Mi Lah

When I was looking for vegan and vegetarian restaurants on yelp, I stumble upon Mi Lah (30th Station, 2955 Market Street). Their menu was not extensive so beforehand I was able to decide I wanted to try their Buffalo Hoagie and their Char Siu Bao. Char Siu Bao was one of my favorite foods as a child but once I became a pescartarian, I had never have it again nor have I tried vegetarian or vegan versions of it. Hence, I was really looking forward to experiencing it again. However, when I arrived around noon, all the Char Siu Baos were gone! How could that be?! It was still early and I felt like Char Siu Bao is a lunch item. Needless to say I was disappointed. In addition, Buffalo Hoagie was crossed off on their menu. They stated that they no longer sell it(what?!). I came all the way there to learn they had nothing I wanted. Since I was already there, I decided to give their Vietnam Hoagie a try.

The Vietnamese Hoagie came with marinated tofu, cucumber, shredded carrots, veganaise, and cilantro. I was not a big fan of this hoagie. I thought the tofu had a funky smell. It was salty. It tasted like they use alot of soy sauce in the marinate and the soy sauce did not got well with the tofu and the other spices they used or the tofu was marinated a very long time creating this weird salty taste and smell. The texture of the tofu was interesting, though. It reminded me of Vietnamese pork rolls (Cha Luo) which I didn't mind. It was flavors that I did not like. The carrots were also not pickled. In other banh mi I had before the carrots were pickled. The cucumber and cilantro were fresh, but I wouldn't say it complement this meal because I thought the tofu marinate was overpowering. I don't think they toasted my bread. It didn't taste toasted. It tasted average and was mildly chewy Although Mi Lah got good reviews on yelp, I was highly disappointed especially since I paid $8 for this hoagie.  Not sure if I have a different taste bud than everyone else but I did not like this Vietnamese hoagies at Mi Lah. I felt like Ba Le Bakery and Kung Fu Hoagies have way better vegetarian vietnamese hoagies. I will be reviewing the two places mentioned in the latter in future posts. 

Vietnamese Hoagie