First published January 2025 | Words and photos by Vietnam Coracle

Tom Divers is the founder and creator of Vietnam Coracle. He’s lived, travelled and worked in Vietnam since 2005. Born in London, he travelled from an early age, visiting over 40 countries (he first visited Vietnam in 1999). Now, whenever he has the opportunity to make a trip, he rarely looks beyond Vietnam’s borders and his trusty motorbike, Stavros. Read more about Tom on the About Page, Vietnam Times and ASE Podcast.

These days, bánh mì rivals phở as Vietnam’s most well-known dish internationally. Over the last decade, a multitude of TV personalities, bloggers, vloggers and social media influencers have helped to push a handful of bánh mì outlets across Vietnam to massive fame and popularity. Perhaps the most famous example is Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Bánh Mì Phượng in Hội An during an episode of No Reservations. The queues outside Bánh Mì Phượng have been long ever since the episode aired in 2009, and the same is true of other ‘famous’ bánh mì outlets judged to be ‘the best’ by Instagram accounts and online travel guides. In reality, most people who live in Vietnam know there’s no such thing as ‘best’ bánh mì; there are only ‘favourites’, and the reasons are usually very personal and subjective. Saying there’s a ‘best’ bánh mì, while understandably tempting, is also ludicrous, and the motivation to do so is usually clickbait designed to drive online traffic.

In the hope of encouraging people to look beyond the ‘famous’ bánh mì places, I have listed, mapped, photographed and described 4 local bánh mì outlets in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), where I live. These bánh mì are all delicious and, while they might be well-known locally, they do not have long queues outside, nor people taking selfies, nor foreign language menus. Bánh mì is ubiquitous in Ho Chi Minh City and throughout Vietnam: there are hundreds of excellent places to try this iconic snack. Don’t follow the crowds.

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BÁNH MÌ IN HO CHI MINH CITY

4 Local Stalls to Eat this Iconic Vietnamese Snack in HCMC

No Ho Chi Minh City local would pay any attention to the endless ‘best’ bánh mì lists online. They know better. Most bánh mì-loving citizens have their favourite, local, go-to place for bánh mì in the city – maybe it’s near their home or their office, or on their way to school or their pickleball club. The following list of 4 bánh mì outlets has been compiled with the help and input of several of the Vietnam Coracle team, all of whom have years of experience living (and eating) in Ho Chi Minh City. As well as serving good bánh mì, these stalls are located in local neighbourhoods, making a visit all the more rewarding. We hope that at least some travellers will bother to make the effort to go beyond the usual ‘famous’ bánh mì stalls in Ho Chi Minh City, choosing instead to branch out to the ones on this page and then to the many hundreds of other excellent ‘non-famous’ bánh mì stalls across the city and the nation. I’ve also included some useful Vietnamese bánh mì vocablulary. If you enjoy this guide, please support my website. (For more content like this see Related Guides.)

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CONTENTS:

Map

Useful Bánh Mì Vocabulary

1. ‘No Name’ (Bánh Mi 232)

2. Bánh Mì Hiền

3. Bánh Mì Sáu Minh

4. Lò Bánh Mì Lương Phan

Related Guides

MAP:

4 Local Bánh Mì, Hồ Chí Minh City (Saigon)

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Useful Bánh Mì Vocabulary: 

To my ear, the word bánh mì has a cute playfulness about it that’s typically Vietnamese. When ordering bánh mì, many Vietnamese customers are very specific about what they do and don’t want – lots of this, not too much of that, hold this, plenty of that. As a foreign customer, you might struggle to be quite so specific, but the handful of phrases below should help you out a bit, and it’s always possible to just point at what you do and don’t want on your bánh mì:

• bánh mì đầy đủ – with everything
• bánh mì đặc biệt – the house special (usually just bigger & with everything in it)
• bánh mì thịt – with meat (usually cold cuts)
• bánh mì xíu mại – with meatballs
• bánh mì trứng/bánh mì ốp la – with fried egg
• bánh mì phô mai – with cheese (usually ‘Laughing Cow’ brand processed cheese)
• bánh mì chay/bánh mì không thịt – vegetarian/without meat
• bánh mì cay – spicy
• bánh mi không cay/bánh mì không ớt – non spicy/no chillies
• banh mi cá – with fish (usually tinned pilchards)

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Selected Resources What’s this?

‘No Name’ (Bánh Mì 232):

• Address: Hẻm 232 Bà Hạt, District 10 [MAP]
• Open: 4pm-11pm (daily)
• Price: 20,000-30,000vnđ

For 45 years this bánh mì cart has been rolled out onto the street in the late afternoon and pushed up against the wall at the beginning of alleyway 232 on Bà Hạt street. It’s an amazing set up – a mini kitchen, bakery and shop all in one. It doesn’t get more Saigon than this. The neighbourhood is a vibrant mix of residential houses, shopfronts, crumbling low-rise apartments and hundreds of food stalls. I lived, many years ago and with about a dozen of my friends, in a house just 50 metres further up the same alleyway where this bánh mì stall is located. The bread – big, bulbous, crusty and fluffy loaves – is kept in a wicker basket with a tea towel draped over the top to keep it fresh. At any one time, half a dozen bánh mì are on the grill, being warmed up, ready to serve customers. The variety of fillings is bewildering: roast pork, quail egg, cold cuts – loads of them – sausage, pork floss (chà bông), grilled pork patties, meatballs (xíu mại), pickles, fried egg, pâté, mayonnaise, fresh herbs, cucumber and even phá lấu (a rich mixture of offal and gravy). It’s incredible. This is what Vietnamese street food is all about. I urge you to come here, order a bánh mì with everything on it, feel the weight of it in your hands, then bite into your mobile feast and enjoy the whole experience. What are you waiting for?!

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Bánh Mì Hiền:

• Address: 71 Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Phú Nhuận District [MAP]
• Open: 2pm-10pm (daily)
• Price: 20,000-25,000vnđ

Operating for nearly 20 years on a bustling backstreet in Phú Nhuận District, Bánh Mì Hiền is a local favourite nearby a fresh produce market. Open from mid-afternoon until the night, Bánh Mì Hiền make many of their own filings and condiments, which means they have a freshness that few only stalls do. The bread itself comes from an oven just up the street, and it’s crispy, fluffy and soft. Full of goodies – cold cuts, mayo, pâté, pickles, pork floss, chillies, coriander, seasoning, and much more besides – Bánh Mì Hiền is probably best known for their xíu mại (meatballs). Homemade from pork and herbs, the tender meatballs are spread inside the bánh mì adding depth to the overall flavour. The balance is just right and so is the price.

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Bánh Mì Sáu Minh:

• Address: 170 Võ Văn Tần, District 3 [MAP]
• Open: 24 hours
• Price: 40,000-50,000vnđ

Centrally located, Bánh Mì Sáu Minh sits on the corner of an alleyway close to the busy intersection of Võ Văn Tần and Cách Mạng Tháng Tám, in District 3. Serving fresh bánh mì for almost half a century, the bread at Sáu Minh is crispy on the outside and light and airy on the inside. The bánh mì are big, well-filled and very tasty. Top quality mayonnaise and pâté give this bánh mì a deep richness, and the wide selection of pork cold cuts makes it a meat feast. The chà bông (pork floss) is both salty and a little sweet, and the crunch of the cucumber, pickles and coriander add texture and a sourness for great balance. This stall is open 24 hours, making it a fantastic place for a late night bite, especially after an evening out. Indeed, this was where my friends and I would eat after long music- and drink-filled nights at YOKO Saigon close by. Yes, Bánh Mì Sáu Minh is pricier than most local stalls, but you’ll forget about that the moment your teeth sink into their crispy baguettes. This is really good, filling, balanced, satisfying bánh mì.

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Lò Bánh Mì Lương Phan:

• Address: 154 Lâm Văn Bền, District 7 [MAP]
• Open: 4.30am-6.30pm (Mon-Sat); 4.30am-1.00pm (Sun)
• Price: 20,000-35,000vnđ

For going on 20 years, Bánh Mì Lương Phan has been baking perfect baguettes and selling them – still warm – straight from the oven to eager customers. An unassuming place in an appealingly low-key neighbourhood out in District 7, the smell of freshly baked bread permeates the air around Bánh Mì Lương Phan; a welcome relief from the exhaust fumes of the city. Cheap and local, this bánh mì stall fills their bread with large, chunky slices of cold cuts, smothered in rich mayo, pâté, pickles and pork floss. The bread is seriously fresh: crunchy and yet soft at the same time, and noticeably dense compared to the airy baguettes you get elsewhere. Well filled and with a reassuringly heavy weight, this is a meaty, fresh, spicy, chunky and textural bánh mì. There’s coffee next door and the area is decent for a walk. Lò Bánh Mì Lương Phan is one of those places that makes you ask the question, as Anthony Bourdain once did, “just how do they get their bread so perfect every time?”

*Disclosure: I never receive payment for anything I write: my content is always free and independent. I’ve written this post because I want to; not because anyone has paid me, sponsored me or hired my services. For more details, see my Disclosure & Disclaimer statements and my About Page

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