I’ve wanted to try Banh Mi Diddy — the new Vietnamese sandwich spot just outside of downtown at the corner of 105th Avenue and 110th Street — since its soft launch last week. I tried on three separate occasions to pop in for lunch (it’s open from noon to 7 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays) but on each attempt I was met with a “sold out” sign. After finally getting my chance to try the freshman eatery’s offerings, I can see why.
On my fourth and final attempt, I made sure to arrive five minutes prior to opening, to ensure I got my hands on one of those sandwiches. To my surprise, even five minutes before opening, there were already five people ahead of me and in the maybe three minutes it took for my order — a cold cut sub with Vietnamese ham, sliced pork shoulder, liver pate and Saigon style sweet chili sauce — to be made, another eight or nine people had piled in behind me. In a small, mostly counter-service spot like Banh Mi Diddy, that’s a full house. I asked the cashier if it had been this busy all week, to which she smiled and nodded “yeah, pretty much.”
One of the things that makes or breaks a good bánh mì is the bread. You can always spot an imitator looking to cash in on the rapidly rising popularity of this southeast Asian street food by what type of bread it uses. Authentic restaurants use proper French baguettes (a holdover from Vietnam’s time as a French colony) that are both crispy on the outside and feathery light on the inside. Looking at the pile of breadcrumbs left on my pants after I scarfed down the made-in-house baguette, Banh Mi Diddy is decidedly not an imitator.
Given the location’s quality take on bánh mì and the surge in popularity among the downtown and MacEwan University-crowd just days into opening, maybe it makes sense why I had such a hard time catching this restaurant fully-stocked. Either way, this is a spot I’d gladly keep showing up early for.
Banh Mi Diddy
Queen Mary Park | 10548 110 Street NW, Edmonton | 780-868-3813
