A sandwich at Saigon Sandwich, a bánh mì shop in San Francisco, California.
out of 100 · outstanding
Outstanding, and the road to 90 is open.
Reads as a fully realized banh mi, six 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.
french baguette, served cold: Pork; Chả Lụa (Vietnamese pork roll); Mayonnaise; Cilantro; Jalapeño; Pickled Onion.
Balance
| Axis | Value | Catalog percentile |
|---|---|---|
| salt | 1.2 | 59th |
| acid | 1.2 | 78th |
| fat | 2.1 | 46th |
| sweet | 0.7 | 79th |
| umami | 1.7 | 62nd |
| heat | 0.2 | 70th |
| bitter | 0.2 | 66th |
97 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| french baguettescored as Bánh Mì Baguette (rice-flour blend) | bread | crispy soft flaky | the frame |
| Pork | protein | fat 4 umami 4 juicy chewy tender | 0 |
| Chả Lụa (Vietnamese pork roll) | protein | umami 4 salt 3 fat 2 springy soft tender | 0 |
| Mayonnaise | sauce | fat 5 acid 2 creamy saucy | 0 |
| Cilantro | aromatic | bitter 2 soft fresh herbal | 0 |
| Jalapeño | texture | heat 4 crunchy fresh raw | 0 |
| Pickled Onion | acid | acid 4 pickled wet crunchy | +7 |
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
- Pork + Pickled Onion: rich pork wants the pickle's sharp edge
- 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 Saigon Sandwich · The menu this was read from · Build your own in the Sandwich Builder