This past Friday I was really craving a sandwich, and I’ve been in a little bored with the things directly around my house so I called in an order to Nha Toi for their Bo Kho bahn mi.

It seems like bahn mi shops have popped up left and right over the past couple years, but if you are in Williamsburg Nha Toi is the way to go.  Overall their sandwiches are a little more expensive (the Bo Kho is $7) than Bahn Mi or Bahn Mi 172(two of the other spots in the hood), but I think it’s worth it.  Nha Toi’s sandwiches are bigger, and are stuffed like I feel a sandwich should be.

I’m talking about Bahn Mi like everyone should know what it is, but honestly I wasn’t familiar with the sandwich until about two years ago.  Bahn mi is technically a Vietnamese baguette made with rice and wheat flour, but it is also typically refers to a Vietnamese sandwich made on this bread.  The sandwiches normally have pickled carrots and diakon radishes, cucumbers, cilantro, and spicy peppers.  The proteinis either of tofu or various meats.

The Bo Kho is a braised beef sandwich.  The beef is extremely tender a little on the sweet side, and extremely delicious. One of the most impressive things about Nha Toi is that they really fill the sandwich…there is a lot of meat and vegetables.  The carrots and radishes at Nha Toi really are pickled, which you can taste, and brings to mind a really unique sauerkraut…this is an accomplishment because I feel like the vegetables are just used as filler at other restaurants, where as Nha Toi makes it one of the highlights.  These pickled vegetables also do a great job balancing the flavor of the sweetly seasoned beef.  The baguettes that they use are always fresh (I got my sandwich late in the day, after 7pm), and complement the ingredients better than most.

Unlike all other bahn mi places Nha Toi doesn’t put spicy peppers in the sandwich…they give you a very tiny raw chile that you can use as you would like.  I guess you could chop it up, and stick it in the sandwich, but I typically choose to just take a bite here and there  when I want spice.

Nha Toi is one of my favorite bahn mi places in the city (next to Baoguette), and I recommend  trying just about anything.  The three sandwiches I have eaten have all been wonderful, and I plan to go back very soon.

Nha Toi recently remodeled inside (or sometime between last summer and now), and they have a little more seating, and were showing movies on their projector while I was there.  They have also added a couple small tables outside for dining.  It’s a really friendly atmosphere, and I imagine if you can get a table a nice place to eat.  So far I’ve only picked up sandwiches to go.

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Nha Toi is located at
160 Havemeyer St.
(between South 2nd St & South 3rd St)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

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Sorry for the lack of food and beer posts…Northside Fest has made the neighborhood explode with music, so I’ve been trying to let people know about stuff I love.  Normal posting food and beer posting will resume next week.

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• This post is part of This Week In Sandwiches.  More sandwich related posts can be found here.