A sandwich at Cay Cafe, a bánh mì shop in Fremont, California.
out of 100 · very good
Very good, with one move worth +13.
Reads as a banh mi, five of six roles on the board.
Holding the summit: balance 0.80 or better
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.
banh mi, served cold: fried tofu flavored with lemongrass; house-made mayo; cilantro; jalapenos; pickled daikon and carrot.
Worth a look: rare in the Bay Area (5 or fewer shops): Lemongrass.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 0.3 | 11th |
| acid | 0.7 | 58th |
| fat | 1.9 | 38th |
| sweet | 0.1 | 23rd |
| umami | 0.5 | 14th |
| heat | 0.3 | 77th |
| bitter | 0.4 | 87th |
63 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| banh miscored as Bánh Mì Baguette (rice-flour blend) | bread | crispy soft flaky | the frame |
| fried tofu flavored with lemongrassscored as Tofu | protein | fat 2 soft silky | +3 |
| house-made mayoscored as Lemongrass | aromatic | +1 | |
| cilantroscored as Mayonnaise | sauce | fat 5 acid 2 creamy saucy | +13 |
| jalapenosscored as Cilantro | aromatic | bitter 2 soft fresh herbal | +1 |
| pickled daikon and carrotscored as Jalapeño | texture | heat 4 crunchy fresh raw | +6 |
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
- Between you and 90: balance 0.80 or better (0.17 short).
All the sandwiches at Cay Cafe · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder