Daily Choice, Southern Cross Arcade

I had to grab lunch on the go today. Fortunately, that bastion of cheap, delicious eating - Southern Cross Arcade - just happened to be on my way between here and there and Daily Choice just happened to have the shortest line. That's unusual for Daily Choice because they do arguably the best banh mi in the CBD - although unfortunately they seem to be receiving less custom now that Soonta Rolls has opened up. I don't really rate Soonta Rolls - the sauces are cloyingly sweet and over applied while their rolls always leave a strange metallic aftertaste.

I ordered the stewed beef roll and smashed half of it before I remembered to take a quick snap.



Delicately flavoured with star anise the stewed beef was meltingly soft while the lettuce and lightly pickled carrots provided a bit of crunch and cut through. I suspect the chillies are grown in someones backyard because some of these little firecrackers pack quite the wallop. But the thing that really sets the Daily Choice banh mi from apart is the quality and consistency of the bread rolls. You'll never find a stale roll here. Rather, they are crisp and crunchy on the outside while being light and chewy inside.

The staff at Daily Choice have got banh mi making down to a fine art so that even when the lines are long the wait is pretty short. And at $4.50 per roll - the price is right (see the Larry Emdur comeback reference I made there?).