Cafe East

Excellent food, good value for money, the best Vietnamese restaurant I have tried so far in London. Easy parking.

This is definitely a favourite of mine, authentic and inexpensive.
I still think this is the best place for Vietnamese phở in London, having tried several others around London, and good value as the dishes are a substantial size. I have been coming here regularly, especially for their summer roll, it’s the best too, with the slightly chili, peanut/​plum sauce to dip into, heaven! Although, it’s a pity their size seems to have slightly shrunk in recent years, but I have not found anywhere that does this particular sauce, so have to come back again and again, because the sauce is the right tangy-​ness, and not fish oil like other places uses, nor plum sauce that is use for Peking Duck, or aromatic duck.
I also especially love the mix of lean rare beef and well done marbled beef with the phở, which comes with a piping hot soup, note «piping» hot as so many places seems not to understand the word «piping». Even the cup of hot water or pot of green tea comes so hot that it almost burns your tongue, like a good cup of coffee or tea, which is just short of burning your tongue. The green tea is also good here as it is flavoured with roasted rice.
Another dish that is always good is the vermicelli noodles with sweet stir-​fried beef served with a refreshing salad. The taste of the hot and the cold is sublime.
I miss their Vietnamese sliced sausages which they do not do anymore.
I love the simple, no décor, cream painted walls dining room. It is just one big room, and tables laid out canteen style. The tables are higher than most normal tables, which is probably what a child feels sitting at an adult table, but I like that, as you do not have to stoop so low to eat from the bowls. In the summer when they throw open the floor to ceiling windows, and the soft white curtains billowing gently in the wind, it is so romantic and dreamy.
A fair walk from Surrey Quays DLR or Canada Waters Tube Station as it is located at the far end of Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, but well worth traipsing all the way down into South London. There is ample free parking if driving.

Probably the best Vietnamese restaurant in the UK and probably best one outside Vietnam.
I was lucky that I moved in to Rotherhithe otherwise maybe I would read somewhere about it but never would bother to visit. It’s hard to find this gem. The location is rather hidden for someone that is not from the area. It’s basically a building on a huge Odeon Cinema and bowling parking. You either walk here if you are a local, drive, come by bus from London Bridge or take the tube to Canada Water and walk again.
So I have been coming here over the years when it just opened here. You can still see most of the original staff working here which is a good sign. The place is closed on Tuesdays and just until recently you could only pay cash and there was just one cash machine around which sometimes was empty. These days they accept cards so a big plus and makes my life easier. The place does not look much, more of a cafeteria then some of these Asian hipster paces in central London or Shoreditch.
It gets busy! So arrive early as the queues are long or arrive late as usually after 9PM you can find places. Once I had to wait 40 min for a seat, but believe me it’s worth it! The service is quick the card is short divided into starters, phở based soups, noodle dishes or rice dishes. There is no alcohol being served. The starters are wonderful, I love their spring rolls with meat loaf on top and crispy onion. For the mains I do usually go for the rice and pork chop with shredded pork skin which is just simply amazing!!! The other option is Vietnamese curry with chicken. Great stuff! Phở is always my favourite during winter, clear rich broth with tender beef.
To summarize you want find a better simple Vietnamese food in London. Highly recommended.

The chicken and beef broth in the phở, didn’t taste like chicken or beef. Tasted more like salt and sugar. Wasn’t impressed, maybe it was a off night?

It’s very famous in SE London. I think the main reason is good and big Vietnamese dish with cheap price. The noodle with soup is great in winter time. But it’s a bit hard to find cause no public transport can get there directly.

Really nice food in a simple place. I love this kind of style of almost canteen feel food. It’s a nice no frills feel that I think shows confidence in the thing that is most important. The food, which was delicious and authentic. Good spot to eat and would recommend.

Food is great, authentic but it seems that the size of the portions has been reduced while the prices increasing

This place is unbelievably good. Tucked away behind the cinema literally in the middle of nowhere, you would find it hard to believe that it would be any good. The dishes I had were probably the most fragrant and fresh dishes I’ve had in a long time. A great looking menu overall so I hope to come back to try more. And the best bit is that it’s really cheap, £8-£9 for a main, you can’t complain. (Visit — 05/​11/​2014 Lunch)

No frills Vietnamese. Everything is freshly made and delicious. Hidden gem in SE London. Some of the best Vietnamese I have had.

Very good food– authentic. Service was very fast and we only waited about five minutes to get seated. I would recommend number 16 and 20.

Best phở I’ve ever had in London. Very down to earth ambience and solid food.
1) Broth was quite authentic
2) The well-​done briskets of beef were perfectly cooked
3) Chilli peppers were genuinely spicy and added a kick to the overall flavour of the broth
4) Portions were great
Service was also good — prompt and efficient. They seemed to accept cards too which was a surprise, because I had read reviews that they don’t.
It’s a bit in the middle of nowhere location-​wise, but it’s worth the 10min walk from the Canada Water station for a great phở experience!

This used to be a regular spot for me back in my young days, after bowling or cinema. this was place to eat. It is not so much now, probably because first there has been a huge increase in the number of vietnamese restaurants and second, there was always a long queue and it didnt accept card.
So I came back last night, pre bowling dinner, just before the queue started to build up, which was about 6.30pm Thursday. (Glad I did)
The service was quick I thought, plenty of staff, and the food came quick. Starters I ordered was my favourite the steam roll pastry ‘Bahn Cuon’ but it was disappointing, they have reduce the portion size. I can see the price hasnt changed much and there is only one variety still, it was ok, not much filling, and not as presentable as the photo in the menu.
Next the main, tried the Phở Kho Cay, which is spicy noodle served dry, topped with chicken and beef This dish wasnt too bad, they have upped the spice level, but loved it more now. Friend’s dishes was also good, glad to see they still put the same effort in their mains. However whats with the extra dried fried shallots?, I understand it gives the extra crunch and texture, but the real flavours are there with or without them.
The drink ‘Che Ba Mau’ drink is a must have guys, I think all the tables around me, ordered this drink, its a sweet drink made with red kidney beans, and green jelly with coconut milk over crushed ice — and it looks pretty. I have tried many vietnamese restaurants, and these guys have the right formula.
Café East is probably how it was many years ago, there maybe some minor changes, but I wouldnt worry about them, its not like they will be short of customers anytime soon. Décor is light and airy, they have a nice terrace for the summer, and have plenty of car park spacing, food is decent, not completely downhill, but I am guessing they didnt need to up their game, they accept card now, but minum spend is £10. prices may have gone up slightly, but so has bowling and cinema prices. Its called ‘Inflation’
Had my ‘Yelp Hat’ on and initially was going to give an A-​OK, but nope after sleeping on it, I am still a fan of Café east. Four stars.

I love Vietnamese cuisine. Café East has fantastic Vietnamese cuisine.
It’s not really a place where you would imagine finding great Vietnamese food but if you get out of Canada Water, walk past the shopping centre to the theatre, you will find in a corner plaza, an adorable cottage looking establishment that sells delicious Bahn Cuon and Phở.
Regardless of whether you prefer dry rice noodles, broken rice, or a good bowl of phở, please make sure that you get the Bahn Cuon — it is the best I have ever tried between San Jose, Paris, and London (it’s quite unfortunate I’ve yet to visit Vietnam for real deliciousness).
For the main, I got the phở with the cooked fatty beef (mmmm my favourite). Unfortunately, when they asked me if I wanted it spicy, without much thought I had said yes (no one has asked me if i wanted my phở spicy before). It turns out that they had this spicy oil to the soup, which completely changes the flavour. The flavour is still good, but I gave my friend’s bowl of phở a try, and he has the right original and I have a heavily modified version. However, with some added lemon and other garnishes, it turned out to be quite good anyway. Next time I definitely will stick with the raw chili for spiciness.
Some stuff i’m not completely used to:
1. They don’t serve basil with your phở — they do all the other garnishes but just not the basil
2. There was no sriracha or seafood sauce, which i usually eat with the beef
3. I was not thirsty after the meal
4. The iced coffee did not come with a vietnamese drip filter. It was premade and poured on ice with plenty of condensed milk.
One serving of bahn cuon, two servings of phở, one bottled water, and one iced coffee totalled £28.30. They take credit card for amounts over £10. The interior is clean and bright. Service was not bad and really rapid but we also came on the off-​hour at around 3pm on a Saturday. They don’t open between lunch and dinner time on weekdays.
I’m so happy this place is not far from me so I can come often: D
*EDIT: 22/​03/​2015 — Came here again and tried the bun and and the broken rice with lemongrass pork chop. The dry vermicelli was great and the pork was really good, but they skimped on the meat and noodle and has mostly salad. The porkchop was not very good. They also don’t serve tap water and charges 2.30 for bottle only. I am dropping this from Five star to Four. I still love the banh cuon, the phở, and the coffee, but the rest is kinda meh.

(Jan 2015) I had originally given Café East a rating of 5 stars in September but my recent experience has left me astounded and feeling the need to have to update my review. I was in a group of 8 people and although we were seated within around 10mins of arriving (which is not bad compared to my past experiences of waiting for a table at Café East), upon ordering our food we were forced to wait over 30mins for any starters to arrive, whilst everyone around us (even those who had arrived later) received their food (including what we had ordered). The only explanations our hungry table could fathom is that either our waitress hated our guts or they had lost our order. Mindless of their crimes, when we had asked multiple other waiters where our order was the reply was that they were busy and that our starter is hard to make (despite how we had clearly seen many other tables being served the starter we had ordered. Also during this visit, it seemed as though they were being stingy with the portion of pork in their vietnamese rolls and my pork chop was far too dry. A very many somethings has gone wrong here.
(Sep 2014) Authentic Vietnamese food; neither lavish nor basic, Café East has all you could hope for with regards to Vietnamese cuisine. The menu is self-​explanatory and accompanied by mouth-​watering photos. The dishes are certainly bursting with flavours; bringing together fragrances such as lemongrass, vegetables such as parley and other untold spices to make impressive bombshells to your tastebuds within a meal. The portions are generous and even the starters well filled with attention to detail. The only qualm I have about Café East is that its name does not do it justice and it only has one option by way of desserts, but then Eastern restaurateurs has never really excelled at these 2 factors anyway. Beware that Café East always has a queue so reserve beforehand and visit on an empty stomach so that you can fully capitalise on and enjoy the masterful food presented to you.

Went to café east for a quick late Saturday night meal. Since my last visit of over a year ago the standard of the food has declined and portion sizes reduced. We both chose the combination Phở consisting of a few pieces of tough boiler chicken, 2 prawns and a few scraps of beef. The beef broth did not taste of beef at all it just tasted sweet as if vast amounts of sugar had been used for the soup! Both the spicy and non-​spicy versions tasted sweet! The noodles were rehydrated dried noodles, café east used to serve fresh noodles. Sadly the quality of ingredients seems to have deteriorated to achieve cost savings.
For decent Phở and better customer service go to Mama Phở in Surrey Quays at least they do not charge for takeaway containers and the menu is virtually identical.
One improvement at café east is that they now accept credit cards for transactions above £10.

Menu No. 1 item Bahn Cuon is must-​order!
Original Phở quite nice, probably the best phở in neighborhood.

Café East, sooo yummy.
When you hear people talk about Vietnamese food in East London, they will inevitably say, 1) Mama Phở or 2) Café East. Why?
Because it tastes so nice, it’s easy to get to (close to Canada Water and Surrey Quays station), it has parking outside, and it’s close to other shopping places and a bowling alley and a cinema. Really???
The menu doesn’t change much. Not seen any seasonal offerings, so you know exactly what you are going to get here.
My favourite dish is the Bun Ga Nuong — Fine vermicelli noodles topped with crispy chicken. Served with cucumber, herb salad, pickled carrots, molly, peanuts and fish sauce. It looks like it’s going to be dry noodles, but it really isn’t. You have delicious sauce to pour over it, and have fun mixing the ingredients and it tastes just amazing.
Order a sweet drink in the form of Sam Bo Luong and I guarantee you will come back again.
The lesser aspect is the queuing. If you come here around 7pm at night it will be packed. If you come here a the weekend it will be packed and you will have to wait. Phone reception is funny inside and sometimes you will not get any. The portions have also gotten slightly smaller in recent years and the prices more expensive. Oh well, it still tastes good!

Café East. Very properly named since it’s WAYYYY east.
I got out of the station at Surrey Quays and started following my maps to Café East. For a second I thought I was back in America. What is this? A parking lot?! Oh. My. God. It was a legit parking lot. Like you know, where you could park like a lot of cars. Whoa.
That’s how far East I was…
Anyway, Café East is all the way in the corner. Away from the big building. It took me a while to find it. When we finally got in there, I was surprised. This was like some secret Asian hideout. The restaurant was full of Asians! And you know what that means… this place was legit. The menu was limited to phở, a few appetizers, and a few rice dishes. I ordered phở and I have to say that it was the best phở I’ve had all year in London. It still doesn’t hold a torch to the phở in Cali, but it was pretty damn close. Service is just what you’d expect from a traditional Asian restaurant. They’ll ignore you until you flag one down. It’s a bit of a trek to get there from Central London, but if you’re looking for phở that’s the real deal, Café East is the place to go.

I came here for dinner with three friends. We collectively ordered:
— BAHN CUON
Steamed dough, filled with minced pork and mushrooms, £5.50
— PHO TAI
Lean rare beef with flat rice noodles in a delicate soup, £7.00
— PHO GA
Spicy chicken with flat rice noodles in chicken stock, £7.00
— COM KHAU
Lemongrass pork chop, served with boiled rice, fish sauce, and cucumber, £7.50
Portions were good sized, prices were affordable, and the food came out fast. Also on the plus side, the place was full of people, many of whom were Asian, which tells me the food must be good. Despite it being very full, we were able to get a table for four with no wait (on a Wednesday night around 8pm).
On the down side, tea is £1.50 per person. (But they will refill your hot water for free.) Also a downer, the «spicy» option for my chicken phở was not spicy. (But it was still delicious.) Also, the service was spotty. Lastly, I’m lactose intolerant, and when I asked if I could order the coconut and bean dessert which says it contains «coconut cream», the waiter couldn’t tell me if it actually has cream in it or not, even after visiting the kitchen. But I was too full for dessert anyway, so that worked out ;)

Café East is one of those spots where the food will be as fresh as the service is lousy.
Tucked away at the far end of the plaza with the Odeon Movie Theatre, it feels like a chain. Big neon sign outside, spare decorations with tons of tables inside, menu with pictures. As far as I know, it’s not, but it damn well feels like it.
It was a wait when we tried to come, but our friend who was already there but our name down. When we walked in, they looked panicked at our group of five but did put a table together for us.
They brought out the menu and dropped them down. Lots of Vietnamese options, usually around buns or phở. The waiter came and we tried to order. Turns out, they are out of all the juices we wanted (they do make some epic juices). Ok, cool, we order other things. About ten minutes later, they come back. Turns out they’re out of some of the food we wanted too. Really? Luckily they were able to substitute pork for beef and everything was ok.
I got the beef (usually pork) bun with spring rolls and it was grand. for £7 you get a HUGE portion of food (so big I actually couldn’t finish it) and everything was fresh and tasty. We also got the summer rolls — again, fresh. Double yum.
Oh, and cash only. Just so you know.
The food can come out slow when they’re busy and we were never checked on the entire night. Service, awful. Food, delicious. Now you know.