First Look: Le Petit Saigon

Le Garçon Saigon’s little brother, Le Petit Saigon is now open in Wan Chai (16 Wing Fung Street) courtesy of Aussie chef Bao La.

Bao grew up in Brisbane, in a restaurant run by his Vietnamese parents. After packing in his desk job to make a career of cooking, he met chef Jowett Yu in Sydney and followed him to Hong Kong in 2014 to open funky modern Canto restaurant Ho Lee Fook. Fast forward 12 months and Bao found himself helming Le Garçon Saigon. Now he’s dishing out quality banh mi and Vietnamese coffee as well at this new hole-in-the-wall adjunct next door on Wing Fung Street.

Inside his banh mi there’s fromage de tête (pork head cheese), based on a recipe by Bao’s mother, pork floss, a chicken liver pâté (the Brisbanite swears Hong Kong chickens are the best in world), mayonnaise, rolled pork belly and two types of Vietnamese-style sausage. Veggies include Vietnamese chillies, pickles, shallots and coriander. The bread is custom baked, based on a style Bao discovered in Dalat, in Vietnam’s central highlands. 

Now that your mouth’s watering, you better move fast. Le Petit Saigon cooks up around 50 sandwiches a day, starting from noon, and sells them until they run out.