jazzing up a plain bánh mì

I don't know why so often Asian food in North America have a tendency to suffer from chasing for low prices. Inevitably with low prices the products suffer. Corners are cut and bad ingredients become the approximation. Portland has a large population of Vietnamese. While I haven't try to find a good bánh mì lately, with the years I live here I have not experience one that worth getting excited. All too often there is very little inside the sandwich. In my recent month long road trip, I made a point to stop by the Vietnamese area in San Jose. The bánh mì that I had from this shop that specialized in the Vietnamese sandwich had to be the worst I'd ever tasted. Later I have a bowl of pho and I could not eat it because it was that bad.

Recently while shopping at An Dong Asian Market I picked up a bánh mì for a mere $2.50. I wasn't expecting much inside at this price. I mainly wanted the baguette and planed to jazz up the inside when I get home to make it into a more satisfying sandwich.
store bought bánh mì for less than a public transit ticket

 there is not much inside

I went to my refrigerator and found some ingredients. I decided to add a couple of saute sea shrimps, a bit of my home made smoked yellow tail, and few slices of andouille. I also added some sliced onion, more cilantro, thinly sliced scallions, as well as a dash of Tabasco for some heat.

 the end result is a much more interesting and filling bánh mì