Before heading out to Kitsilano Beach on a rare sunny day back in May, Victor and I stopped by Tung Hing Bakery for some banh mi. Originally I thought of just going to the normal standby, Ba Le, but having heard good things about Tung Hing from others, why not?
With bakery in their store name, you can expect that they not only bake their own banh mi bread (aka french baguettes) fresh daily, they also have other types of buns, pastries and desserts.
Simpler than simple, the banh mi menu is painted onto a small black board, and all the prices are tax included.
Pickled daikon and carrots, cucumbers, pork floss, meatball, honey garlic sausage, ghee (clarified butter), pate, meat…etc. Fressssssh.
Horrible picture, in terms of being descriptive and showing what’s actually in the sub. I ordered a meatball, which is all hidden underneath the vegetables. The texture of the meatball, if you can’t already tell by the picture above, was more like sloppy joe ground meat..not exactly a ball as it should be. I don’t really care though, it’s just $3 for this entire sub. The meat was slightly sweet, showing obvious hints of honey being used in the seasoning, but some other stuff that I just can’t pinpoint down..
The crust, hard as wood and crunchy like chips is a huge contrast to the bread inside, fluffy and soft like pillows.
For me, it’s hard to say what’s the better banh mi between Ba Le and Tung Hing, I’d have to eat them side by side at the same time, not on separate occasions. I know Victor would prefer Ba Le, but it’s most likely because it’s just become the comfortable standard and being used to it.
