If you’ve walked the strip of Kingsland Road between Hoxton and Haggerston, you’ll be familiar familiar of the green signage of the so-called ‘Phở Mile’. Home to a concentration of London’s Vietnamese restaurants, this area may bless known then other famous strip’s like Brick Lane’s curry houses, but amongst the local community it’s no less famed.
From places first established as canteens to feed Vietnamese immigrants to restaurants that have been run by the same family since the day they opened, it’s a road ripe foe exploring - and eating your way down. Having shamefully never experienced it, we headed east a few weeks back to try out Viet Grill, one of three joints in the Vietnamese Kitchen group along with Cây Tre and Kêu.
Viet Grill serves authentic Vietnamese street food from Phở to Bún Chả Hà Nội, sharing plates and dishes from their grill, all accompanied by a banging cocktail list; we highly recommend a Lychee Martini, dangerously moreish and perfectly complimentary of the food.
Start off with a helping of their altogether too delicious spring rolls, golden and crispy from the fryer, and a plate heaped high with a refreshingly crisp mango and prawn salad, piled with coriander. With a wealth of main dishes from hearty stews, rice and noodles to classic Phở, you’re really spoilt for choice. Deciding to sample the latter, I plumped for the Mì vằn thắn, noodles with shrimp and pork dumplings, charsiu and chives in chicken broth; wholesome, full of flavour despite its seemingly simple execution and heartily restorative after a long, tiring day. The chicken Phở was a similar story; a rich broth flavoured with onion, ginger and coriander providing the Vietnamese equivalent of a Jewish chicken soup.
With its low lighting and buzzing atmosphere, it’s clear to see why there was a queue snaking out the door and standing room only at the bar. Viet Grill is a gem; simple, unadulterated dishes that beautifully executed with no fuss but lots of flavour.
