Chung Viet

The sign over the door says Phở Thuy Tay. Extremely disappointed. Worst meal in a long time. Went on a Saturday afternoon with my parents and was genuinely embarrassed. The bitesize spring rolls appeared to be from Iceland. We had four different meals and all were a bit of a joke. There’s a superior place further along the road (I think I’d confused it with that one) or the wonderful mama phở 15 mins walk away.

So how come you never see Vietnamese people eating on Kingsland Road?
Shoreditch does have a good selection of Viet restaurants but it’s not exactly London’s little Saigon is it? Well Deptford, New Cross and Surrey Quays are becoming exactly that. So take note foodies and food-​fashion followers because the Vietnamese dining in this dingy part of SE London is second-​to-​none and Chung Viet is one of the best.
Chung Viet is a real eaterie, with zero frills and zero décor. There’s nothing to write about except the Muzak covers of Bryan Adams, the cheery staff and loyal Vietnamese clientele and the food. And very good food it was too.
For £25 we had:
2 sweet strong Vietnamese coffees
Spring rolls stuffed with sausage meat and crispy fired in prawn batter
A Banh Mi crusty sandwich filled with vietnamese pâté and coriander
A huge bowl of fresh Phở Bo Tai — with generous rare beef slices
A deep flavoured spicy beef soup, laden with meatballs and sausage
Both starters were phenomenally good. Making anyone else’s spring rolls look like Asda attempts. The spicy beef noodle soup surpassed the previous best at Mien Tay no problems and the Phở was great too, although just a drop down from the 5^th star. It’s luscious flat white noodles and pink rare beef went well with the deep but light flavour of the broth. It was probably the best phở broth I’ve had in the UK. I just wished for better condiments — no hoisin, no mint or basil and not much else green to embellish with. Great beansprouts, chillis, coriander and sriracha but lemon slices weren’t right. Had they just run out of limes?
Overall, I loved Chung Viet — a real bare bones basic place to get top quality sought-​after food. The recent menu change means the infamous number 14 has gone but maybe you can still ask for it:
«Vietnamese food which is unsuitable with foreigners»