Bánh
Christine Tran trained in pastry at Le Cordon Bleu, and she spent a year developing the baguette before she would sell a sandwich on it, because standard baguettes hurt her gums (Vittles, 2024).
Why go
Tran bakes the bread on site every day and the shop is built around the oven, with roughly three quarters of the floor given over to kitchen and prep and two shared tables left for anyone eating in. Jessica Wang described what that year of work produced: a crust that compresses under the mere pinching pressure of an index and thumb, cracking into a mosaic of bread.
2 She makes the fillings in house too, including the pate, the pickles and the pork floss, which is the part most banh mi counters buy in. Staff toast each baguette to order before it is filled (Time Out, 2025).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Classic. The Infatuation lists the build as
char siu, pâté, a slice of pork belly roll, ham hock, a pork patty, and pork floss
and calls ittotally perfect.
If you want a second dish, the same review rates the bobo beef stew rice bowl asexcellent.
- Avoid: treating it as a sit-down lunch. There are two shared tables and the room is a working bakery.
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation (2024): Jake Missing scored it 8.4/10 on 21 May 2024, calling the sandwiches
some of the flakiest, juiciest, and most downright delicious bánh mì in London,
with the bread doing the work:the baguettes are perfect, crispy shelled with a fluffy interior.
1 - Time Out London (2025): Thuy Hoang's 12 March 2025 listing credits Christine Tran, whose
steely determination led her to perfect the art of the famed Vietnamese bánh mì,
and names the Buddha,featuring homemade plant-based pork alternative,
alongside the Classic.3 - Local rec: Jeff's list, saved off Vittles as the best banh mi in London (his note below).
Good to know
- Booking: none taken. Walk up to the counter and expect a queue at peak lunch.
- Hours: no source publishes them, and the shop has no site of its own. Check the Maps listing before you travel.
- Hygiene, current: the business trades as Banhs Project Ltd and holds an FSA rating of 3, inspected on 26 June 2026 by Hackney. Food handling scored Good and management of food safety generally satisfactory, while cleanliness and condition of facilities was marked Improvement Necessary4. That is well clear of any safety threshold, and it is the newest hard fact on record here.
- Dietary: the Buddha uses a house-made plant-based pork substitute, but the shop publishes no allergen or vegan statement, so ask about the pate and the sauces before assuming.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Best bahnmi in London according to vittles" REAL.
Verdict
should-visit — Christine Tran trained in pastry at Le Cordon Bleu and spent a year building a baguette recipe before opening, which is why this reads as a bakery that happens to make sandwiches. The Infatuation scored it 8.4 and called the banh mi some of the flakiest and juiciest in London, and the pate, pickles and pork floss are all made on site. That is vertical integration you almost never see at under a tenner. The recent FSA 3 keeps it off the top rung, but the craft is real and the sandwich is worth a trip up Kingsland Road.