Ngon

I used to love this little family run Vietnamese joint in the heart of Chiswick. Good food, decent service.
However, today I was really disappointed. I ordered the pulled chicken salad and even decide to upsize for an extra 1.50. Well guess what, size wise, it wasn’t much of a difference from the regular portion, but more importantly there was hardly any chicken in the salad.
I did mention to the lady that this was a ripoff but it was more like talking to deaf ears. I get it that a restaurant needs to make money, but cmon seriously do you really expect to stay in business with this sort of cheekiness?
I hope the management reads this, takes note and changes things for the better.

Small but perfectly formed. Love the phở and banh mi sandwiches. A great lunch after a day of shopping.

Ngon is slap bang in the middle of the restaurant cornucopia that is Chiswick High Street. We came for lunch on Saturday. Ngon is more a café than restaurant but is none the worse for it. You order at the counter from a small but varied menu. We had vegetable spring rolls. The missus had a papaya salad and I has a big lovely bowl of phở. All were great-​tangy, sharp tastes and fresh textures. The spring rolls (cold) were perhaps a little big for a starter but this was good food at very reasonable prices. A great alternative for a quick lunch.

Expensive. The bubble tea is lovely. They also have a stamp card for every time you get a bubble tea which is cool. I think the ninth is free. But one is £3.80. Kinda pricey. The spring rolls… honestly, this was my first time having them and they’re probably done right but there were tasteless. Yuck! Hardly any prawns in them either. Maybe I’ll try this place again but I definitely won’t be having the spring summer rolls.

Ok food. The vegetarian option was a bit lackluster.

Chiswick High Road is full of chain restaurants which are boring and predictable. Luckily for West London, Ngon has come along to save the day. A casual, order at the bar, simple and charming Vietnamese café, this establishment fills all my criteria.
I visited on a weekday lunch time and had the Special Phở and a Passionfruit bubble tea from a short, but concise menu. The bubble tea arrived quicker than you could imagine, still frothy from the blender, my fruity tea was smooth, sweet and icy cold with a lovely green tea kick-​worlds apart from the faux teas found in Chinatown. A large serving of tea for my £3.50 and with a free choice of jelly/​tapioca balls, I went with mango jelly, which were generous and delicious.
Soon after, my Phở came along. Steaming and inviting, I took a cautious sip of the soup base, my expectations were excelled, I think a sign of relief was even had! Phở is served with a small dish of garnishes; chillies, lemon, mint and beansprouts. My only grudge initially was that there seemed to be a slightly stingy amount of garnishes, but after tasting the full of flavour Phở, all is forgotten, who needs garnishes when theres so much deep flavour already there!
The serving is quite big, perfect for the super hungry, a slighter appetite would be defeated. The perfectly cooked noodles came with 3 types of beef, including (if I’m not mistaken) home-​made beef balls and perfectly tender beef slices. Leaps and bounds above the high street chain competition down the road.
Absolutely lovely and for just £11, my belly and my wallet couldn’t have been happier. I have been thinking about this place ever since I left and have told anyone who will listen how great the place is. I am so happy Ngon has opened as East London seems to be concentrated with Vietnamese cafes leaving West London a void of such joy, until now.
If you’re looking for a hearty meal, stay-​in or take-​away, look no further. This place is an absolute delight. They even offer a small amount of groceries and a loyalty stamp-​card system. My card will be filled up very soon!

When I first went to this place I loved it and was so happy to have them in Chiswick… However last time we went there were a few issues.
1. Not so generous anymore on the herbs for the soup which are served on the side. Also they switched to wilted old mint leaves instead of proper basil.
2. Quality of the meat had declined significantly
3. Dry noodles which were rehydrated instead of fresh noodles
I would happily pay a bit more to have it done right. However as an ex-​chef I know the cost of these ingredients so I don’t see how they cannot manage to do it properly!

I love this place! My favorite: the Prawn Phở.
I really tastes like when i was in south east asia. I’ve tried a lot of Vietnamese places but Ngon is the only one that gets it right.
You can’t go wrong with this place.

Good news and bad news.
First, the good news. They friendly people at Ngon have replaced the toddler-​size tables in the front of the restaurant with regular, adult-​size tables. Hooray!
Now, the bad news. I have purchased several bowls of phở (as take-​away) and the quality of the meat has declined severely since my first eat-​in experience. Today, I purchased the vegetable phở because I realized that I had just been throwing the fatty beef in the beef phở away and the broth was way too salty. I’m hoping this was just an off-​day because the veggie phở has nice ingredients (green beans, mushrooms, carrots, and bits of bread/​croutons).

One of the better bahn mis I’ve had in London. The bread was good, more importantly the ingredients were fresh and well balanced. Good prices as well and the phở smells good. I’ll try it next time and will eat here again.

Not very impressed with the Banh Mi special.
I love my Vietnamese sandwiches so was positively salivating to get my hands on the £5.50 special filled with sausage, floss, salad and more. But sadly it was a big disappointment. Well, I say big, but it was actually a bit skinny and long.
For me a Banh Mi should be a crispy fresh-​baked demi almost the shape of a pair of lips and stuffed as full as possible with goodies. This was basically a bit of a thin baguette sliced and filled quite thinly. For £5.50 it was a bit of a rip off considering a similarly underwhelming baguette sandwich can be got over the road at M&S for £3 or so.
Hopefully I’ll get a chance to come back to Ngon to try their Phở. When I do I hope they’ve upper their game with the Banh Mi. At the least, please just get better bread!

Friendly and quick staff. Delicious and authentic food. We started lunch with tofu summer rolls which were very fresh and accompanied by a tasty peanut dipping sauce we could have used more of. My husband had a soy blueberry smoothie and bbq pork banh mi. Both were delicious. I had passion fruit green bubble tea and beef phở. Everything was full of flavour and very pleasing. Just what Chiswick needs!