The Bankstown Bánh Mì Strip, Bankstown City Plaza
Chapel Street and Bankstown City Plaza are ground zero for Sydney's most passionate bánh mì rivalry — a delicious street-food war fought between competing Vietnamese bakeries just metres apart. Crisp baguettes, chargrilled meats, pickled daikon and a wallop of chilli: this is one of the city's great cheap-eat pilgrimages.
Pick Your Side in the Bánh Mì Wars
Phuong18, Nam Ong Hot Bread and Banh Mi Bay Ngo all cluster along Bankstown City Plaza, each waving their own 'Best Bánh Mì in Bankstown' signs with cheerful bravado. The rolls are stuffed with your choice of chicken, pork or mixed cold cuts, layered with pickled carrot and daikon, fresh coriander, cucumber and enough chilli to make your eyes water pleasantly.
The only way to settle the debate is to try them all — and at under $7 a roll, a three-stop tasting tour is entirely feasible and highly recommended. Locals have strong opinions; ask yours at the counter and prepare for a passionate defence of whichever shop you're standing in.
Beyond the Bánh Mì: A Street of Global Flavour
The plaza and surrounding Chapel Street are lined with fishmongers, Asian supermarkets, Middle Eastern sweet shops and Lebanese butchers. Don't miss Chehade El Bahsa and Sons, a Middle Eastern gem stacked with mountains of baklava, clotted cream pastries and custard sweets that make an irresistible post-lunch detour.
For a sit-down meal, An Restaurant (known locally as Pho An) on the plaza is famous for its steaming, deeply fragrant pho brimming with rice noodles — a bowl that has drawn devoted regulars for years. Round out the afternoon with a red velvet brownie from Tee-Lish Brownies for the road.
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