Chef-owner Yeanie Bach named the sandwich after Mui Tàu, the Saigon street corner where her mother ran a bánh mì cart, and it's the single kind of bánh mì her mother sold. The shop bakes its own baguettes daily starting at 5 a.m. — thin-crusted, fluffy and airy inside — then loads them with hand-made aioli, pâté, and three kinds of pork made in-house at a rate of about 50 pounds a day. Pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, cilantro, and jalapeño balance out the richness of the meat.
Falls Church VA
Bánh Mì Oi
Mui Tàu Bánh Mì
flour / cold water / soy sauce / aioli / pâté (pork liver / milk / bread / onions / fish sauce) / pork bologna / Asian ham / steamed pork belly / cucumber / carrot / daikon / vinegar / sugar / cilantro / jalapeño
Signature Dish
From Prep to Plate
Host Seth Tillman heads to Eden Center in Falls Church, Virginia, for Bánh Mì Ơi, where co-owner and head chef Yeanie Bach recreates the sandwich her mother sold from a cart on Mui Tàu street in Saigon. The Mui Tàu Signature starts with baguettes mixed, shaped and proofed in-house beginning at 5 a.m. — thin, flaky crust, airy interior — then gets soy sauce, hand-whipped aioli, pork liver pâté, and three cuts of pork: pork bologna, Asian ham and steamed pork belly. House-pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeño balance it out. Yeanie also pours Vietnamese egg coffee made with beans grown on the family farm, roasted in Saigon, and serves it at low plastic street tables. Then there's her Nashville hot chicken bánh mì — the messiest one on the menu.
Start with the signature banh mi ($8.75), because this is the one that made me go whoa. That fresh-baked baguette is half the battle and they nail it, crackly on the outside, airy in the middle... This is one of the best banh mi I've ever had, and I don't say that lightly.
Kimberly Kong, Nomtastic Kim
