Ba Le Bakery in Orlando, FL

I was in the mood for some banh mi, so I stopped at Ba Le Bakery on Mills Avenue in Orlando. I have passed by this place plenty of times, but never stopped in. After reading Tasty Chomps! review of the restaurant, I decided I needed to give them a try. This Vietnamese franchise specializes in banh mi sandwiches, but they also had other choices available like pho and meat dishes.

I ordered a shredded pork banh mi for the whopping price of $2.75. The sandwich came on a French baguette filled with pork, cucumbers, cilantro, carrots, and assorted pickled vegetables.

It was a good sandwich for the price, but I had issues with some of the pork. The roast pork was good, but the shredded pork skin called bi wasn't quite as enjoyable. These thin, noodle-like strips of gelatinous pork skin were far too chewy to go on a sandwich.

I liked my sandwich and it's great price, but I have had better banh mi in Orlando. The sandwiches from other nearby restaurants seem to stuff their sandwiches more and also lack the chewy texture that I wasn't happy with...

Phở 88

I have my favorite restaurants in Orlando's Little Vietnam, but on my last trip to the neighborhood, I decided to try something new. I ate at Phở 88, famous for the graffiti murals on the side of the building. I didn't know this at the time, but phở is actually the name for a type of Vietnamese soup consisting of meat and noodles. Perhaps if I knew this beforehand, I would have made a point to order a soup dish, but now I know for next time.

The meal started out with a Summer Roll appetizer. The two rolls were filled with shrimp, cucumbers, cilantro, and vermicelli noodles. A bowl of peanut sauce accompanied the rolls. These summer rolls were okay, but I've had much better elsewhere. The outside wrappers seemed thicker than what is normally served and they were quite gummy. The fillings could have used more variety as well. There was too much vermicelli and not enough vegetables.


For the main course, I had Grilled Shrimp served over vermicelli. It came with plenty of noodles with the shrimp and assorted vegetables on top. A vinegar based sauce came on the side. It was very tasty, although I remember getting a similar dish at Viet Garden in the past that came with probably double the amount of vegetables. But this wasn't Viet Garden, it was Pho 88 so I have no complaints...