Munch

A feed for fuck-all

Continuing on from last week’s Munch, here are further variations on a theme of sandwich. 

Where’s Charlie? 

What: Bánh Mì.  

Price: $15.00

When: 11:00–2:00pm; Monday–Friday. 

A golden -brown shell hiding limp lies and dissatisfaction. 

⭐

Pōneke loves its Vietnamese food; between Kent Terrace and Lambton Quay one might pass (in no particular order) The Old Quarter, Apache, Pho Viet, Lemongrass Kitchen, Nam D, Go Vietnam, Go Vietnam (again), Saigon Taste, Saigon Delights, and the questionably-named Where’s Charlie? Take a walk through the Hub and you’ll find him once more, tucked under the stairs to the library. While their foreign policy leaves much to be desired, Vietnam’s cuisine is obviously a popular one. 

So I thought a bánh mì from Where’s Charlie? would skyrocket to the top of my list, expecting it to be tempered only by its price tag. Instead, it was both expensive and disappointing. 

A bánh mì thịt is by design a dynamic recipe: French-style baguette spread with paté, butter and mayonnaise, then filled with Vietnamese pickled vegetables and marinated pork. It can be hearty and fresh at the same time; sweet, sour, salty, spicy, all in a convenient sandwich. This bánh mì was not that. 

There was no zing to it apart from the vinegar in the mayonnaise, which was weak. Soft strips of carrot and sliced cucumber disappeared in a white mush of mixed spreads, without any of the richness I’d expect from the liver paté. Not even the purported sriracha and jalapeños came through with any kick. I picked the ‘classic’ filling—Viet ham and BBQ pork—which was… aight. The two meats were hard to distinguish, without the smokey-sweet flavour that I’d hoped for from the pork. The ham was thick-cut, which was nice and lended the bánh mì more heft, but little else. 

To add insult to injury, I was still hungry after. The sandwich was a couple inches longer than a sub of the day, but not even equally filling. There was something satisfying in crunching through the crust of a baguette, but this was short-lived and left me hankering for more as soon as it was gone. 

Where’s Charlie? gives a slight discount to Vic students, selling their bánh mì for a dollar cheaper than on Lambton Quay. But at double the price of a sub, it’s not nearly worth the expenditure. 

Hunter Lounge

What: 2-for-1 Margherita Pizza.

Price: $10.00

When: 3:00–7:00pm; Fridays. 

****

⭐⭐

Shut up. A pizza is a sandwich: spreads and toppings on bread—albeit open-faced. And for the taxonomic sticklers reading this, at the Hunter Lounge you can get two pizzas for the price of one and then put them together. Boom, unequivocal sandwich. 

Everyone who’s ever attended a VUWSA quiz will have discovered that the Hunter Lounge does rather good pizza. Their menu offers some reasonable dinner options, ranging from a $10 Margherita to the $18 ‘The Graduate’ meatlovers. In fact, the medium Margherita makes an alright lunch too, but making the trek down through the Student Union and sitting in the bar in between lectures just never seems to happen. 

However, sweetening the deal twofold makes for a brilliant way to end a long week. On Friday evenings, one blue note gets you two Margheritas, which is a grand dinner that could even leave a few slices for a hungover Saturday lunch. The pizza sauce is sweet and a little tart, to cut through the chewy mozzarella and what I suspect are parmesan flakes. All of this comes on a fresh and got-to-be-hand-made base that’s rolled thin and baked until a little charred. A lot of the dough’s flavour comes through with their Margherita, because they are frugal with the basil. It is more plain than one might expect, but certainly still a tasty pizza made with high-quality ingredients. 

If you’ve got any budget left over for a drink, their jugs of Abandoned lager are as cheap as Tui from JJ’s. I’ve had many great friday nights start with a couple of pizzas and a jug here. Dinner deal aside, however, I think the Hunter Lounge still makes for a solid, mid-tier lunch option. It’s not much further than Ramsey House and almost as homely, better value than most places around the Hub, and even one pizza goes a decent way.