However, the seemingly rabbit-like mission was almost overthrown. Not because it is far away, because from the hotel where I stay, I go to Phu Dong intersection to turn onto the small road of Le Thi Rieng, which only takes a few minutes on the "landing" road. But when I arrived, I felt discouraged, because the line of people waiting to buy bread was so crowded that it was full, with all the options, gold, black, white.
It is also strange that the world-famous Vietnamese bread pot is completely outside Michelin's lists. This shows problems in evaluating and classifying cuisine due to differences between the East and the West.
But for nothing, without needing to be ranked, Vietnamese bread has caused Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to stand in line at a Vietnamese bakery named Marrickville Pork Roll waiting for his turn to buy "a crispy, fragrant, delicious, delicious whole-wheat bread" in an excited mood.
This same leader, in 2023, when traveling to Vietnam, increased the prestige of Vietnamese bread stocks when he personally enjoyed bread in Hanoi and Da Nang and every time he raised his index finger to express praise for this dish.
In fact, without the need for khung and flashy, the banh mi has been closely associated with the Vietnamese people for over 100 years. Not only Hanoi or Saigon, anywhere in this soft S-shaped land, bread is a familiar dish, filled with the joyful and crispy laughter of a delicious piece.
Vietnamese bread is so close to people, to the streets, to daily life that it contains the soul of Vietnamese people, knowing how to find happiness even though it is just a hot piece of bread, each bite has a seductive aroma.
Bread has followed the French into Vietnam since the end of the 19th century, but it quickly became "Vietnamese" from the name (Baguette or tay to bread), size (from half a meter long to small bread lumps) to the way of eating (from sliced to eat with other dishes to turned into lumps containing fillings)...
That "Vietnamese" process has helped bread contain the fragrant and tolerant heart of Vietnamese people. That bowl of heart can contain all over the world from patties, cold meat, jambon, hot pot, ham, shredded chicken, grilled beef, butter, fried pork, shrimp, cucumber, pickled melon, chili sauce, herbs, coriander... to create a delicious piece full of starch, vegetables, fiber, nutrients.
The slices of bread are small but contain everything we like, but the bread is not overflowing or ostentatious but hides all the deliciousness in the heart, closes the mouth of the bread to dedicate all the deliciousness to the people in each crispy and delicious bit.
The process of transforming a Western cake, creating a Vietnamese dish and bringing bread to the world to conquer the taste of the West has created a delicious Vietnamese dish that meets the bustling pace of life, but still provides enough nutrition and the joy of enjoying a delicious meal.
Therefore, the world's leading culinary and travel magazines have had to respectfully choose Vietnamese bread as one of the best street foods. The reputation of Vietnamese banh mi has forced foreign diners to call the dish in Vietnamese "banh mi" instead of "bread".
Right in the long line of people, when it was their turn, they all stayed in a row using mixed language to report to the staff who ordered "one banh mi", then paid, received a stack, and moved to the waiting line to get the bread. And a characteristic of these foreign diners is: when receiving a piece of bread, they immediately eat it right there, or go and eat at the same time, as if "there is no stopping this joy".
Huynh Hoa bread looks quite "broken" even when in the hands of Western customers. It is not a breadcrumb according to Vietnamese standards but is larger, longer, and more. Each bowl of bread is truly a "manistic work of the canals and stuffed", with diverse fillings such as pate, silk sausage, cotton tomato, sausage, cold meat, roast pork, cucumber, herbs, avocado, mayonnaise, chili sauce, salt, pepper, pickled... creating 13 attractive flavors.
The thunderous sounds while we wait for our turn to listen are even more stimulating. A bite that creates this much sound is truly pleasing because it helps people from all over touch the delicious and attractive taste of Vietnamese food with all its freshness, variety, ease of containment and ease of sharing.
It is these bites that have made Vietnamese cuisine famous, more than any starlight, more than any large advertising board in the middle of the quarter, more than any media advertisement. The image of a Japanese diner lining up to fight the corn and then happily bit the first piece of Huynh Hoa bread has the most expressive power of all.
Those images and sounds of happiness took me onto a plane, and were then recreated intact on the dining table of my aunt's house on Hang Than Street. Bustling, bustling... this life is so delicious, right gentlemen?
