DD Mau Banh Mi - Viet Subs with a Twist

Another day and another VANEATSca package, this time it was for DD Mau, a banh mi place in Yaletown. For those of you unfamiliar with Banh Mi, they are Vietnamese subs made with freshly warmed baguette, a variety of meats and a load of pickled carrots and daikon, and a sprinkling of cilantro and jalapenos. I know it sounds simple, but it's really tasty and filled with a ton of flavour.

The VANEATSca package is just $9.50 and allows you to get a taste of what these sandwiches are all about. Details of the package:

• Two half subs, one of Grilled Lemongrass Chicken with grilled chicken thighs and another is the Crispy Roasted Pork with crispy roasted pork, sauteed scallions. Both of these are loaded with pickled veggies, cilantro and jalapenos, as well as smeared with a garlic aioli dressing
• Your choice of avocado or honeydew Smoothie, with almond milk and condensed milk too.

 

As soon as you walk it, you can't help but stare at the Crispy Roast Pork hanging in the glass case. See how lean the meat is, and I can only imagine how crunchy the skin is going to be!
Here are some of the sauces that they use for these various menu items. As a kid, I would put maggi on everything, from scrambled eggs to fried rice and even oatmeal, yes, oatmeal. It's like a cheat version of congee at that point, but don't knock it until you've tried it! Other commonly used sauces include Hoisin sauce as well as the Sriracha we all know, and the Vietnamese staple, fish sauce. 
We arrived just as they were prepping for lunch and this is how they do it. In addition to the banh mi, they also offer a Bun, a vermicelli based entree where you can customize to your liking by adding various proteins. 
So as I said before, the VANEATSca package comes with one full sub using two different proteins. We decided to supplement that with another full sub, called the classic. Here is a group shot of the three we got. 
This is a close up of the Lemongrass Chicken. The lemongrass flavour is very pronounced despite the presence of jalapenos. The chicken itself was very tender; the only thing I didn't like was that the skin was still on it. Easy enough to pick off, but that would be my only complaint. Had the skin been crispier, I might not have minded.
And here is the Roast Pork one, and in this case, I didn't mind the skin being on there at all! In fact, the skin was probably the best part. The meat was salty and had a good roasted flavour, but the highlight was definitely the skin, crispy bits of fattiness, but not so that it was oily. Even my mom, who isn't a meatlover raved about this and ended up polishing this off after I had a few bites.
Knowing one banh mi wouldn't be enough for all three of us, my stepdad picked The Classic for his first foray into the world of banh mi. He actually picked the Lemongrass Chicken first, but I made him try something else so we could have a bit more of a variety. The classic had the Vietnamese ham, as well as some other mild deli meats and a smear of pate. The flavours and texture was much milder compared to the two we already had, but it's definitely a good rendition of the traditional version.
And as with most days, my eyes are bigger than my stomach, so I said that we had to order something from the Bun (Vermicelli) menu as well. With a base of noodles, some picked veggies and a bit of green salad, you get to pick your choice of toppings, $7.80 for two item and $9.80 for three. As mentioned, my mom isn't a huge fan of meat, so we ended up getting the Lemongrass Chicken and Tofu as her toppings. She raved about the tofu, and really enjoyed how well marinated and seasoned it was.

 

And the final dish was our Honeydew smoothie, which was really rich and creamy. The honeydew flavours were very subtle, and it was very thick. We left it to the end and ended up eating with our forks. It was so thick that it was hard to drink with a straw.
See below for the video version of this offer.
VANEATSca and DD Mau gave me the Dining Pass, but all extras were paid for by me.

Take Note:

• Not a fan of cilantro or jalapeno, tell them when ordering and they'll customize it for you
• Daily special banh mi available, they had a tamarind duck on the day I went
• If you like strong coffee, get the Hot Coffee with condensed milk - potent