Banh Mi Che Cali: Chicken Rice With Steamed Eggs

TSGV RATINGS:
Eye Candy: 3/5 Stars
Smelloscope: 2/5 Stars
Taste Test: 2/5 Stars
Wallet Breaking: $
Recommend-ability: 2/5 - You Got Anything Better?

This summer, I've been teaching everyday at a Glee Summer Camp. I don't really work that often on an everyday basis where I have to bring my own lunch. This has been a crazy couple of weeks for me so I have been going to Banh mi Che Cali to get my lunch in the morning before I headed to camp.

I've been alternating getting different dishes each morning and I'm sure I'll be blogging about the other ones soon enough. Today I had the Chicken Rice with Steamed Eggs. Everyday when I bring my food to the camp, the director of the camp Cass would comment on the fact that the food looks very delicious, the proportion looks huge. When I tell her the price of the dish, her jaw drops at how cheap it is.

(Chicken Rice With Steamed Eggs - $3.25)

Today I ended up getting the Chicken Rice with Steamed Eggs. The chicken drumstick was glazed over with a semi-sweet BBQ marinate before it was grilled. The skin retained most of the flavor while the meat also absorbed a portion of it. It was a bit on the dry side, but that also had to do with the fact that it sat in my room for four hours before I ate it. Nonetheless the meat almost came off feeling like jerky at times.

The vegetables were freshly prepared and lightly seasoned, a welcomed compliment to a giant piece of meat. I did have to remove the peppers from the top of the dish since I'm not a fan of spicy food. Sorry, I won't be posting too many spicy dishes on this blog.

So you may be wondering why I would even bother writing about a dish that doesn't seem to be all that interesting and good. Aside from the fact that this lunch was only $3.25 and filled my stomach, the steamed egg was actually very well made. For the value, the egg was a great bonus. In fact it was the sole reason why I picked this plate over the other plates on the counter this morning.

(Chicken Rice With Steamed Eggs - $3.25)

The steamed egg had vermicelli noodles, meat and mushrooms mixed inside. It almost tasted like a quiche, Chinese, Vietnamese, Asian style. Though the restaurant is Vietnamese, this dish wasn't quite a Vietnamese dish. It almost is a generic Asian dish that I may even make sometimes minus the egg. Certainly I could make an even better drum stick if I had more time. But I'm uncertain if I could make the same dish for the same price mainly because I wouldn't be able to get ingredients in that small of a portion.

I wouldn't stop by Banh Mi Che Cali just to eat this dish, or most of what they serve if I didn't live a few blocks from it. But if you happened to be in San Gabriel and needed a quick bite to eat and didn't want to spend a fortune, this is certainly way better, way faster and way cheaper than even McDonald's or most other fast food joints out there. You got anything else better to eat for this price? By all means go for it.

Banh Mi Che Cali
135 San Gabriel Blvd, Ste A
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Chicken Rice With Steamed Eggs - $3.25