Bernard Street\u2019s newest addition, Cu L\u1eafc, hands out b\u00e1nh m\u00ec through a small takeout window that opens right onto the sidewalk. Rooted in Vietnamese street food, these sandwiches pick up spices and techniques from all over the world, with rotating flavours that follow seasonal produce and the kitchen\u2019s latest inspiration, keeping things playful. It\u2019s also one of the best\u00a0b\u00e1nh m\u00ec in Montreal.<\/p>\n
This counter, right next door and sharing a kitchen with Ping Pong Club, is Cu L\u1eafc\u2019s second location after it\u2019s first one on Bishop Street, and good news for sandwich lovers like us: it stays open right through the winter, with some takeout-friendly Vietnamese dishes in the works for the cold months.<\/p>\n
Bringing back childhood flavours<\/p>\n
Wendy Tran, the owner, was born and raised in Vietnam and arrived in Canada at 14. She thought the Vietnamese restaurants here had kept the recipes of decades past, and missed the new, creative street food she grew up eating. One idea kept coming back: a b\u00e1nh m\u00ec counter, specifically, and nothing else. She dreamed about it from 2020, and in 2024, Cu L\u1eafc was born in her home kitchen before catering orders called for a permanent space.<\/p>\n
The name was her older brother\u2019s childhood nickname, roughly \u201ca very energetic boy,\u201d for the big brother she admired growing up, always running around with endless curiosity and wonder. It\u2019s the spirit she wants for Cu L\u1eafc: \u201cYou\u2019re like a kid and you\u2019re just playing with ingredients, and it just makes sense without you questioning it too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vietnamese Food Without Borders<\/p>\n
Growing up in \u201990s Vietnam already meant eating Korean, Thai and Indian food, and even Soviet dishes, a legacy of the country\u2019s former alliance with the Soviet Union. Cu L\u1eafc brings that same appetite for the world to Montr\u00e9al. \u201cWe take inspiration from flavours that are all around us and really question what Vietnamese street food could be in a Montreal context, in a Canadian context, and explore flavours and textures without borders,\u201d she explains. Take the jerk mushroom, currently on the menu: Caribbean jerk spices, an Indian mango chutney and fresh Quebec corn, all in one sandwich. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit of everything, but it makes sense together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Vietnamese soul stays intact, with plenty of fresh herbs, bright acidity and a crunch that keeps every bite light. The baguette, the pride of the house, follows her own recipe and is baked with local flour by Joe la Cro\u00fbte at Jean-Talon Market, her supplier since day one and for good, since, as she puts it, \u201cwe\u2019re known for our bread.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keeping it playful<\/p>\n
Working alongside Wendy is chef Giang Pham, who grew up in Vietnam too and came to Montr\u00e9al for school, graduating in fashion before stumbling into the restaurant world. Since joining Cu L\u1eafc in 2025, their touch has taken the flavours, and the operations, to another level. Once a month, the two sit down for a testing day, the owner\u2019s favourite part of the job: \u201cWe really get to dream, and we get to play, and we get to look at ingredients differently.\u201d Limited editions last about two months, though Wendy admits the team would switch every week if it could.<\/p>\n
Two sandwiches are here to stay: the classic pork b\u00e1nh m\u00ec and the lapsang chicken, though we absolutely loved the crispy pork belly that was on the menu at the time of our visit. On the drinks side, classic sodas are on offer for now, but Wendy has plans to bring Vietnamese coffee to the counter eventually. Cu L\u1eafc also offers catering, a side of the business she would love to grow, with all the details on its website.<\/p>\n
\n Written by Marie-\u00c8ve Godin
Photography by Alison Slattery<\/p>\n
\n Updated on September 24, 2026<\/p>\n
Make a suggestion\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bernard Street\u2019s newest addition, Cu L\u1eafc, hands out b\u00e1nh m\u00ec through a small takeout window that opens right onto the sidewalk. Rooted in Vietnamese street food, these sandwiches pick up spices and techniques from all over the world, with rotating flavours that follow seasonal produce and the kitchen\u2019s latest inspiration, keeping things playful. It\u2019s also<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[262],"tags":[26017,10709,3398,1858,2295,446,447],"class_list":["post-31762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vietnamese-restaurants","tag-a-emporter","tag-banh-mi","tag-counter","tag-take-out","tag-vietnamese","tag-vietnamese-restaurant","tag-vietnamese-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117327597651076404","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}