Huong Lan

In a city full of Vietnamese eateries, Huong Lan is a favorite banh mi spot in San Jose.  While Huong Lan seems to be a popular choice, I prefer Thanh Huong  (see post HERE) when I'm in San Jose.  The $2.75 sandwiches makes it a cheap eats spot when you are in the area.

Besides the classic banh mis, Huong Lan sells rice noodles, spring rolls, and various take out dishes.

Combo #1 - Banh mi with headcheese, pate, and ham.  The bread was soft and fresh, but lacked that light crispiness that I find in a good banh mi.  Another thing I don't like here is the meat is sliced into very thin slices, which would be ok if there was more meat.  Its really difficult to taste the full flavor of the meats because of the skimpy portions.  It throws off the filling to bread ratio, but I do like how the jalapenos have a nice kick here.

Usually you can't go wrong with bbq pork banh mi, but here the puny portion was hard to overlook.  The meat didn't have that sweet, juicy pork flavor.  I was disappointed to find that the bbq pork was also sliced rather than the thick, chunky cuts of pork I'm used to seeing.

Address:              Huong Lan
                             1655 Tully Rd.
                             San Jose, CA
    

Type:                    Vietnamese/Sandwiches

Popular chomps:  grilled pork sandwich
                              combo #1

Chomp worthy:     nothing