Boulangerie de Saigon, a Vietnamese Coffe shop, recently opened on Freckingham Street in Sneinton Avenues. It is being run by two sisters Aivi and Milly Nguyen inspired apparently by their grandmas street food stall in Vietnam.
I do like the tastes of Vietnam so when I heard I was really keen to check them out and see what was occuring down the markets
I had seen a couple of menus online where they listed Pho and Noodle salad dishes but the menu changes weekly so there was no guarentee of noodle soup action
On the day that I visited they were serving their signature dish a “Saigon-style banh mi freshly made in house daily from scratch” so we ordered a couple to try one Pork Special, and one Chicken Satay
PORK SPECIAL BANH MI
My choice was the PORK SPECIAL described on the menu as
“Spiced barbecued pork, Vietnamese mortadella, jambon, pork pate, pickled carrots & daikon cucumber, coriander, Vietnamese Mayo, crispy onions, soy dressing” – £8.20
The BBQ pork was crisp and chewy, almost candy like, when combined with the mortadella, jambon and pork pate you end up with a sandwich with a really meaty depth of flavour and plenty of porkiness
I loved the freshness of the salad and pickle items in the mix it really brings everything alive in your taste buds. A bit of chilli heat from the sliced chillies was adding a little burn to the bite yet in a good way it was somehow enjoyable
This Banh Mi was a delight to eat with loads of different textures from crisp salad, crunchy pickle, soft chewy fluffy bread and all the different meats making every mouthful a taste sensation
SATAY CHICKEN BANH MI
The second Banh Mi we shared was the one filled with SATAY CHICKEN listed on the menu as being made up of “Marinated satay chicken, mushroom pate, pickled carrots & daikon, Vietnamese Mayo, cucumber, coriander, crispy onions, soy dressing” – £7.80
As with the PORK SPECIAL all the fillings packed a punch, it was fresh and lively and those bits of sliced chilli added moments of spice. I really really enjoyed the flavours of the satay chicken, it seemed much sweeter that other satay that I have eaten before
If I hadn’t already paid attention to the roll? I will now, saying that the bread is superb, crusty outside and soft and fluffy inside. It was good to hear that they bake it fresh each day, I feel that small touches like that really makes a difference to their offering
Boulangerie de Saigon is also billing itself as a coffee shop so just for once I switched from tea to a coffee. I wasn’t particularly adventerous with my choice asking for a Vietnamese latte.
VIETNAMESE LATTE
It was a bit of a surprise and was quite sweet with flavours of vanilla. I enjoyed it but I don’t think I could drink too many of these.
Having said that as a tea drinker, who doesn’t normally bother with coffee, this one floated my boat
Todays menu was focused on the banh mi but they change it up every week so other weeks could be a pho or a bowl of salad noodles
I will have my eyes peeled on their social media to spot a week when the Pho is on as that was the dish I really wanted and was craving when I came down to Sneinton Market Place to find them.
Boulangerie de Saigon are located at Avenue D Sneinton Market, 11 Freckingham St, Nottingham, NG1 1DQ
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