DD Mau

*Restaurant is closed permanently*

I'm sure you've noticed that I often eagerly check out new restaurants to see what the fuss is all about.  But then there are some that take me an excruciating long time to visit.  One of which happens to be DD Mau.  Why?  Honestly, the thought of paying at least double the cost for a Banh Mi just doesn't seem that appetizing.  I've done that at Chopsticks on Pho and came away feeling ripped off (despite serving out good food).  However, since Choobee and I were on our way to BC Place for EAT! Vancouver, I figured it was a good enough reason to stop by to check it out.

From the many choices on the menu, we decided to start with the classic Cold Cut as a baseline of sorts.  The most obvious difference between the Banh Mi served at DD Mau as opposed to the ones you'd find on Kingsway was the bread.  Rather than a wide crusty baguette, they used a long, narrow and denser bun. This eliminated the hallmark crunch from the sandwich which was a definite miss in our opinion.  However, the ingredients were both top-notch and plentiful.  In particular, the amount of pate was spot on providing plenty of flavour and moisture.  It did taste more like traditional pate rather than the Vietnamese version though.  We also tried the BBQ Duck and it was jam-packed with moist and fatty meat.  I'm pretty sure they didn't make the duck in-house, hence the hefty $10.50 price tag (in addition to their rent being in Yaletown).

Lastly, we went for their other featured sandwich being the Roast Pork.  Again, it was packed with enough meat that was there in every bite.  As with the other subs, the pickled carrots and daikon were crunchy and balanced adding a nice acidity which cut through the fat.  We actually ended up eating most of the meat without the bread because it was so dense.  By just judging the sandwiches independently from the prices, we thought they were carefully made with plenty of great ingredients.  As mentioned, we weren't fond of the bread.  Now back to the prices - we understand why they charge double of the ones found outside of Downtown.  The rent, operating costs and ingredients all add up.  However, for many, I can see that they might care about these factors and stick to the ones found on Kingsway.

The Good:
- Good amount of quality ingredients
- An interesting amount of different choices

The Bad:
- Didn't like the dense bread
- Expensive for Banh Mi (but you need to consider the location and material costs)