Remember when we posted this photo, wondering what sort of sandwiches would be sold within?
Ba’get is a new sandwich shop in the Old Farms plaza in Champaign. It’s right next to another sandwich shop and deli (Cheese & Crackers), and is in the space formerly occupied by Subway.
The shop serves Vietnamese-American sandwiches, riffs on the banh mi. The menu is pretty simple (eight sandwich options available). I slightly modified my order, but I’m not sure this is a build-your-own sandwich sort of place. They are not affiliated with the Australian fast-casual chain of the same name that also. According to the employees (who were very friendly and patient), they make everything in house.
I ordered the #3: sliced turkey with butter, swiss cheese, daikon/carrot slaw, lettuce, and tomato. It comes with mayo, but I declined. It was only $4.95. Since ba’get also has a robust boba tea menu, I ordered Thai iced tea with boba ($3.25); there are a whole lot of optional toppings, but I stuck with the basics.
Everything was made quickly. I could have dined in, but I took it home.
The boba tea was in line with other boba options in town — if you like them, you’d likely like these ones. It’s nice that there is finally a convenient option for boba in this part of Champaign.
The sandwich was served on a crusty baguette, and was way better than I thought it would be. The bread was quite good: not too hard, not too soft and mushy. The butter was melted, not spread on the bread, so it permeated all of the other sandwich ingredients. Turns out, salted butter makes things taste pretty darn good. The daikon/carrot slaw was crisp and tangy, and cut through the heaviness of the butter. The only sandwich ingredient I didn’t like was the tomato, which was mealy and didn’t add anything to my bites.
Look, I thought that spending $5 on a sandwich would give me something equivalent to a bunch of subpar toppings on some yoga mat bread, but that is not what I got. My sandwich was surprisingly good, and a lot of food for the price. Even though there are a bunch of sandwich options over at the Kirby and Mattis intersection, you’d be remiss if you didn’t at least try ba’get. I’ll certainly be back.
ba’get
1713 W Kirby Ave
Champaign
M-Sa 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Su 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Photos by Jessica Hammie