5 years ago, around this time of the year, I was entering Vietnam by train, at midnight, dead tired after spending the night before on a bench in Naning train station, after the hostel I booked oversold my bed. I remember arriving in Hanoi somewhere around 5am, and made my way towards the old town, crossing an old railway bridge over the Red river, which seemed infinite. I was stepping with caution on the wooden structure hoping that no train will pass by until I reached the other end.
Reaching the hostel, I was welcomed by a locked what seemed to be a garage door with the shutters down. I banged in the shutters and surprisingly, they opened and a sleepy Vietnamese received me inside. I stepped in, making my way through the narrow space between the couch and the motorbike parked in the middle of the room and was shown to my bed.
But as it happens, when you are very tired you can’t really sleep, so I went for a walk on the shores of the Hoan Kiem Lake. I was surprised to find there many Vietnamese people, from 4-year-olds to 90-year-olds maybe, exercising, dancing, or practicing tai chi. At sunrise! And I think that was the moment when I irremediably fell in love with Vietnam.
Later that day I would have my first bowl of pho – the famous Vietnamese soup-, while sitting on a tiny chair on the sidewalk of a street, cooked by a woman right there behind me. I remember it being full of flavour, with big chunks of fried tofu and plenty of rice noodles inside. It was the perfect lunch, followed by a long afternoon nap, to recharge my batteries.
Last Wednesday I visited my friend in London and I insisted we go to have dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant near her house. She told me she discovered it a while ago but didn’t go yet, and this was the perfect occasion. We tried going to a Vietnamese restaurant before, but we didn’t get to because we were “dragged” into a church and offered free food and drinks in order to listen to a half an hour talk. I have been craving for Vietnamese food from the first time she told me about this restaurant and I secretly hoped that it won’t disappoint me.
From the outside, the restaurant doesn’t look anything special. It has a big name sign on top and 2 large red industrial doors, from which only one opens. Once inside thought you can immediately notice the beautiful paintings on the walls and the design touches, like the brand new Vietnamese rickshaw on the left hand side. We were greeted right away by a waiter and told we can choose any table we want as the restaurant was almost empty at the late hour we arrived. The menus followed straight away and I noticed in it many of the classic Vietnamese dishes I have tried in Vietnam. As we all know, a lot of restaurants adapt their traditional menus for the English taste, and I was happy to notice that Little Saigon didn’t.
I had a hard time to decide what to order, but in the end I went for the Banh Xeo, a traditional crispy pancake filled with pork belly slices, tiger prawns, carrots, beansprouts and kohlrabi, served with an Asian salad and different herbs. My friend went for the lemongrass and chilly beef vermicelli noodles, served with iceberg salad, cucumber and herbs. After we ordered, we have been brought to the table a basket of prawn crackers.
While we were waiting for the food to arrive, I remembered my cooking class from Hoi An, where I have actually cooked the Banh Xeo. I laughed thinking how clumsy I was with flipping the pancake and how it took me about 3 attempts until I’ve managed to create an acceptable one.
The food arrived not long after we ordered and the first thing I noticed was how big the portions were. Both meals were accompanied by a sweet chilly sauce which I poured over the filling of the pancake.
The meal was delicious and IĀ found the combination between pork and shrimp to be interesting, the flavours complimenting each other very well. The bottom of the pancake got soggy from the sweet chilly sauce and gave a very nice texture to the raw vegetables. I was surprised of the simplicity of the salad, out of which I recognized the lettuce and the mint leaves, and how well it went with the crispy pancake.
My friends’ vermicelli noodles were also very good, with tender juicy beef cooked in a semi-sweet chilly and garlic sauce. Her entire plate was very fragrant due to the lemongrass marinade of the beef.
At the end of the meal we had a short chat with the friendly waiter and we found out that he was Vietnamese but born in England. His family came from near the Mekong Delta and it was a pleasure to talk to him about the floating markets there, from where I used to buy fresh pineapple, or the coconut candy factory from where I bought the most delicious sweets.
The only downside was that when we paid, because we used our cards and the meals were less than Ā£10, we had to pay a surcharge of 50p.
You can find the Little Saigon in Leytonstone, at 686 High Rd, E11 3AA. I recommend it for the tasty authentic food, the low prices and the friendliness of the staff.
Sunrise Tai Chi would have made me fall in love with here too! What an amazing experience that must have been. No wonder you fell in love with Vietnam and its food. So good to find authentic restaurants to relive it!
lily kate x
jolihouse.com
Did it taste as good as the food you had in Vietnam? Sounds pretty authentic from how you described it.
I loveeeee those “pancakes.” I grew up eating that and it brings back so many memories! I especially love it when they put the shrimp in the middle!
I have never visited here before, the food looks amazing! Whoo I love the look of the pancake, I have only had pancakes with sweet filling before but really want to try this one now š
This made me crave for Vietnamese food. Vietnamese food for me is a fusion of healthy and delicious food. From the looks of the food, it looks and tastes like an authentic Vietnamese. Though I just hope the price is also the same with the price of the food in Vietnam as the price of food there is really cheap. But nonetheless, the food is very yummy. Hopefully I can go back to Vietnam next year. ??
I’ve never tried Vietnamese cuisine, but as you were talking about it, it seems delicious. Little Saigon just seems such a great place to eat that kind of food, and I’ve heard so much about the taste of this Viet specialities! I definitely want to try now!
I haven’t tried Vietnam cuisine yet but I do find it really fascinating. I just love how this Little Saigon restaurant shows their faithfulness with their theme that even though it’s in London, dining in will somehow take you to Vietnam.. I love all the decors and of course, the dishes are really tempting too!
I also went to a Vietnamese restaurant and liked the food a lot but I found it a bit similar to Chinese, so maybe I need to try more restaurants! haha x
I visualized every wall, the scooter, sounds, the garage door and the bad. I swear I could even sense your feelings when that hostel oversold your bed. I wish I could read more of that story …
But the restaurant in London also sounds great and the prices are reasonable.
I have to admit that I have never tried Vietnamese food but that looks and sounds wonderful.