A sandwich at Le Pho Vietnamese Restaurant, a bánh mì shop in Berkeley, California.
out of 100 · excellent
Excellent. Small moves left on the board.
Reads as a banh mi, five of six roles on the board.
Each bar is one pillar of the score, 0 to 100. The tick marks what a sandwich at the summit needs; an amber bar is the one holding this sandwich back.
vietnamese baguette, served cold: Chả Lụa (Vietnamese pork roll); pickled carrot and daikon; cucumber; cilantro; jalapeno; mayonnaise.
In italics: what the name implies and the menu does not list.
Much of this build is inferred from the name; the score is a reading, and it stays out of Le Pho Vietnamese Restaurant's typical score.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 1.1 | 55th |
| acid | 0.6 | 52nd |
| fat | 1.8 | 34th |
| sweet | 0.4 | 51st |
| umami | 1.3 | 42nd |
| heat | 0.3 | 76th |
| bitter | 0.3 | 76th |
80 Balance, out of 100
The seven flavor axes of the whole sandwich, each summed across its layers. The shaded ring is the catalog's middle 80%; the small number under each axis is where this sandwich falls in the catalog. A shape that sits inside the ring is in the range most sandwiches live in; a spike past it is where this one stands apart.
What each layer brings
| Layer | Role | Flavor and texture | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| vietnamese baguettescored as Bánh Mì Baguette (rice-flour blend) | bread | crispy soft flaky | the frame |
| Chả Lụa (Vietnamese pork roll) | protein | umami 4 salt 3 fat 2 springy soft tender | +17 |
| pickled carrot and daikon | not scored | ||
| cucumber | bulk | crunchy juicy fresh | −2 |
| cilantro | aromatic | bitter 2 soft fresh herbal | 0 |
| jalapenoscored as Jalapeño | texture | heat 4 crunchy fresh raw | +1 |
| mayonnaise | sauce | fat 5 acid 2 creamy saucy | +16 |
Points: what the Sandwich Score would lose if that one layer were left out, everything else the same. A negative number means the sandwich scores higher without it. Flavor runs 0 to 5 on each axis.
Pairings
- Cilantro + Jalapeño: banh mi brightwork: green heat and herb
How to raise it
- Outstanding, not legendary: nothing on this sandwich is house-made, named or exceptional.
All the sandwiches at Le Pho Vietnamese Restaurant · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder