B&T Cafe — Restaurant in Houston

Coming to Baguette & Tea Cafe (B&T Cafe) has been a weekly ritual of mine since they opened up shop in June 2018! They are located in the heart of Montrose and have a shared private parking lot with the neighboring washateria, convenience store, and nail spa. The parking lot can get quite full, and if you cannot find a spot, there is usually some street parking on McDuffie Street nearby.

Their menu has a selection of Vietnamese sandwiches (known as Banh Mi), fried rice, broken rice (white rice with protein on the side), pho (Vietnamese noodle soup), and vermicelli. They also have an incredible selection of drinks (with or without toppings) to try including teas, coffees, slushies, club sodas, and smoothies.

When I go to B&T Cafe, one of my favorite items to order is the B4. Shredded Chicken Banh Mi Vietnamese Sandwich for $4.25 and add avocado for an additional $1.00. This banh mi is served in a baguette that comes with marinated shredded chicken, pickled daikonraddish and carrots, sliced cucumbers, cilantro, jalapeño, homemade chicken pate, and egg yolk-mayonnaise spread. This sandwich sings to my soul.

I also love to order the T2. Peach Green Tea for $3.75 and add a scoop of tapioca for $0.50. This is one of my favorite peach green teas of all time when it comes to bubble tea (and I've tried peach flavors at many bubble tea shops around the world). I like that they mix the tapioca with actual pieces of peach. The bubble tea isn't too sweet here, but for "health-reasons," I do change the sweetness level to half to pretend I'm not a sugar addict (although I am clearly addicted). FML.

On other occasions, I really enjoy the Broken Rice w/ Chicken for $6.25 and order a fried egg on top for an additional $0.50. This is a plate of marinated chicken, white rice, sliced cucumbers, pickled carrots, a fried egg, and a side of fish sauce. Fish sauce scares a lot of people off, but try pouring it over the meat and rice, and I promise it'll taste good! B&T Cafe has all you non-meat eaters covered as well! If you're opting for vegetarian, they make their tofu in-house, and it's very juicy (not dry).

Overall, B&T Cafe is one of my favorite places to eat in Houston. Usually, one must travel all the way to Chinatown to get a top-quality banh mi and bubble tea, so I am very grateful to have a place of this level inside the inner loop. They have amazing service, and I also love how their little restaurant has been decorated with dogs. They even have a pug dog canvas with the phrase, "I don't need therapy, I have a dog." Yes, that one's my favorite. If you're looking for a quick meal inside the inner loop with top-notch service, mouthwatering food, heavenly bubble tea, and fair prices, make your way B&T Cafe as soon...

I made a huge order at B&T Cafe for a meeting we were having with some vendors at work solely because of their high reviews, close proximity to the med center and because they deliver!!! We ordered a selection of banh mi's (probably most of them on their menu), some spring rolls, and some chicken eggrolls. They got the order correct, they were studious in delivery times and they were quick and diligent in inquiries. They called the day before the event to say that they couldn't fulfill the shrimp springroll orders because of lunar new year and they were short staffed BUT they were willing to switch out the orders with other items or refund that portion of the order completely. I appreciated the heads up and the option of a refund.

The food was good - the banh mi's, though they weren't the best I've had, were good. I had the combination banh mi with the cold cut meats and thought it was good. The bread was flakey and buttery and the meats and veggies were delicious. My only complaint was that it was a bit greasy and they used a pate/mayo combo that was a bit too sweet. I didn't try any of the other banh mi's but a coworker said the spicy pork was indeed pretty spicy and another one said that the meat was on the sweet side, though I'm not sure which banh mi she had. I think the consensus was the lemongrass beef was better than the spicy pork. I love that they had vegetarian options here as well to cater to the vegetarians in our group, they got the Eggy Banh mi and loved it.

We also ordered the chicken eggrolls - at first I was disappointed they didn't have pork eggrolls like I'm used to but the chicken eggrolls were juicy and flavorful. I thought they were fantastic. I brought leftovers home for the bf and he said they were the best eggrolls he's ever had. Big statement. Because they couldn't fulfill our shrimp springroll order, I opted for the tofu springrolls for the vegetarians in the lab. And OMG - these were fantastic a well.. especially that sauce it comes with! I would go back just for this!

Overall, the food was good and even though the banh mi's weren't the best, they hit the spot for something so close to home. I would come back just for the appetizers and I think the bf would agree - he wanted to go after he took the first bite of his chicken eggrolls. They are a bit pricier than the normal banh mi BUT that's because of presentation - they wrapped and labeled the sandwiches well and have a time stamp on each one to show when they...

B&T Cafe is a small Vietnamese restaurant offering banh mi, broken rice dishes, pho, and other Vietnamese dishes along with a variety of beverages like boba milk teas and smoothies at a reasonable price.

The restaurant is lodged between a washateria and salon, behind the tacos tierra calientes food truck. Parking can be tough since the lot does not have a lot of parking, but there is some street parking in the neighborhood behind it. The interior is simple and clean. The owners are always welcoming and fast. There's a small bar in the front to sit at and a few tables in the back for dining in.

We have had the bbq pork, chicken lemongrass, and tofu banh mi along with the fries, vietnamese green milk tea, and house milk tea with boba. Every banh mi always comes with a good ratio of vegetables and protein inside between the crispy and soft baguettes. The bbq pork was juicy and the sauce was delicious, though I wish there was more sauce to fill every bite. The chicken lemongrass was juicy and bursting with flavor as well. The tofu was just OK. All the banh mi were filling. The fries were served hot, and they are tossed in salt and sugar which gives an interesting sweet/salty flavor which I personally really liked. Be warned that these fries don't travel well when ordering to go though - they get soggy pretty quick- but when dining in they are fantastic. The milk tea and boba is amazing and probably our most favorite thing from here! The portion size is pretty big, the milk tea is delicious and creamy (heavier on the milk side rather than tea), and the boba is soft and flavorful. The vietnamese green milk tea was also delicous, though the green tea flavor overtook the "vietnamese milk tea" flavor I'm accustomed to.

Overall the food is delicious, the drinks are phenomenal, and prices are very reasonable. Make sure to give this...