Hanco's 08-20-2009

Location: 85 Bergen St. BK
Time: 7pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: As banh mi lovers, we had to try Hanco's, which seems to be the only banh mi shop in our area. Our usual banh mi favorites are Baoguette, Num Pang, and Nicky's, which are all in Manhattan.

We ordered summer rolls with shrimp, tofu banh mi, "original" banh mi, and iced jasmine tea for takeaway. The iced jasmine tea was strong and refreshing, and it was perfect for the humid walk back home.

As I opened the bag, a strong, pungent and fishy odor attacked my senses. "Uh-oh," I opened every package and voila, the smell was coming from the shrimp. We threw them away without trying. I strongly recommend not ordering the summer rolls from here.

While trying to recover from the fish odor invasion of my nostril, I tasted my tofu banh mi. The bread was fresh and crispy outside, but it was not a baguette. It was too overstuffed with tofu and veggies to close properly, and it was difficult to eat. There was also an unpleasant over-schmear of mayo. These are all huge turn offs for banh mi sandwiches. It looked more like a hero. It was bland and lacked a fish sauce flavor that is essential to most Vietnamese cuisine. Perhaps they used all the fish sauce on the smelly shrimp.

RB walked me through a perfect pork banh mi sandwich. A banh mi contains three unique textures of pork: a soft pâté, a firmer sliced pork, and a crunchy minced pork. However, their version only contained the soft pâté texture. He did like the sweet carrot and daikon pickles, but they were a bit overpowering.

Overall, it seems like we have to keep going to Manhattan for more authentic banh mi. But in matter of urgency, Hanco's would satisfy my banh mi cravings.