209 1 St SE, Calgary

To continue with our brief YYC Food Tour, we went to Thi Thi Vietnamese Submarine. Banh Mi to Calgary, is like Donairs to Edmonton. It’s ubiquitous. Walking from my airbnb and just a few blocks around, I saw at least 8 different places to get Banh Mi. It’s the food that’s around late at night that you can get after the bar, often open until 3 am. As such, I was on the quest to find the best Banh Mi in the city. I heard of a few recommendations, but finally settled on Thi Thi Vietnamese Submarine, because it was close to the riverfront, and on our way.

The establishment is just an order-and-go type of place, only big enough to fit a few patrons. We opted to order their beef saté and their chicken saté sandwiches, as they were both recommended. It was just a one-man-operation, so if there’s a line up, there could be a bit of a wait. We were just second in line, so it wasn’t too bad. The baguettes are a foot long, typical of the size that I’m used to. It’s really open and transparent so you can see everything that is going on with your sub.

I chatted with the owner a little bit, and he had been working there for almost 28 years. He recognized most of the patrons, as they’re regulars, so he knew immediately that we were out-of-towners. He lathered on a very generous layer of the house-made butter, and the portions of meat in our subs were very substantial.

Both the beef saté and chicken saté sandwiches were delicious, but I’ll have to go with the chicken if I had to choose one. It’s a bit more tender, and less dry. I found that the flavour of the chicken complimented all of the toppings a little bit more. Probably one of the best sandwiches I’ve had. You should give this place a try! And it’s so cheap too!