It's odd to have two Vietnamese places in Charleston. Right across from each other. But I'm not complaining. One specializes in noodle soup - pho, and the other in sandwiches - banh mi.

Yen's Sandwiches is more of a lunch place, though if you're out of work by 6 p.m., you can make it for dinner. With sandwiches at about $3.50, it could really be both.

The inside isn't large and gets quite busy at lunch. The menu is small, but the food - perfected. I think I favor restaurants with small menus that do just a couple things really, really well. That's the case with Yen's.

I ordered spring rolls, which weren't bad. Lots of cilantro, lettuce, shrimp and rice paper. I think if I were a bigger fan of cilantro, these would be lovely. I used liberal amounts of the sauce, which was really quite tasty.

The star of my meal was definitely my pork meatball sandwich - banh mi xiu mai. Delicious. Love a meatball sub? Love it with an Asian flare, lighter, with veggies and amazing flavor? Yes. Just do it.

And just because, I also got an avocado bubble tea. If you want to try something that's not super sweet but still is tasty. Try it. It's different.


Grade: A