Banh Mi Boys (Toronto) – Sweet Mother Of God

First up, Banh Mi Boys. This restaurant was recommended on Urbanspoon and Yelp so my coworkers and I decided to check it out. This is not your typical banh mi shop. They serve up some mean fusion sandwiches that you won’t find at your traditional Vietnamese restaurant.

It’s a super small shop with an In-Your-Face ‘Banh Mi Boys’ sign that you just can’t miss. The lineups were long and most people just got takeout.

We were all incredibly surprised by their more than affordable prices. You can get a banh mi for $5.49 and be completely full from it. Their most popular items are Five Spice Pork Belly, Kalbi Beef, and Duck Confit.

Wanting to get some veggies in my diet, I ordered the Papaya Salad ($2.99). It was light and acted as a great refresher in between bites of my rich banh mi sandwich.

My coworker ordered the Tofu Fries ($5.99). We all thought they were going to be tofu cut up and deep fried into ‘fries’. However, it was just a poutine variation with tofu, kimchi, and sauce on top. Delicious nonetheless, and it will get you absolutely stuffed.

After much deliberation, I finally chose the Kalbi Beef ($5.99) banh mi. Boy, if you like banh mis, you’ve gotta try this. Their baguettes are made in house and is extremely light and crispy on the outside, while maintaining a perfect soft interior.

The sandwich had the right balance of flavours. Crunchy yet soft, spicy but cooling at the same time. This sandwich was a home run for me.

This is the Five Spicy Pork Belly ($5.99) banh mi and even though I didn’t try this, I was told it was extremely delicious.

Sweet Potato Fries ($3.25). Fried well but nothing to write home about.

I came here a second time few days later and ordered myself a gigantic feast for myself. First off is the Pork Belly Steamed Bao ($3.49). They also make their steamed baos in house and it shows. The bread was fluffy and held in the otherwise slippery contents quite well. The pork belly slice was thick and heavily seasoned.

I also went for the Duck Confit ($7.49) banh mi which was amazing in every way. The duck was melt in your mouth and extremely tender. The only thing I would say is the bread got a little soft on the outside because I took it to-go so next time, I might just stick with eating in.

Service Rating: 4/5
Food Rating: 5/5
Price: $ 

Overall Rating: 5/5

Happy Eating!