantro, truffle mushroom sauce, and creamy egg custard.
Besides lobster, truffles are also an expensive ingredient. They are considered one of the most expensive mushrooms in the world, nicknamed the "white/black diamonds" of gastronomy due to their rarity, captivating flavor, inability to be cultivated on a large scale, and their ability to grow wild deep underground. These mushrooms are mainly found only in Europe.
When enjoying the dish, diners will personally spread ingredients such as salmon roe, lobster, a little sauce, and vegetables onto a slice of bread. Cez believes that the flavor is completely different from any sandwiches they have eaten before.
"It's a combination of many flavors. The lobster meat is very fresh, while the salmon roe and truffle notes are both distinct," Cez said.
Meanwhile, Gaz added a few roasted onions to the slices of bread to eat with it. The onions were roasted and prepared carefully, retaining their characteristic aroma but without being too pungent or unpleasant to eat.
According to the two customers, the price of over 1 million VND for a platter of lobster sandwiches is perfectly reasonable because this meal uses high-quality ingredients that are inherently expensive.
Besides sandwiches, the shop serves many signature dishes of Vietnamese cuisine (Photo: Wee Loon Chia).
According to our investigation, on Google's review platform, the restaurant has received over 10,000 reviews with a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, mostly from foreign customers.
Morgana Lamb, who visited the restaurant in mid-January, said that the menu is extensive but the place is quite noisy due to the large number of customers. During peak hours, customers have to wait a long time, from 10 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, a customer named Wee Loon Chia from Malaysia revealed that he visited the restaurant following Michelin's directions.
The customer noted that the restaurant had a diverse menu with higher prices compared to street food stalls, but still acceptable within its price range. The bill for two people was over 600,000 VND.
Chia believes that the shop is hidden in an alley behind the hair salons, so customers might have difficulty finding it without using navigation software.
Reportedly, this restaurant was awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand title for three consecutive years from 2023 to 2025, in the category honoring restaurants that serve high-quality food at affordable prices.
Besides the praise for the taste, many customers complained that the service was quite slow and the waiting time was long due to the large number of customers.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/khach-tay-noi-gi-sau-khi-an-chiec-banh-my-tom-hum-gia-1-trieu-dong-o-tphcm-20260124103123337.htm
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