WHAT TO ORDER AT BANH ANH EM
I thought this video would mark an important date for me. I was anticipating that this restaurant would ruin the entire ranking system and all the work I have done so far trying to put these lists together.
I have been waiting for this day for a few months now. I thought it comes, it sees and it conquers. But no, sadly to me, it is not the case.
Ok, I gotta get your attention somehow. Now this is not me trying to weasel my way out of giving Banh Anh Em the credit that I thought it deserved. This is not an attempt for me to hold the ranking list in any high regard that it may deserve. Frankly, this list holds very little weight outside of the Reddit community.
And to be fair, Banh Anh Em came this close (||) to taking the mantle and declared its reign at the top of my list. But also in fairness, I have given myself five chances to decide if it is worth it at the end. The decision kept flipping back and forth. Anh frankly, not many other restaurants get this much of my attention.
Ok enough blue balling, my name is Tu. And these are a few words on Banh Anh Em.
If you have known my list for a while now, you would wonder why Banh Anh Em got more than one chance to make a case for itself before entering this list. It will just accumulate more and more biases favoring this restaurant. Yes, I agree. But I would also counter-argue that point: it is actually under tremendous scrutiny and thoughts on my end to make a critical judgment on Banh Anh Em: not the judgment that Banh Anh Em is the best, but the judgment that if I like it, the most.
However, there are a few reasons why this specific joint attracts this level of attention.
A sister restaurant to Banh, a heavy hitter on my list (ranking number 2 on this list). It is not something I take lightly. This is coming from someone who makes what I like. So yes, reputation precedes them.
There was incredible hype generated when Banh first announced it would open a sister restaurant downtown. So that was the first for me, an established expectation from the public, from Instagram to my Reddit post discussion. It was none of that “I stumbled upon this cute restaurant” or “You won’t believe what I found today”. It was something I had not experienced before, toward the opening of a Vietnamese restaurant in NY. It means, going into this blindly was impossible. Forming an expectation was very tempting, to the point that it was inevitable.
Of course, you can generate all the hypes, 4.5 to 5-star reviews on Yelp or Google. But let’s see what you have, show me your menu. It was a snapshot of different marquee offerings on their social media building up to the soft launch. And those teases are marquee offerings. Let me put it a different way, if they just decided to push out one of those items to the menu, it would have been enough reason for me to check in to the first slot available.
And yes, the hype was real. People lining up to a soft launch Viet restaurant. It was either naive and ignorant of me to not notice it in the past, or this is the first (probably and hopefully the former). Sure it’s not like lining up to buy iPhone X on launch day. The line was more like people waiting to get a Covid test at CityMD in October 2020 so they could fly out the next day to their holiday destination.
That was the reality. And I never entered a Vietnamese restaurant like this before, not in my life. So I took all the proper precautions. I took the vaccines, I wore masks, and I measured the temperature out of my forehead. I went to their soft openings 3 times and then twice after they officially opened. I held this post for weeks until they anchored the menu.
Yes, buckle down, this will be a lengthy one and I frankly don’t care. There is a lot to talk about because there was a lot of effort and love put into this restaurant. It muddies my view time after time because I genuinely had a hard time placing this on the list. It was more than the sum of its parts and part of me wanted this to do so well that it could topple my whole list. However, I can’t ignore some parts of this whole.
Alright, keeping the traditions, and what to order from this place on 3rd avenue. Ok so in case you don’t know, Banh Anh Em is in a similar vein of operation to Banh in that they rotate the offerings around as time goes by. Banh has a core menu with weekend specials rotated. I think Banh Anh em will rotate offerings every season, similarly to Mam. Yea, it is almost like a fashion house with new season look book. So let’s take a look at this lookbook and pick out my favorite pieces.
Xoi Xeo: Hanoi Sticky Rice with Mung Bean, Fried Onions, Corn, and Pork Floss. I think this carries over from Banh's heritage line. Very carby base with the saltiness kicked in from the Pork Floss (which is ground pork fried into oblivion). Then, that fried onions will just send you to heaven.
Pate Chaud: puff pastry with pork and pate. This is a result of a grave divorce between the French and the Viet. But unlike all the historical war consequences, this is actually nice. It is very similar to a Haitian patty. So, yeah, look it up. And yes, it is fatty all around.
Thit kho: Cameralized pork belly with rice. If you’re East Asian or South East Asian, chances are your country has its version of this. So yeah, at face value, it’s sweet and sour and fatty. Probably one of my favorite things growing up. And it was when my body allowed me to devour food like there’s tomorrow, it was a god-sent. But if you’re Muslim, I think consuming this will have your God send you somewhere else.
Banh Cuon Hanoi. So similar to Xoi Xeo, another familiar choice in many Hanoian’s minds for their daily breakfast. Steam riced roll with stuffed pork served with fried onions and dipping sauce (which is watered-down vinegar and fish sauce).
Banh Beo: Hue special. Steam rice thingy with toppings. 4 plates for 13 dollars. Trust me, I’ve had worse, way way worse.
Bo Ne: another gift to remember me from the French colonial superpower. Steak, eggs, pate, and ham served on an iron skillet with bread. This is another breakfast or lunch classic specifically for weekend occasions, especially for some families willing to splurge a bit more or craving something other than primordial bowls of pho during the week. If it’s too European for you, I understand why you would pass.
Cha Ca La Vong: arguably one of the show-stoppers. I’ve talked about this heavily on this channel before so I won’t repeat myself much here. It’s turmeric fish with rice noodles and pungent shrimp paste. This thing is smokey and smells amazing but you will leave that restaurant with two things: a very strong aftertaste from the paste, and smoke lingering on your clothes if you happen to wear a wax jacket.
Pho Bac/ Pho Dac Biet: All right let’s get into this since many of you are interested in this. Compared to Banh’s offering, this is an improvement. A decent bowl, but not great. Too greasy at the top. The noodles are correct. The broth is hard to discern swimming among that much fat. The meat is excellent. I never like brisket cut in my pho but that is just my Hanoian gripe. So a mixed offering, sitting outside of my top 5 bowls of pho in the city, at the moment. If you experience it differently with the fattiness, do let me know.
Banh Uot Chong. A second show-stopper on this list. Uot means wet. Chong means “stacking” or “husband” depending on the context. Once you see this thing coming to your table, you will know which meaning takes priority. It’s very similar to the rice rolls above but you do it yourself. It comes with an array of toppings (or stuffings) so you can roll your joints and enjoy whichever way you like. Bizarre and gimmicky? Absolutely. But that is inherently the dish. So don’t hate the team, hate the game.
Banh mi: another strong heritage item from Banh with a few more stuffing variants. Crispy pork belly banh mi O.G Banh Mi or BBQ Pork Banh mi would be my picks.
Banh mi pate hai phong: Banh mi with pate from Hai Phong region. It is a very simple thing. It was a novelty back in 2006 in Hanoi because it just looked kinda funny. Very popular after school snacks cuz it’s essentially a very skinny baguette, holding pate, hot sauce and sometimes pork floss. Two of those and a C2 Iced tea bottle, and you’re good to go to your afterschool extra pro maxes classes. This is a love letter to the people in the know (of course primarily the people from Hai Phong city), and I’m all here for it. However, to keep a clean record, this originated in Hai Phong in the 80s and is known as “Banh Mi Que” or “Banh Mi Cay” (cay means spicy, que means stick).
All coffee offerings are generally solid. Though Idk why you would do that at 6 pm unless you’re pregaming.
There are more things on this menu but I think those are my favorite.
Banh Anh Em has truly carried the spirit and the intentions of the original restaurant on Amsterdam Ave: it gives you Vietnamese food specials. It doesn’t just serve you food, it educates you through its cooking, in this city, 8,500 miles away from the cuisine’s birthplace. It does it with so much care, and conviction to preserve the dish’s authenticity. It will succeed in pleasing both people in the know and people who are about to. And that is a huge achievement.
This, to my mind, is a current golden recipe, to win me over as a Vietnamese restaurant in NYC. Banh Anh Em walks this line between the two audiences gracefully and seemingly with ease. Of course, I am out of my depth attempting to understand the efforts and hard work that this team has done to get this thing off the ground, just as much as Banh, just as much as Mam. These newcomers are what this cuisine needs (in my opinion) to raise to the discussion level with all the “omg I just got a reservation at XXX on Opentable” restaurants.
It is time, for you and me, to go out for Vietnamese food not because it is cheap, it is because it is simply, amazing.
Ok, maybe some of you are not in that mindset yet. So that brings me to this portion: why am I placing Banh Anh Em at number 3? This may or may not age terribly in the future. However, after 5 visits and seeing this menu maturing and stabilizing on launch day, I have a few thoughts recurring in my head.
You want to talk money. Ok, let’s talk money. In terms of dollar to dollar, this menu is incredibly priced, arguably much much better than Mam, who is sitting at number 1 on this list. Sure looking at the menu, there are items in the 15 dollars range and 20 plus dollar range. But wait till you see the size of these items. They are meant to be shared, just like how Vietnamese consume their food. Even a grown-ass Viet adult living alone, will try to put food in different plates and bowls and then onto a tray. He/she will still turn up the rice cooker, eat from a rice bowl and chopstick pick his/her foods. Why? So the leftovers are easier to cover than going to the fridge. And at Banh Anh Em, these are relatively bigger portions.
The ambiance, seating, and staffing are, simply put, nice. Sure, some of you lot feel icky about paying a premium to sit on plastic chairs in the basements at Mam. So this arrangement will probably be easier to recommend and take your non-Viet friends to dinner. It is funny cuz I always have to throw caveats and disclosures before I take someone to Mam. But no, not for this case, to Banh Anh Em, unless your friends constantly ask if the place is “chic enough” or “should I dress up for this?”
Since they don’t take reservations unless you come to the counter and scan the QR code, the wait could be 1 to 1.5 hours. And all 5 occurrences, the wait is consistent. The hype and the love are real and I am genuinely happy for them. I hope they will never fall into the OpenTable and Resy trap cycles. If the conversation about getting a reservation at your place is about adoring an Amex Platinum or using disgusting sites like bookitforme, tableturn.nyc (which is essentially a fucking real-time bot to babysit open slots), or appointment traders, you are doing something wrong, or you are doing it for the money. Sadly, that will be the conversation we will have one day if Vietnamese restaurants get a star or the cuisine rises to that rank of importance in the city. Yeah, that’s the trade-off.
The glass of water. Ok bear with me, BEAR with me, I am not crazy, not yet. This glass of water, right here, with this pattern, is inspired by the lead-painted drinking glass era. I grew up with this thing. You simply do not know about this circle's pattern and color arrangement unless you were there, in the late 80s and 90s. There are constant displays of these magic moments that will gain all of my attention. Sure it is nostalgia, sure it is personal. But that is precisely what makes my list, mine. And you’re probably banking on getting something out of this cuz you will see these restaurants through my lens, a Vietnamese person’s lens.
However, as disclosed many times, this list ranks the food, over everything else. These thoughts that I have, albeit very valid to many, are mere distractions, at best secondary nuance separators. I come to restaurants to eat, the food and the menu have to carry the load.
Overall, Banh Anh Em food ranks third on this list. While everything is very good, it is indeed, quite greasy. The indulgence comes through most lovingly, but also so is my cholesterol level. Sure you may say that is a chip on my shoulder, but that is simply not how Vietnamese food is known for.
Vietnamese food is balanced. People say it’s healthy and it stems from a good cause. This is food mostly meant for daily consumption. It cannot be at this level of love. Yeah sure, that’s why it tastes so fucking good.
I have not had this problem going in with Banh and Mam, while all three represent the same level of mastery. TLDR, that is why, Banh Anh Em is 3rd. It is that simple. I wrote out this much, simply so I can make a video out of it.
So yea, jokes on you.
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The biggest take way is:
It is time, for you and me, to go out for Vietnamese food not because it is cheap, it is because it is simply, amazing.