Cafe Bunn Mi

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This is the first time I've ever seen Vietnamese sandwiches spelled Bunn Mi.  I've seen bun mi, ban mi, even bun mee, but two "n's" is just odd to me.  Personally, I like it when they keep it real with the traditional "banh mi".

Besides the spelling, some odd things about this place stood out to me.  Try to see if you can notice them in the menu..  Here's what I found:  wheat bread option for banh mi (!!), none of the dishes are referred to by their Vietnamese name, and there are 3 types of fries and onions rings on this menu.  

The sandwiches here are more on the fusion side, which I guess justifies the average $5 prices, so if you're a purist, this is the wrong sandwich shop for you.

Banh mis have been a noticeable trend in the city, especially ones with a fusion twist.  I've had some pretty disappointing ones lately (Duc Loi - see post HERE), so I wasn't expecting anything exceptional here.  The chicken on the five spice chicken sandwich was super tender and juicy, but need more spice.  You can take the freshness of the bread in the sandwiches since they are baked daily.  The pickled veggies here are more on the sweeter side than tangy.  They ODed on carrots in this sandwich. 

The crispy duck sandwich was the redeeming sandwich for Cafe Bunn Mi.  Perfectly crispy with tender nuggets of duck meat surrounded by the sweet veggie slaw made it a fusion sandwich I could actually say was good.  Crap, I just admitted I bought a $6 Vietnamese sandwich and liked it... 

Address:                       Cafe Bunn Mi
                                             417 Clement St.
                                             San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                               Vietnamese

Popular chomps:  Five spice chicken bun mi
                                             Crispy duck bun mi
                                             Pork Belly bun mi

Chomp worthy:      Crispy duck bun mi