Banh Mi Battel-Manchester CT





What: Grilled Beef Banh Mi

Where: Chau's Restaurant

964 Main Street
Manchester CT 06040
How much: $5.95
Time of visit: a Thursday about 2PM


Banh Mi. Connecticut. The mystery of these two co-existing in the same place was motivation to hit the road.


(readers, cue The Smihs - How Soon Is Now? (Manchester Mix)) (clicking on link should open YouTube in a new browser tab so you can hear my selected audio track playing, but you will have to click back on this tab to return)

This day's travels took me to the greater Hartford Ct area via Central MA.  I got a hot tip from Leeanne at Fun With Carbs. I saw her comment to a post about Ba Le in Dorchester on another blog. She replied quickly to my e-mail inquiry about Banh Mi options in CT.

Chau's is a sit down restaurant in downtown Manchester CT. I got the Banh Mi for take out. When I ordered, the woman told me that it would be about 15 minutes and she immediately fired up the grill. It took maybe ten minutes.

Banh Mi University graduate? Graduate of the commuter school. Note the white deli wrap, but taped closed instead of elastic. The bread was fair in this use. It was very similar to Mini Saigon (which I will review soon and had eaten at earlier in the day.). The crust was thin, but not flaky. The inside was light and airy with that slightly chewy texture. Loaf size was just much shorter and thinner than others I have had recently. This would be superb bread for an Italian cold cut sangwich, though.  I guess there isn't a Viet bakery nearby, so they need to make due with the bread sources in CT.  The beef was VERY generous in quantity and tender. There was absolutely no fat or ligament. The cook reheated a very large piece of steak and cut it up into the very large, thin rectangles as shown in the last photo. Cilantro was fresh with no dark spots, but very sparse. The carrots were generous, tasty, slightly pickled and yet still a bit crisp. There was no daikon nor onion. The cucumber was represented by two fairly fat pieces that were peeled. A few scallions were present. There was no soy/fish sauce or mayo, thus the sandwich was a bit dry. I asked the counter person for spicy, which was accomplished with sriracha and not jalapenos or Thai chiles.

Parking on Main Street was great despite the snow. At $5.95, this is the price you need to pay for the genuine article in suburbia. You can get Banh Mi in Manchester CT, but not in Somerville or Cambridge MA. You don't have to go into Dorchester or Hartford.  Chau's was very clean and had the nicest atmosphere of any real Viet establishment so far in my Banh Mi search.

I'd give the Banh Mi a 2.5B/6.

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