Num Pang - Cambodian Sandwich

I’ve been tracking the opening of Num Pang for, oh I don’t know, a few months now.  I’ve been craving banh mi sandwiches and was praying every night to the sandwich gods (and they do exist, you know.  They live next to the beignet gods) that a shop would open near me.  My prayers were answered.  The gods bestowed a shiny new shop a block from work, but they did make me wait impatiently for YEARS, or months, whatever.  Cambodian sandwiches not banh mis exactly, cuz Cambodian isn’t Vietnamese.  But whatever, they are pretty close, so I was happy

I got my sandwich a day after they opened during an off-ish hour.  I’m crazy about these sandwiches, but not wait-in-line-for-45-min crazy.  My friend got my first choice, the pork, so I got the veal meatball.  MUST OVERWHELM MY TASTE BUDS WITH AS MANY FLAVORS AS POSSIBLE – the number 1 rule in my play book.

The sandwich looked puny in the paper coffin it came in.   I was already planning dinner #2 when I carried my prize home, thinking, it better be damn good for being 50% more costly than a banh mi with 50% less girth.

My first reaction when biting into my sandwich was whoa, this bread (from Parisi Bakery) is damn good.  Dare I say, better than most banh mi bread I’ve tasted.  It was perfectly toasted with crunchy shell and soft insides and held up the stuffing pretty well. 

The hoison meatballs with tomato sauce were pretty good and tender, but I could have used less sauce.  I loved loved loved the chili mayo.  It didn’t apologize for being spicy.  My favorite part of the sandwich was all the pickled veggies.  Num Pang didn’t skimp and they cut thru the heaviness of the meatballs.

I’m already planning my next sandwich order.