Urban Orient — Restaurant in London

Currently my favorite and most consistently good food in Crystal Palace. I don't know much about Vietnamese menus so play culinary roulette and see what I end up with. Each time it's awesome.

Normally we sit in, have evening dinner accompanied by the most reasonable of BYOB corkages around, I think it's at £3 for wine and fractions of for beer.

The restaurant sits on the southern tip of the busy Crystal Palace triangle. It's a lovely spot as the days comings and goings flood in through the tall windows which complement the simple unobtrusive Indochine rustic yet cosy decor. It's cool and not overblown, everything adds to rather than dominating the space. Seating is simple cafe style, a multitude of small intimate tables and bench seating on the few larger tables. Arrive early or book in advance if possible.

Service is excellent, both prompt and courteous. Food to table times, as well as order and collect for take-out makes one wonder if the downstairs kitchen have an army of chefs. Food selection is assuringly broad to offer choice yet avoid wondering if it's origins were frozen. On the contrary, everything we've eaten always seems to have been made moments ago.

The summer pancakes as a starter are almost translucent, deliciously fresh and so obviously hand rolled to order. 1 split is perfect. Similarly, the salt and pepper calamari puts every other restaurant I've ordered this in to shame. The lightly battered and perfectly cooked fish comes to your table white, not some greasy aged oil but almost looking like cauliflower such is the fluffiness and freshness of the light fry.

Rice dishes, beef salads, the Phở (a Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of broth, linguine-shaped rice noodles, a few herbs, and meat) are all fresh, warming and filling - portions come in beautiful serving bowls and with a man mountain appetite (note, not MM physique though..), I've never been left wanting.

We've never had desert, we'd likely need rolling out if we did so I can't comment but this is one of the finest dinning experiences on Crystal Palace triangle and justly thrives. It's rare that I come out of a restaurant feeling healthier than when I went in, but the amount of garden crunch that comes with every course likely means that UO delivers my 5 a day for the week in one sitting.

Oh, and the best bit, they could double the prices and it still...

A really cosy and vibrant corner of Crystal Palace, we were greeted by a lovely waitress (forgot to get her name) she guided us to the window seats, unfortunately the table was sticky so maybe a further wipe down needed but overall well setup, chopsticks over a tissue in front of us. Me and my mate sat next to a couple, as it was my first time, I asked the pair next to us what was good, he said to get the chicken phô, so I obliged and got it. Luckily he was not in earshot, whilst I described it. We put our orders in: prawn wontons, kimchi wontons, satay chicken skewers, garlic beef phô and chicken phô. The starters arrived swiftly, thankfully interrupting our baseless chatter. The wontons were crispy and succulent especially the prawn (recommended), kimichi and satay skewers not so much as the kimchi wonton had a small amount of filling and the chicken skewers felt rubbery (peanut sauce was good though). The cups given for water, did not look as clean as they could have but I was thirstyy. We then received our phô's, I had the chicken which was hot and filling. The soup was delicious, warm and tingly but alas nothing compared to the richness of the garlic beef phô which was mouthwatering, the beef was soft and melting apart in our mouths. I did not however like the flat noodles (not my jam) but it was still delicious. Phô can feel like a very basic dish but there is enjoyment in simplicity once in a while. We finished up, it was genuinely a hefty portion so you do get your money's worth, speaking of, it is cash only so if you want to go, remember to visit the bank under the mattress. (IFYKYK)

All in all: C'est...

Wow wow wow, I am still dreaming about this food days later. I need to go back asap! Everything came so fresh and delicious, incredible flavours, and fast service. Genuinely my new obsession in Crystal Palace, and just as excellent as the food I had in Vietnam.

The only thing I will say is: you have to phone up to book a table, and it would be great if whoever was on the phone had better English and/or could answer the phone in a quieter environment. The best would be if they had an online table booking system. I am sure I spoke slowly and clearly, but they booked me a table for 2 (not 4) on the wrong day. Then when I called up again to ask to move the booking earlier, they did not understand. We arrived for our table, they found space for us, then I got a call from them to say I was late for my table while I was sat in the restaurant? Lost in translation!

ANYWAY it didn’t matter at all because the food was SO DIVINE. It’s just one thing I wanted to make people aware of, it can be difficult on the phone to get across the right info.

Please UO add a booking system to Google/a website?

It was also BYOB...