Find a true slice of Vietnam at the smallest restaurant in the Lincoln District

Perhaps the smallest storefront in Tacoma’s Lincoln District, it’s easy to miss M&K Bakery & Deli next to Ben Hair Salon on South Yakima Avenue, across from Hong Kong Supermarket. Look for the window with bold white letters declaring precisely what you’ll find inside: bánh mì nuóc mía — the inimitable Vietnamese sandwich and fresh sugarcane juice.

The menu, above the counter on three video screens, is unfussy. Nine bánh mì cover the usual bases, from fish cake to meat ball, grilled pork to the dac biêt. The loyal stream of customers, who begin streaming in right as the shop opens at 9 a.m. and shuffle in and out the door as they wait, have clearly been here before. Eight flavors of sugarcane juice join a few milk teas, strong Vietnamese coffee and fresh-fruit smoothies of avocado, taro, mango, coconut, honeydew or coffee. A single table with two folding chairs sits in the front. Behind the tall counter, a hulking metal machine reveals spiky cylinders, between which fibrous stalks of raw sugarcane are pressed one by one, the remnants departing from one side as the sweet nectar pours from the other into a plastic measuring cup then poured over ice.

For owner Khang “Kathy” Nguyen, sugarcane juice instantly whisks her heart back to her family’s native home of Ho Chi Minh City, where temperatures routinely hover in the 90s and humidity levels stick near the 80s or higher. Little is more refreshing than a cold cup of fresh sugarcane juice on ice, sparkling with teeny slices of kumquat that practically crystallize in the silky, chartreuse liquid.

Kumquats are a traditional accoutrement to this juice as well as other Vietnamese drinks, said Nguyen, but you can also sip versions at M&K with pineapple, strawberry, passionfruit, dragon fruit and the mysterious, creamy durian. The salted lemon lends a savory note that begins with preserved orbs. Once you have a cup of this elixir, your ability to truly be refreshed will never be the same.

When Nguyen decided to pursue her own bakery in 2021, she knew sugarcane juice was a must because she couldn’t find it elsewhere. Securing a reliable source for high-quality stalks from Vietnam — frozen while still fresh to retain their flavor and texture — was a bit of a challenge, she recalled, but she eventually found a California importer. They chop the stalks every morning, storing the pieces in a simple Igloo cooler next to the industrial juicer. Every juice is made to order, and you can, as I did, gleefully watch the process from behind the counter.

Nguyen and her family have lived in the Tacoma area for more than 20 years. She had been making the hour-or-so drive to Bremerton most days to work at her uncle’s nail salon, but taking care of her now-teenage son alone became “very hard,” she told TNT Diner in an interview at the shop in June. She wanted to spend more time with him and make something special for birthdays and other occasions, so she taught herself how to bake and decorate cakes — another treat that, crafted to her specifications, was elusive.

Now she mostly offers cakes and other specialty desserts such as xoi che, sticky rice cakes with mung bean paste shaped into pretty yellow daisies, by custom order. A pastry case in the shop holds single-servings of Vietnamese flan, coconut jelly and various chè.

Day-to-day, regulars bop in and out of the shop to grab a bánh mì for themselves and others (or so it would seem by the bags of several handed across the counter to just one person), each slipped into a paper bag shaped to hold what might just be the world’s best kind of sandwich.

Nguyen’s mother, Hong Vo, helps her in the kitchen. She stands on a handmade step-stool to reach the prep cooler, swiping mayo and pâté over the innards of a sliced baguette sourced from a Seattle-based Vietnamese bakery, then popping it into a toaster oven for a brief spell to crisp the crust. On the most popular order, the #17 combination sandwich, Vo layers grilled pork, chopped into bite-sized pieces which Nguyen says is uncommon stateside, with cold cuts of cha lua (pork roll), ham and head cheese, finishing each with a modest amount of pickled daikon and carrot, jalapeno and cilantro.

The cold cuts are supple, and the crunch is irresistible.

Nguyen, who is in her early 40s, said her customers sense a certain quality to her bánh mì. It’s what keeps her going.

While other Vietnamese immigrant families opened restaurants not long after settling in the U.S., her family never did. I asked how her parents felt about her choice.

“They worry about me,” she answered with an earnest chuckle. “It’s very hard and very stressful. Sometimes I think I’ll give up.”

Then a customer, and another, and another will return and say, “They can’t find the flavor like us,” so they’re back at M&K.

The name translates to Me & Khôi — Kathy and her son.

Seasonal drinks give you another reason to check back frequently. For summer, the creamy corn milk (sua bap) with pandan jelly might send you — mentally anyway — to a Field of Dreams, and the winter melon (tra bi dao) with grass jelly whispers of its sour-gourd base and a surprising hint of anise. A few street-style snacks occasionally include spring rolls and bánh tráng trôn, a textural salad of crunchy rice paper, dried shrimp and jerky, green mango and peanuts dressed in a tamarind-soy sauce.

M&K Bakery & Deli

• 3813 S. Yakima Ave., Tacoma, 253-476-7805, https://www.instagram.com/mk.bakery.deli/
• Monday & Wednesday-Saturday 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (closed Tuesdays)
• Details: petite destination for bánh mì ($10-$11) made-to-order sugarcane juice ($7.50) and other Vietnamese snacks in Lincoln District; order ahead by phone or online via Grubhub
• Cakes and other desserts available for custom order — call or inquire in-person