BEYOND BAKING –BEYOND BÁNH MI

Words By & Images Eddy Urias-Castro

Writing about food for me is so rarely about the food. What draws me to write about food are the stories of care behind the dish and culinary concepts that represent the individuality of the cooks. In short, I think I over romanticise food. Alas, with great expectations, one is often disappointed, especially if you’re hunting for magnificence to translate to prose.

Please, don’t misunderstand - the food and new venues I have recently visited were excellent and serviced by hard working people, deserving of the praise and gratitude of any who experienced their hospitality. However, over the last two editions of The Rezzadent I have been uninspired - there had been nothing new that I had heard of or tasted, that compelled me to express my joy in words.

If you have guessed by now that I have recently been inspired and enamoured by something truly wondrous, then you’d have guessed right. It was in mid-march of 2023 that I learned of a new way to eat the most delicious Vietnamese sandwich. A sandwich born from French colonial defeat in Vietnam, where the baguette was freed from the tradition of cold cuts, butter and cheese and filled with local ingredients, at the behest of

Saigon residents in the 1950s. Those residents travelled far and wide and we’ve reaped the benefits - the pleasure and privilege of enjoying the truly inspiring sandwich, the bánh mi.

I thought I had tried every reasonable variation of bánh mi, but at Beyond Baking on Plenty road in Reservoir, it’s the fundamentals that have been developed. Simple but genius, the bánh mi is served on a fresh, warm baguette and the flavour enhancement is in a word, definitive. The ingredients simple. So far I have devoured the pork with crackle and lemongrass chicken and both are phenomenal. What makes the warm roll so special is the crunchy exterior, with a soft chewy bread that is made to soak up the meat juices and lift your spirits with every bite. Here it’s not just fresh bread baked daily, but fresh bread baked throughout the day and kept warm. A labour that most bakers can understand requires laborious timing and effort.

This bánh mi deserves lines out the front and a fan fare usually reserved for Banh Mi on Smith St, Victoria St, or in Footscray. Every time I’ve been to Beyond Baking, a roll has either just come out of the oven or it has been stored in a warming oven ready to be served to my lucky self. The first time I thought this was just luck, but now I know the baker is doing it carefully and deliberately. This is the inspiration I look for when searching for a place to write about. It’s the extra attention given to flavour that satisfies my hunt for magnificence.

Beyond Baking - Bakery

Address: Unit 2/683 Plenty Rd, Reservoir VIC 3073

Hours are Monday - Sunday, 9am - 5pm