I am tremendously charmed by Lanvin. First of all, it's tiny -- the floor space is about a third of the tiny NE Binh Minh's, and it really is primarily a bakery of all sorts of yummy french-viet sweets. The front area is full of bakery cases of cream-filled goodies.

We were coming to Lanvin for the banh mi, vietnamese sandwiches. These are generally your choice of meat, pickled carrot & daikon (and jalapeno, though you may have to ask for it) on a hoagie-sized french roll, with a texture that is very similar to a baguette.

Lanvin has (apparently) six types of banh mi: Vietnamese ($2.50), BBQ Pork ($2.50), Meatball ($2.50), Fish ($3.50), Special (the Vietnamese with extra meat, $3.50), and G/LL Pork ($3.50 -- I have no idea what that is). While we were deciding, one of the many ladies behind the counter started offering us tastes: of the bread, and then of the banana bread. Yum!

Once we got our sandwiches, the place cleared out, so we sat at the one tiny table, and one of the counter ladies brought us an extra stool -- so sweet!

Sandwich-wise, it really wasn't a bad sandwich, but still not as superlative as Binh Minh's. The sandwiches featured long thin slices of cucumber along with the pickled daikon & carrot, which gave a nice contrast. But we had just had the same sandwich at Binh Minh, and it really won out. But one of our party loved the bread and thought it was superior to Binh Minh's.

They do supply their bread to other banh mi shops, and it is solid. I loved the meatball sandwich there, and I can easily see myself having pho at Pho Oregon, and then saving a little room for a meatball banh mi at Lanvin.