Last year, I traveled around Southeast Asia with my son before he started his freshman year in high school. It’s not the first time we’ve taken a one on one vacation together, nor our first international trip together. Eyes wide open, I recognize the blessing I have to be able to do this with my son. And, I’m so grateful to have gotten over to Asia before the world went mad.

With a long layover in Beijing, we flew into Bangkok. I found the ticket into Bangkok was the cheapest flight to Asia and from there, it was easy to catch cheap flights or rides from one destination to another. We were only in Thailand one day on the front end of the trip before dashing off to Vietnam.

We started our visit to Vietnam in Hanoi in the Old District. Hanoi was such a cool, old world city. In and around Hanoi is so much history dating centuries before the Vietnam War brought Americans over to join a fight that was not ours to fight. And although you can still see, and read, the propaganda that communist Vietnam promotes about the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese were welcoming, kind, and friendly individuals.

We were warned about taxi scams in Hanoi specifically, and our hotel was great with ensuring our safety. I guess pickpocketing is also abundant in Hanoi, but I never experienced any issues anywhere in Asia. Arguably it’s because I have many, many tattoos that, in Asian culture, peg me as criminal, so perhaps I was avoided?

Anywho, in Hanoi we went on our first food tour (we went on several). I am such a foodie and having a local walk around with me to share the local cuisine was an awesome part of our trip. The only food I didn’t like in Vietnam was this pork meatball soup; I don’t recall the name of it. We did have that on this food tour. But, we were also introduced to Banh mi sandwiches. We went to Banh Mi 25 in Hanoi, and I haven’t found a better Banh mi sandwich since.

Anthony Bourdain made a place famous for its Banh mi in Hoi An. And Hoi An was our next stop in Vietnam. We waited in a long line to try these famous Banh mi, and, well, they were fine. Honestly, I think my homemade Banh mi are better than what I had there, and they came nowhere close to the Banh mi we had in Hanoi.

Banh mi can be filled with a plethora of different things and usually loaded up with vegetables. For this recipe, I got Asian sliced short ribs, which we find at our local supermarket. The short ribs are crosscut into wide, long strips. We love these marinated, particularly with kimchi fried rice. I’ve made chicken Banh mi sandwiches at home, but this time around, I decided to marinate the Asian short ribs.

The longest task of this meal is the prep. I recommend making Banh mi rolls from scratch, but you could substitute with a wider French baguette. Not quite the same, but about the closest substitute you can find for Banh mi rolls. From there, load the sandwich up with aioli, liver pate (trust me, it’s good!), Banh mi slaw, greens, the meat, and jalapeños and green onions. For the greens, I chose arugula and cilantro this time around. You can add any thing you want though! Watercress, sprouts, etc.

I think this is the third time I’ve made Banh mi sandwiches this year! We really love them 😋. If you make them, tag me on Instagram!

Enjoy!