Yen’s Vietnamese Street Food — Restaurant in City Centre

Second visit, different order, and came away with basically the same impressions as the first time (see below): lovely location, food is ok, and now we can add, the coffee is excellent.

So this time we tried the banh mi, and as with the pho we thought it was kind of a washed-out version of the real thing. Not a bad meal, just a bit bland and missing the key Vietnamese flavours. Or they're dialled down really low. I missed the pickles in the banh mi, and both the banh mi and the pho are missing the herbs. There are a few stray bits of coriander, but both need loads more herbs. Ideally the banh mi would have a couple of leaves of Vietnamese coriander, which is easy to find in Cape Town these days.

It's touches like this that would make this a really decent option.

However, we also tried the iced coffee with condensed milk, which was out of stock last time, and which tastes totally authentic and delicious.

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First review slash pho rant below:

+++

Very nice spot for a quick meal. If you're not already madly into Vietnamese food, that's all you need to know – give it a try!

If you are madly into Vietnamese food, just dial your expectations back a bit. We had a couple of bowls of pho that you might say were pho-ish, pho-adjacent, rather than being real full-on pho. The broth (in both the veg and beef versions) is very light on flavour, and could do with an umami boost as well as more spice. You can only barely detect the star anise, etc. (Though a word to the wise: you'll taste it better if you slurp straight from the bowl, not from the little spoon they give you.) So it's a bit lacking in the basic pho flavour, though it's still a pleasant bowl of noodle soup in its own right.

I know we can't ask for beef stock made over 24 hours or something in these parts, but I think a couple of other small changes would make pho aficionados twice as happy: first and most important of which is, give us a herb/chilli plate so we can customise our bowls. (In a reply to another review the owner said we could request more sauce, etc., but c'mon – a herb plate is fundamental to pho. Don't make us beg. I don't need more srichacha and hoisin on the side, though a lot of people probably would like that.). Second, replace the lemons with limes; and third, don't chop the noodles up into small bits for us. Long noodles are one of the joys of life! (Unlike another reviewer, I have no problem with the amount of beef. It was plenty for me.)

This is all coming over quite negative, but that's only relative to someone expecting / looking for a really authentic bowl of pho. If you take it for what it is – a very nice bowl of noodle soup, to be eaten in a pretty spot –...

What an underwhelming experience compared to the first time we visited. Been to Yens a while back when the food was really good and tasty with good service so much so i shared on socials. Yesterday p.m we went to be met by quite not the most accommodating uninformative lady at the till. We were told we couldn't sit at 2 of the open tables as they were reserved and we should wait for a table to become available b4 ordering. Meanwhile others who also hadn’t made a booking arrived and ordered and took the reserved tables. When we eventually ordered and got our food it simply didn't match up to the pics seen online. I ordered the rice paper spring roll specifically as trying to mindful of carb consumption and per the pic filled with greens leaves carrots and 3 prawns, when it arrived, it was literally filled with rice noodles and actual rice with a garnish of green & 2 prawns. The lemon grass beef salad even tho delightfully fragrant also just had a sparse scattering of leaves and herbs with beef shavings but filled predominantly with noodles i might as well have had the stir fry. My husband had the Beef Pho which was good as it was before, seems to be the safe choice. I leave this review in hopes of improvement as we really do like the atmosphere and care taken with décor and food love to return for more than...

I am really disappointed in this restaurant and their customer service. I've been eating at Yens for quite some time and always have the Mushroom and tofu Pho, it's one of the few veggie items on the menu.

Previously when ordering the veggie noodles, I found cuts of chicken mixed into the noodles (This should have been the first warning but I gave the benefit of the doubt and marked it down to a simple mistake).

Today I enquired what the broth is made with because the last few times I ate there I found it had a very meaty taste to it, unfortunately it's made with BEEF broth.

I can't understand why they would list a veggie option to the menu when it's made with beef???? It's really really shocking that a restaurant would not specify this on their menu. The woman with the red hair behind the counter (in her usual fashion) did not seem very phased when I enquired why a veggie dish would be made with meat, she even smirked as if she was pleased that I was upset, but she never really had a great handle on customer service.

I would def not recommend eating here after finding this out. It is a total lack of care or respect for people who choose not to eat meat.

Horrible...