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5-Spice Asian Street Market adds Vietnamese delicacy to menu

September 13, 2012

5-Spice Asian Street Market, a 6-year-old fast casual restaurant in Boca Raton, Fla., is now offering a Vietnamese specialty to the menu as part of its plan to introduce cuisine from the many different regions of Asia.

Although still new to South Florida, the baguette sandwiches, called Banh Mi, have already attracted a cult-like loyal fan base in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta (featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network), San Jose and other major cities in California, according to a company press release. The bread, influenced by the French baguette, is usually made from a combination of rice and/or wheat flour, resulting in a very light, crackly crust, not overly dense bread and savory international fillings.

The "Original" version at 5-Spice begins with a freshly baked French Alpine baguette, layered with mayonnaise and French liver pate spread, slices of Chinese roast pork and Vietnamese pork roll, combined with English cucumber, pickled Japanese daikon and carrot, and finally topped with cilantro, jalapeno and Maggi seasoning. 5-Spice also offers two additional versions (grilled chicken or Chinese roast pork) with the same condiments and toppings, said Melissa Leung, one of the founders and chief concept officer, who was born in Vietnam and lived in several other Asian countries before settling in the U.S.

"When we opened 5-Spice Asian Street Market in January of 2006, our mission was to bring the delicious, authentic, affordable dishes we found and loved in the street stalls and markets all across Asia to America," she said. "We are the only restaurant in Florida that offers a wide variety of popular, authentic Asian dishes in one place. What we serve you can only find today in urban areas of major cities such as New York, L.A. and San Francisco. I believe Banh Mi will maintain our legacy and become as desired and loved here as it has been in Vietnam for many generations."

As with Banh Mi, 5-Spice Asian Street Market plans on continuing its tradition of developing and introducing at least one new menu item each quarter from a different region of Asia.

"Our loyal clientele really enjoy the broad variety of Asian dishes they can only find here. They come from near and far expecting to find unique and special dishes," Leung said. "We're also planning on reducing the distances our customers sometimes have to travel to enjoy our fare as tri-county growth plans for 5-Spice Asian Street Market restaurants are being developed."

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