I had a spontaneous moment where I wanted to try out a newish place which I had seen whilst on the bus heading towards Elephant and Castle many months back (can’t remember how long it’s been open now). This Vietnamese takeaway called Hoa Phuong (which I think is a type of red flower found in Vietnam) is hard to spot if you don’t look out the window on the left hand side whilst going pass Dragon Castle. This takeaway shop used to be a Chinese takeaway which unfortunately I didn’t try out in the past.

Had a quick look at the menu online but that needs updating because when I looked on the blackboard inside the shop they had some extras. 

They even have some seating! 

I was greeted by an old Vietnamese lady whose English is not the greatest but I could understand. I made my order and then sat there for a while (about 15 to 20 minutes because I ordered a bit) for my food to be made. I don’t think everything is pre-made… Took a few pictures in the meantime.

Finally my food was ready. I was very hungry and wanted to get home before everything got cold. Thankfully I know the backstreets and took the shortcut home.

This is the food I ordered.

The noodles (not pho, they’re called bun) were not in the soup… I was thinking where are those white noodles… they were hidden underneath the fishcake! ^_^ This is actually the second time I’ve seen a restaurant / takeaway separate the noodles from the rest of the ingredients. Cool!

I asked for spicy beef noodles which is why my soup looks dark as some chilli oil was added. This is a different version of Vietnamese noodles as I read on Wiki. It comes from Central Vietnam. The one we’re used to seeing is pho which has a sweeter broth and flatter, thinner noodles. Inside the soup there’s a lot of sliced beef. You will need to dig in to see it. Quite amazed at how much beef was given. 

I added the bun, fishcakes and lettuce and started eating. The soup is good stuff, a little spicy, not too sweet and is full of flavour. It’s not too beefy but it had a lot of herbs. The greatest thing about this is that I was never given any coriander and no coriander (I believe) was added to the soup or box of ingredients. So cool!! I love this place already. ^_^ Instead there was some lemongrass and a lot of chopped up lettuce.

The bun was brilliant too. It was no flat rice noodles, it was thin round noodles which I haven’t seen before. Thick and filling.

Next I started on the grilled pork rolls (goi cuon). A tub of sweet chilli runny sauce is given.

These were amazing. The grilled pork reminded me of Chinese bbq pork without the sweet taste. This type of summer roll is brilliant. I need to know how to make these. ¬,¬””

Finally I had a dessert. Che Mixed Bean. There were chick peas, red beans, clear noodles and green noodles. There was a separate bag of sweet white coconut milk. Be warned: these desserts are very sweet, I think my teeth wanted a clean brushover afterwards as it was too much for my them. >_<"

Total cost came to £11.50 although I calculated it to be £11.70 as the blackboard stated the dessert was an extra 20 pence from its original price. Nevermind, didn’t want to argue. It’s cheap, and I enjoyed the food. 

My geeky rating: 5/5

– Cheap food!

– Ingredients separated from the soup and there’s lots of ingredients included!

– Love the rolls

– Polite service

– There are small seating areas in case you have nowhere else to eat

– Had to wait a while for the food as there’s only one person serving and cooking (at that time)

Address: 4 Hampton Street, London SE1 6SN

Tel: 07832 999573 or 07776 508 125

Opening times: Tuesday to Sunday 12pm to 2pm and 5pm to 9pm

I’ve started eating in the Holborn area. Reason: I’m taking Japanese classes in the area, and after class I become very hungry!! So the only option is to eat. ^_^ Heheheh.

I’ve been pass Viet Eat for a bit now. Not sure how long it’s been there but I do like a good pho if I can find a place that sells it. 😀

So obviously I ordered a Vietnamese cold coffee. This was really sweet. Wish I had a bigger glass too. I’ve had better Vietnamese coffee though.

And it was obvious that I would go for the beef pho right. I always pronounce pho as “fo” that rhymes with “ho”, but I hear people say “fa” or “for” with a silent r. Vietnamese pronunciation is hard.

Well there was a lot of flat rice noodles (but I like the thinner flat noodles!). The soup base was kind of salty, not like the sweet taste I had in Camberwell or the one I had in Paris. There was a lot of coriander but it didn’t taste much of it which was a relief. The main disappointment was the tender beef. They used the slightly harder beef which is not the bit I like in beef pho. I like the really, really chewy tender beef.

I did eat the lot but felt slightly disappointed. Looks like I’ll be going back to the South of London for more pho. XD

Total cost came to £12.43 including a 12.5% service charge. I feel like I’ve been cheated in eating a very expensive bowl of pho.

My geeky rating: 3.5/5

– Friendly service

– Like the seating arrangements – feels like a proper noodle bar, and they have seating outside too!

– A bit expensive for some one bowl of noodles!

– The soup base and beef was so-so

– I hate service charge

Address: 48 Kingsway, London WC2B 6EP

Telephone: 020 7404 4138

Website: http://www.vieteat.co.uk/

I’ve been pass this restaurant for so many years whilst on my way to Peckham, Catford or elsewhere, and this is the first time I have dined in this place. It’s just one of those places that gets missed out because of again bad reputation or just not in plane sight from the public (well it’s pretty much on the main road, so you can’t miss it really!).

At the point I went in, I think they had just opened, there were no customers at all. Is Vietnamese food dying out in the South East of London? I don’t think it is. I looked at people on the bus, and hardly anyone was looking in… Too bad, they’re missing out! I was the only customer guys until I left!

Van Hing 文興 in Cantonese is called Man Hing. There is no actual meaning to it, so I guess it’s probably a person’s name. It literally means “culture interest”.

From the Internet, I had already viewed the menu, and I already knew what I wanted to eat…

I asked for a Cold Vietnamese Coffee, it is one of my favourite types of coffees in the world because it’s sweet from the condensed milk they use and the coffee is blended and filtered nicely. I really enjoyed this one.

The next thing I ordered was this Vegetarian pancake. I was thinking it was going to be small, but no it was quite massive! It was broken at the back though, which I was being polite and not taking a picture of that part. Apart from the pancake, I was also given a lot of salad! Woah. I did not expect that.

Next I had a beef pho. Thankfully I had no breakfast otherwise I don’t think I would’ve finished the whole lot…

The soup was nice and light but there wasn’t enough beefiness in it. I’m actually quite happy with this as well as the chef (the owner plus waiter) didn’t add too much coriander into it. Phew. I really don’t like coriander.

I think I had two different cuts of beef. One lot was soft and chewy, and the other lot was soft and tough. Not sure which parts I had…

Total cost came to £13.50. Not bad!

It wasn’t a bad experience. The owner who is Vietnamese got to chat with me for a little in Cantonese asking about my background, and I just said I was born in London and I have passed your restaurant for many years and wanted to try it out… He looks a bit rough, but I think he’s a nice person… Kept sneezing a lot whilst making my food (he had the back door open!), heheh, just like my dad when he’s cooking!! It was definitely cold that day!

My geeky rating: 4.5/5

– Cheap Vietnamese food, quite a big portion too

– Quiet place to eat lunch!

– Nice Vietnamese coffee… ^_^

– A bit of a slow business since there were no customers around until after I left

Address: 42 Camberwell Church Street, London SE5 8QZ

Telephone: 020 7703 9707

Outside Cafe Mama Pho

Some of the pictures displayed

I’ve tried looking for blogposts about this place, but there’s not much. Short history – it’s been opened since 2009. The previous cafe there was called Cafe East, which has moved near to the Odeon cinema and run by a family member of Cafe Mama Pho.

Some garnishes for you to add to your food

Master H had the Com Suan, which is a lemon grass pork chop – it is sweet and glazed, this was served with rice and salad… He enjoyed it as he was hungry!

Com Suan

Miss Pinky had the Com Tam Cha Suon Bi. This consisted of the same pork chop, shredded pork and pork skin, Vietnamese meat pie served with rice and salad… Miss Pinky is quite a fussy eater. She didn’t like the sweetness of the pork chop (which I liked because I tried some). And the meat pie? She didn’t eat much of it, but I had the rest! It was good!! She said she would have preferred more soy sauce on her rice but there was none at the table for her to use (I did tell her to ask!).

Com Tam Cha Suon  Bi

Now for my food. I had the Che Sun Sa, which is a coconut cream milk with jelly and rice bits. It was like having a pina colada… but a non-alcoholic version of it. Thumbs up! (^_^)b

Che Sun Sa –> ^_^

Big strings / lumps of jelly

I then had the Bi Cuon which is a pork skin and pork meat roll. It was served cold with some chilli sauce, which I wasn’t expecting. This is probably best served in the summer rather than in the winter! Master H liked these. Miss Pinky wasn’t thrilled. I was ok with it. But I think I will try the hot Bahn Cuon (cheung fun) next time.

Bi Cuon

Sorry… I couldn’t focus well…

Then the best food came out… Pho Chin… This had some well done beef served with pho (ho fun) in spicy soup (you can have non-spicy soup if you don’t like spicy)… Wow! I loved the beef. It was so tender. The ho fun was nice, not tough and just right. And the soup was very good too! The soup wasn’t as spicy as Korean spicy soups but spicy enough to keep you warm! I would definitely have this again!!!

Pho Chin

Pho Chin – Yummy!!!

Miss Pinky had two complaints afterwards: