Eight of Hong Kong’s best banh mi restaurants, and the secrets to getting the Vietnamese sandwich just right

Humidity is the enemy of banh mi thit – the Vietnamese sandwich that has recently become so popular in Hong Kong. It’s a fusion dish that evolved through the French occupation of Vietnam which ended in 1954. The French introduced the baguette to Vietnam, and cooks adapted it to make use of local ingredients.

A banh mi thit (thit being Vietnamese for meat, the traditional filling) is judged on the quality of the banh mi (the bread), which is airy, with a more delicate crust than the French baguette, and which will soften at the first hint of humidity. In Vietnam, banh mi thit is served by street vendors or in small shops. They get around the humidity problem by receiving frequent deliveries of the bread from bakeries, and/or heating it before filling it with anything from pork meatballs or grilled chicken, to fried egg with pork floss.

Many street vendors offer what is also the most popular version outside Vietnam: pork-based cold cuts and pâté, along with pickled carrot and daikon, fresh cucumber, chillies and fresh coriander.

Australian chef Bao La oversees the quality of banh mi sandwiches at the newly opened Le Petit Saigon in Wan Chai, a small sister restaurant to Le Garcon Saigon next door. He credits the sandwich’s distinctive Vietnamese flavour to the fillings – the thinly sliced cold cuts and the pickled and fresh vegetables and herbs.

“The bakers had to adapt, because it’s a lot more humid in Vietnam than it is in France,” he explains. “It’s not exactly the French baguette, but it’s a similar type of concept.” Bao sources the bread from a friend, and says it took three to four months to perfect the airy and crusty texture.

“In Dalat, where my mother is from, the banh mi is still baked in wood ovens – the traditional way. [Here] we bake in stone ovens, so the crust of the bread comes out differently. Here, it is a little heavier.”