A good bowl of phở, with its broth both clear and rich and its noodles giving just right, can restore and rejuvenate even the most worn out soul. A great bowl can cleanse. It can complete.
But the very best bowl? Some might argue that’s a hard thing to find in London. Enjoyed at street stool level and seasoned by both the revving Vespa fumes of a previously parallel dining partner and decades of the same family’s same stockpot, there’s arguably no dish in the world better enjoyed at the source.
In recent years, however, London’s pho scene has expanded and evolved to meet an ever diversifying, discerning demand, and the city’s diners are now blessed with some truly excellent options of this most celebrated of noodle soups.
Whether you’re looking for an austere, savoury bowl of Northern-style pho, garnished simply with little more than sliced spring onions, or a Saigon-adjacent version heavy on the herbal accoutrements, spice and sweetness, then you’ll find it here, at these places serving some of the best phở in London.
Hai Cafe, Clapton
Ideal for soulful Northern-style pho done right…
There’s something about the rarity of the pho served at Clapton’s Hai Cafe that makes it even more appealing. Nope, we’re not talking about the slices of raw beef added à la minute to their pho boi tai chin, so it cooks just a little in the bubbling, lucid broth. Rather, we’re referring to the distinct lack of any actual pho on Hai Cafe’s main menu, which instead pulls its focus on southern-style curries, bun noodles & bánh mì.
But, cast your eyes up to the blackboard and on occasion (fairly regularly, to be fair) you’ll find an elusive pho or two gracing the specials. The bowls here draw from Northern pho sensibility, with the Hai in the cafe’s name coming from Hai Duong, a city that sits pretty much equidistant between the Vietnamese capital Hanoi and the northern industrial powerhouse Haiphong.
So, that means a light but deeply savoury beef broth, redolent of charred ginger, smoky black cardamom and star anise, sweet from bone marrow rather than excessive amounts of yellow rock sugar, and with a clarity uncluttered by frivolous additions like Thai basil or sawtooth coriander (you’ll get a side dish brimming with them, though).
The chicken version, here with several bouncy chicken dumplings bobbing about merrily, is equally soul-cleansing. For the vegans in the squad, deep fried tofu does the necessary. A squeeze of lime and a couple of fresh slices of long red chilli is all you need. Ask for sriracha here – or worse, hoisin sauce – and expect a scolding from Mama Hai.
Better, we think, to be scolded by that superlative soup, whose aroma is impossible to resist as soon as a bowl hits the table.
Address: 120b Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, London E5 0QR
Website: hai-cafe.com
Sông Quê Café, Kingsland Road
Ideal for our favourite bowl on the ‘Pho Mile‘…
On London’s so-called ‘Pho Mile’, Kingsland Road in Dalston, there are more solid Vietnamese cafes and restaurants than you can shake a chopstick at (sorry, that’s a naff joke).
Reminiscent somewhat of the streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, where thoroughfares are organised by the single item that’s sold on each – Bucket Street, Silk Street, Silver Street… – if you’re after pho in London, it’s to Kingsland Road you should head.
But ubiquity doesn’t necessarily lead to the very finest Vietnamese food you’ll find in the capital, with arguably the focal point of the country’s culinary scene now found over in Deptford.
There is a notable exception, however, and that’s Song Que Cafe, which is considered by many to be Kingsland Road’s (and perhaps even London’s) best Vietnamese restaurant. This place gets packed like Ho Chi Minh City’s Dong Van Cong Street at a red light, with weekends especially tough to get a quick table in the brightly lit, canteen-like space.
Like a great vat of pho broth that’s been bubbling for hours, Song Que is worth waiting for. Now in their third decade, the pho here is top notch; a crystalline broth dappled with beads of beef fat as the best pho broths are, and freshly blanched noodles with a little chew and plenty of give (pho noodles cooked al dente is, quite simply, a crime). We always go for the combo beef here, the peppery tripe and gelatinous tendon lending so much viscosity to the soup.
The chicken pho here, lighter and fresher and ideally suited for curing basically all of your ills, is fantastic, too.
Address: 134 Kingsland Rd, London E2 8DY
Website: songque.co.uk
Eat Vietnam Bar-B-Grill, Deptford
Ideal for a rich and unctuous broth in London’s Vietnamese Quarter…
We’re heading to Deptford next, the epicentre of some of the most downright delicious Vietnamese food in the country, and to Eat Vietnam, a family run joint which hums with activity every day of the week. Yes, you will need to book come the weekend.
Though the menu is extensive and crowd-pleasing, it’s the pho we’ve landed in SE8 for, and it’s a bowl of life-affirming nourishment you’d too be foolish to miss.
Here, the chefs use beef knuckle and beef knuckle only for the majority of their 24-hour simmered broth, the marrow giving generously to the gently bubbling liquor over the course of that day. Beef shin – with more marrow exposed – is added in the final third, its meat picked off the bone for the signature pho bo chin. The result is an opaque soup and a mouth-feel that’s a little more unctuous and fulfilling than the other broths on our list, and no worse for it, if the mood (and weather) dictates it.
The welcome presence of some crispy banh quay (deep-fried, donut-like sticks inspired by Chinese youtiao) on the menu makes dipping and dredging the final thimbles of that beef broth a real pleasure.
And if you need even more reason to visit, the restaurant donates 10% of its tips to charities in Vietnam.
Address: 234 Evelyn St, London SE8 5BZ
Website: eat-vietnam.co.uk
Cafe Mama Phở, Deptford
Ideal for a second bowl of the good stuff in Deptford…
We couldn’t leave Deptford without a bowl of Cafe Mama Pho’s superlative chicken pho. While the beef version of Vietnam’s national dish does seem to get the majority of the plaudits, its poultry-based cousin is equally life-affirming, particularly if tender, gamey thigh meat and a little offal is deployed.
At Cafe Mama Pho, a short hop from Surrey Quays Leisure Centre, both those caveats are satisfied, and it’s a glorious bowl of the good stuff, all gentle aniseed notes and a graceful silkiness from the poached, skin-on chicken thighs gift of its fat.
The move here? Order ‘tron’ (dry) style, which means the broth comes on the side, the bowl of noodles and poached chicken given richness and succour with roasted peanuts and deep-fried shallots. Add a few spoonfuls of broth and mix – it’s a deceptively simple variant that’s always a balm to Hanoi’s most hot and hectic days. If London is feeling the same, this is what you should be ordering.
Of course, there’s beef pho here too, as well as a generous bowl of pho dac biet (special). Whilst this title would usually indicate a veritable feast of beefy bits, from tendon to tripe, brisket and meatballs, here Mẹ has gone all in, with beef, chicken and prawn making an appearance in the bowl.
Cafe Mama Pho is walk-ins only and gets busy. Be prepared to queue. There is now a second branch in South Kensington.
Address: 24 Evelyn St, London SE8 5DG
Website: cafemamapho.co.uk
Viet Grill, Kingsland Road
Ideal for a heady mix of carefully cooked pho and carefully crafted cocktails…
A slicker operation than some of its neighbours on Kingsland Road – there’s wine, they serve cocktails and accept cards – Viet Grill is the sister restaurant of Old Street and Soho’s Cay Tre (who also do a great bowl by the way), and does one the best phos on the strip.
The noodle soup here is marked out by a ‘have it your way’ attitude, giving diners the choice of Northern or Southern styles of the dish, whether you’re going for a ‘Saigon Pho’ of pho tai nam gau, or a ‘Hanoi garlic pho’, tai lan-style, which sees thin slices of steak and whole garlic cloves wok-fried ultra-hot and smoky. The subsequent deglazing of that wok brings with it an umami-laden gravy into the bowl – magic.
Either way, an abundant plate of herbs and beansprouts is served on the side and there’s hoisin on the table rather than in the bowl, the debate over which region’s rendition is better put to bed, for now. It’s a bowl that might put you to bed, too; it’s bloody massive!
Address: 58 Kingsland Rd, London E2 8DP
Website: vietgrillrestaurant.co.uk
Rao Deli, Borough
Ideal for Borough-based bowls of heartwarming noodles and broth…
Though most of the hungry head to the Borough and London Bridge area to hit the world famous market and its adjoining restaurants, there’s much joy to be found beyond the high footfall, low stakes food places there.
If you’re looking for the best pho in London, you might instead want to make for Borough High Street, head up towards Elephant and Castle, and set your course for a bowl of pho as imagined by Vietnamese chefs and entrepreneurs Trang Nguyen and Nhan Van Mac.
You may have seen the team popping up at various food markets across the city, slinging their excellent banh mi, noodle salads and, of course, pho. In fact, the word ‘rao’ in Vietnamese refers to an on-foot food seller who traverses the streets with a bamboo pole slung across their shoulder, carrying various homemade parcels of deliciousness from charred corn to rice crackers and beyond.
That said, it’s at the bricks and mortar location of Rao Deli that we’re settling in for a steaming bowl of the good stuff, done in the Hanoi style without garnish or fanfare. Order the beef combo and dig deep into the bowl for chewy nuggets of tendon, that fibrousness a prized texture in the motherland. Having soaked up plenty of broth and contributed a little of its own gelatine, a good ol’ chew on the tendon reveals layers of flavour not divulged through slurping alone. It’s heaven.
For those still with an appetite to slake, resist the urge to return to Borough Market and queue for hours for Padella. Instead, the bun thit nuong (a noodle salad of barbecued, salty sweet pork belly, herbs and crushed peanuts) here is exemplary.
Address: 304 Borough High St, London SE1 1JJ
Website: raodeli.com
Banh Banh, Brixton
Ideal for southern style pho in south London…
Perhaps the finest version of Southern style pho in London is found at Banh Banh, a family run operation who have now expanded from their original restaurant in Peckham and into Brixton.
Whilst the Peckham mothership offers a selection of southern small plates (the bo la lot here is top notch), it’s at the Brixton outpost that pho takes centre stage. Family recipes here come from the Nguyen family matriarch Nghiem Thuy Hong, a chef in Saigon before she and the family moved to the UK in the 1980s. At Banh Banh, in a sparse, blond(e) – they’ve got twoooo versions – wood space, a modern flourish is added in the form of ‘hot stone bowls’ for serving the restaurant’s signature pho.
Those bowls (exercise caution when handling!) keep the broth properly hot throughout your meal, with flat rice noodles served on the side rather than in the bowl to ensure they don’t overcook.
With a huge side plate of fresh coriander, sawtooth coriander, Thai basil, Vietnamese mint and the greens of spr’onion, as well as plenty of sliced chilli and red onion, this is an autonomous, customisable affair. For those who love to test and tinker, Banh Banh is the perfect place for the restless slurper.
Address: 326 Coldharbour Ln, London SW9 8QH
Website: banhbanh.com
Green Papaya, London Fields
Ideal for unique innovative pho with influences from Xi’an…
We end our tour of London’s best bowls of pho in London Fields, at Green Papaya, whose Xi’anese (Chinese Xi’an province and Vietnamese) cuisine has been gaining a devoted following in this corner of Hackney in recent years.
It’s an intriguing proposition, with Dan Dan and Mount Qi noodles rubbing shoulders with bun and pho on a hugely enticing menu. We’re here for the latter today, which delivers in spades, the oxtail used in the pho broth adding an opulent, well-rounded quality to the soup. The pho thai nam, a combination of long-simmered, fatty brisket and just-dunked, thinly sliced sirloin, is the highlight here.
Address: 191 Mare St, London E8 3QE
Website: green-papaya.com
Now we’ve traversed London in search of its best pho, care to join us for a selection of Ho Chi Minh City street food favourites? Go on, you know you want to…