Last week I had my first foray into Vietnamese food! My lack of familiarity with Vietnamese cuisine was a pretty glaring omission considering my love of all things Asian food related, not to mention my Aussie mates recoiling in horror recently when I asked "What's Pho?" (It's delicious is what it is).
First impressions of the place are that its very rustic and old school- brightly lit, diner-style furniture, crowded tables- there's no sexy ambiance here! It does have a nice traditional atmosphere though, and you can tell that they're serving up simple, good quality, authentic Vietnamese food- no bells and whistles. Also, I had been warned from reading a couple of reviews that the service is quite hostile- which is a more than accurate description. Myself and my dining companion arrived together, and asked for a table for three only to immediately be questioned "How long until your friend gets here?!". We sat down and ordered a bottle of wine and for the entire 15 or so minutes it took for our friend to arrive, the approached us every three minutes to ask when she would be here.
Service aside, the food is really good. I shared the five assorted appetizers with my friend (spring rolls, sesame prawn toast, spicy squid, crispy seaweed and spare ribs) to start and while they were all very tasty (particularly the squid), it was a little too greasy (everything deep fried) and we couldn't even begin to finish. Also, there was no dipping sauce which I thought was odd as our other companion ordered spring rolls and was given a delicious sauce which really cut through the greasiness of the food.
Regardless, the main was an absolute delight! I ordered the Pho Bo, which is a Vietnamese noodle soup with slices of rare beef fillet. There are loads of different variations with different cuts of beef but I went for the safe bet this time around! It was absolutely delicious and full of flavour, and came in a massive portion which I couldn't even finish (the stodgy appetizer didn't help!). It also game with beansprouts, coriander and chilli on the side so you could garnish to taste- needless to say I chucked the whole lot in!
My dining chums ordered mixed noodles with seafood and satay chicken, respectively, both of which were nice but probably represent an example of the menu catering to westernized tastes, and not neccessarily "doing what they do best". The Pho is definitely the star of the show here and I would definitely recommend a visit for this alone!
I've attached a link to the website below, where you can have a look at the menu and get contact deets:
http://songque.co.uk/
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