Banzi Vietnamese restaurant in Surrey Quays, London
Having just spent a weekend in Paris eating a lot of banh mi, you’d think I would’ve satisfied my craving for this bit of East-West sandwich deliciousness. But no, the minute I got back to London, I continued to wonder who sells the stuff here.
Cue Charmaine, who left a comment on my blog, telling me there’s banh mi to be found in Surrey Quays, which a google search revealed is not far from Canada Water station. Finally, my working in Canary Wharf turns out to be convenient to something yummy!
So, after work last Friday, I dragged Jon east on the Jubilee Line to Canada Water, and then it was a quick bus ride down to the Surrey Quays shopping center (I’ve never in my life seen such an enormous Tesco, by the way). Five minutes’ walk later, we were at Banzi.
The place is tiny and nondescript. It’s not a dive, but it’s not much to look at. The dining room’s lone server was doing her best to handle the sudden flood of diners coming in at around 7:30 pm, so Jon and I grabbed our own menus from a pile I spotted in the corner.
I eagerly scanned the menu, and there it was: a whole section of the menu devoted to banh mi, and none cost more than £4.
grilled pork banh mi at Banzi restaurant, London
We slogged through a few forgettable appetizers – a spicy chili fried prawn dish with an unpleasantly-soft coating and a banh xeo that was all sprouts and hardly anything else inside – and then, my wish was fulfilled: a generous serving of grilled pork banh mi. Thick slices of barbecued pork, lots of pickled veg, coriander, cucumber, chili spice, and creamy, slightly-sweet mayonnaise. The baguette was of the par-baked supermarket variety (crispy and hot when hot out of the oven but otherwise too sugary). In one bite, I could taste sweet, salty, spicy, creamy and smoky flavors. The beauty of banh mi.
Banzi’s version was a tad too heavy on the mayo and overall sugariness, but I’ll definitely be back the next time I need my banh mi fix. The place is a bit of a schlepp, but it’s closer than Paris, and it appears there are other worthwhile Vietnamese places in the area. Maybe one of those other places serves banh mi, too.
Banzi Vietnamese restaurant, 237 Lower Road, SE16 2LW; 0207 394 0906. Closest tube station: Canada Water
I am so glad you found another Banh Mi place – as you know my visit to Cafe Bay in Camberwell wasn’t all that great. It was mainly due to the weird, inedible rind on the pork. I’ll give this a go. I don’t remember spotting bahn mi on the menu at Cafe East when we were there I have to say.
Mama Pho doesn’t do banh mi either, unfortunately. Menu photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/sets/72157617266569216/
I have to admit I have never had Banh Mi – not sure how I managed this given the number of Vietnamese restaurants I have eaten at and even having been to Vietnam! I am constantly seeing posts on chowhound of people looking for Banh Mi so good to see there is somewhere in London where I can now try it out.
can’t believe you went without me! i guess i’ll be stuffing my face with banh mi’s soon enough when i’m in NY!
Helen and Kake – thanks for confirming there’s no banh mi to be found at Cafe East. Much as I love trolling Kingsland Road, I do like thinking about a whole new cluster of Vietnamese restaurants to explore.
Gourmet Chick – I know what you mean about having eaten a type of cuisine for so long that you’re surprised to learn you’ve been missing out on a great dish. And I’m sure I’m one of those people who posted on chowhound looking for banh mi in London (that’s why I went to Pho in Clerkenwell, which served really the worst banh mi, ever. I despaired of ever finding banh mi in London after that episode).
Jane – it’s so odd that banh mi was easy to find in other cities I’ve lived in (NY, DC), yet so hard to find in London.
next time you’re in brooklyn, you should try the one near us: nicky’s. they offer three fab different varieties of banh mi: traditional (pork), sardine, and tofu in spicy or regular (plus the ubiquitous srircha and yummy pickled toppings.
i’ve heard the pork is good, but i can def. say the others are yummy. russell also likes a place called baogette on lex in the 20s or 30s. they offer a catfish version that’s pretty good as well.
Oooh – Thanks for the link. It’s becoming a bit of a Vietnamese area; great, I say, I can walk to Deptford from my flat.
I’ve never had a banh mi, I can’t wait to try it out.
Hanna – not that I ever needed additional reasons to visit Brooklyn, but your mention of multiple banh mi places is making the pull to visit even stronger. : )
Lizzie – yes, it seems that there are multiple Vietnamese places in the area popping up on my radar. Kingsland Road is much more convenient to where I live, but I’m very curious to try out the other places around Banzi.
Lizzie – check out Royal Palace too; it’s just up the road from Banzi. They have a secret Chinese-only menu with some decent Sichuan (and other) stuff on. http://london.randomness.org.uk/wiki.cgi?Royal_Palace%2C_SE16_2PP
Kake – in the US, that was pretty standard practice in Chinese restaurants (for there to be a Chinese-language menu that had very different dishes from the English-language one). The idea seemed to be that the English-language-only speakers might be freaked out by the more exotic items on the menu, which I suppose is unwelcome paternalism. In any case, good to know about Royal Palace.
Hi, i’ve been following your blog religiously and tried out a lot of restaurants recommended by you. As a Vietnamese myself, i haven’t found any decent banhmi in London. I am hoping to operate a new banhmi place in conjunction with caphevn on Broadway market on saturday and i would like you to give it a try and give us some feedback.
banhmi, if you’re serving Banh Mi, I want to be there! Sadly, this weekend, I’m in Paris. But I will surely try your wares soon enough. Great idea! I support all banh mi entrepreneurial ventures and will tell all my friends (who are also banh mi lovers).
thanks a lot. please check out our website http://www.banhmi11.com which is now up and running. We will start serving Banh Mi from this Saturday so I would love to be able to welcome some of your friends and hear there feedback. If you’ve ever in London for a weekend and can come by please let us know and we’ll surely give you a ‘special’ banh mi.
Hi All
I found the banh mi Viet Nam in Greenwnich call Baguette
and More. Come along ang try it, the owner so friendly and
the food excellent. I had tried banh mi Viet nam, banh mi
chicken BBQ, but I trhink banh mi BBQ pork is the best, I
went there 4 times and still want 2 come
hihihi
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