In-Depth

The phở, bún chả and bánh mì has never been better When people migrate, food is one of the strongest ways that people can stay connected to their homeland. Waves of migration from Vietnam to the UK, first after the Vietnam War in 1975 and the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979 (around 22,000 “boat people” came to the UK between 1975 - 1988), and then in the 90s and noughties as people sought out study and employment opportunities, has created a rich Vietnamese food scene in London. Hackney was one of the areas where a Vietnamese community was established thanks to organisations like the An Viet Foundation and Centre 151 that helped refugees settle, and it remains one of the best places to find Vietnamese food in London. The Hoxton end of Kingsland Road, aka ‘phở mile’, is home to the likes of Mien Tay, BunBunBun, Sông Quê Café, Hanoi Cafe, Sen Viet, and Viet Grill. Bánh Mì Hội-An, up by Hackney Central, is one the best bánh mì shops in the city. It’s easy to find the likes of Vietnamese cà phê, phở, bún chả, bánh cuốn, bánh xèo, and bún bò Huế on restaurant menus all over London, and a bunch of new openings is only making the landscape richer and more varied. After training under famed Ho Chi Minh City street food trader Nguyễn Thị Thanh, famous for her noodle soups and for catching the attention of Anthony Bourdain on his No Reservations show in 2009, Brian Woo continued her legacy by opening Cô Thành in Hong Kong in 2017. This September, he opened a London branch of Cô Thành in Covent Garden, serving more unusual noodle soups like bún riêu, bún Thái, bún mắm, and bún mọc, as well as a classic bún bò Huế. The team behind Bánh Bánh, which has been operating restaurants in Brixton and Peckham since 2014, opened lunch-focused spin-off Little Bánh Bánh in Fleet Street this autumn, doing rice boxes, bánh mì and bún noodle salads. That came just a few months after the same group established Lai Rai in Peckham, which centres around the Vietnamese culture of bia hơi – meeting for snacks and cold beers. The contemporary menu features dishes like prawn lollies with fish sauce satay; tofu whip with sesame crackers; rice paper salad with beef jerky, quail eggs and green mango; mussels with coconut and lemongrass broth; and Laughing Cow cheese sweetcorn ice cream by Clingy Wrap. After 18 months of popping up around town (and around the world) with his modern Vietnamese concept Lá Lốt, Eric Wan finally opened a permanent place at the start of December. At Tempo, he’s continuing the Chinese-Vietnamese fusion cookery he perfected on the road, serving up the likes of crisp prawn toast coated in green chilli sauce and pickled daikon; Nem Nướng pork skewers with fresh herbs and dipping sauce; braised aubergine with whipped tofu and wonton crackers; and Bánh Hỏi rice noodle rolls. For all the new wave restaurants opening in recent months, there’s been plenty of more traditional ones cropping up too. Family-run group Cafe Mama Pho opened a Bloomsbury location this autumn, taking its total number of restaurants to three (the others are in Deptford and Kensington). A third BúnBúnBún outpost has just come to London Fields. Even the chains, like HOP Vietnamese and Kêu, expanded with new sites this year. And one of London’s most legendary Vietnamese spots, Song Que Café, is growing, opening a phở bar in Spitalfields on the old Pearly Queen site, which could even be with us before the year is out. In the meantime, head to the Phát Boi Hot Bread pop-up at Warehaus in Dalston for a bánh mì and a marg. Vietnamese food seems to be having a moment outside of London restaurants too. After global Ha’s Dac Biet pop-ups, including at Early June in Paris and Oranj in London, Ha’s Snack Bar is killing it across the pond in NYC. And that’s just one example of the Vietnamese boom in the Big Apple, with the Financial Times and New York Times also namechecking the likes of Bánh Anh Em, Mắm, Sen Saigon and Bé Bếp. It’s also even easier than ever to explore Vietnamese cooking in your own kitchens. Chef and consultant Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen (who worked on menu development at Bao) released Vietnam: The Cookbook, filled with over 400 recipes from across the country, in October. Cookbook author and supperclub host Uyen Luu is launching a chicken phở with Borough Broth Company in January - nourishing and comforting, it’s the perfect antidote to all the rich festive food and the perfect way to add even more Vietnamese food into your life.

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