I went to +84 with Michal and Jonathan, plus two surprise guests: Bamba and Mary Puppins! That’s right: Bamba and Mary were welcomed inside. +84 is a dog-friendly café. It is also a hidden gem on College between Dovercourt and Dufferin. I'm afraid to write this review because it's the kind of place that if people find out, I'll never get a seat there again.
I’ll say this now, in case you don’t make it to the end: this is the best bánh mì in the city.
I’m not kidding. Yes, it’s better than Bloor Street. Yes, it’s better than many of the bánh mì I’ve had in Vietnam. If there were a bánh mì Olympics, this is the sandwich I’d put forward to represent Toronto. I think we have a medal contender here.
The café feels like somebody’s living room that they decided one morning to turn into a business. There are Vietnamese vinyl records on the wall, a piano, a sofa, and the proprietors’ corgi, Meow Meow, available for a chat while you wait. It’s warm and relaxed and lovely, even if you failed to bring a dog.
Then the food comes, and you know right away that it’s going to be good. I mean, just look at this cross-section.
A bánh mì is a balancing act, and this one is perfectly balanced. There’s a generous heap of roasted pork belly, a sauce that isn’t too sweet, just the right amount of heat, and vegetables that are gently pickled but still properly crunchy. Nothing takes over. Everything gets its turn.
Even the cilantro has been thought through. It’s cut into small pieces, on an angle, so you get the right amount in every bite instead of pulling out an entire sprig with your teeth on bite number one. This is a tiny detail. It is also the kind of tiny detail that tells you somebody here is taking the sandwich very seriously.
First bite: holy smokes. Best in the city.
The pork came in proper chunks: chewy around the edges, soft and juicy inside, and deeply delicious. The sauce played nicely with the spice instead of covering everything in sugar. The roasted pork belly was an explosion of flavour. A few pieces were fattier than I personally prefer, though I recognize that most of the world would consider this a feature and that I am the problem.
Next time I’m going to try the fish cake. The lemongrass chicken also has my name on it, which creates a logistical problem that can only be solved by returning more than once.
The menu is organized as a little tour of Vietnam by city. Ours was the Huế roasted pork, from central Vietnam. The lemongrass chicken I’m already planning to order is Đà Nẵng. This was exciting to me because I went down a Đà Nẵng rabbit hole a few months ago and spent many hours doing what I’m going to generously call research on YouTube. Đà Nẵng is having a moment, for those in the know. I am apparently now one of those people.
If I have to nitpick, the weakest link was the bread — and even that feels strange to write. Owner Amy Lam has a pâtisserie degree from Le Cordon Bleu, and they bake the bread fresh. It was light, with a nice crust and a good chew. It was good bread. It just didn’t feel like it was at its absolute peak when we had it. I need to come back when a loaf has just come out of the oven.
But let’s keep this criticism in perspective. If the weakest part of a sandwich is still very good, and the sandwich is still the best in Toronto, then everything else is doing an outrageous amount of work.
Now for the analysis. Better than Bloor? Yes. Would I go back if I was in the neighbourhood? I would go back if I was not in the neighbourhood. Would I bring the dogs? Obviously.
Verdict: Send it to the Olympics
I didn't order this, but I'm 100% getting it next time...
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