BANH at Books & Books in the Grove

A Vietnamese banh mi and boba counter inside the café at Books & Books on Main Highway in Coconut Grove.

Geprüft Oktober 2026

For a quick, serious banh mi or a Vietnamese coffee between Grove errands. The trade-off: a four-sandwich menu, a bookstore café setting and an early close, so it's lunch or an early bite, not a night out.

The four sandwiches

Four sandwiches make up the whole menu, according to guest reviews on the site: the OG, a sous vide lemongrass chicken, one called Don't Cluck With Me, and a short rib. The short rib is the one people write paragraphs about. It's slow-braised beef with herbs and pickles on crisp bread, served with a side of pho bone broth for dipping, so think Vietnamese French dip and grab extra napkins. The lemongrass chicken gets praise for staying juicy. A menu this small usually means the kitchen knows its lane, and a 4.9 from about 200 Google reviews backs that up. Pricing sits at $$, so it's a sit-down lunch price, not a deli one.

Boba, cold brew, caphe

Half the reason to stop is the drink counter, which the owners call The Daily Sip. Vietnamese cold brew and caphe sua, the sweet condensed-milk coffee, are the anchors, and reviewers say the caphe tastes like what you'd find in bigger Vietnamese communities up north. On the tea side there's boba: a taro that isn't too sweet, a hibiscus-passion fruit tea, and something called the Rising Phoenix. The Grove didn't have much boba before this, which explains how fast the regulars showed up. If you only want a drink, it works fine as a coffee stop on a Main Highway walk.

Behind the bookshelves

Two founders run it: Executive Chef Phuoc Vo, who cooked in Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott kitchens and competed on Food Network, and Aidan Friedson, a two-time Chopped Junior champion. The counter works out of the café inside Books & Books, so you can eat and then browse, or the other way around. Hours run 11 am to 8 pm Monday through Wednesday and until 9 pm Thursday and Friday. Weekends open at 10 am, closing at 9 pm Saturday and 8 pm Sunday. That makes it a lunch and early dinner spot, not a late one. Online ordering is available through their site if you'd rather skip the wait.

Anfahrt

1. Look for it inside the Books & Books café on Main Highway, not a separate storefront.

Gut zu wissen

The kitchen closes at 8 pm most nights and 9 pm Thursday through Saturday, so don't plan a late dinner here.

Häufige Fragen