Banh Mi Shop

Some lunch spots I choose depending on how I'm feeling that day, and to others I go almost on autopilot. Banh Mi Shop belongs in the latter category. The menu has more to offer, but I usually end up standing there ordering the same thing as last time: a banh mi. The place is in Saluhallen by Kungstorget and serves Vietnamese and other Asian food. The name tells you most of what you need to know about where the focus lies. Banh mi is the Vietnamese take on the baguette sandwich, a legacy of French colonial times, and it's what makes this place a stop of its own among all the counters in the market hall. My banh mi is, to borrow from my own notes, simply a solid Asian baguette. That might sound like faint praise, but anyone who has eaten a soggy or sloppily put-together version knows that reliability is exactly the point. A baguette sandwich stands or falls on whether the bread holds up and the filling stays together. The rest of the Asian food on the menu is good too, but the baguette is what I keep coming back for. The pace is a big part of why I end up here so often. If I'm on my own or taking my food to go, it usually goes pretty quickly from order to bag. That suits an ordinary weekday in town, when lunch can't be allowed to eat up half the afternoon. If there are several of you, the same applies as for every restaurant in Saluhallen: come early, before the lunch rush kicks in. On your own or with takeaway, you can take it easier. And if you're standing there dithering over the menu, get a banh mi.