Cô Thành
We watched Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations series religiously, and featured in one of the episodes was a kindly Vietnamese auntie by the name of Nguyễn Thi Thành, known lovingly as the Lunch Lady, who served up a rotation of local Vietnamese noodle soups made fresh daily from scratch.
Cô Thành is a tribute to the Lunch Lady from her (first and only) protégé Brian Woo, who’d apprenticed under her for three years to master her tried and true recipes. The ingredients used at Cô Thành are flown in directly from Vietnam and are hand-picked by the team and the Lunch Lady to ensure authenticity. Instead of phở, here you’ll find a homemade bánh mì that could rival any proper one from the streets of Saigon.
Cô Thành’s bánh mì are filled with deliciousness from start to finish, unlike some subs we’ve had that offered the dreaded bread-only bite. The baguette, pâté, and sausages are all made from scratch, and the selection of cold cuts include lean pork, Vietnamese ham, pork shank and skin, pork head, and ears terrine.
The bánh mì menu (all $88) is focused, just like in Saigon, and boasts the Bánh Mi Truyền Thống (with pâté and pork charcuterie), Bánh Mì Ốp La (an egg-cellent addition to a classic with a soft-yolked fried egg), and the Bánh Mì Thịt Gà Nướng (with lemongrass chicken and pâté). The baguette here strikes just the right balance between hard and soft and the chillies provide a much-needed kick to the satisfying and messy affair. Overall, a solid bánh mì to keep you going when you just can’t get to Vietnam. While their Central location is temporarily closed, Cô Thành can also be found at BaseHall.
Cô Thành, G/F, 2–4 Kau U Fong, Central