I've been meaning to try Banh Mi Boys for a long time and heard so many good things about it! I totally had to take advantage of the fact that I am finally in Toronto!!
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| The line! |
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| The kitchen |
A short bikeride from my friend S's house, the restaurant is located on Queen corner of Spadina. It's a tiny place, with about 14 seats that are obviously full come lunch time, so get ready to take it to go. We ended up eating it in the shade in a ghetto park we used to go to when we were in high school (ah, the memories!).
They sell tacos and banh mi with lots of nice sides like kimchi fries, tofu fries, jicama papaya salad and sweet potato fries. OH, they also sell duck confit salad! Yum!
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| Beef cheek banh mi with onion churtney |
Anyhoot, we both had the braised beef cheek banh mi. A-MA-ZING! It came with onion chutney and the usual banh mi trimmings such as cucumber, pickled carrot and cilantro. Mmmm, I started eating banh mi recently (I know, I know...) and this is the best one yet. First of all, they toast the bread right when you order it so it's still nice and warm when you get it. Also, the addition of the cilantro is just mmm, a burst of flavor! The beef was very tender and melted in your mouth but lacked maybe a tad in the seasoning department. The onion chutney was very good and added a little sweet side to the sandwich! If, or should I say when I go back, I totally want to order the kimchi fries! YUM!
As for the service (obviously we're talking counter service here), it is very efficient. You get there, you wait in line, when it's your turn to talk to the very happy looking/smiling girl, you tell her what you want. Then, she asks your name and you wait again--we waited about 10 to 15 minutes in the first line and about 10 minutes in the other. Then someone at the counter asks you if you want hot sauce in there and to what degree. You tell them if it's to eat there (fat chance) or to go and BAM, you leave with a beautiful banh mi.
I must warn you though: beware when you eat the sandwich because mine ended up leaking hot sauce onto my pants and then it was sticky and, well, uncomfortable and narsty. Also, be ready to pay a bit more then you do at other places (mine cost 5,99$). It's totally worth it and I think the fact that they serve original banh mi (five spice pork belly, duck confit, kalbi beef, etc) makes up for it.
And now, the scores!
Food: an average of 8,25
Service: well, I'd say a 9 but let's face it, it's very limited service!
Go there. That's all I have to say. They have original banh mi and I'll just keep going back until I've had all of them. And I live in MTL so that's saying a LOT!
As for the service (obviously we're talking counter service here), it is very efficient. You get there, you wait in line, when it's your turn to talk to the very happy looking/smiling girl, you tell her what you want. Then, she asks your name and you wait again--we waited about 10 to 15 minutes in the first line and about 10 minutes in the other. Then someone at the counter asks you if you want hot sauce in there and to what degree. You tell them if it's to eat there (fat chance) or to go and BAM, you leave with a beautiful banh mi.
I must warn you though: beware when you eat the sandwich because mine ended up leaking hot sauce onto my pants and then it was sticky and, well, uncomfortable and narsty. Also, be ready to pay a bit more then you do at other places (mine cost 5,99$). It's totally worth it and I think the fact that they serve original banh mi (five spice pork belly, duck confit, kalbi beef, etc) makes up for it.
And now, the scores!
Food: an average of 8,25
Service: well, I'd say a 9 but let's face it, it's very limited service!
Go there. That's all I have to say. They have original banh mi and I'll just keep going back until I've had all of them. And I live in MTL so that's saying a LOT!
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