Banh Mi & Che Cali

The price makes this place worth a visit! The Banh Mi are a great value (I prefer mine more stuffed however, so I usually go to places along Gerrard St). You can buy take-​out containers with pickled veggies, including lotus root. YUM.

Echoing the other reviews — get your Bahn Mi next door, but get your Che here! They have a buy 2, get 1 free deal or something, which is awesome. They slap everything in a container for you, and can add crushed ice for an extra fee. Nothing is too sweet, and everything mixes together super well.

Banh Mi & Che Cali is right next to Nguyen Huong. My advice? Go to Nguyen Huong for the banh mi, and this place for the desserts! My one beef about Nguyen Huong’s desserts is that they are prepackaged so one doesn’t know how long it’s been sitting there for. I feel slightly more confident and have always had great Vietnamese desserts here. My favourite is the Che Dau, which is basically glutinous rice with black eyed peas drenched in coconut milk. Love! 2/​$ 5.

Likeaphenomena and I popped into this location with little cash, hearty appetites and the need to feed my almost cult-​like devotion and continual craving for banh mi. (that and the occasional braunschweiger sandwich) It was almost closing time and a tray of pre-​made banh mi were sitting on the counter. I was asked, «You want spicy?» The sandwich was carefully unwrapped and jalapeño peppers were added to my no frills $ 2 purchase. The bun was exquisitely fresh with a crackly crust with a slightly denser centre. I couldn’t even tell you what was inside the sandwich, I ate it that quickly. As my mother always tells me, when you’re hungry anything tastes good.

Oh man. It’s dirt cheap here — $ 2 per banh mi. Being a cheap miser, I wanted to like it. But it has some unforgivable deal-​breaking flaws.
I always always always order the ‘dac biet’ banh mi/​phở whenever I go to a Vietnamese place. It’s basically the ‘house special’/‘super combo’ item. It’s the phở with all the good stuff (including tendon and tripe) and it’s the most popular banh mi. It’s my litmus test. So I step up to the counter and ask for the dac biet banh mi (a.k.a. cold cuts, a.k.a. assorted meats). The lady reaches below the counter and grabs a *PRE-​MADE* banh mi in the bag and asks I ‘want spicy’. Although I do not recall consenting to his vile offense, I must have stammered out a ‘yes’ and she pushes in some jalapenos into my *PRE-​MADE* banh mi and hands it to me.
Outside of a T&T supermarket, I’ve never seen someone lazy enough to have pre-​made banh mi – hell, I don’t even know any sandwich joints that do this. In all my years, eating banh mi since I could barely walk to hitting every nearly every banh mi joint between Saigon and Hanoi… this was the first time. I’ve eaten $ 0.50 banh mi. I’ve eaten banh mi wrapped in newspaper. I’ve eaten banh mi sold to me from shoeless old ladies rowing boats. I’ve never batted an eye til this time.
Holy hell. And it’s not like it’s busy there and I was the only guy in there getting banh mi (although, now I understand why). Banh mi was a relatively short shelf life — it quickly turns soggy — not cool.
And to top this off — the bread was hard and stale. Just horrible. I hope their che and other items aren’t this bad. But for fuck’s sakes… «Bahn Mi» is in your damned name. Is this like ironic nicknames where you call a fat guy ‘Tiny’?
Go next door to Nguyen Huong ($ 2 — $ 2.50) or around the corner to Banh Mi Ba Le ($ 2.75) for far better namwiches.
I know — a miser like me knows $ 0.50 difference is a 25% increase when we’re talking about a $ 2 item. But pre-​made stale banh mi? Get the fuck out of here.

The price is right. For the longest time, I was really enjoying their veg tofu– mix sandwich (if you’re veg, careful about their sauce tho — there could be fish sauce in it). Plus pickled white radish, carrots, and fresh cilantro/​coriander. The bun’s ok, but I don’t bother eating the whole bun.
Desserts are great. Good selection.
Depending on my mood, I enjoy their small and large white floured balls w/​fillings (and ginger, in a syrupy base).
3 desserts for about $ 5.
Or, they have custard filled puffs. Sold in two sizes.
I’ve taken some friends here for lunch — they have a cheap lunch deal, and a decent enough assortment. Rice/​noodles + 2 choices = about $ 5.
It’s not «amazing» quality or gourmet food, but it’ll fill you up (at least somewhat).
For a while, I really was satisfied in having *just* their tofu sandwiches, with every visit.

The Banh Mi is better next door. Get the Vietnamese desserts here. They always get me with the buy 2 get 1 free deal but I don’t mind. You can bring this across the US border so always a nice treat even if you can’t finish it there.

Seriously the Banh Mi is horrible compared to Nguyen Huong. This place mainly specializes in Che (sweet soup… not pudding.)
My favourites are:
Che Ba Ba (banana, sweet potato and cassava drowning in coconut milk)
Che Dau Den (black bean)
Che Dau Xanh (mung bean with seaweed)
and Che Ba Mau (three colors. actually forgot what’s in it)
The banh bao (steam bun) are also pretty good for the price. They’re nice and big so you actually stay full after consuming that monster of a bao.

Cheap prices definitely but way over rated. Had the banh mi thit nuong, kind of disappointing when you see that the pork is coming out of a big tub and didnt have a great grilled flavor. The che is buy 2 get 1 free, which you should take advantage of, bc for one it costs 2.25. Had the banana in coconut, good nothing extraordinary. Oh well… at least we gave it a try.

I don’t even know how to start this… I love banh mi’s, A LOT.
i had 3 banh mi’s here during my visit to Toronto. I didn’t bother trying anything else but the bbq pork, they were that good.
Nothing is slathered in mayo or has old pâté. Just clean pickled daikon and carrots, hot peppers, cucumber, and cilantro. And it’s so cheap!!!

Banh mi? Who needs banh mi when you have such a ridiculous amount of options at this Vietnamese ‘all-​in-​one’ shop! I’m a recent convert to this place, opting for this over it’s yellow neighbor Ms. Nguyen something or other.
++Pros++
1. Super cheap. For $ 4.50 (taxes in) I can get an order of banh beo and banh cuon. Wicked!
2. Wicked variety — buffet table of prepared foods, banh mi, banh bao (steamed bun with egg and pork — hard to find in the city!), banh beo (my fav — little circular rice flour things with mung bean), banh cuon (rice flour rolls with pork and mushroom), spring rolls, desserts, even phở!
3. In-​house seating for when you just want a quick bite and go. Since it’s mostly DIY, no need to tip anyone… maybe tip if you get phở or something and someone needs to clean your dishes off.
4. Portions are bigger than next door.
5. It isn’t as busy/​loud/​crazy as next door either.
–Cons–
1. Banh mi is best fresh. The bread doesn’t keep as well as other banh mi places. Normally I keep banh mi and put them in the toaster oven the next day, but this doesn’t work too well with the bread here.
2. The banh mi nem nuong (Viet sausage) is the flat variety, not circular.
3. Not enough cilantro on the banh mi.
Overall, this place is a definite hit. It is conceivable that someone could have a decent meal here for about $ 4 (thinking a banh mi and banh cuon), and that’s coming from someone with a big appetite.
A TOONIE & A LOONIE RECOMMENDATION: any of their banh mi ($ 1.75), banh bao ($ 1.50), banh cuon (2.50), banh beo ($ 2)

What’s the magic dish here? Coconut milk puddings. Holy crap, let me at ‘em!
Though these may require a certain palate to appreciate, once you get over the texture… homina, homina.
My favourite is the warm pudding, with the lotus seeds, tapioca and grass jelly. Get the lady to point that one out to you — it looks like a bunch of eyeballs and seaweed drowning in milk, but gad, is it ever amazing.
I don’t bother with the banh mis here anymore. I agree with Tony in that they’re too dry, but I find that most banh mis in Toronto are pretty disappointing that way. However, their hot buffet is great, great value (3 dishes + rice for $ 4.75).
But back to the puddings: pour them in a tub and leave me alone for a few hours. I will be juuuuuust fine.

Just another branch of the Banh Mi & Che Cali empire? Local Vietnamese/​Cantonese Torontoans, can someone please verify?
They make a killer (and by killer, I mean cheap) Che Ba Mau (3 color pudding/​ice). So instead of battling the INSANE line @ Nguyen Huong next door, get the banh mi next door, walk over here for the che. After all, che’s in the name.
The banh mi baguette here, just like in LA /​Wesminter, is a bit too airy, too dry, too flaky for me. Nonetheless, they make their own nem and it’s still a killer bargain.