Banh Mi Antwerp — Restaurant in Antwerp

Came to this restaurant last Friday and have mixed feelings about this place.

It’s pretty small but very cozy and nicely decorated. Asked for a table for two and the waiter assigned a table but said it is not clean yet and he will come for it soon. He was not busy and just texting behind his counter and only came to clean the table after 10 minutes.

When we finally were able to order, we took 2 Banh Mi sandwiches and the waiter went back behind the counter to prepare. After a few minutes he came to tell that he only has 1 sandwich left. He should know that before taking the orders.

I asked the Banh Mi without pickled carrots, and when he brought it, he said he forgot it and putted it anyway. He tried to remove them but there were still many left. I personally don’t like pickled carrots so that kind of ruined the sandwich.

As for the sandwich itself, the taste was pretty good but not a lot inside which made it quite boring. I was expecting more spicy food as well, as jalapeños were mentioned on the menu.

Especially the service has let me down...

We were happy to find Banh mi in Antwerp. To our expectations, the food was good in general with a clean and well-organised place even though it was small. Bread was toasted crunchy with generous filling and vegetables. I like the cutlery holders made up of reusable tins. The atmosphere was cosy friendly and like a street food style in Vietnam. There were only two young staff who spoke excellent English doing both preparing and taking orders. I believe one of them is of Vietnamese descent (always support people with their own food and be careful with the “cultural appropriation” restaurants out there). With that being said I have to admit that - similar to other comments here - the food was a bit too sweet to our taste. Both in the banh mi filling and the noodle dish. Is this because of the hoisin sauce? As a Vietnamese fellow, I leave a comment here hoping that they can see and take it into consideration. If it has been done with a balanced amount of sweetness. I would totally feel as if I was in Hanoi. I will still come back next time to support...

This is such a great lil restaurant, not a lot of seating inside. You order through QR code, all is cashless so might be hard for tourist who doesn't have a card in hand.

I ordered their banh mi chicken, chicken tasted like curry. Despite the lack of color, the seasoning is absolute perfection. The bread is kinda different, usually banh mi uses a round harder baguette, but this one uses like similar to panini bread. But def softer and easier to chew, so that it wont hurt the roof of your mouth 🤣 the size is just enough, not too small nor too little.

Their noodle salad is also really good, pork belly & chicken both are tasty. I initially thought the pork belly would be full of fat but turns out not! Juicy! Portion is generous.

Lastly their pho, they use a thin noodle instead of the usual flat noodle used in a pho.

When you order still or sparkling water, keep in mind that it comes in pet bottle like the super small bottle, not the regular sized ones hahaha

But overall, I enjoyed my meal and def...