Street Eats: Tasty Vietnamese Banh Mi and Thai Drinks at Rollbox

Even though we've now trawled through a series of disappointing attempts at finding satisfying street eats in the form of jianbing, puffy egg torches, street burgers, and cloudy cotton candy ice-cream, the hunt for discovering new and tasty street-side nibbles marches on, hopefully towards something edible. And by jove, we may just have found something.

Banh mi is an umbrella term for the bread, similar to a baguette, introduced to Vietnam during the French colonial period as well as the sandwich made with said bread, often filled with meat, fresh cucumber, cilantro, and carrot. Think of it as a light and relatively healthy take on a hoagie. Rollbox, at their two branches in Chaowai Soho and Xingfucun Zhonglu, serve up six delicious variations on this Southeast Asian snack, including pork, barbecue pork, chicken, beef satay, tuna roll, and egg salad, ranging between RMB 15-30.

Their Xingfucun branch, which just opened in September and is located next to Ling Er Jiu Noodles and Mr. Shi’s latest venue, seats about 10 people around neat, white tables, where we enjoyed both a pork (RMB 25) and barbecue pork roll (RMB 28). Both of these sandwiches were delicious and hit the spot in this increasing frigid weather.

Each crisp and airy roll came packed with slices of carrot, preserved radish, cabbage, cucumber, cilantro, bird's eye chilies, lettuce, sliced pork, and ham, and were brought together with a spread of paté and mayonnaise. The barbecue rendition was suped-up with slabs of smoky pork and every foreigner's favorite: a few whisps of pork floss, which added to the saltiness of the sandwich while complementing the sweetness of the carrot.

Rollbox also offers coffees (RMB 15-32), teas, hot chocolate, as well as a number of Southeast Asian drinks, such as Thai milk tea, Thai lemon tea, and Thai green milk tea. The Thai milk tea (RMB 15) is brewed using black tea, and is not as sweet as the versions found in Thailand.

While the shop opens at a relatively early 9.30am, we hope that they'd consider cracking their doors even earlier so as to catch the commuter crowd as this cozy shop with friendly service, good coffee, and a quick takeaway lunch is just what we need to face a grueling day of work.

Rollbox
Daily 9.30am-8pm. Xingfucun Zhonglu, near Ling Er Jiu Noodles, Dongcheng District (177 1091 8725)
东城区幸福村中路（靠近零贰玖油泼面）

Daily 9.30am-8pm. 139A Yanzi Hutong, Chaowai Soho, Chaoyang District (177 1091 8725)
朝阳区朝外Soho燕子胡同139A

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Photos: Tracy Wang