Banh Mi in Sunset Park: Ba Xuyen's Cash-Only Combination

Ba Xuyen takes cash only, and its Google listing has the counter open from 7 am to 6:30 pm. The shop sits at 4222 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232, on the Sunset Park stretch of Eighth Avenue at the heart of Brooklyn's Chinatown, one block east of the park itself. The Infatuation scored it 8.7 in its September 2026 list of the best Vietnamese restaurants in NYC. If your banh mi near me search lands you anywhere south of Green-Wood Cemetery, this is the sandwich to cross the neighborhood for.

The closest subway is the 45th Street station on the Fourth Avenue line, served by the R train at all times. From the station you walk east for four avenue blocks, passing the southern edge of Sunset Park on the way, to reach Eighth Avenue. The N train's Eighth Avenue station sits much farther south at 62nd Street, so it only makes sense if you are already riding the N.

The B70 bus is the easiest surface option because it starts at 3rd Avenue and 39th Street and then runs along Eighth Avenue itself through the southern part of the corridor toward the V.A. Medical Center. Riders coming off the D, N or R at 36th Street can also pick up the B35 along 39th Street.

Ba Xuyen has been part of this strip for a long time. In October 2003, the Sunset Park food blogger behind Goodies First wrote that the shop had opened a bright and shiny second branch on Eighth Avenue in the low 40s, which is exactly where 4222 sits, with a self-serve case of sweets and a table full of snacks. More than two decades later, this is the address food writers still send people to.

The avenue around it changed first. Fung Wong Supermarket opened in 1986 and helped grow the Chinese commercial district on Eighth Avenue between 39th and 65th Streets, and parts of the strip are now nicknamed Little Hong Kong. Ba Xuyen is a Vietnamese shop inside that Chinese shopping strip, which is why Yvonne, a longtime regular quoted below, places it right on the edge of Brooklyn Chinatown.

Inside, nobody has tried to modernize. NYC Tourism calls the storefront simple and the interior spartan, and Google's own summary is a diminutive, no-frills storefront. According to the Infatuation, pictures of most of the sandwiches hang behind the counter, so first-timers can point instead of struggling with Vietnamese names. Google reviewers rate it 4.7 across more than 850 reviews.

The order almost everyone starts with is the Bánh Mì Thịt Nguội, the Combination #1. Rich, who writes the Ethnojunkie blog and used to come here often about 20 years before returning in 2023, described the base as Vietnamese pâté blended with melted butter, spread on the bread before ham, head cheese, pork roll, pork teriyaki and barbecue pork go in. Cucumber, pickled carrot and daikon, cilantro and spicy green pepper finish it.

The Infatuation's 2026 write-up lists the same stack of pâté, ham, head cheese, pork roll and pork teriyaki, adding that it comes dripping with globs of mayo. Stockholm food writer Maria Nilsson, recommending the shop on World of Mouth, called it pork cooked four different ways inside a perfectly carved rice flour baguette, and paired hers with a milk tea.

The bread is the reason people defend this place so loudly. Yvonne, the blogger behind mango girl's playground, has eaten here since the winter of 2008, back when the ride from her apartment in Elmhurst took over an hour. In a March 2025 post she wrote that Joju, the banh mi shop with branches in Elmhurst and Midtown East, consciously modeled its baguette on Ba Xuyen's, and that neither it nor any Manhattan rival has quite matched the original.

If cold cuts are not your thing, reviewers summarized on Wanderlog single out the grilled pork banh mi and a plainer pâté banh mi eaten with hot Vietnamese coffee. The same reviews warn that the crust is crisp and the interior chewy enough to feel dry, which is why regulars suggest having a drink in hand before the first bite.

Ba Xuyen is also a Vietnamese deli. Yvonne buys the house-made chả lụa, the steamed pork roll, every time she visits so she can stock her freezer, and she rates the durian, jackfruit and papaya shakes and the iced Vietnamese coffee as highly as the sandwiches. She also brought her partner Chris, who later dragged his own parents out to Sunset Park for it.

The snack table rotates through Vietnamese rice-flour treats. Yvonne's list includes bánh da lợn, the layered mung bean and pandan cake, bánh ít trần, glutinous rice balls stuffed with pork, mung bean and shrimp, and bánh bèo, small rice cakes topped with shrimp. The Infatuation recommends adding a side of shrimp and pork spring rolls, which have been on the counter since the Goodies First post in 2003.

Bring cash. The Infatuation flags the cash-only rule in its 2026 guide, and Wanderlog's visitor tips repeat it, so a card-only wallet means a detour to find an ATM before you order. Wanderlog also estimates that most people spend about 15 minutes here, which matches the routine: order at the counter, wait while the sandwich is assembled, and leave with it wrapped.

Come early rather than late. Yvonne notes that if you arrive early enough, the snacks are still steaming hot because they are made fresh that morning, and the 7 am opening suits commuters heading for the R. Skip the last hour before the 6:30 pm close if the rice cakes are part of your plan, because by then you are buying whatever is left in the case.

Do not treat this as a sit-down lunch. The Infatuation describes it as mostly a takeout spot with a couple of tables, and NYC Tourism's word for the room is spartan. If you need a seat with friends, take the sandwiches out. Wanderlog reviewers also suggest visiting in off-peak hours for more space and quicker service, which in practice means mid-morning or mid-afternoon on weekdays.

If the counter is swamped or the sandwich you wanted is gone, walk ten blocks south to Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich Deli, which is also on Eighth Avenue and opens at 9 am, or continue to Little Thanh Đa, a Vietnamese restaurant further down the same avenue that opens at 7:30 am. Both are on the B70 route, so you can ride instead of walking.

The Infatuation's best advice is to eat your banh mi on a bench overlooking Manhattan in Sunset Park, a block away. The 24.5-acre park runs between 41st and 44th Streets and 5th and 7th Avenues on top of a 164-foot hill, part of the Harbor Hill Moraine left by the last glacial period. From the top you can see New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island and New Jersey.

The park's landmark is the Sunset Play Center, the Art Deco pool and bathhouse that architect Aymar Embury II built in 1935 and 1936 as a Works Progress Administration project. The bathhouse entrance faces Seventh Avenue, the street closest to Ba Xuyen, and the city designated both its exterior and interior as landmarks in 2007. The park itself is open from 7 am to 10 pm.

Ba Xuyen, 4222 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11232, in Sunset Park. Google lists the hours as 7 am to 6:30 pm, and Wanderlog and Dim Hour show the same schedule every day of the week. Cash only. Counter service with a couple of tables, mostly takeout. Nearest subway: R at 45th Street; B70 bus on Eighth Avenue. Order the Combination #1, a spring roll side and a durian or jackfruit shake.