Daniel B.
Yelp
Saigon Tofu is a Vietnamese "fast food" shop that sells freshly made, packaged, and ready-to-eat foods along with banh mi sandwiches, coffee, soymilk, and fresh-pressed juices. It's just like Viet Tofu down the street and VN Tofu in Norcross. The shop opened alongside City Farmers Market in October 2015 in the new Cho Saigon shopping plaza on Buford Highway, just north of Chamblee Tucker Rd. Saigon Tofu, the farmers market, and the shopping plaza all have the same owner.
I like this place. You can pick up delicious near-restaurant-quality foods, including noodle soups, to eat at home. They do have a couple tables if you want to sit down inside plus a few tables out on the sidewalk, but this isn't a restaurant. It's a grab-and-go store.
All banh mi sandwiches are $3.00 each. Similar to competitors like Lee's Bakery, if you buy 5 sandwiches, you get a 6th free. They have 7 varieties:
1. Dac Biet - special combo
2. Cha Lua - Vietnamese ham
3. Xiu Mai - pork meatballs
4. Ca Moi - sardines
5. Thit Nuong - BBQ pork
6. Ga Xe - shredded chicken
7. Cha Bong - shredded pork
My favorite is the dac biet which comes with everything - various pork products (ham, pate, etc.), pickles, cilantro, green onion, and jalapeno on buttered French bread. Cha lua is included in the dac biet. The xiu mai is basically a Vietnamese meatball sub. If you've never had banh mi before, aren't an adventurous eater, or want a simpler sandwich, order #5 (thit nuong).
There's a similar deal for soy milk. Buy 5, get 1 free. Soy milk is $1.50 for a small and $2.50 for a large.
Anyone remember Quan Ba 9 (https://www.yelp.com/biz/quan-ba-9-atlanta), a.k.a. "Quan Ba Chin" ("chin" is how you pronounce the number 9 in Vietnamese), the defunct Vietnamese restaurant on Buford Highway near Dresden? Saigon Tofu sells food made by the same folks who were behind Quan Ba 9. Specifically, noodle soups: bun mam (Vietnamese gumbo), bun bo hue (beef noodle soup), and bun ga (chicken and bamboo shoot noodle soup).
You can find these noodle soups in the fridges towards the back of the store. The broth and ingredients are packaged in separate containers then bagged, exactly like if you were to order a noodle soup at a restaurant to go. You assemble it together and reheat at home. I think it's pretty neat. These soups cost $6.50 to $7.50 each. Not bad at all.
By the way, if you liked Quan Ba 9, you should check out Com Mai in Gwinnett.
Most, if not all, of the foods have labels with ingredients listed in English along with "use by" dates. Most of the foods are made in the kitchen here. There's a hot bar with sweet and savory snacks. Items on the hot bar are supposed to be removed every 3 hours. They include things like pate chaud (or banh pate so, a Vietnamese flaky pastry with meat filling, $1.59), ham and cheese pastries ($1.29), and croissants ($0.99).
Examples of other foods sold at Saigon Tofu:
* Banh Gio ($2.00) - rice pyramid dumplings
* Banh Beo Nhan Cade ($1.50) - dumpling with cade fillings
* Mam Chung Cha Trung ($5.00) - Vietnamese meatloaf
* Xoi Lap Xuong ($3.00) - sticky rice with Chinese sausage
* Banh Bao Nhan Dau Do ($1.50) - dumpling with red bean filling
* Banh Bao ($2.00) - steamed pork bun
* Che ($1.50-$2.00) - Vietnamese pudding, various flavors
* Coffee Agar Agar ($1.00)
* Assorted jelly desserts ($1.50)
* Various pork products, e.g. nem nuong - pork sausage ($6.00+)
* Com Thit Nuong ($4.00) - rice with grilled pork chop
* Bun Thit Nuong ($4.00) - vermicelli noodles with grilled pork chop
* Lo Tai Heo Ngo Sen ($9.00) - pig ears with lotus rootlets
* Cu Kieu Chua Ngot ($4.00) - sweet and sour pickled leeks
* Banh Giay ($1.00) - glutinous rice cake
* Bap Gia ($2.00) - young coconut
* Roasted Veal
* BBQ Pork
* Xoi Gac ($2.00) - baby jackfruit sticky rice
* Xoi Mau ($2.00) - sticky rice and coconut milk
I recommend the che and jelly desserts (similar to what you can buy at Bambu at Asian Square), com thit nuong and bun thit nuong, and xoi gac and xoi mau. Most of the foods are served on styrofoam plates and then plastic-wrapped, so what you see is what you get. Some of the foods, like the banh giay, are simply plastic-wrapped.
Drinks include hot and iced black coffee, hot or iced coffee with condensed milk, sugarcane juice (nuoc mia), pudding tofu (dau hu), pennywort juice (rau ma), and orange juice (nuoc cam). Oranges are freshly squeezed through a machine for the OJ and there's a sugarcane press they use to make sugarcane drinks. The equipment is behind the counter so you can watch your drinks get made.
I like the iced coffee with condensed milk (ca phe sua da). It's somewhat strong and very sweet. Note: Cups are filled with ice cubes to the brim. That's normal, so don't think you're getting hosed on the amount of coffee. The juices are cold and refreshing.
Good service. Credit cards are accepted and receipts print clearly. City Farmers Market will show up as the vendor.
All in all, Saigon Tofu is another win for Buford Highway.