The short answer: Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa is at 26 Lê Thị Riêng in Bến Thành Ward, about ten minutes’ walk west of Bến Thành Market, and it opens every day from 6:00 to 22:00. The large traditional loaf costs about 78,000₫ (August 2026), which is three to four times the price of a good neighbourhood bánh mì, and it is big enough for two.
Is it worth it? Once, if you are hungry or sharing. The whole point of Huynh Hoa is excess: house pâté, butter and six different meats in one loaf. If you want the balanced everyday Saigon sandwich, you will be happier elsewhere for under a third of the price. Many locals call it Bánh Mì Ô Môi, the “lesbian bánh mì”, and the story behind that name is below. Huynh Hoa is not a Saigon Scene partner, so there is no member discount here.
Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa prices in 2026
Huynh Hoa’s prices go up often, so every figure here carries the month it was published.
| Order | What you get | Price | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bánh mì đặc biệt, large | The traditional loaf with everything in it | about 78,000₫ | Aug 2026 |
| Bánh mì đặc biệt at the Bánh Mì Festival | The traditional loaf at the shop’s festival stall | 61,000₫, or 116,000₫ for two | Apr 2026 |
| Smaller and plainer loaves | Fewer fillings | from 38,000₫ | Apr 2026 |
| Bánh bao | Steamed bun | 35,000₫ | Apr 2026 |
| Chả lụa, dăm bông or giò thủ to take home | The same cold cuts that go in the bread, per 500 g | 145,000₫ | Apr 2026 |
| Chà bông | Pork floss, per 200 g | 120,000₫ | Apr 2026 |
| Huynh Hoa butter | The spread they put in the loaf, per 200 g | 50,000₫ | Apr 2026 |
Two people sharing one large loaf pay about 39,000₫ each, which is the fairer way to judge it. For a sense of how fast the price moves: the same loaf was 58,000₫ in October 2021, and the previous version of this page said 35,000₫, which had not been true for years.
What is in a Huynh Hoa bánh mì
The traditional loaf, bánh mì đặc biệt, starts with a crisp baguette spread with house pâté and Huynh Hoa’s butter. Then come chả lụa (Vietnamese pork roll), giò thủ (pork head cheese), dăm bông (ham), garlic sausage, xá xíu (Chinese-style roast pork) and chà bông (pork floss). Vietnamese press has described it as five or six layers of meat for years, and the brand itself counts 13 ingredients in all.
The pickles and herbs come in a separate little bag so the bread does not go soggy, and you add them yourself. Add them just before you eat. If you are carrying the loaf back to a hotel, keep the bag shut until you get there.
It is a heavy sandwich and nothing in it is vegetarian. With that much pâté and butter, one large loaf feeds two light eaters.
Where it is, when it opens and how bad the queue is
Address: 26 Lê Thị Riêng, Bến Thành Ward, Ho Chi Minh City (old District 1). The shop now spreads across numbers 26, 30 and 32. Bến Thành kept its name in the July 2025 reform, but the new ward also swallowed the old Phạm Ngũ Lão Ward, which is why some listings (our own bánh mì guide included) give that name instead. Both lead to the same door.
The shop is about 100 metres from the Phù Đổng roundabout, the six-way junction with the statue of Phù Đổng Thiên Vương, which is the landmark to give a driver. From Bến Thành Market it is about 700 metres west on foot. If you come by metro, Line 1 ends at Bến Thành station by the market’s south gate.
Hours: every day, 6:00 to 22:00. Older guides say it opens at 14:30 or 16:00. That was true in 2017 and is not now.
Second branch: 220 Phan Xích Long, Cầu Kiệu Ward (formerly Ward 7, Phú Nhuận District). Handy if you are staying in Phú Nhuận. Lê Thị Riêng is the original.
The queue: evenings are the crush. At the city’s Bánh Mì Festival in April 2026, Huynh Hoa’s own staff told Tuổi Trẻ that 70 to 80 per cent of their customers come from late afternoon onwards, with 18:00 to 20:30 the busiest stretch, and festival-goers waited 15 to 30 minutes. Our advice is to go in the morning, well before the evening rush. You order and pay at one window and collect at another, so check which line you are in before you settle into it.
Seats and payment: one of the three shopfronts has seating, but there are not many seats and most people take the loaf away. Bring cash. A Korean card-comparison site found in 2023 that it did not take cards, and we have not been able to confirm that it does now.
Why it is called the “lesbian bánh mì”
Ô môi is the name of a tree, and in southern Vietnamese slang it also means a lesbian. VnExpress used it that way back in 2005, and Vietnamese Wikipedia lists both meanings side by side. Bánh Mì Ô Môi is the nickname many Saigonese use for Huynh Hoa, and it refers to the two women who founded the shop. Luke Nguyen, writing his Saigon guide for Good Food in 2017, said it was “named after the couple who run it”.
The official name has a story of its own. VTC News reported in December 2021 that Huynh Hoa joins the names of the two founders, Ms Huynh and Ms Hoa, and that people later misread it as “Huỳnh Hoa”, with a tone mark it never had. The company registrations still spell it Huynh Hoa. The two went their separate ways at the end of 2021, and Ms Huynh opened her own shop, which VTC listed at the time as “Bánh mì ô môi bà Huynh”, so the nickname now attaches to two shops. Hers is a separate business; this page is about the original on Lê Thị Riêng.
Huynh Hoa dates from 1989. Its founder told Vietcetera that her father had a well-known stall selling bánh tiêu, bánh quẩy and bánh mì at the Phù Đổng roundabout, a few steps from today’s shop. She restarted the trade with a small cart and 100,000₫ of borrowed money, and moved into 26 Lê Thị Riêng in 2008, when the city tightened the rules on street vending.
Was Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa on Netflix?
Not as far as we can find, and the previous version of this page got it muddled. Its title said Netflix, but its text named Luke Nguyen’s Street Food Asia, which is a different programme. Netflix’s Street Food: Asia (2019) has a Ho Chi Minh City episode, and VnExpress described it at the time as built around two cooks, a snail seller and a phở seller. Bánh mì comes up in it, but no coverage we found names Huynh Hoa.
Luke Nguyen’s Street Food Asia is an Australian series that first aired on SBS on 1 September 2016, and its first episode is set in Saigon. The travel blog Will Fly for Food wrote in 2017 that it discovered Huynh Hoa through that episode. We have not been able to watch it to confirm. What is on record is Luke Nguyen recommending it as “a favourite” for a more typical bánh mì in that 2017 Good Food guide. So: an Australian TV chef’s pick, yes. A Netflix star, not on the evidence. The same mix-up hangs over Bánh Mì Bảy Hổ and its supposed Netflix appearance.
Is it in the Michelin Guide?
No. We checked all 79 restaurants in Michelin’s Ho Chi Minh City selection on 24 October 2026 and there is no bánh mì shop among them, Huynh Hoa included. If a Michelin listing is what you are after, our guide to Michelin restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City covers the stars and the Bib Gourmand shops.
Delivery, and taking one home
Huynh Hoa takes online delivery orders: Vietnam Airlines’ guide to the shop says one of its three shopfronts handles them. For flights, the shop vacuum-packs or freezes loaves. The same guide says a vacuum-packed loaf keeps about five hours at room temperature and a frozen one about ten. Check your destination’s rules on bringing in meat before you pack one.
For readers in Australia: in July 2025 Huynh Hoa signed a deal with a company called Posh Lifestyle to open in Melbourne and Sydney, according to SGGP. We found no sign of an opening as of October 2026.
Where to go for what
- You want the classic Saigon bánh mì, not the biggest one: Bánh Mì Bảy Hổ in Đa Kao, where the house-pâté sandwich is about 22,000₫.
- You want to sit down to breakfast: the skillet version at Bánh Mì Chảo Dì Nữ near Bến Thành Market, open 6:00 to 13:00.
- You want bánh mì you dip rather than stuff: bánh mì chấm at Hùng Tubes, off Hai Bà Trưng.
- You want to compare the big names: our guide to the best bánh mì in Ho Chi Minh City.
- You want a drink nearby afterwards: The Park, a rooftop bar at 20 Đỗ Quang Đẩu, about ten minutes’ walk south. It is a Saigon Scene partner, so Scene Pass members get 10% off.
How we checked this
We checked everything on this page on 24 October 2026. The address, branch and hours come from MIA.vn (April 2026) and Vietnam Airlines’ travel guide, which agree. Prices come from MIA.vn (April 2026), the Korean review guide vietnamguide.co.kr (August 2026) and Tuổi Trẻ’s report from the Bánh Mì Festival (April 2026). The fillings, the separate bag of pickles and the two-window system come from the same sources. The name and the founders’ history come from VTC News (2021), Vietcetera (2025) and SGGP (2025), and the nickname from Luke Nguyen’s 2017 Good Food guide. The ward names follow the 2025 reform, and the location was checked on OpenStreetMap. We went through Michelin’s full Ho Chi Minh City selection the same day.
This refresh was done from published sources rather than a fresh visit, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. Huynh Hoa is not a Saigon Scene partner, so there is no member discount and nothing paid for this page. The Park, mentioned once above, is a partner.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa?
26 Lê Thị Riêng, Bến Thành Ward, Ho Chi Minh City (old District 1). The shop runs across numbers 26, 30 and 32, about 100 metres from the Phù Đổng roundabout and about ten minutes' walk west of Bến Thành Market. There is a second branch at 220 Phan Xích Long, Cầu Kiệu Ward (formerly Ward 7, Phú Nhuận District).
What are Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa's opening hours?
Every day from 6:00 to 22:00. Guides that say it opens at 14:30 or 16:00 are describing how it worked around 2017. Evenings are the busiest time, so go in the morning if you want a short queue.
How much is a bánh mì at Huynh Hoa?
The large traditional loaf (bánh mì đặc biệt) was about 78,000₫ in August 2026. At the Bánh Mì Festival in April 2026 the shop's stall sold the traditional loaf for 61,000₫, or 116,000₫ for two, and plainer loaves start from 38,000₫. One large loaf feeds two light eaters, which works out at about 39,000₫ each.
Why is Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa called the lesbian bánh mì?
Many people in Saigon call it Bánh Mì Ô Môi. Ô môi is the name of a tree and also southern Vietnamese slang for a lesbian, and the nickname refers to the two women who founded the shop; Luke Nguyen wrote in 2017 that it was named after the couple who ran it. VTC News reported in 2021 that the name Huynh Hoa joins the names of the two founders, Ms Huynh and Ms Hoa. They split at the end of 2021, and Ms Huynh opened a separate shop, Bánh Mì Bà Huynh.
Is Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa worth the queue?
Once, if you are hungry or sharing. Vietnamese press has long called it the city's most expensive bánh mì, and it is built to match, with pâté, butter and six different meats in one loaf. Go in the morning: speaking at April 2026's Bánh Mì Festival, the shop's staff said most of their customers come from late afternoon, with 18:00 to 20:30 the busiest. For the classic everyday version, Bánh Mì Bảy Hổ in Đa Kao charges about 22,000₫.
Is Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa in the Michelin Guide?
No. We checked all 79 restaurants in Michelin's Ho Chi Minh City selection on 24 October 2026 and none of them is a bánh mì shop. We also found no evidence that Huynh Hoa appeared in Netflix's Street Food: Asia; the TV link is Luke Nguyen's 2016 SBS series Street Food Asia, and only a 2017 travel blog places it in that show.
Does Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa deliver, and can I take one on a plane?
It takes online delivery orders, and one of its three shopfronts handles them, according to Vietnam Airlines' guide to the shop. For flights it vacuum-packs or freezes loaves: about five hours at room temperature vacuum-packed, about ten frozen, per the same guide. Check your destination's rules on bringing in meat first.
