Vietnamese bánh mì might just be the best sandwich. Fortunately, in Austin, you’re never more than a baguette’s throw—or a quick drive—away from a great one. Here are a few of our favorites that you can get right now. And please, don’t throw baguettes.
THE SPOTS
Fresh Bowl in North Austin is perhaps one of the only spots in town that makes their own rice noodles for phở—which should definitely be part of your order—but our absolute favorite thing here is the bánh mì. The baguette comes out toasted and puffy, resulting in an audible crunch and a small shower of crumbs after each bite, and there are enough pickled veggies and cilantro to brighten up the savory fillings it all holds. While you can get a few different bánh mì here, we like the house special—made with a tiny mountain of cold cuts and roasted meats, plus a very generous spread of pâté and mayo.
The bánh mì at Le Bleu in North Shoal Creek is pretty much the same one that you can get at Saigon Le Vendeur (it’s from the same team), but it just means that you have another access point to one of the best sandwiches in town. The biggest difference at Le Bleu is that in addition to more classic bánh mì fillings—like grilled pork, cold cuts, and tofu—here you also unlock access to a few less-conventional ones, like garlic butter prawns or marinated and cubed ribeye. That, and you have a few more add-on options, like fried eggs or sour green mango.
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After spending a few years hopping around the Austin area in a little red food trailer, B’s Kitchen eventually settled down with a permanent space on Anderson Mill Road. The meats here get tossed in a bit of sweet and savory sauce before hitting the grill, resulting in some great crispy edges on thick cuts of pork belly, pork shoulder, and chicken, but that doesn’t mean the classic cold cut version is any less deserving of your attention. There’s also a housemade chili sauce that packs a little heat and some extra roasted flavor that you’ll want to slather all over your sandwich.
Just a few short blocks north of UT, Sip Pho takes the prize for the prettiest dining room in the UT area (there’s also a patio). But it takes more than a beautiful, minimalist space to draw the crowds that Sip Pho does. Don’t be surprised to find a line out the door on weekends—half of them are here for pho and bún bò Huế, and the rest are here for the massive bánh mì. Show up during the summer when school is out, and you can skip the wait entirely. Unlike other spots in town, Sip Pho serves its sandwiches on a soft baguette. It’s different, and a little bit sweet, but we like it all the same. Plus the sandwiches here are big enough to make two meals out of.
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The first time we went to Pho Van was because the line at Ramen Tatsu-Ya next door was too long. But after a few bites of bánh mì, it was apparent that we were getting something a lot more than a consolation prize. The grilled pork bánh mì is our favorite here—it’s packed full of smoky, savory chunks of char-grilled pork, and doused in just enough of a semi-sweet glaze to keep the whole sandwich incredibly juicy. This is also one of the few spots in town where you can get a bánh mì with sliced pork patty (and it’s a close second on our list of favorite sandwiches here).
We usually go with the grilled pork bánh mì at Saigon Le Vendeur, in which the pork is cut fairly thick, so each piece is crispy on the outside with a juicy interior. But you can also keep it classic with the cold-cut and pâté version. If you’re looking for more of a dine-in experience (Saigon operates out of a trailer), you can also visit their sister restaurant Le Bleu, near 183 and Burnet. The bánh mì at the two are nearly identical—a big plus when there’s not much to improve on.
Pho Phong Lu'u might be best known for their pho, but they also make some great sandwiches. There’s only one meat option—with cold cuts and pâté—served warm, with crusty bread, a generous portion of meat, and enough pâté to make its presence known in every bite. And, of course, plenty of pickled veggies to balance it all together.
There aren’t a lot of bánh mì options in East Austin, which is why we tend to head to Pho Craft when we’re in the area. The pho here is alright, but the bánh mì alone is worth the visit—the meats are cut thick, and the baguettes are made at The Front Page, a pub just up the street. The trailer is located near 12th and Airport, with a small covered outdoor seating area, plus a tiny little rooftop patio on the building it shares a lot with, making this officially “The Best Rooftop Banh Mi In Austin.”
Baguette House has been serving quality bánh mì in Austin’s Chinatown for years. They have a variety of traditional options, from the cold-cut classic—made with house-made mayonnaise and pickled vegetables, pâté, cilantro, and jalapeño—to the super-savory grilled pork. We can’t really pick a favorite, but at around $6 each, you can probably grab a couple and save one for later.
The bánh mì at Pho Please might be our winner in the bargain category, based on size alone. The sandwiches here are big enough to fill us up for a couple of meals. We could eat their house-made mayo on just about anything, but it’s especially good on the lemongrass beef or the pork belly bánh mì. If you happen to live closer to campus, they have a sister location, Sip Pho, where you can get the same great sandwiches.
While there are in fact many noodle and soup dishes here, it’s not called Lily’s Soups for a reason. We like to get the Bánh Mì Dac Biet here—aka the Lily Gourmet sandwich—which has a bunch of different cold cuts, including head cheese, roast pork, ham, and pâté. The baguette is near-perfect: crisp on the outside, tender in the middle, but still slightly dense. And at around $6, it’s one of the more filling bánh mì we’ve had.
Banh Mi Galang doesn’t look like much from the outside, but inside you’ll find a menu of bánh mì about as classic as they come. And while you can get tasty versions of grilled pork, beef, and shrimp, it’s the Combo Sandwich you should be ordering here. It’s packed with Vietnamese pork, pâté, and head cheese, with just the right amount of fatty bits to balance out each bite.
Tam Deli is probably most well known for their bánh mì served on crisp yet doughy homemade baguette. There are a lot of tasty options for bánh mì fillings, including fried butter garlic shrimp and chargrilled pork. Our go-to is the #10 combination sandwich that brings together pâté, roast pork, and roasted chicken alongside mayonnaise and bánh mì vegetables, making for a very delicious ersatz-Vietnamese chicken salad sandwich.
