Thanh Binh

I love Vietnamese food, and love little independent places like this for their great food.
This place is not that though.
I ordered from their uninterested server, and received the most bland food I’ve ever encountered. I would have to rate it as the worse Vietnamese food I’ve tried.
To add insult to injury, they added on a tip for their non existent service. Yeah, thanks for that.
I usually like to give a place a second chance, but I won’t be doing that here.

Whenever I am in Camden, I drop by here for my fix of Vietnamese coffee. It is pretty good and I look forward to coming back again sometime!

Than Binh is opposite Camden’s Stables Market and it offers good Vietnamese food. It has to compete with all the food stalls on Camden Market so the price is low.
Mrs. Bhin and her daughter were on duty the day I went. After a friendly welcome, I was offered the lunch and a la carte menu and was asked if we wanted a drink. This restaurant has a lunch menu 7 days a week and it offers prawn crackers to start with. I tried chicken with black bean sauce on rice which was very flavourful and savoury. An excellent stir fry. My friend ordered a Phở with seafood and squid which was also very tasty.
The a la carte menu includes prawn and chicken sizzling dishes which are served piping hot at the table.
The restaurant is clean and simply decorated with Vietnamese paintings and it gets packed at lunchtimes. Mrs. Bhin has been running this restaurant for many years so it has a loyal clientel. She has had the same chef for 23 years. She came to the table and asked if every thing was OK and also said goodbye to us when we left.
There are a few other Vietnamese restaurants in Camden but Than Bhin offers much better food with lower prices and the portion is bigger offering good value for money.
I will go back and try many more lunch menus and dishes on the a la carte menu.

One of my local favourites, I’ve been coming here for years!
Not much has changed, which in my opinion is a good thing. Even the prices have stayed super reasonable, with my favourite Phở Bo at £6.50. The pork spring rolls are also delicious! Thanh Binh is family run and as a result, keeps the dining experience personal. I haven’t tried much else on the menu to be honest as the phở is so good! It’s almost always packed though, another good sign!

They’ve been here forever and over all the years I’ve been going, they’ve never disappointed. Very honest and authentic, full of flavour and not to heavy. Just what you want either for lunch in market days or pre-​night out dinner. Check out the photos on the wall: the Stones ate here.

This was one of our most exiting places to eat. Thank you for a great service and a super tasting food. I will be back again when I am back to London.

Great food, really fresh tasting. Good atmosphere

I have been eating regularly at this charming Vietnamese restaurant since 1990 when they first opened and the only time I stopped going was when they changed the menu last year. Now they put back my old favourites, so we eat there at least twice a month. This restaurant is owned by Mrs. Binh who has been running it for 23 years and she has the same dedicated chef since opening. She is very friendly and always chats with us. Our favourites are Cha Nem (Spring Rolls), Stir-​fried Seafood Phở, Sizzling Prawn with Ginger & Spring Onion, and Squid/​Beef/​Chicken with Black bean Sauce. They are really top-​notch dishes and the prices are very reasonable. The only thing I am a bit disappointed is the Phở, but my Japanese friend liked it. It has the clean taste but the stock needs more depth. One more warning is that Lamb is very fatty. They are very accommodating, so if you don’t like chilli, garlic or coriander, just ask.
They offer a good range of tasty £6 lunch and 6 of us went there last Sunday; I highly recommend Chicken/​Beef with Black bean Sauce, Chicken with Lemongrass & Chilli, Slow-​cooked Beef Brisket, Spicy Singapore style Stir-​fried Rice Noodle, or my partner’s favourite Pork Chop with Lemongrass & Chilli. I have never tried the vegetarian dishes, so I cannot comment on that. But I won’t recommend anything with deep-​fried Tofu or Mock Duck.
Sadly they stopped serving Banana Fritters. If you are a fan, please ask them for it, so they might put it back on the menu.
On our recent visit one Saturday in October, it was busy and there were only two person serving; the waiter seemed lost and he was just hanging around and not doing enough. He even forgot to set the table, so the group of 5 Japanese customers were left with no cutleries when their food arrived; one of them came up to the counter and asked for them. He also forgot to clear the tables and to give us our starter. I saw two new chefs/​kitchen helps and the food was below par. They tend to be overwhelmed when the restaurant is busy, so you might not get a good service.

Cheap as chips! Stumbled in from the rain on a first date and it was definitely a good choice! Definitely impressed both of us with quality of food (Crispy duck for the win!) and price.

The best thing about Thanh Binh is how affordable it is. I often come here for the noodle salads ’cause they’re really worth it! £6.50 for a portion that’s big enough two and superrr tasty. The BO NUONG (chargrilled beef with lemongrass) is the best! Order that and a few side dishes and you’re good to go. They also do takeaways and you can call to order in advance, but the portion sizes seem a little smaller when you do, unfortch.
On the downside, the service isn’t great. It usually takes quite a while to get their attention and the lady boss is either very friendly or kind of rude, but it’s not a massive turn off. You don’t expect the best service at a small family run place in Camden anyway!

The phở I had was quite average, but for 6 quid I couldn’t complain!
I would definitely go back due to the very fair price range.

Came across this small Vietnamese restaurant amidst all the busy food stalls in Camden.
Vietnamese summer rolls came quickly, I would say within 6 minutes of our order. The ratio of parsleys and lettuce, versus shrimp, is a little out of proportion. Standard summer rolls, although the shrimps were rather small, and the dipping sauce was a little too watery.
Then came the noodle soups. My BÚN CÁ (Rice vermicelli in fragrant broth with monk fish) was tasty and flavorful, the fish broth was rich and appetizing, light yet satisfying. There were also quite a lot of fish within the noodle soup, making the £8 I spent worth every penny.
My friend’s PH BÒ VIÊN (with meatballs) was also delicious. It’s like a usual Phở, only added with a gracious amount of meatballs.
My utmost favorite dish was the CÁ KHO T (fish cooked in clay pot). OH HEAVENLY and worth the wait! The sauce was rich and thick, not to mention that it was soaked within the fish itself as well. It was at the right amount of saltiness cooked together with savory blackbean sauce. Ah, just amazing.
The bill came out to be around £15 per person for 4 dishes. The price is alright, not the cheapest, but not ridiculously overpriced. Might also be cash only?
I would def def defffffinitely recommend the Bun Ca and Ca Kho To. Winning.

I’m a bit loathe to write a review for this place because I think what makes it so nice is that very few people appear to know about it so it benefits from having a lovely quiet ambience and is still very keen to please!
Absolutely lovely, tasty, unusual Vietnamese food that I want to go back to again.
We had the frogs legs which were great, the soft shell crab which was amazing and a very generous portion. The aubergine was in a sauce that I could have licked the plate clean for. And when the lamb with plum sauce in lettuce was served they gave a really generous portion of plum sauce — which I find a rare thing in restaurants today.
Also try the noodle salads — they were marvellous. Actually everything we ordered was wonderful, no complaints at all to be made — hoorah!
Oh, and one last thing — also the Vietnamese coffee is a must have for all Vietnamese meals and this one was a proper one with the condensed milk and all.
Oh, and one last other thing — it was cheap as you like. Lovely.

Popped in here quite randomly with the rest of my band when we had a couple of hours to kill between soundcheck and gig the other week and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food!
It’s quite a small restaurant that you might walk straight past on a busy day but the little old lady in the doorway enticed us in with her dazzling smile and friendly beckoning. The prices were reasonable and I went for the hot plate of beef, lemongrass and onions with steamed rice (£9 in total) which was absolutely delicious the beef was really tender (something I rarely seem to find in Asian cuisine) and the plate arrived in front of me literally sizzling and spitting which is always a bonus.
Whilst I was really happy with my meal, a couple of my band mates felt a little let down by portion sizes however and one of the waiters bad English meant that a plate that was meant to be for sharing got wolfed down by our guitarist while the other lead singer sat there hungry until he asked where his food was and the manager had to come over and point of the mistake!

I’d give this place a 5 star if their Phở were better. To be fair, I’ve yet to find a decent Phở place in all of London. Hey I’m picky, I’m vietnamese and i was raised on this stuff. The problem with the Phở is down to the noodles, which I predict is the dried stuff. For proper Phở you need fresh Phở noodles, which you can’t buy in London. The broth however was very good and also spring roll entrée. Really generous filling will a crisp skin.
If you go I’d recommend getting the «ca kho to» with «canh cua» with prawns and a serving of white rice. This combination is a typical Vietnamese home styled meal and something I’ve missed since moving away from my parents. The fish in the claypot was super fresh and delicious as well as the generous prawns in the sour soup. The sweet saltiness of the claypot dish fuses perfectly with the sourness of the soup. You switch between the two as you eat to cleanse the palatte and enhance each others flavour. You should mix the sauce of either dish into your rice too (depending on which you like better). Man makes me miss home so much!!! 5 stars for these dishes…
I spoke with the owner before leaving. They’ve been in business 21 years and I can imagine they’ll be around many more years. Can’t wait till the vietnamese produce is more readily available in London because i can see this restaurant being able to do wonderful things with it. I still can’t find good Vietnamese 3 colour drink anywhere!!!

No no no no no no no. I can’t quite bring myself to give 1 star but I’m tempted. But I guess the phở was passable (if small, and onionless and served on a strange Japanese tray?!) and some of the starters we’re quite nice, but sorry Thanh Binh, I so WANTED you to be good, or even just okay… but there are some things I just can’t get over:
The iced coffee was watery and didn’t even taste of condensed milk.
My boyfriends stewed fish was nearly too gelatinous to eat and covered in SO MUCH white pepper you couldn’t taste anything else.
The weird, sweet, watery chili sauce they gave was really bizarre and pretty disgusting
Most importantly — service was added to the bill, but the person paying for our meal asked anyway to check and was awkwardly/​mumblingly told it wasn’t, and was asked how much she’d like to add … so payed it again on the card to avoid embarrassment, I’ve now read other reviews elsewhere saying the same thing has happened to other people, so if nothing else, if you really have to go here, avoid being double charged!
I won’t be back.

It was a lazy Sunday morning. No alarm clock had been set, I got out of bed around 11am. Looking out the frosted over window I shivered. Yup, another sub-​freezing day in London.
The stomach started rumbling.” Hrm… I guess I should get some food. What to get on a day like this?” …a grin began to slowly spread across my face as a fuzzy notion of what I wanted coalesced in my mind at the same pace.
hot… soup? Spicy! PHO!!!
I didn’t want to go far in this winter weather having just woken up, but I knew from experience that the places within the first few streets from where I live had god awful phở. I had been planning on giving Thanh Binh a try for awhile, and it _​was_​a 10 minute walk at most. So on went some warm clothes and I headed out and up towards Chalk Farm for my phở.
I arrived less than 10 minutes after they had opened for the day and almost half the tables were already full with patrons. «That’s a good sign, right?» The waiter brought the menu and I impatiently flipped through until the word Phở caught my eye, and I stopped.
…and I stared.
…and dissapointment started to slowly seep in.
–break–
They had four meager choices for phở. Chicken, steak, steak with meatballs, and pork with shrimp. Why is it so hard to find phở places in London that make phở with things like tripe and tendon? And what’s with strange, almost sweet, garlic chili sauce as a condiment as opposed to a simple garlic chili paste, or something like sriracha or sambal (ok, so the Huy Fong brand «rooster» sriracha I know and love is American and Sambal is Indo/​Malaysian, but both still closer to what I’m looking for)? Come on now, the simple things. Also on the con side, there were no form of onions in the accompaniments or the broth, and the amount of meat was minimal.
To be fair, there were some pros. The plate of accompaniments wasn’t bad. It was all quite fresh and there was a decent amount of basil, cilantro, peppers and mung bean (as opposed to the experience of some other Unilocalers). Though I do prefer lime to lemon. Also the broth was decently well seasoned.
Overall the phở experience here was probably average, but I had my hopes high. I don’t think I’ll ever go back for phở again, but I may go back to try other Vietnamese dishes. I did notice that they have the mung bean pancakes (the proper name of which slips my mind). I love these when done properly.
I’m really struggling with whether to give 2 or 3 stars. You know what though? Beyond the phở I had a cup of ca phe sua da (vietnamese coffee with condensed milk, then iced), and it was the worst rendition I’ve ever had. Ok, 2 stars it is. It’s harsh, but I plan to be back and sample other items to give Thanh Binh a chance to redeem themselves.

My heart hurts giving this place a 3, cuz I’ve had the best phở broth here hands down, BUT let me tell you what’s up with this joint.
Family owned place, giving me grief about my ethnicity since nobody in L-​town seems to understand that Americans ARE immigrants (minus the beloved Natives). After the 3^rd exclamation of «you Japanese?» I almost threw a chair at the staff, Jerry Springer style.
Food-​wise, the phở broth as mentioned above was delicious, however upon asking for some basil to steep in my soup I was told they didn’t carry any because basil only lasts for 3 days… so they never buy it.
UH…I have never actually been told that fresh basil was not available at a vietnamese restaurant because it doesn’t stay fresh for long… an open proclamation of low turnover. NICE.
I can’t wait to go back to Cali for some phở, piled high with all the fixins, and served with a lime instead of a lemon. Also the standard Sriracha hot sauce NEEDS to be there, none of this sweet Thai British-​ized sauce BS. I’m probably going to get a lot of ish for this post, but it’s the 2-​year living in London ITCH and I am a-​bitchin now.
RANT-​DONE. Apologies :(

My mum has been bringing me here since I was first born and although sometimes there might be a few years between visits, the woman who owns the place ALWAYS remembers us. (a matter which always brings us back each year, regardless of the good food) The owners say their family-​run restaurant is the most authentic in the city and that their Vietnamese spring rolls are the best around (they are)
It is a popular Vietnamese spot and has a few key things going for it; low prices, location, friendly service and good, honest food. There are not that many tables, so you never have to wait that long for service and the food comes quickly. Seafood is king here, but I strongly recommend the phở as well. For desert, the banana pudding is delicious.

Yay! I’m a fan!
I should have given it five stars really, but Im not that generous…
The food here is really fresh, so fresh that you bite a crunch and feel all of the goodness oosing into your blood stream. Usually after eating a Chinese or vietnamese my heads pounding, my skin breaks out in spots, and I feel as if I’ve had a night out. But luckily I have restored my faith in Asian cooking, I left feeling refreshed and rejunivinated… yay!
The owner lady is really chilled too, she very nice at suggesting what to have, thumbs up! :)