Phamish Delivers Bona Fide Vietnamese Street Food

Phamish is unique amongst the LA food truck scene—mostly for what it doesn't do.

It doesn't fuse together two disparate cuisines like , and it doesn't attempt to reinvent a classic like . Instead, it gives you exactly what it is advertising—simple, fresh-tasting Vietnamese street food, unadulterated and pure. 

Vietnamese cuisine is one of the unsung heroes of the Orient. It garners far less attention than Chinese or Thai food, perhaps because its flavors are more subtle. There is a clean vibrancy to Vietnamese food that distinguishes it from its heavier, spicier, more in-your-face brethren. And on some days, that freshness is just what you need. 

The signature dish on the Phamish truck is the banh mi, sandwiches that combine your choice of meat (chicken, pork, steak, tofu or shrimp) with pickled carrots and daikon, fresh cilantro, garlic mayo, jalapenos and soy.

The sandwiches are served on robust, fairly high-quality french bread. Banh mi sandwiches, a product of French colonialism in Indochina, are extremely popular Vietnamese street food, and banh mi shops are now found around the world.

The Phamish variation is very tasty, with fresh, crunchy vegetables and a nice balance of flavors. It's not always available, but if they have the Betel Leaf Wrapped Beef (Bo La Lot), go for that. The unique cooking method makes the beef meltingly soft, with an intensely aromatic flavor that I'm still trying to define.

They also have rice bowls (basically the same ingredients as the banh mi, but served up without the bread), and Vietnamese spring rolls. At first, $6 for a spring roll seems a little steep, but that's only until you see the rolls.

More like mini-burritos than anything else, they are each as big as your hand, and one order could be a full meal in itself. While the rolls are very crunchy and refreshing, the taste is a little bland, leaning heavily on the raw cilantro and mint for jolts of flavor. But they come with a sweet, tasty peanut sauce, and the truck itself has several chili condiments to help liven things up. 

As so many food trucks traffic in greasy goodness, the Phamish truck provides a clean, healthful alternative, with just enough exotic flavor to still make it an interesting meal. This makes Phamish a perfect fit for West Hollywood, and a worthy member of the vast Los Angeles food truck tapestry. 

The Phamish truck hits up West Hollywood pretty frequently. You can see all its weekly stops at its website, eatphamish.com