Cà Phê !

Amazing sandwiches. Love love love. Must really go back and try something else, but every time I pass by, I just end up with the same…
It’s easy to miss, but so worth finding.

A perfect iced coffee for takeaway. I have definitely walked past this place several times without noticing it, because it is so small and tucked away into the row of shops on the street. Now that I know it is there, I will find it difficult to walk by without being tempted by their perfect iced coffee.

This small gem in the wall has fantastic Viet Phở!
The ‘restaurant’ could probably only seat 5 people MAXIMUM with people outdoor seating for an extra 4. It’s sad how small this place is being the fact that their soup noodles are fantastic, AND inexpensive.
With a store filled with the smell of delicious noodle soup, your order is cooked freshly right away, and served to you in a bowl in which you can enjoy while people watching through their store window. The soup is richly flavored without any sight of MSG (hopefully!), where everything is probably home made. A bowl of good ol Asian Phở will fill your tummy up quite nicely, while finishing off with a cup of ice tea.
Ice tea is done well. Recommended as well
Take away IS recommended if you’re looking to be seated more comfortably.
Will come again if I’m around the area! Excellen (phở)~

Fantastic Vietnamese iced coffee!
This place is like a miracle cupboard, literally. I can’t believe it is legally a shop it is so narrow! I’ve seen the dude who works here have to crawl under the counter to even get out…
Had the bbq pork bahn mi too which is delicious. The serving guy encourages you to try everything as they hand it to you over the counter for you to check that the coffee is sweet enough or the food is spicy enough, presumably to custom-​please their customers– how delightful!
I’ve met so many nice people just hanging out (where– I’m not sure there is no space), just somehow in this minuscule joint, most recently a couple from HK who were great order waiting conversationalists.
I do wish the opening hours were longer but that may come with time and popularity…

Had the roast pork bánh mì from Ca Phe the other week and it was really good. Ingredients were all fresh and they’re not afraid to go in on the chilli (if you ask for it, that is). The bread roll was light and crunchy — how it’s supposed to be.
Coming from a town that has ridiculously cheap Vietnamese food (whatup Melbourne), £4 seems a little on the expensive side for banh mi as it is a bit light on as a meal.
But if you’re in the mood for a decent and quick Vietnamese flavour hit, you can’t wrong.
Can’t wait to try their phở.

Change in management as of a few weeks ago.
The new owners delivered hot, quality phở in quality soup base. Last I visited the place ran out of noodles just past midnight though still were dishing out baguettes and Vietnamese coffee.

Now they do roast garlic beef phở soup noodle so had to try a bowl and was suitably impressed and great value for £5.
Soup stock had good depth of flavour. Rice noodles were perfect and slippery. Beef was tasty. Nice good portion size too. The new owner decided to add Phở to the menu and assured me the baguettes are even better than before so look forward to that for the next visit.

this viet coffee is delicious, but beware b/​c it is highly caffeinated.

Incredible coffee. Ice. Condensed milk. Fantastically/​cruelly located around the corner from my flat. Done.
God knows what they do to the coffee/what’s in it to make it so delicious, but damn I’m sold. And again.
(I don’t know about their food, but I’d be willing to put money that it’s equally delectable from the sound of the menu).

Vietnamese coffee is sex. It caffeine infused, sugar coated sex served over ice. Simple.
On Broadway Market, Rob sells his coffee and sandwiches to me every Saturday. Now when I need my Viet fix mid week, I cycle down to Upper Street and pop into what use to be a cute little Brazilian café. Yes it’s good but for some reason the sarnies aren’t as fresh as they are on Broadway. I had the roast chicken with out the påte and it filled a hole but wasn’t a «mmmm, I must have another right now» kinda sandwich.
The coffee however is still the same great cup of goodness and now it’s summer you can perch on the little stools outside in the morning and soak up the sunshine, watching the yummy mummies push their buggies past the over-​priced boutiques that line this street.

What a great new addition to Upper Street. Cà Phê is a tiny and cheerful Vietnamese sandwich shop in Islington.
They have a 5 pound lunch special. For a fiver, I had a pork bun sandwich (see pic) and an iced Vietnamese coffee. The sandwich was really tasty — make sure you get the chili sauce. Spicy, sweet, savory, and affordable!
For a quick take-​a-​way lunch, Cà Phê needs to be on your short list!

It’s kind of ballsy putting an exclamation mark in your business name.
But of all the small businesses who could get away with this, I’d say Cà Phê VN is one of them. Because on Saturday mornings, Broadway Market is the place to be if you want life-​alteringly fabulous Vietnamese iced coffee and bahn mi. It is THAT good, people.
So, yeah, I can totally see it. Open a teensy little takeaway shop on Upper Street to cater to all the bourgeois Londoners who want their Vietnamese street food fixes and put an exclamation mark at the end of its name. You guys have earned it. Hell yeah — Cà Phê ! motherfuckers.
And now you, too, can enjoy Vietnamese coffee and bahn mi every day of the week in your own hood. (Because you DO live in Islington, right?)
Still, it’s just not QUITE the same as the original. Good, yes. More accessible, surely. But Cà Phê VN on a Saturday in Broadway Market, it is not.
Oh yeah, and you can even get veggie bahn mi (!!). If I could eat soy-​based products, you’d better believe I’d be on that veggie bahn mi like a white American expat on Sriracha.

Today I went to Cà Phê. (Again.)
Ha, the kind gentleman behind the counter, and I are on a first name basis. (Already.)
I forwent all varieties of Easter chocolate for Vietnamese iced coffee. (All weekend. No chocolate.)
Upon my visit today, Lizzie G looked at me just before tucking into her fresh chicken bánh mì and said ‘wow, if I lived above this shop I’d be enormous.’ (I do.)
Best thing to come to Angel since the halo.

An hour ago I was tired, but after the sweet nectar of the gods that is Vietnamese iced coffee, I’m ready to take on the world!
Luckily for me, Euphorium was out of ice today, so I made my way down Upper Street, looking for a cold, caffeinated drink. Cà Phê won’t have a credit card machine for another couple of weeks and after counting up all of the change I had in my wallet, I found I was 55 pence short, but the woman at the counter said she would make me a drink anyway. After a long string of thank yous from me, she said, «I don’t want you to go away disappointed.» Awesome.
She said they probably won’t serve phở, but will expand the menu to offer a hot dish every day. The woman then described her «best dish,» a spicy beef meal that she will definitely serve. It sounded delicious.
Great service and heavenly coffee. I will definitely return.

Lately I’ve taken on a new hobby: walking back and forth between work and home! Which, from a culinary point of view, seems to be quite a rewarding hobby, as I discover so many new places! (For example, that Hungarian place called Take it Eazy on Holloway Road.)
Cà Phê was also a chance discovery — in fact, about a week ago I saw that they were re-​modelling this shop and had placed a poster in the window, announcing the immanent opening. Last Friday, after I’d once again decided to ditch the hanging-​out-​at-​the-​pub-​after-​work community, I went to this cute little Vietnamese place instead… and it was a totally rewarding experience.
The lady who runs the store was super-​friendly and was curious to find out how I’d found out about her store. While she was preparing my bánh mì, I bored her with the story. But, I also found out, that while at this point she’s only offering Vietnamese sandwiches, she will soon expand her menu slightly… but the kitchen (and the store itself) are tiny, so there’s really only a limited amount of things she can offer.
Back to the sandwich: while I’ve had plenty of Vietnamese dishes before, like ph and bún ch, I’ve actually never had this famous sandwich before and so I was very delighted to find it to be very delightful. The bread itself was lightly toasted and the fillings — which I actually can’t recall — very delicious. She also squirted a good amount of chili-​sauce over my sandwich, which made my mouth pleasantly tingle for the rest of my walk back home.
Really enjoyed it!