Vietnamese in London

[grendelyn]

I *loooooove* Vietnamese food. So much so that I'm learning some Vietnamese and dragging my fiance on a weeklong trip to Hanoi and around in January, purely in order to eat ourselves silly (and recover from 30k miles in flights and 2 weeks with out parents... well deserved!).

Trouble is, my fiance know pretty much nothing about Vietnamese food, and I pretty much just know what I like. I just moved to London about a year ago from the DC area. I used to live in Seven Corners and could see the Eden Center (giant Vietnamese extravaganza shopping center) out my back window. I used to eat there quite frequently, but pretty much just asked for 'whatever's good' so I never really learned much about what dishes are called, what to look for, etc.

SO: I have two requests.

Tell me about good Vietnamese in London. I know there are a number of restaurants in Dalston, and we've been to a few, but don't know which ones are really good for what, etc. We live in Islington, and can't find any local Vietnamese restaurants that don't cater to the western palate. Yuck. All so bland and just somehow unimaginative. (We cruised all the places in Islington the Guardian recommended in its 'Top Ten Vietnamese' feature a few months ago, and came away largely disappointed.) Is there anywhere we can get hotpot? Esp with seafood?

Second, tell me where I can learn a bit more about what I should be looking for. We have the Lonely Planet guide to Vietnamese Food, but are there any other great resources out there? Any regional specialties in the north not to be missed?

TIA!

gren

[Charlie O]

There's a cluster of Vietnamese restaurants in Hoxton - at the bottom of the Kingsland Road, just by the Shoreditch Junction.

Streetmap link

Presumably these are the ones you meant when you said Dalston. Of these, my old flatmate, whose Vietnamese parents run a restaurant in Thailand, thought the Tay-Do was pretty good. Not knowing much about Vietnamese cooking (yet), I've always been happy to go with his recommendation.

[bishwells]

you also have Khaoi in Crouch End. Think it is something do do with the school in Dalston.

Authentic vietnamese, great Pho, a Vietnamese friend rates it.

Also regularly see them making the summer rolls etc. from scratch in the kitchen, not frozen, pre-assembled elsewhere.

[BonVivant]

I *loooooove* Vietnamese food.  So much so that I'm learning some Vietnamese and dragging my fiance on a weeklong trip to Hanoi and around in January, purely in order to eat ourselves silly (and recover from 30k miles in flights and 2 weeks with out parents... well deserved!).

...[snipped]

←

i also went to VN only for the food, 4 weeks of it but it was much too short

keep in mind that january is very cold in the north. i came home with a cold from Sapa. "Bun Cha" is a Hanoi specialty among endless other dishes. one tip: never eat anywhere you see fellow tourists. [some VN food pix here]

[vytoh]

I live in the Shoreditch area and seem to live on Vietnamese and my new local organic Korean deli if not elsewhere in town.

I have favourite dishes at each of the restaurants in the area so where I go depends on what I feel like!

I tend to pick between Cay Tre on Old St (I think this has a smaller menu but better quality overall) and Song Que (best selection of pho including all the best bits like tendon and tripe). However, Tay Do is also pretty good and their lemongrass king prawns, deep fried so the shells go crunchy and crispy are unbeatable. I think their summer rolls are the best of the bunch but this is a personal thing!

You should be able to get a seafood hotpot at Cay Tre and Song Que? Pretty sure I've had it at both places. Not sure about the others - perhaps worth your wandering down Kingsland road to check. I love the grilled mackerel at Cay Tre and the caramel catfish hotpot. Seems to be the best there, though I have had the occasional disappointment on busy nights. They're the only place to do a bun cha remotely well without skimping on the fish sauce. Their Banh Xeo wins hands down as well. Quality instead of quantity (though still a generous serve) My main criticism of Cay Tre is that they aren't very generous with their herbs or their lettuce - I'm always having to ask for extra...how do they expect people to wrap their banh xeo in a piece of lettuce the size of your palm?! In Vietnam they give you a whole basket of lettuce and you eat your fill.

I quite like the pho ga at Cay tre as they use cornfed chickens and the broth is tasty....but for a pho bo I'll go to Song Que for the range of extras I can get. Their salt & pepper/chilli squid is the best there as well. I think if I Had to vote, the Bun Bo Hue is the best at Song Que as well...but it's also pretty good elsewhere.

As for the others - Au Lac is a relative newcomer - have been there a few times but tend to return to my favourites. Viet Hoa doesn't seem to rate as highly with me - though I do like their bun xa. Huong Viet is on Englefield Road and is the Vietnamese community centre - it's a favourite with many but we tend not to visit so often, mainly because it's a bit further afield for us and my vietnamese friend doesn't really like it that much! (go figure)

As for what specialties to try in Hanoi, I think your question is better posed on the South East Asian forum.

Asia/Pacific forum

there's loads of expertise on there. Do a search on a keyword when in the forum and you'll find that your question has already been asked and answered many times over. I'll send you a PM with my faves as well as I also dragged my S.O around there last year!

Happy Eating and Happy travels!

[vytoh]

ps... I found this blog an entertaining and informative read: Noodlepie

It's written by an American(?) living in HCMC but he made a few travels to Hanoi and he covers off some of the local dishes lik Bun Cha and Cha Ca La Vong (forgot to mention in previous post that Cay Tre also does a great version of this).

[silverbrow]

I can send Cay Tre - excellent food, but you can find it pretty difficult to get a table. Another great place is Viet Anh Cafe on Parkway in Camden Town. Very cheap but really good food.

[camp_dick]

If you've already sampled the pho houses in Kingsland Road, I fear you're going to be disappointed in your search for authentic Viet. food in London, where most of the 'Vietnamese' restaurants serve the familiar Cantonese pop menu with some Thai additions.

Most Vietnamese here have not come direct from their mother country, but through the refugee camps in Hong Kong and many have ended up in the rougher parts of South London. (Originally located all over the country, they used the council house transfer system to gather together where nobody else wanted to live: the North Peckham Estate. It's still pretty grim in places and some of the locals refer to it as a war zone. Which tends to make the Vietnamese laugh, mirthlessly. 'War zone? Ha, ha!')

Southwark Council has assisted several Vietnamese restaurant businesses - such as the Viet Hing in Peckham High Street - but, likesay, few bother with any notions of authenticity. Ethnic restaurants have traditionally provided an entry level business opportunity for new arrivals, but many of the Vietnamese arriving in London are a generation removed from their cultural roots and in thrall to the - ahem - more unsavoury element in Chinese society. Plus, they've found an infinitely more profitable business...

You could always phone the Embassy - (020) 7937 1912 - and ask for recommendations. Otherwise, you might familiarise yourself with vytoh's recommendations and ask them for specialities, which may not appear on the menu.

Let us know if you get lucky!

[Ian]

A new Vietnamese has just opened up in East India Dock Road near the blackwall tunnel. It's better than those in Kingsland Road, even the mighty Song Que. Last time I went, a Vietnamese friend tucked into raw duck's blood and peanuts. I'll dig out the full address details later.