WHAT TO ORDER AT BANH

Banh on Amsterdam Ave is considered the second-best Vietnamese joint in NYC, in my humble opinion.

That sentence will age like fine wine. And unlike wines, if you’re not sure what you want, go for the second-best (cuz they are all not that expensive).

The purpose of this short post is listing all of my personal favorite items off their menu. They can be either authentic, or the items that I really really like, or ideally both.

Disclaimer: based on the nature of Banh, some of these items may not be available at the time of your visit. They have some stables and some rotations going on.

Crispy rice cake (banh chung): Widely available during Tet season. But available throughout whole year in Banh.
Vegan banh chung: same shit.
Banh mi: it’s just banh mi guys. Whichever one. If you’re flustered, get the original.
Pho: no pho (they have pho, just no.)
Bun cha, bun bo bo, bun cha gio: Bun means rice vermicelli. They’re essentially the same dish with different toppings. Very hard to fuck this one up. So a solid choice.
Drinks: cafe sua da.
Weekend specials: always order specials. New stuff every weekend.

Given that I have given others top entries a fair shake. I would like to insert my tu-cents to one of my favorite eateries in NYC.

Many Viet restaurants stand out for its signature dishes, and many others for their competitive prices. However, Banh stands out for its indirect promise: “You will always have a mom in me”.

Hmm okay that doesn’t come out right. Let me rephrase that: Banh is like a mom. Mom will make lots of dishes, from routine dishes, every-day dishes to seasonal dishes, occasional dishes and “SHIT! ARE WE GONNA HAVE THAT TODAY MA?” dishes. Banh is a carousel of weekly surprises that we just manage to get a peek in. This is a great trick to pull everyone in: from the curious pass-byers, to frequent goers. Yet in return, it demands the most passionate group of people to pull it off.

And they truly did

(TO BE CONTINUED. HALFWAY EDITING)