Vietnamese spot plays with flavours to make delicious banh mi sandwiches

Jason: So you are taking us to Chinatown today. Why is this?

Suresh: There's a really personal story actually. I was trying to satisfy this craving for banh mi, a Vietnamese street sandwich.

A friend of mine who lives near Chinatown told me to head to Huron Street. There is this tiny enclave [near Dundas St. W] and Spadina, where you'll find a handful of businesses almost stacked on top of each other.

It's where you will find Banh Haus, in the basement. 

Jason: Do you often have a banh mi craving? 

Suresh: So recently, Rose Vietnamese closed in East Chinatown. 

Picture a small grocery store and hot counter in a tiny space you had the chance to plunge into Vietnamese food and food stuffs. This is where people would come in to buy fish sauce, or grab some freshly made spring rolls. 

Rose's had a big menu for a small place, and it was most known for its banh mi sandwiches — the iconic Vietnamese sandwiches where a variety of vegetables and meats are layered tightly into a French baguette. 

So, Rose's place closed recently, hence my search for a banh mi place.

Jason: Okay, so what's the story with Banh Haus?

Suresh: It is run by two brothers. Steven and Ryan Dinh. They're both in their late 20s and early 30s.Their parents opened a tailoring business after moving to Canada from Vietnam in the 80s.

Steven and Eric were born in Canada, and through their travels back home to Vietnam, they were inspired by the evolving food scene there. The cocktail scene and the third-wave coffee culture is one of the country's biggest food trends.

They also noticed a generation of young cooks that were taking the cuisine of a generation and giving it their own take, which is how I would describe Banh Haus in a nutshell. It's familiar at first, but there's a lot of creative spirit in the kitchen. 

Jason: And what kind of menu have Steven and Ryan developed, then? 

Suresh: So first things first, there's a banh mi menu. There are four sandwiches, a seafood banh mi, a chicken, and the classic pork.  So you have the pâté and a layering of vegetables tightly rolled into a roll. 

It's endlessly crunchy, with the right amount of sweet and sour notes. It's served alongside a bowl of broth, which is a great finisher for the sandwich.

My favourite is the Banh Mi Bo Ko, a sandwich made to taste like the Vietnamese breakfast beef stew that you would eat in the morning at 6 A.M in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi. It works really well and it's the contrast between the marinated meat and the vegetables that really make it sing.

You can also make your own vermicelli bowl where you pick a protein and it's complemented by half a dozen vegetables and finished with a creamy sauce.

I personally love the lemongrass tofu and salmon, both are excellent.

Jason, what's your take on spring rolls? Are you a fan? 

Jason: Spring rolls? Honestly? Top 10 foods of all time. 

Suresh: We make fresh spring rolls once a week in this house. It's a thing we do every Monday or Tuesday. So at Banh Haus, they have these things called the Haus rolls.

Here, you're presented with this plate of vegetables with some fried spring rolls with lettuce, carrots, cucumber, basil.  You take the spring roll, wrap it with the fresh greens,and then dunk it in some fish sauce. 

So, the crispy vegetables on the outside, with the crunchy fried spring roll on the inside. 

Jason: Do you find spring rolls are underrated for how much they bring to the table?

Suresh: Super underrated. Especially when you are making them at home, you can be really creative. 

You can do vegetarian one day, you can switch up the ingredients. You can learn more about the vegetarian aisle of your grocery store, I find, by making spring rolls. 

But Jason, you need something to dip the spring rolls in. And the fish sauce is the secret ingredient here. If you've eaten enough Vietnamese food, you know it is a flavour enhancer. You can sip it straight up and it will light your senses.

Jason: To your point, it's how customized you make a spring roll that makes it amazing. On that front, if you walk into a place like Banh Haus craving something unique, can you find that? 

Suresh: Two words: doughnut sandwiches. 

In Vietnam, there is this classic hollowed out Vietnamese doughnut called the banh tieu. It's a sweet milk bread topped with sesame seeds.

The Dinh brothers have used that in lieu of the baguette for a few of the Banh mi sandwiches. And can I just say, as someone who is not a fan of tearing the roof of my mouth with baguettes and hard bread, I think this is fantastic. 

There is this wonderful lemongrass chicken banh tieu. The pork chop or fried tofu banh tieu is also really good. 

No hate if you are a banh mi purist, but I think this is the future of the sandwich.