One of my favourite restaurants

Song Que restaurant
134 Kingsland Road,
London, E2 8DY
















In the late 1970s, once the Vietnam War had ended, thousands of people fled from the Communist-controlled county, often by boat, in dangerous and difficult circumstances. The United Kingdom accepted around 20,000 refugees from Vietnam and many of the newcomers settled in and around Hackney in north-east London. The area around Kingsland Road became a kind of ‘Little Vietnam’, with lots of Vietnamese restaurants and shops springing up round there. Personally, I think the best one of all is called SONG QUE. I’ve been eating there almost every week for years now, and the quality has never changed: always good, fresh, cheap and quick – and always popular with the local Vietnamese community too, which is usually a good sign.

Song Que is a real family affair: the same staff have been there for ages, and the place is always busy. The decor is cheap and cheerful – just plastic chairs and tables, nothing fancy, but the food is out of this world. For starters, we always order the same thing – the grilled beef wrapped in betel leaf and the green papaya salad with prawn and pork. The flavours are so rich and fresh and clear. The grilled beef comes as seven or eight tiny wrapped parcels of food, so it’s very good for sharing.



























The real heart of Vietnamese food is a soup noodle dish called pho – it’s a kind of beef stock soup with noodles in and you can add basil, lime, bean sprouts and chili, depending on how you like it. The beef pho here is the best I’ve ever had in London. It’s incredible. The other great main course is the Grilled Pork with Rice Vermicelli. It’s served with a kind of mild, quite sweet chilli sauce that you can add if you want to.































Song Que is incredibly good value for money. You can eat really well there for around ten pounds a head.

A real gem of a restaurant.

The nearest tube station is Old Street, so if you’re living in the Alexander Fleming Hall of Residence then you really MUST give this place a try.

Here’s a map of where it is.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Hugh