Nam Cafe
“It's rare you find a super legit Viet place in Chinatown with a great staff, fair prices, cozy atmosphere and amazing food.”
“One of the best and most authentic banh mi you can find in NYC.”
“Stopped by on a Saturday night to grab some sandwiches for home and left with 2 huge foot long sandwiches.”
Nam Cafe
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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Extensive menu indeed! I will frequent this little cafe when I have a chance.
I got the pork belly and classic bahn mi – both were very yummy. I love how soft the bread is. They were really generous with the portion and the flavors were really good. I love how the pate, ham and pork mesh together with the pickled carrots/radish and cucumbers.
And good value! Only $5.50 a sandwich, which definitely filled me up.
I also ordered the grilled lemongrass chicken over rice. The rice was coated with currry powder and it was so delish The chicken was okay, but overall loved the meal.
Very fast service. They have an extremely small restaurant, may four or five tables, tops. I've ordered the Spring Rolls, Banh Mi Dac Biet, , Com Bo Luc Lac, and Vermicelli Salad with BBQ pork. I eat here often.
Upfront caveat: 3 stars is for the food (and obvi everyone has nuanced tastes as to what they call authentic). 4 stars would be for service.
This place is run by the nicest couple who really pour their heart and soul into the restaurant. The service is incredibly warm, thoughtful, and attentive – surprise chocolate candy bars appear during your meal! And you can really tell they are proud to run this cozy place. The food is very home style so I think it's just a matter of my preference and perspective (obvi biased towards my mom and grandma's versions of Vietnamese dishes haha!). I only tried the cha gio (tasty but the dau ju needed to be more pickled), thit nuong cuon (disappointing), and hu tieu sate soup (needed more sate flavor and less pho broth) but it seems everyone else is talking about the banh mi.
Adorable family-owned place with authentic banh mi for only $6! Stopped by on a Saturday night to grab some sandwiches for home and left with 2 huge foot long sandwiches. The little place is tiny with only 4 tables next to each other but the vibe was very warm and felt like a home. The sweet grandma and grandpa sure took their time to put together the sandwiches but it was worth the wait! I had the BBQ pork and pork belly sandwich but definitely go for the deliciously sweet and savory BBQ pork. The pork belly pieces were sparse and too fatty to enjoy but the flavor was still very good along with their yummy sauce and crisp bread. Would love to come back and try their pho!
Life in NYC compels my desire to find the best banh mi that this city has to offer. Alas, after dining at this place, my search for the best seems bound to be perpetual. After a couple weeks going sans banh mi on my lunch hours, I was compelled to rectify this. Trying a new joint crossed my mind, and this place came up as an unfamiliar name on the "banh mi" search.
Upon walking in, I saw that the space was tiny and charming; certainly deserving of the "cafe" designation as seen on the joint's namesake. The list of banh mi wasn't terribly staggering (three or four options at most). I opted for the pork belly banh mi (#6 on the lunch menu, I believe). It had pieces of braised pork belly, pork roll, headcheese, and an assortment of pickled vegetables.
I was pleased with the size, as it seemed a bit bigger than other comparably priced banh mi. Upon gripping the sandwich, the exterior started to flake off a tiny bit, which I liked. I have to admit, I was pretty excited about taking my first bite. That all changed after the first bite; actually first bite wasn't terrible, I got a mouthful of pork belly in the bite. Though braised, it was a bit dry… the worst part was how salty the pork belly pieces in the sandwich are. And with every bite it got saltier and saltier. The pickled veg wasn't even coming through… that's how salty it was; I was hungry though, so I kept eating.
By the time I got to the end of the sandwich, the end section was soggied up a bit by the braising liquid. I thought to myself, "Well, this bite can't be nearly as disappointing as the rest of this sandwich." After sticking the rest in my mouth… boom… salt lick. What could have been a fairly decent sandwich ended up being mediocre. A bunch of promising components brought down by a salt mine's worth of the stuff.
I might come back to try the more traditional banh mi on the menu… but let me cleanse all the salt out of my system first.
It's all about the pork here at Nam Cafe.
My bún was relatively standard, nice noodles, fresh veggies and a generous portion, except for that other white meat. It comes very warm, heated to be hotter than the rest of the dish. Each piece has plenty of char, which makes it resemble the pork in cha siu fan compared to other places on this block.
Pork this tasty needs to be rationed or at least throughly mixed into to prevent eating all of the meat at once. It's just that great.
Nam Cafe is clearly mostly a delivery and takeout operation, the three tables on the right wall are just there for people like me who live too far away to get this away else. It would be hard to squeeze a group of any more than four people in any sort of reasonable configuration.
Given a craving for pork and a small group size, though, this is a very solid option.
Get to the Chase:
Pros:
1) Best to get Banh Mi's and not their other dishes
2) Consistently decent quality
3) Used to be my favorite delivery place (ordered there more than 5 times)
4) Delivery guy always polite and smiling, not usually rude or pissed off
Cons:
1) Not all their dishes are great
2) Owner biked/drove all the way to my place to tell me that he was right and I was wrong…if in the end he was not going to exchange or give me what I want, he could easily have said so on the phone. Although I appreciate him traveling all the way, it was a complete waste of both of our time.
3) 2 out of the 5 times they forgot to put my coke in the order…doesn't seem difficult to remember
4) Increased their Banh Mi prices to $6.00
5) Takes 1 hour to make and deliver 2 sandwiches!
Maybe I'll give them another try…
OK so I ordered from here on Seamless after my co-worker ordered from them the night before. I go the Banh Mi Dac Diet ($5.50) holy crap best Banh Mi I've had in NYC yet for traditional style, although it lacks the chile peppers. The pork, headcheese, and pork belly rocked on the perfectly crusty bread. The sauce was off the charts. I love love this place. I also got the Canh CHua Tom Soup with shrimp and lemongrass, okra, and carrots. Broth was silky and the soup really hit the spot. Delivery was ultra fast. I will be trying more of the menu.