fwts.net

I am so glad certain Philly food writer’s did not keep this Chinatown gem on the QT.  David Snyder wrote glowing review of this little hoagie haven and I have been obsessed with visiting it ever since.  I am sad that it took me this long to visit but plan on making it up by stalking them.  In the good way.

Let me begin by saying that three women who were working there were so kind and helpful. I immediately felt at home with them. I was greeted by the youngest of the three and she started out by asking if I wanted to try out their special soup of the day. I was so moved by her enthusiasm for the soup that I took her up on the offer and ordered a small cup of the soup. It was tomato based and had ground pork and thin noodles in it. It was surprisingly light and very satisfying.

I stuck with ordering my favorite kind of banh mi, bbq pork. Recently I had been getting my  banh mi fix just down the street at Cafe 900. This will change. The biggest difference between the two hoagies is the bread. While Cafe 900 uses Amoroso, which is a fine roll for most hoagies, Q.T. uses a French baguette style roll which  is more traditional a banh mi and now I understand why. I was in awe of the crispy crust and soft inside. This kind of roll also helps even out the filling to bread ratio. It makes the sandwich much more portable because you can easily squish the sandwich together and shove it in your mouth. Well that’s my technique at least.

This sandwich has should be on Scanwiches.

Can I also just take a moment to share an exciting moment I got to experience while visiting QT. A man, who seemed to be a regular, entered just as I finished  scarfing down my sandwich. With him was a plaque he had made for the ladies of Q.T.  On the plaque was this write up  by Rich Nichols. It was very sweet and shows what a dedicated following this little sandwich shop has.