Fun fusion

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This article was published 08/12/2016 (3405 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The latest entry in Winnipeg’s Asian fusion category, Banh Mi King offers a fun, fast and accessible take on Vietnamese street food.

The menu combines such traditional dishes as rice noodle salad and pho with more North Americanized offerings, including matcha smoothies, Taiwanese fried chicken poutine and “baogers,” a mad-sounding but pretty successful mashup of the Asian steamed bun and the classic burger.

 

The feel of this Portage Avenue eatery is young and trendy, combining an open, airy, light-filled space with a simple, clean-lined design. The fittings favour that semi-industrial palette of pale wood backed by black and white.

The menu is chalked up on blackboard walls, and everything is numbered, which streamlines the ordering process. Banh Mi King’s dine-in option follows a hybrid fast-casual model: You order at the counter, then sit down for table service.

Staff members, dressed in BMK-logoed black, are friendly, though the kitchen sometimes gets behind with drink orders. You might have to ask once or twice for your coffee or tea.

The menu focuses on fresh, quick food, including the standout baoger. Crossover foods with smooshed-together names can sometimes seem like desperate ploys for gastronomic attention, and foodie interest can be fickle: today’s cruffin is tomorrow’s cronut.

Despite the goofy moniker, however, BMK’s baoger — a blend of steamed buns (bao) and burgers — tastes like a keeper. The pillowy white, soft bun, dotted with black sesame seeds, plays very well with rich pork belly, creamy cheese and snappy pickled vegetables.

The banh mi, sometimes called a Vietnamese sub, starts with a baguette, a food that was introduced to Vietnam during French colonial rule. Vietnamese baguettes are often lighter and less shatteringly crisp than their French counterparts, and BMK’s bread heads toward the softer option. The charbroiled pork banh mi — stacked with meat and finished with mayo, the crunch of pickled carrot and daikon, and cilantro — is good, though some bahn mi fans might prefer a bit more chili bite.

A sampled stewed beef pho was good, the broth rich — though over-salted — and the meat tender. Salad rolls are plumply filled with noodles, though the added barbecue shrimp, while blazing red in colour , are a bit generic in texture and taste.

A nice surprise was a dome of jasmine rice, topped with a lightly fried egg and served on a lidded plate surrounded by a mild and creamy curry, with braised bone-in pieces of chicken.

There are also vegetarian and vegan options in most of the menu categories.

There are certainly more authentic Vietnamese joints in the West End, but BMK is tasty, quick and quite affordable.

It’s also located directly across from the University of Winnipeg. Several of the students I know, facing the December crunch of papers and exams, are currently fortifying themselves with very good Thai iced tea — robust brewed tea with honey and real citrus — dangerously sweet Vietnamese iced coffee and possibly a baoger. Or two.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca