Song Hong — Restaurant in London

From the outside, Mien Tay doesn't look like anything particularly special. The same could be said for the inside when stepping in to the seated waiting area - but on a Saturday night it was heaving with Vietnamese expats.

Table placed gas burners heat metal vats of simmering broth, as they dip mixed toppings from circular treys in to its centre. Shouts from customers met with waiters hurriedly bringing a range of steel ladles or bowls of broth for them to continue.

After a while of standing, the cold bag of beers dripping redundantly as the newly laminated “NO B.Y.O.B!” sign glared at us, we were seated near the kitchen at the back of the restaurant.

We were rushed through our orders by a red faced man, clearly straining from the demand as he closed his notepad and shouted over his shoulder “Everything's Ok to show up at the same time, yes?”, disappearing round the corner in to the cupboard like kitchen. When the starters eventually arrived, we realized we only had one pair of chopsticks between us – so once we’d both been given a pair we started on the soft shell crab.

Crunchy and flavoursome, we thought we might have judged too quickly. Maybe the odd little wood cut river scene under the piece of perspex that was our table was just a bit of a niche touch, and the food was what really did the talking here? Then the frogs legs arrived, sinewy and drowned in garlic butter.

A while later our mains arrived, the goat (which we quickly realized needed an order of rise to go with it), and the oddly named ‘Special Pho’.

I can only assume that what makes this particular Pho special, is that it’s like someone shoving a fistful of chopped parsley in to your mouth before encouraging you to wash it down with the water aforementioned parsley was cooked in. The floating chunks of brisket (whilst perfectly tender) were completely flavourless, and with little else in the broth bar the odd floating chill – it wasn’t a pleasant bowl of food to consume.

Maybe the locals see something here that we didn’t. Maybe we just ordered the wrong dishes. But between the manic buzz of staff, the total lack of any kind of ambience, and the hit and miss dishes – the odds of a revisit are...

Mien Tay is set on busy Lavender Hill, Battersea. We visited on a weekday night for dinner and it was surprisingly busy with a bustling atmosphere. Servers were quick to get us seated and we settled in to pore over the extensive South West Vietnamese menu. Whilst deciding we had a white wine (4.70) and a bottle of Saigon beer (£3.70). The drinks list also offers fresh juices (including coconut), jasmine tea and of course Vietnamese iced coffee.

We ordered the Fresh rolls with prawn (£5.20) and a peanut sauce for dipping, king prawns with butter and garlic (£9.50) and the stir fried green mussels with ginger & spring onion (£7). The fresh rolls were light and the peanut sauce delivered a punchy hit. As much as I love fresh rice paper rolls, the mussels were a real standout and our absolute favourite dish to start. The ginger and spring onion sauce meant the mussels and sauce had a great spice and sweetness (and the flavours were even better eating the heated leftovers the next day!) The king prawn was served on a sizzling plate making, flavours were nice but the texture, for my liking, was not tender enough.

We went for a bowl of Pho with rare sliced beef (£9) served with beansprout, herbs, lime and chilli for adding to your taste. The beef was tender and the beef bone broth was warming and full of depth. The real crowd pleaser of the evening however was the curry clay pot with monkfish (£9). The curry was richly spiced with an incredibly creamy sauce with hints of sweetness and lovely generous pieces of meaty monkfish – a fantastic dish. Certainly, one of my favourite curry dishes in quite some time.

It is easy to see why Mien Tay restaurant in Battersea was bustling on a Tuesday night! The food is seriously fresh, flavourful and there is huge variety in their offerings. The menu is incredibly extensive, but handily categorised with plenty of veggie options available, Most dishes are customisable to your liking of meats, seafood or tofu. We loved the traditional decor, friendly service and would highly recommend it for some very well priced authentic...

Wasn’t a fan of this restaurant at all. Note: it’s CASH ONLY!! Not sure why places in 2019 do that; it’s inconvenient when so many people don’t carry cash and everything is electronic nowadays.

They squeeze as many people in as tightly and uncomfortably as possible. That made it hard to have a conversation or even have enough room to get to one’s seat. We were in the back and as such, service was poor— probably because they couldn’t see us. I asked for sparkling water that never came. I was coughing at one point and had nothing to drink even 20 minutes after we sat down so my husband had to grab a waitress and tell her we needed water. It was tap water but hey it was better than nothing. People who were seated at the same time as us actually got their food before we even ordered. That’s how bad the service was.

My Pho Ga (chicken pho) was downright horrible. Zero taste, very dry chicken pieces and it had way too many onions and green onions all over it — presumably to make up for the lack of flavor. I asked for hoisin sauce and what they gave me was not that. So even some weird brown sauce and siracha sauce couldn’t save it. The noodles were abundant and flat not round.

They get two stars instead of one because the vegetable spring rolls were crispy (very fried), homemade and tasty. Perhaps Pho isn’t the dish to get here but then again if it’s on the menu and it’s a Vietnamese restaurant they should make it right or remove it from their menu to concentrate on dishes they make better. I wouldn’t...