London's best banh mi

Banh mi literally means bread in Vietnamese. A legacy of the French occupation, it’s a native take on the baguette — filled with spicy meat, pickle and plenty of chilli. Here’s where to get London’s best
15 January 2014

Viet Van

From a canary-yellow van, David Parkin serves warm garlicky baguettes packed with chilli and a generous amount of pork filling that has been marinated in a salt, sugar and spice paste.
From £4, Saturdays at North Cross Road Market, SE22

Banhmi11
Van and Anh, two schoolfriends from Hanoi started their business in in 2009. They follow the Vietnamese method of using caramel in marinades rather than sugar.
£5, 101 Great Eastern Street, EC2 and 17 Elm Street, WC1, banhmi11.com

Banh Mi Bay
A bright green-walled café that does a roaring trade in crisp baguettes chock full of pickled carrot, cucumber, coriander and chilli with either chargrilled beef, prawn or spicy pork.
From £4.35, 4-6 Theobalds Road, WC1, banhmibay.co.uk

Nam Caphe
The best banh mi on Kingsland Road, which is high praise indeed because there’s stiff competition.
From £5, 134 Kingsland Road, E2

Caphe House
Follow up your sandwich with a Vietnamese coffee, made the proper way with condensed milk.
From £4.50, 114 Bermondsey Street, SE1, londonbanhmi.com

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