Q.T. Vietnamese Sandwiches
For many years, I denied myself bánh mi, because I have a simple rule regarding changes to a dish.
If you want one thing changed, that’s ok; if you want more than one thing changed, order something else.
In addition to the meat, shredded carrots, jalapeño and paté, banh mi is served with two of my traditional food enemies, cilantro and cucumber. Yes, I know you love them and think they both taste delicious. Cilantro tastes like soap to me and supposedly many others. Cucumber, I just dislike. Don’t tell me that it doesn’t taste like anything. It tastes… bad.
But, as anyone who has worked in the same location for a long time knows, some days, you just cannot eat one more chicken red curry/molé burrito/ turkey sandwich/<insert the thing you actually get multiple times a week here>, and you wander out into the lunch wilderness to find something, anything, different. And so, in December, I found myself entering QT Vietnamese Sandwiches, and ordering an unmodified bánh mi.
And since then, I have found myself at their door at least twice a week. They have 9 varieties of bánh mi (including 2 veg options), and all nine cost less than $5. Lemongrass chicken is featured above, but my current fave is the grilled pork (#7). They cook the meat fresh to order, so it’s always warm and tasty on these cold winter days. Yet I always feel like I’m back out the door less than 5 minutes later, possibly because of their back issues of In Style to flip through while you wait.
They have non-sandwich dishes, too, including breakfast, but I haven’t been able to tear myself away from the bánh mi just yet. If you have, give us a report!
They also include the cilantro as one long sprig, instead of a sprinkling of chopped cilantro. So, it can be easily removed if you’re also a hater. And, who knows? I may just come around on this cucumber issue.
Q.T. Vietnamese Sandwiches
48 N. 10th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19107
267-639-4520
