Category Archives: Mills50

I’ve been on a roll with Vietnamese food lately.  I had been wanting to try Boston Bakery in the Mills50 area since they got voted the best banh mi sandwich in Orlando by multiple polls and publications. I’ve also been wanting to try a banh mi since I heard of them. So naturally, my first banh mi had to come from Boston Bakery.

A banh mi is a traditional Vietnamese sandwich served on a French baguette with some sort of steamed meat and vegetables. Boston Bakery is located in a strip mall on Colonial Drive. I have no clue where the name comes from because it’s very Vietnamese (not Bostonian) and it’s not really a bakery. It’s a really small shop with only a couple of tables for eating, so I recommend taking your order to go.

I wanted to try as traditional of a banh mi as possible so ordered a sandwich with all the typical fixings: pork, liver pate, pickled vegetables, cilantro and jalapenos.

First of all, the bread is amazing. It’s a typical French bread, so nice and crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Upon my first bite, I learned that raw jalapenos are definitely too spicy for me. I promptly picked the rest out and continued enjoying the sandwich.

The pickled vegetables added a ton of flavor. If you think liver pate weirds you out, I challenge you to try this sandwich. The pate doesn’t stand out at all. It melts in with the bread and meat and just tastes like butter. It’s incredibly rich and delicious.

In general, I’m actually not a huge fan of sandwiches, but I may have found a favorite. The best part? This massive sub was only $3! I’m so happy I finally saw what all the hype was surrounding Boston Bakery and banh mis.

What is your favorite type of sandwich?

I can’t believe how quickly time flies. Tomorrow marks exactly one year since my very first blog post (back when just my parents and Kevin were reading). This blog started as a way to chronicle my love of food and has sort of evolved into sharing my attempt at balancing the food with fitness with some random musings about my life, grad school decisions, and my upcoming wedding. I am so thankful for every visit and comment. Thank you for reading and making the past year of blogging become more than just a hobby. I truly love feeling a part of this community. Here’s to another year!

Last night  I grabbed dinner with my friends Sarah and Megan at Little Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant, in Mills50. I’ve only had Vietnamese food once before, so I was excited to try it again. I started out with an order of shrimp summer rolls because if a restaurant offers summer rolls, I simply can’t help but to order them.

The summer rolls arrived at our table almost immediately after our order was taken, which leads me to believe that they were rolled earlier. The rolls were good, and I would definitely order them again, but they weren’t as flavorful as the summer rolls at Thai Singha. The peanut sauce was very good. It was sweeter than most peanut sauces I’ve had.

Vietnamese cuisine is known for pho, noodles with some sort of meat or seafood in broth. I ordered my pho with thin slices of rare beef.

The pho comes with a separate plate of fresh basil leaves, bean sprouts and lime so you can dress your pho however you’d like. I squeezed some of the lime over the broth and tore up some basil leaves to add to the broth, which added a lot of flavor. The pho was was very good. There’s something so comforting about a big bowl of soup and noodles.

Also ordered at the table were fried rice and chicken and vegetables over rice.

I bet pho would be great in the middle of winter. I really enjoyed our dinner at Little Saigon and my second time trying Vietnamese food.

If you’re a blogger, how long have you been blogging?

Have you ever tried Vietnamese cuisine?