by Eric Ginsburg

Noma Food & Co., the area’s first Thai/Vietnamese fast-food restaurant, will open Monday, Aug. 24. On Sunday, the “Fresh. Asian. Fast.” restaurant with a cornucopia of vegan/vegetarian options debuted. The packed, invite-only crowd was enough to make you wonder if the Battleground Avenue storefront will be big enough to seat the Greensboro public.

The menu focuses on several Thai and Vietnamese staple dishes, including banh mi sandwiches, pho noodle soups, curries and fresh rolls.

The best choice may be the combo order with banh mi and a lighter portion of pho (choose your meat or veggie in each for $9.45). I also recommend the chicken fresh-rolls and the mango blended-smoothie.

In addition to the more standard vegan tofu, Noma provides vegan steak and vegan ribs as well, or simply avocado in the fresh rolls. One of the two owners at the 2403-2 Battleground Ave. restaurant also owns Boba House vegetarian restaurant on Tate Street.

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Not far down the major thoroughfare, the relatively small chain Mac’s Speed Shop (six locations total) recently opened its Greensboro store.

Find more info about Noma Food & Co. here.

Update: An earlier version of this story said Noma is the city’s first Asian fast-food place. Considering places like Kyoto Fantasy Express, that’s not accurate. But as far as we know, it is the first to focus on Thai and Vietnamese food.

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