We recently popped into Whaam Banh Mi in London’s Soho to pick up a midweek supper and get our fix for Vietnamese food. This startup has recently opened and looks like its quickly trying to make its mark in Soho’s ever evolving food scene. WBM is a small fit-out, easily spotted from it’s yellow frontage (and queues at lunchtime we’re told). On a Wednesday evening, there was no queue however, so we walked straight in and met the owner, Tom, who introduced us to the menu and concept of Banh Mi, which translates into ‘wheat bread’ from Vietnamese and is effectively a baguette sandwich filled with meat, fresh herbs (and chilli).

As our first choice (BBQ shredded pork) was sold out, we opted for the Luc Lac Brisket Banh Mi (£6.50), spring rolls (£1.50 each), a mixture of two salads Indochina Coleslaw with Goju berries and Ben Thanh brown rice with edamame beans with a topping of lemongrass chicken (£7), as well as a couple of drinks.

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Food was slightly slow being prepared, but it was the end of the day (and a long shift for the boys’ new venture no doubt). There was no rush so we chatted with Tom and his colleague whilst they finished our order, then took our takeout to Soho square to enjoy in the last of the evening sun.

We were a little disappointed with the Luc Lac Brisket in our Banh Mi as it was a little tough – perhaps because we were one of the last orders of the day; however we enjoyed the flavour of their homemade marinade. The salads on the other hand were a delicious mix and we definitely recommend asking for a combination of two. The lemongrass chicken was very moreish and the gently kick from the wasabi mayonnaise completed the flavour balance well.

The spring rolls were fresh, crunchy and well presented, although in hindsight we should have asked for some sweet chilli to dip these into. At £1.50 each, they are very good value!

Overall we enjoyed the food and we’d like to go back to try the BBQ shredded pork. We visited after only a week from their opening and the team were still getting up to speed with production, so by the time you read this article we expect that they’ll be churning through orders to the pace of the lunchtime queues.

If you’d like to try out this Vietnamese venue, Whaam Banh Mi is located at: 40 Great Windmill Street, London, W1D 7LY. To view their menus online, visit http://www.whaambanhmi.com.