Sherman's Food Adventures: Thu Hien Deli

Thu Hien Deli

As if my Fridays are not busy enough (with hockey and eating), Viv decided to add the kid's ice skating lessons as well. I'm not sure if it is her sinister plan to keep me away from hockey and eating, but it makes for a rushed dinner. Therefore, I came up with a plan of my own. This would involve me picking up some Banh Mi for dinner and blogging about it as a byproduct. Ah, kill 2 birds with one stone. Brilliant! So I drove down the street of Banh Mi (which is Kingsway by the way) and stopped at Thu Hien Deli where Kingsway intersects with Knight Street. In addition to Banh Mi, the place offers up hot meals (a la Kent's Kitchen-like) and other Vietnamese groceries. I was tempted to get some of their other offerings, but that would've been too much food. Imagine that, too much food! Right.

Anyways, I picked up 3 sandwiches starting with the Cold Cut. For me, the bread was quite dense (obvious from the picture). When toasted up, it wasn't too bad though. There was plenty of meat along with crunchy pickled daikon and carrots, along with cucumber, hot pepper and cilantro. As per usual, there was the sweet butter, a slather of pate and a few drops of Maggi. The ingredients combined together offered a good deal of flavour. Now the Meatball sub had even more flavour since it was dripping with sauce. So much so, it made parts of the sandwich soggy. I found the meatball to have a peculiar texture. It reminded me of Spam, which is not really a bad if thing if one was eating a Spam sandwich. I would've liked the meat to have a little more texture. In terms of flavour, it was mostly sweet with little meat taste.

Lastly, I got the Shredded Pork (aka, shredded pork and pork rinds). I personally love shredded pork, especially on my vermicelli or rice dishes. However, in this Banh Mi, it was kinda bland. Loved the texture of the pork rind, but the whole thing could've used some more sauce or something. In general, the sandwiches were solid with standard pricing. They definitely did not skimp on the ingredients, yet I wasn't a huge fan of their bread. Since it is only across the street, I'd hit up Kim Chau first.

The Good:
- Lots of filling
- Many other items in store for purchase

The Bad:
- Limited choice on types of Banh Mi
- Bread is a bit dense

Thu Hien Deli on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

KimHo said...

I have been there and the reason why I do drop by from time to time is that it can serve as an almost one stop shop, as there is a Chinese BBQ place almost right next to it. As for (other) items to get, they have banh cuon. Granted, not fresh; however, it is a good option, nonetheless.

Unknown said...

Hi Sherman,

I can believe you didn't eat the Banh Cuon! Pork Rice Rolls. This is what they are known for. The Vietnamese sandwhiches are just a side plate. Its like going to a Steak restaurant and ordering French Fries. You have to go back for the Pork rice rolls and the pork meat loaf.

Sherman Chan said...

@KimHo Yah, there is quite the selection there.

@Unknown Trust me, I was eying the Bahn Cuon... But for some reason, I didn't get it. My bad. Will get it next time.

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