Mien Tay

Came here for a quick midweek lunch. They have a separate express lunch menu which is incredibly cheap, most expensive dish £7.50, which also comes with complimentary jasmine tea.
I ended up going for the Brisket Phở. The stock packed so much flavour and the quality of the ingredients showed. I was tempted to get a starter of some sort and glad I didn’t, as the main dish itself was extremely generous and I wouldn’t have be able to eat anything more.
100% worth a visit and good to try at lunch when it isn’t as busy. (Visit — Lunch 02/​02/​2016)

Feel good food. My preferred choice amongst all of them on kingsland road. Quick, fresh and tasty. And: their vegetarian meat imitations are unbeaten! They have a special category on the menu (not just «Tofu»). Try the Phở with «beef» the «pork» and the «duck». Also when not (yet) a vegetarian! It’s 2016, we are intelligent, know our habits are catastrophic and can act positively!

Glacial service and little basic manners. Overcooked beef on the chow mein and bland tasting — perhaps the most bland tasting Vietnamese I’ve ever tasted. Went through the entire meal without being brought so much as a drink of water.
Way overpriced for the schlock they’re shovelling onto plates. InCREDIBLE that this made a top 10 in TimeOut.

This is a lovely place to go and have a great Vietnamese meal. It’s cash only, but there’s a shop a couple of doors away that you can get cash. We had seen the note in this weeks Time Out which mentioned the owners charitable work and their future expansion. The place was full by the time we left. The food is great. Service is a little brusque, but all in all a good experience. The fresh rolls are very good.

We really wanted a Vietnamese meal on our trip to Shoreditch and couldn’t decide between the many options, so went here purely on Unilocal reviews — and I’m glad we did! The prawn curry clay pot was unreal — full of flavour, spicy, and lots of protein. The egg fried rice was some of the best we’ve eaten. The service was exceptionally quick, especially considering how packed it was — there was a queue out the door at one point, on a Sunday… Excellent value, the whole bill coming to less than £30. Highly recommended!

One of the best Vietnamese in London. Its popularity increases every day and it is more and more difficult to get a table. Book if you can because it gets crowded. This place is ideal for vegetarians, look up for the first page of the menu and you will see a selection of «beef-​like» «chicken-​like» tofu. I recommend the «beef-​like» one. I have not had such a good «bun» elsewhere. Also try the starter with tofu — it is very original and tasty. They bring an orange with the bill. Nice sweet taste before leaving … full! You can ask for a tupperware if you don’t manage to finish your food. You will be happy for lunch the next day I promise!

Food was horrible. The phở wasn’t aromatic but rather plain and putrid. The tea wasn’t minty. The food lacked spice, pepper, salt…
The phở xao was inexperienced. It was far too moist, wet and wasn’t even «fried», more like boiled and then flash fried.
One of the male staff, wearing green, had the horrible customer service attitude, he was not attentive and often avoid eye contact, he wasn’t enjoying his job — I get that. He expressed it so obvious and hard it was actually very uncomfortable.
The stars given to other friendly staff, the female and male who attended to our needs kindly. The meat tasted good, nice marinade.

Actually went to the Clapham Junction restaurant, was amazing as usual! The crispy pancake starter is tasty, as were the spring rolls (home made! Not the usual standard ones you get) the whole sea bass with lemon grass and chilli is absolutely divine!

If you’re after some decent phở and wanting a quick meal… this is the place to be. Free prawn crackers whilst you have a good look through the menu. They do a yummy stir-​fry morning glory veggie dish and gorgeous freshly made spring rolls. Pretty good value for money. Don’t expect a lot from table service or staff interaction though.

With a small shopfront and windows plastered with adverts and stickers, from the outside it is hard to gauge what lies instore inside Mien Tay. But upon entering you come to realise that the restaurant is atmospheric and quirky, authentically Vietnamese and offers a good variety of menu options. The inside of the menu even includes a warm welcoming message from Mr Su Tran and Mrs My Le. In this message they have a mission statement to provide fresh and fragrant cooking and indeed this was reflected in what I was served with.
The pancake starter was a golden brown and crispy as it should be and the vegetables where crunchy-​fresh. The fish sauce and soup base for the noodles were also pleasantly fragrant. Even the after-​meal free oranges were nicely cut into pieces. The flowering tea is a nice touch to have available on the menu but be warned that the teapot is poorly designed as it allows a substantial amount of tea to trickle from the spout. The service was also a little off as the waiter is charming enough when taking orders but then takes your plate or bowl away far too quickly — basically when you have just taken your last bite he will pounce. Meanwhile the toilets have so much graffiti and stickers on display that it it looks as though they have let it get out of hand to avoid cleaning it up and in the hope that it appears creative. There is a mop in the toilet and an upstairs seating area that looked desolate and unused. So overall the aesthetics may need a little polishing but the food and drink here is true to form and genuinely good quality Vietnamese.

Along Kingsland Road you have lots of choice in Vietnamese restaurants, and if you are local, you can try all of them. but as you will find, some are good for certain dishes, whereas others will make deep phở broth. depends what you are looking for, and quite popular now (for us winos) BYOB is a nice addition — this place doesn’t
For starters, we had the salt, pepper and garlic squid — the batter was even and crispy upon bite. There was very little carrot and daikon pickle (which I love), instead there was plenty of randomly shredded cabbage and carrots. The stir-​fried onions was nice but the almost-​raw-​crunchy ones were a bit much for a weekday lunchtime — like hey, I have the rest of my day and the lovely squid gets a bit ruined by this strong, pungent flavour.
For main, I had the bo luc lac — shaking beef ‘salad’. In this case, it was still pretty tasty but not as authentic. Tasted like they had used some chinese 5 spice mix, but my experience with that mix has always been good so the dish in front of me was tasty and with that similar depth. Admittedly, my dish is bo luc lac and different places cook and serve it differently, so hey I am a bit extra in terms of standards, authenticity and taste — but every foodie has their preferences, eh?
Try it if you are local, as you can work your way through Kingsland Road, but don’t travel here especially. its a-​ok !

You don’t need to go to the West Ends ChinaTown for the infamous farcical rude service anymore — Visit trendy Hoxton and Mien Tay!
I’ve been meaning to check this place out for some time now, but don’t really come out to hipster land too often. But we were invited here as part of a friends birthday meal.
There were a good group of us and we had to make sure we weren’t more than 5 mins late of we’d loose our table! Upon arrival we were told ‘You order now’ when half of the table hadn’t even sat in their seats.
However, we got a couple of Vietnamese rolls, whole fish in chilli and beers for the table while everyone perused the menu.
Another cute quirk to the place is the somewhat eerie scenes encased in the tables. Mini wells and dried out foliage trapped inside the glass made a great conversation piece with friends of friends you’ve never met. But overall the decore is modest and clean.
Don’t say Mien Tay doesn’t give you choice, because oh boy do you get options. All 10 odd pages or so, which makes it just so much harder to decide!
Eventually I opted for a mixed seafood in black bean sauce with egg fried rice (again, not particularly adventurous but I just couldn’t decide in time!!). The food came out in what seemed like record timing. It was generous, fresh and really tasty. The Spring rolls to start were equally as moreish and I would say a must when visiting. Everyone was making noises in appreciation and loosening their belts at the end of the meal.
There were a modest selection of beers on offer, but wine was only served by the bottle — so get use to sharing.
At the end of the meal, the bill came and I was amazed at the value. They must had knocked a few bits off the bill for us because we ended up with £20 per head inc drinks. Bargain.
Despite trying (and we did) not one of the staff cracked a smile the whole evening and after the last plate was taken away we were asked to leave!
I will definitely go back and choose something a bit more adventurous on the menu next time. It’s just great value and great food brought to your table quickly and with a whole heap of attitude.

We came here for dinner the other night after reading some reviews online. Overall we were quite happy with the whole experience.
We were seated as soon as we arrived. It is worth noting that there were two of us and we came here on a Monday night. As such, i don’t know if this place gets crowded on weekends.
Service was fairly quick and everything that we ordered was quite good. Also, we got a bottle of wine for just under 15 GBP which seems reasonable for London.
The only downside is that the place is fairly small and you wind up sitting quite close to other guests.
All in all, I very much enjoyed dining here and would definitely return.

I’ve eaten at many of the Vietnamese restaurants on Kingsland Road and this has to be one of the top 3 or so.
The staff were very friendly, the portion sizes amazingly generous and the food fresh and flavorful. I would certainly come here again and recommend it to friends looking for a great Phở, crunchy pancake or fresh spring rolls!

If I didn’t see their reviews, I would have completely missed it because it was in the same area as the famous Song Que and I would have just walked past it. It’s not the nicest place, quite crumby honestly and the furniture looks run-​down but the food is great and quite cheap. Love that you get free shrimp crackers to start :) We all got different phos for a Sunday lunch and their rolls are yummy. Would go back if I were in the area for something really chill and casual.

Once was enough for me here.
I’ve been to all of the Vietnamese restaurants on Kingsland Road, some many times, and my experience here was definitely the worst.
I work in the area, so came for lunch. We were a small group, and the restaurant was almost empty. Despite this, it took well over an hour to bring the food (at lunchtime). We asked a few times, and the staff reacted in a grumpy manner. When it finally came, it was below the standard of the other restaurants in the area.
I may have given two stars, as I’ve had worse food, but the final star is lost for the level of hygiene. You see, our office overlooks the kitchen at the back. Regularly we see them washing pots in the street, and you really don’t want to be there when they take the bins out. All I’ll say is that prawns should definitely be disposed of in a more timely fashion!

I heard so much about this place and I wanted to try it for a long time. We went there on a Thursday night and it was quite full. We had to queue outside for 15 minutes. Finally we got a table (not a really good one, next to the door) and we ordered a couple of dishes. We asked the waitress for their specialities but she wasn’t really nice or helpful.
The food was OK. Not a big deal really. Spring rolls as a started and chicken curry with rice for me. I was so hungry that I couldn’t tell if the food was excellent (as it said in the front door of the restaurant), but I’m sure it’s not the best I try. A little to much greasy I would said.
The price is not too bad. You can have dinner for two for less than £20. But don’t expect anything fancy or elegant. Typical Kingsland Road Vietnamese Restaurant.
I think I’ll give them a second chance, just in case!

YES. Best phở I have had in Europe! As a visitor from a California, which has a larger selection of authentic Vietnamese restaurants, I was really missing phở ga that had savory broth and flavorful chicken. This restaurant was delivered from the heavens.
I don’t think that my boyfriend and I even talked to each other during the meal — That’s how quickly and enthusiastically we were eating! And free shrimp crackers on the table as a starter? Now that’s 5 stars.

The food here never fails to live up to expectations. From the outside it is very unassuming and doesn’t stand out on a street full of Vietnamese. It’s worth finding it though and there may even be a queue but the food is worth it.
They have an extensive, authentic menu and it’s all reasonably priced. This place used to be BYOB but now they’ve got their license there’s a selection of beers to choose from. This is definitely one of the better places to eat on the Phở mile

The place where Chow Yun Fat adorns the window. It’s packed nearly every evening with a queue out the door around 7−8pm.
This place understands what customers are looking for. Good value and tasty food. Throwing in some extras like free prawn crackers to start and oranges (decoratively cut) at the end does no harm either!
My favourite meal is the lunch menu Honey BBQ chicken with rice. It comes with a free vegetable soup, that tastes better than it should for that price. Plenty of veg and lots of egg, make this soup a perfect starter. Then the main, the honey glazed grilled pork is just charred to a tasty piece of perfect. Accompanied by some salad, rice and of course boiled rice. The rice is cooked here exactly as I like it. Not wet, nor too dry. Firm, and sticks to the chopsticks making for easy gripping. After that feast, you have of course the oranges chopped into segments with a toothpick, using the peel as a clever little bowl.
If you’re in the area on a weekday (which is the only time they do the lunch special I’ve just described, please get the Honey BBQ chicken. However I hear the Phở specials are good too. You just cannot go wrong here.

We Tried 5 dishes. Had The Phở also. Great and Big menue.