Pop Up Café — Restaurant in Philadelphia

By far the BEST bahn mi joint in all of Philadelphia. And it's located in Queen's Village by the Italian-Mexican markets. How convenient!

They've got the most unique options ranging from lemongrass pork (my fav) to birria bahn mi (yes, it comes with the soup as all birria should. Dip it & eat it for a flavor smorgasbord). They also have Pho, papaya salad, poke salad, 😋 and more! Did I mention they make fresh smoothies, too?? They do!

Run by Danny & his dad, it has a warm hole-in-the-wall vibe, which makes you feel like you just stumbled upon Philly's best kept secret. No cap. You did.

The prices are reasonable. The food is served hot & made fresh daily. The baguette is so crispy & soft. Ugh. There is not enough good things I can say about Pop-Up Cafe. They accept cash & venmo (sorry no card), with a slight upcharge on all venmo purchases. But that hasn't stopped me from ordering here on the regular & paying by venmo consistently.

If you're in the area & on a budget, or down to try something new, flavorful, and filling, stop by Pop-Up Cafe. You you would be remiss if you missed the...

This tiny spot isn't much to look at from the outside, but it's definitely worth a stop! In fact, after our food tour introduced us to it, we spent the next year trying to remember how to find it again and salivating over their delicious lemongrass tofu banh mi! I am new to banh mi, and I don't normally do tofu. But we walked about a mile to find it. It's that good! This place uses their family's traditional recipes and understands that tofu is not a meat and should not be prepared as one. And they are fantastic with their flavors--Even their garlic butter chicken, which can be a pretty overpowering flavor, was somehow gentle and almost slightly sweet. I'm super impressed and plan to return many times to this...

Pop Up Café is truly a hidden gem in Philly! At first, I thought they served the usual types of Vietnamese bánh mì, but when I stopped by, I discovered they specialize in unique variations with different kinds of meats. I ordered the pork lemongrass bánh mì and the birria bánh mì, and oh my—both were absolutely delicious! I highly recommend eating them right away while the baguette is still warm and crusty.

The café is pretty small and mainly caters to pick-up or takeout orders. There are a few chairs available for you to sit and wait while your food is being prepared. It only took about 10 minutes to get my order. I’ll definitely be...