At a glance:
Food truck location varies, they have several in-store locations around Boston as well.
Price: $
Stars (out of 5): 4.5
After I got out of class, I waited for 20 minutes for the Bon Me food truck to open their window. I don’t know why I did that, it wasn’t that I heard of Bon Me before (though afterwards, I yelped them and the ratings were quite good so they are very popular) or that I was craving Vietnamese sandwiches/bowls, I was just curious. So I sat there and waited and thought: “this better be good.” And it was. Thank goodness.
The menu is not extensive at all. You can choose any type of dish and add a regular or special filling (basically your choice of protein). But for the low price, they highlight the art of Vietnamese fusion in their food and do what they do quite well. The name: Bon Me, is a play off the Vietnamese word; bhan mi, meaning bread. On the streets of Vietnam, bhan mi like baguettes are stuffed with vegetables, meats, eggs, and even ice cream, to make a Vietnamese sandwich. That concept was brought over to the U.S and incorporated into the bold, unique fusion world. Bon Me serves up non-traditional sandwiches, bowls, noodles, and salads with Vietnamese-inspired cuisine and also cool drinks like Thai basil limeade and spicy ginger lemonade.
After much debate between the delicious looking bowl and the sandwich, I got a miso-braised pulled pork sandwich and a deviled tea egg. The total? $8.50. That is dirt cheap for Boston food. Ok I must say the egg was expensive. $2.50 for one, single egg? Well, at least it was a good egg.
The boiled egg had a fleeting hint of tea, as you can tell by the marbled surface of the egg. (To make tea eggs, the general concept is to hard boil eggs in a tea-based broth.) The yolk was creamy and not dry at all, well done! This variation of deviled egg could not be simpler. The yolk wasn’t even dug up and mixed with mayo or mustard. The mayo was literally dolloped on top of the yolk and paprika was lightly sprinkled over the egg. And lastly, scallion bits topped off the mayo. Genius. The mayo had a kick to it so I think it might’ve been chipotle mayo. I also added a bit of Sriracha to complement the scallion bits.
Let’s now deconstruct the bhan mi sandwich. The baguette was toasted and super crunchy and tasty. The miso-braised pork was seasoned well with black pepper and garlic, but a bit dry. This could be due to the fact that the pulled pork was mostly lean, I wish there were a few bits of fatty meat in there. But no matter, because the meat to veggies ratio was perfect, and the veggies made the whole sandwich pop. The veggies: red onion, daikon, cucumber, carrots, and cilantro, were thinly shredded and pickled with a lightly briny and tangy sauce. Then, a housemade spicy mayo was the right on ingredient to bring the meat and pickled veggies together. Thinking about those pickled vegetables and the cilantro is making me want another sandwich right now. It was fantastic and I couldn’t stop eating it!
Pro tip: if you like Sriracha, definitely try it on your sandwich because it will make the meat more moist and delicious.
Eat on!
(Eats) By the Esplanade 