Unlike other Asian cuisines, such as Chinese, Japanese and Indian, London only has a select few restaurants that have perfected Vietnamese food. While it’s relatively easy to stumble across authentic sushi or traditional Peking duck, the flavours of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have largely been left to family-run eateries whose recipes for authentic phở, bánh mì and signature summer rolls have been passed down through the generations. Fancy sampling Saigon street food that’s the real deal? Or steaming phở done right? You’ve come to the right place. Welcome to the best Vietnamese restaurants in London. 

Kêu, across London

One of London’s leading Vietnamese restaurateurs, Hieu Bui, has just opened his fourth Kêu restaurant on Borough High Street, following the success of outposts in Hoxton, The City and Soho. Combining historic Vietnamese cooking techniques with ingredients sourced from Saigon’s markets and the UK’s best suppliers – meat come from British farms and vegetables from Borough Market’s Paul Wheeler – Kêu specialises in Saigon street food, including bánh mì and hand-pulled noodles, that are served in colourful surroundings inspired by the vibrant market culture of Vietnam’s largest city. 

The newly-launched Borough menu features a signature noodle dish: hủ tiếu nam vang, consisting of rice noodles with umami pork stock, topped with pork and juicy prawns. Created by Chinese immigrants in Cambodia and later perfected in Saigon, the dish reflects the rich cultural history of Vietnamese cuisine and its diverse street food culture. Also don’t miss the mỳ vằn thắn thơm – a flavourful pork wonton noodle soup – and an array of bánh mìs, all served inside crusty French baguette, including the bánh mì hội an – using a trio of pork ham, spiced pork belly, and chicken liver pâté – and bánh mì thịt nướng, filled with succulent honey-glazed pork shoulder and lemongrass. 

Visit banhmikeu.co.uk

Viet Grill, Hoxton

Located on Hoxton’s Kingsland Road – otherwise known as London’s ‘pho mile’ – Viet Grill serves authentic dishes and Vietnamese-inspired cocktails that are not to be sniffed at. Since opening its doors in 2006, menus have taken their cues from the latest trends in Saigon and Hanoi, specialising in Vietnamese barbecue dishes cooked over charcoal on fiery robata grills. Highlights include the Hanoi crispy crab parcel, refreshing green papaya salad, shaking beef – wok-tossed sirloin with Phu Quoc black pepper, garlic and oyster sauce – and claypot mekong catfish in a caramelised fish sauce. House specialities, meanwhile, come in the form of steamed rice rolled crepes in three styles: Hanoi (Asian mushroom and pork), Saigon (cucumber and Vietnamese ham), and Sapa (barbecued pork and aromatic fish sauce). 

The food isn’t the only thing to rave about here. The cocktail list also makes the most of Vietnamese flavours and ingredients, ranging from the Vietnamese Tradition – a creamy take on an espresso martini – to the perfect-for-sharing Viet Party Punch, featuring gin, rosé wine, strawberry, lime and soda. 

58 Kingsland Road, E2 8DP, visit vietgrillrestaurant.co.uk

Cây Tre, Hoxton and Soho

If you’re after fresher Vietnamese food than claypot curries and wok-fried noodles, book a table at Cây Tre. From comforting phở to crunchy salads, this restaurant opened in 2003 in East London before demand required a second outpost in Soho in 2011. The signature dish here is phở, which starts with a deeply-flavoured broth made with marrow bones, cinnamon and star anise, slowly simmered for 24 hours before the addition of fresh ingredients such as flank steak, chicken thigh or king prawns. Have yours Hanoi-style by adding a little hoisin, or keep it simple and spicy as per tradition in northern Vietnam with Cây Tre’s homemade cậu vinh chilli sauce. 

The menu is not limited to phở; however. Be sure to try the Saigon xeo pancake – crispy coconut rice with a choice of chicken and prawn, or tofu and mushroom – stir-fried cassava vermicelli with crab, and the buddha spring bowl with vegetable spring rolls and crispy tofu topped with mixed Vietnamese herbs. Can’t decide? Enjoy a taste of everything thanks to a set menu featuring beef in betel leaf, salt and pepper squid, Saigon pork belly stew, and okra and aubergine curry served with jasmine rice and seasonal greens. 

Visit caytrerestaurant.co.uk

Bánh Bánh, across London

A true family affair, Bánh Bánh was founded by five siblings as a culinary celebration of their grandmother, who was a chef in Vietnam in the 1940s. As second generation immigrants, food was how the Nguyen family connected with the motherland they had often heard about – and they soon mastered their grandparents’ recipes for the steaming phở, zesty salads and creamy curries that were daily staples in their childhood. After a popular, two-year pop-up at Peckham’s Bussey Building confirmed a gap in the market for a classic Vietnamese eatery in this patch of southeast London, Bánh Bánh opened its first bricks-and-mortar restaurant in 2016. 

Now with an outpost in Brixton, and a smaller lunch-orientated site fuelling the hungry workforce of Fleet Street in Little Bánh Bánh, the Nguyen siblings have gained a reputation for well-executed Vietnamese food. The menu is divided into small plates – order four-five dishes for two people so you have the opportunity to try a bit of everything – and bigger bowls for solo diners. From the former, we love the bánh khọt, a Southern delicacy of mini savoury coconut pancakes, as well as the grilled aubergine topped with crunchy peanuts and sticky chicken wings tossed in sweet fish sauce. Ravenous? Look to larger plates of grilled pork bún noodle salad, king prawn phở, and grandpa’s huế noodle soup with spicy lemongrass, tofu, mushrooms and udon noodles in a slow-cooked vegetable broth. 

Visit banhbanh.com

Med Salleh Viet, Notting Hill and Earl’s Court

Decked out in dark wood and turquoise, alongside a typical Hanoi market scene mural painted across one wall, Med Salleh Viet is chef Syphong Lam’s homage to her birthplace: Ho Chi Minh City. Overseeing the menus at Med Salleh Viet in Westbourne Grove and Earl's Court, dishes nod to her home country and the techniques she learned as a teen working in her parents’ restaurant. The result? Traditional Vietnamese dishes rarely found outside of Asia, including hand-crafted summer rolls, prawn and mango salad, and small plates of barbecued and glazed lamb, whole squid and king prawns. Of course, phở isn’t left off the menu, with variations of classic rare beef, oxtail, spicy seafood, or tofu and seasonal mushroom available – but the black truffle and wagyu beef phở is a real treat. 

Visit medsalleh.co.uk

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