Nurturing reputation
Banh Mi Caphe has moved to larger premises and, as Denise Irvine discovers, that means the extended family is now cultivating the eatery’s signature fresh herbs.
When Anh Chaimontree was growing up in Hamilton she spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her grandmother, Hong Nguyen. Her earliest job was pretty basic – plucking herbs – but over time her grandmother began teaching her more and more about the light, fresh flavours and ingredients that underpin her family’s Vietnamese cuisine.
Nowadays many more people get to enjoy Hong’s recipes; they are the core of the menu at Banh Mi Caphe, the Vietnamese eatery in Victoria St run by Anh and her chef husband, Pat Chaimontree.
Banh Mi Caphe moved just before Christmas from its original southend site to premises adjacent to Riverbank Lane, opening onto the city’s bold new Victoria on the River precinct. The restaurant has grown from a 43-seater to 120. The fresh fit-out is the work of Alexander Wastney of local company Designwell, and it neatly mixes Asian and industrial chic elements with touches of Vietnam’s French colonial era.
Anh and Pat are hands-on owner-operators at Banh Mi. Pat, who is Thai, runs the kitchen and Anh has recently given up her job as a radiographer to be the restaurant’s administrator. There’s plenty of family support: Anh’s uncle, Qui Phan, is a senior chef, and her parents – Phuong and Diem Thai – are also involved. Phuong works some kitchen shifts and Diem makes the restaurant’s crunchy baguettes.
Phuong and Diem came to New Zealand from South Vietnam as war refugees in 1980. Although
they are both from the same town on the Mekong Delta, they met and married in Hamilton. The couple has run Tommos Bakery in Glenview for 30 years.
The family-style Vietnamese food that Anh learned from her grandmother remains at the heart of the stylish new restaurant, which offers a mix of classic Vietnamese street food, noodle dishes and salads. There is banh mi (filled baguette), banh xeo (savoury pancake); goi cuon (summer rolls); goi (mint and cabbage salad); bun (noodle salad); pho (noodle soup), and more. There is a vegan menu as well, and desserts such as rice pudding and Vietnameseinspired banana cake.
Pat says herbs are key to Vietnamese food – the sharp flavours of coriander and mint – along with fresh vegetables, delicious sauces, noodles and broths. Vietnam’s long-ago French colonisers also had a strong influence on local cuisine. Banh mi – the baguettes that his eatery is named for – are a case in point, a French standard filled with fresh Vietnamese ingredients.
Says Anh: “Our food is light, we want people to appreciate the herbs, the crunchy shallots and peanuts. The sauce or dressing is always just to finish, not drown the food; you still want to taste the coriander and mint.”
To ensure a consistent supply of key herbs, Anh’s mother has turned her entire backyard into a vegetable patch to feed the restaurant, and Anh and Pat are about to do the same. They’re growing Vietnamese mint, three different types of basil, and less-well-known herbs such as fish mint and purple perilla.
Vietnamese mint is crucial to the restaurant’s signature summer rolls comprising prawns, vermicelli noodles, shredded iceberg lettuce, chopped mint and coriander, all folded into rice paper wrappers. These are served with a tangy hoisin dipping sauce (see recipe).
Anh and Pat are proud of their new place, and the family effort that underpins it. “We didn’t really know what to expect,” says Pat. “It’s been big.”
Banh Mi Caphe opens for lunch and dinner, Tuesday to Saturday; 298 Victoria St, ph (07) 839 1141.