This place has been on my radar for about a month now. I asked everyone to name some places that I should try, and I have been looking forward to the day I could finally carve out time to dine in rather than hustle out with a to-go bag. Well, it finally happened, and I’ll do my best to share my experience below.
Short version:
This place is clean, bright, and well laid out for the space. The food is very flavorful and worth the visit. Everything is fresh, quality ingredients, and worth the visit. The drinks range from health cleanses to sweat treats. They offer a small market area to buy fish sauce, and other items. I enjoyed the visit, do not wait like I did, go
Long version:
Nestled in the same lot as El Chico, between Scrubtastic and Pak n Post and facing the service road of 30, this restaurant might be narrow, but it extends deep. The space surprisingly feels large and open after you walk inside. The decor maintains a pristine condition, uncommon for spots older than a year—a testament to their meticulousness. It’s genuinely a charming setup, fresh and inviting. Their consistent A+ health department ratings come as no surprise.
You walk through the dining area to the order counter near the back. There is a brightly illuminated menu on the back wall behind the order corner. It draws you in as you pass ion the left the coolers full of prepared drinks, bottled, beverages, and the condiment station with sauces and utensils. The dining areas has tables surrounded by low sitting tools with no backs, really adding to the open feel. On the right-side there is a small market stacked with a cute tower of wooden crates all laid on their side and built into a display shelf. It’s filled with different items like sauces and utensils for enjoying Vietnamese style foods. I did notice they carry the popular brand of Surachai Sauce that you can’t find at the stores. They offer a variety of sandwiches, rolls and bowls. The drink menu is full of health inspired beverages. I will share what we ordered and our thoughts on the item below.
My wife Nicole and I were able to escape for a lunch date, which makes things even better since I can try more than just my order! I went with the Bulgogi Beef Sandwich with a Marias Elixir, and my wife went with the Bulgogi Beef Bowl, with an Iced tea. Oh yeah, about that trying different things, not this time as the flavors were similar. I’m a bread guy and loved the sandwich though.
Bulgogi Beef Sandwich $11.95
add Avocado $1.50 add fried egg $1.50
Total $14.95
This sandwich is made using a crispy baguette, so you get that amazing chew to the bread, but was surprisingly light. Filling the bread was the star of the show, the bulgogi beef, accompanied with sliced cucumber, fresh sliced jalapenos, cilantro, shredded pickled carrots and daikon, and the fried egg and avocado. The very first thing that comes to me when I took my first bite was, FRESH. The carrots where sweet, the cucumber even tasted like, well, cucumber. In a world of fried, heavy sauces, and over worked food, this place gives you what you want, solid, fresh, tasty food.
Pro Tip: if you opt for the fried egg, go for two, because it only sits on one side of the sandwich or dead center. Go for broke and get two eggs, trust me.
Marias Elixir: $5.50
(Organic lemon, ginger and local honey tea)
Talk about flavorful, there is plenty of ginger in here for sure and it taste very bright and refreshing. Nicole was not fan, but she doesn’t like anything ginger forward, she only likes ginger ale because the ginger is not as pronounced. This stuff was great paired with the meal and I will be ordering it again. I imagine it is all fresh squeezed so it will vary from fruit to fruit on consistency, so bare that in mind.
Bulgogi Bowl:
(Organic Spring salad, bean sprouts, cilantro, mint, cucumber, pickled carrots and daikon, jalapenos (optional) and Rive Vermicelli. You can substitute vermicelli with jasmine rice, Brown rice or organic quinoa.
This is everything you get one sandwich sub-bread for the noodles. Both are amazing, but the dressing they served with the bowl, some type of vinaigrette, was mouth-wateringly divine with the salad. I could have treated my sandwich like a French dip and drenched my sandwich in that stuff, and I will on my next visit!! The bowl was far more filling than the sandwich, as there is so much more to it, but I love bread. I could not decide on which I liked better since the flavors are so similar I do look forward to trying more of the menu on the next visit. I will be ordering a side of the dressing for this bowl so that I can put it on my sandwich for the next visit!
Iced Tea: $3
The tea was well-brewed, and a far cry from the insipid “dirty water” that some establishments dare call tea. As a convert from sweet tea, I appreciated its strong, clean flavor. You do receive free refills while you dine in also.
Final thoughts: Everything was very bright and vibrant, clean and crisp. Just a satisfying meal on every level. The staff were all so kind, every question I had about the menu, they were overly patient with me and answered all my questions. Even the ones that were repetitive and dumb, especially when they have full posters that tell you all the ingredients of the items right next to the order area. Thank you to everyone that mentioned this place and helped me find a new place to add to my rotation! I will be back to try out the rest of the menu, I can only imagine it is just as good or better than what we already had. Though, thinking it could be better, is hard to imagine. They delivered a solid meal, with solid ingredients, executed flawlessly. Do not hesitate to stop in, and spend your money, and your time here.
Thank you to the community for your unwavering support and for the haters that always comment “too long” and never see the “short version at the very begging. No matter who you are or why you read, thank you for indulging my culinary chronicles!
Healthy Banh Mi
539 E Interstate 30 Rockwall, TX 75087
(469) 314 – 1294
Nick Hughes
I’m a devoted father and husband. What you see is what you get. I love God, family, food & baseball!
If you ever see me out and about, don’t hesitate to say hello, or give me a recommendation on the next place I should try! [email protected]
