NewMarket Square is getting a new restaurant owned by former NewMarket tenants
A new restaurant is opening in NewMarket Square, and the owners are already more-than-familiar with the area.
Christine and Vincent Pham are planning to open Banh Mi Bites — a build-your-own Vietnamese sandwich restaurant — in the space that recently was vacated by Sesame Mediterranean Kitchen. They’re aiming for a late February opening.
The business will be the Phams’ first foray into the restaurant industry, but they previously owned a nail salon that happened to operate in the exact same strip center. The Phams closed their Signature Nails Spa, which was two spaces to the south of Sesame, two years ago.
Vincent’s passion, though, is food, his wife said. The couple was inspired to go into the restaurant business by Vincent’s brother, who owns a successful chain of banh mi restaurants in Melbourne, Australia, called Long Banh Mi.
The Phams’ restaurant won’t be a duplicate of the Australian chain, though: They can’t get the same fresh ingredients in Wichita that Vincent’s brother uses in Australia. But they will use a few of the brother’s techniques as well as his recipe for their fresh banh mi bread, which will be baked on site, Christine said.
Banh Mi Bites will allow customers to customize their own banh mi sandwiches by choosing from a display of ingredients, including proteins and vegetables. The star of the menu will be grilled pork belly, made using one of Vincent’s family’s signature recipes. Other options will be grilled chicken, cold cuts and grilled pork. There will also be a vegan option.
Customers also will be able to choose from toppings like carrots, cucumbers, radishes, jalapenos and cilantro, and they can have their sandwiches topped with the restaurant’s signature sauce — a hoisin-based mixture that Chiristine said was the perfect mix of sweet and savory.
“We’ll prep your banh mi in front of you,” she said. “There’s not another place in town that does that.”
Banh Mi Bites will also carry a few appetizers, including spring rolls, egg rolls and dumplings. The owners also plan to serve Viet-fries, which are french fries coated in Vietnamese seasoning. The owners will also install a coffee bar that serves Vietnamese coffee, lattes and boba tea.
The couple plans to remodel the space. Though they’ll leave the kitchen where it is, everything else will look different, Christine said. The finished product won’t look anything like Sesame.
“It will be something a little different,” she said. “It will bring a little bit of traditional Vietnamese banh mi, but I want it to be almost like a cafe where people can come in and . . . they can just visit with each other, or they can study if they want to, or if they just want to hang out or have a girls’ luncheon, they can.”
I’ll keep you posted on the restaurant’s progress.
This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 5:05 AM.
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