I’m French So I Decided To See What All The Fuss Is About With Banh Mi

Baguette? Pâté? Pork? OK, gimme all of that!

Hi, I'm Jules. I'm French, I'm currently in Australia for three months, and I LOVE food! I like all different types of cuisine... but obviously French is the best!

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I’d never heard of bánh mì before, but I've found it everywhere in Sydney.

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Bánh mì in Australia are typically filled with carrot, white radish, cucumber, coriander, chili (if you want), mayonnaise, pork, and a good amount of pâté.

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I was surprised to learn that it’s a French-influenced dish, which came about after they colonised Vietnam. It uses ingredients introduced by the French – baguettes, pâté, and mayonnaise – paired with traditional Vietnamese flavours. Bánh mì actually just means “bread” in Vietnamese!

As soon as I heard about them, I needed to try one. So I decided to go to three different places across Sydney to test them out for myself.

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The First stop was Vinata's Hot Bread in Cabramatta.

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They bake their bread fresh each day, and the chicken liver pâté, mayonnaise, and chili sauce are all made on the premises.

I’d never tasted anything like it, a mix of mayonnaise and pate seems so weird to me. It took a bit of getting used to but after few bites, I liked it!

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There were so many flavours and textures in every bite, but the aftertaste of pâté... SO GOOD!

Next stop was Hong Ha in Mascot.

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There was a long queue in front of the shop... promising!

However, the bánh mì was not really what I expected.

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The bread was good, but there was almost no mayonnaise. I couldn't taste the pâté, and the pork slices looked more like what you'd find at the supermarket.

The third and final stop was Great Aunty Three in Surry Hills.

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Here, they roast the pork for 12 hours... 12 HOURS! The pork was tender, the pâté tasty, and the bread crispy!

And GODDAMN it was good!

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This was definitely the best one of the three.

So, what was my verdict? Well, I could definitely taste the French influence. It’s still very much a Vietnamese dish though, it’s like a good combination of the two cuisines put together. I learned that like any other street food, not everywhere is going to do it perfectly. But when you find a good one… oh boy that’s succulent.

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And for all my fellow French people… you need to come out to Australia and try it for yourself!

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