The Little Viet Kitchen

The Little Viet Kitchen is probably the most expensive Vietnamese restaurant in London promoting itself as authentic, using no msg and only uses organic meats More attention has gone into the contemporary décor compared to your average Vietnamese.
Décor is designed like a country kitchen, with its scuffed floorboards against white chairs and wild flowers everywhere. Even your chopsticks were very rustic like a tree branch itself.
Service was informative and inviting. They explained the dishes very well and introduced us to the daily specials for the day. The small menu makes ordering easier but also makes choices limited. For example there is only one noodle soup broth, altering from bun bo hue and beef phở. Banh Xeo is also only lunch exclusive and the reason for this is the small kitchen facility
We started with some cocktails
The lemongrass & Ginger was very strong in coconut cream and the rum yet very weak in the lemongrass and ginger. It was very one noted for me and made it hard to finish.
Roast peanut old fashioned was very mild on the peanut taste but it was definitely present. Quite bitter so it’s right for those who like it strong. Sadly it wasn’t for me
Vietnamese fried spring rolls
These were probably the best I’ve had in London. The skin was wonderfully crisp and light which conveyed they were freshly made. The filling was generous made with a great vast of textures varying from soft to crunchy as well as bringing in tonnes of flavour. Came with a good amount of Vietnamese herbs and nuoc nam. Another applaud to the authenticity of the nuoc nam, being made of lime juice rather than vinegar and a good balance of sugar, fish sauce. garlic and water.
Beef wrapped in perilla leaf
This was incredible and fresh with the meatball almost deconstructing itself as soon as you bite into it due to its high moisture content released from the juices of the beef. The herbs and greens in the meatball gave it an abundance of flavour and umami. The use of perilla leaf rather than the common betel leaf is that it’s much more accepted by people like me who do not enjoy the bitterness of the betel. If anything it’s more minty and refreshing especially when eaten with all the other herbs and fresh salad it was accompanied with
Beef Phở
I originally wanted the Bun Bo Hue but I only realised after that they only serve one type of noodle soup a day due to the small kitchen. Priced at £13.00 for a small bowl that did not live up to its price. The beef slices weren’t rare enough, actually quite chewy although the pulled beef and bouncy meatballs were more tender and the latter very bouncy and flavoursome. Noodles were fine but it was the broth that was lacking that complexity that an authentic phở calls for which comes from the herbs such as cardamom, star anise and orange peel. It’s much more sweeter in taste too although that could be a regional thing. The broth was very rich in beef and had a very clean aftertaste, but for me it was nothing special.
Coconut and lemongrass curry with beef rib
The best thing about it was the beef rib, marinated in an addictive sweet savoury sauce of the five spices, hitting my tastebuds like butterflies in my tongue. It was incredibly tender and juicy, falling of the bone, melting in your mouth type with its high fatty content marbleising the meat around it and spreading its juices throughout the whole rib given. Sadly the curry itself was quite mediocre. It was rich and thick in coconut milk but lacked depth and spices. Coconut was mostly what I tasted and didn’t give that ‘kick’ as promised (very mild and more to the western palate) or the strong lemongrass flavour as mentioned.
I did however much enjoyed the crumbled runny egg. That lovely contrast of bouncy, runny creamy yolk and light crumbly batter as described was done achieved perfectly. Noodles were of the round type and cooked to al dente and perfection too.
Still, even if I’m just paying for the beef rib and the egg, it’s still not worth £18.50.
Dry noodle with jumbo prawn
The most expensive part of the meal being the jumbo prawn was actually the most disappointing. It was slightly overcooked so the prawn itself became quite dense as a lot of the moisture evaporated. However it was saved by its high quality being very fresh and sweet in flavour.
Other than the prawn everything else wad fie. The nuoc nam was perfect in flavour and a good amount of authentic Vietnamese herbs including Vietnamese basil and rice noodles to enjoy it all with. It was a good dish but I’m not paying £20.10 for it again for something that required almost no cooking.
I think that this place charges too much even if you consider the organic meats used. The mains weren’t exactly mind-​blowing and for nearly £20 you’re almost talking Michelin restaurant here. It’s definitely above the average Vietnamese in London but I wouldn’t say it’s authentic and portions aren’t very big either. They definitely do better with their starters.

Great little place. Nice quiet ambience. Excellent fresh food. Friendly staff. Dishes can be individual or shared. Great place to meet up with some friends.

We opted to keep it vaguely light with just one main each of the dry noodle bowl. A deep dish filled with rice noodles, salad, a meat or tofu of your choice and mmmmnummy spring rolls. The menu is small compared to your average East London Vietnamese restaurant, but I assume they aim to do fewer things better. Sadly this Sunday lunchtime visit, a few items were off the menu, so the list became even smaller. Still enough to pick from and daily specials too. Décor is intimate and twee, lots of faded distressed pale wood. The price surprised us– it’s also a bit costier than we were expecting. Prices range from £13−16 for a main, in comparison to £8−12 for their Kingsland Road cousins. Overall I enjoyed my visit to Viet Kitchen. Good quality ingredients, very well executed and in a pretty setting.

My friend introduced me to the little Viet Kitchen. For the longest time, I thought there’s no good Vietnamese food in London. When I found LVK, boy! I knew I am soooo wrong.
From a generally good tasting food perspective, everything here is excellent. I particularly love the Beef Ribs, Softshell Crab and Fried rice. I have actually never had anything I don’t like here.
From an «Authenticity» perspective, I went to Vietnam once and I don’t necessarily think this is the same as the food as I had from Vietnam, BUT! it resembles the Vietnamese food I had in Hong Kong… So I don’t really know what that mean.
The bottomline is, great food. I can’t wait to go back and try their pancakes which is only available for lunch!

In terms of décor, this place gets an A++++. The inside is gorgeous, but on a sunny weekend day we chose to sit outside, which also had very artsy wooden tables and stools. It’s located on the end of Chapel Market, at the end furthest away from the tube station, but out of the hubbub of the farmer’s market, so we got to sit outside on the pavement in the sun. Some parts of Chapel Market can be a bit grungy but this quiet corner was beautiful.
For the food, in hindsight I would have ordered just the mains, given that the portion sizes were huge and we didn’t manage to finish all of our food, but I was so excited to eat here that we went for two appetizers and two mains between two people. The other thing is that the side salad accompanying each dish is the same, so while I like the light sauce and fresh herbs, it’s still a bit redundant. It’s also quite expensive when you get both starters and mains — we ended up paying over 30 pounds each for lunch, without any alcohol!
For appetizers, we ordered one of the specials, a scotch egg made with prawn paste, and the fried soft shell crab. The scotch egg was really unique and I loved it. The soft shell crab was also lovely. For mains, we got the dry noodle bowl with pork belly and a beef short rib special that was served with rice. These alone were huge portions, so by this point we really only endeavored to finish the meat part of the dish. The food was all excellent — can’t recommend this place highly enough!

Had coconut &lemongrass curry with beef ribs plus a dry noodle bowl with tofu. Best viet meal in a very long time. Worth crossing town for.

When you say to a customer that your food will be ready by a certain time do not lie.
1 star for the management.
Food? Can’t say since I just had a starter.

I’m in love with this tiny quaint corner spot at the end of Chapel Market for their playlist alone. Straight Motown throughout my entire dining experience, including my fave, Please Mr. Postman.
Starving, I walked into this spot down the block from my local nail shop. Intimate space, but plenty of bar seating. They really care about the food here. And all of the staff seem to take pride in the restaurant. The chef seems to have a taste for experimentation and customer feedback before introducing a dish as a staple on the menu, which explains the loyal membership of the Sunday supper club that they offer.
Probably the most thorough explanation of the off-​menu specials I’ve ever received in my life. Took my waiter at least 5 minutes to tell me about 3 specials. After he was done with his speech, I opted for the special chicken in a yellow curry sauce, which came out EXACTLY as he described: creamy slightly sweet aromatic yellow curry, tender lightly spiced chicken with the large bone left in to hold the meat together, garnished with whole fresh herbs (including my fave, cilantro!) in the authentic Vietnamese style, served with a large bowl of fragrant jasmine rice. Take a look at those crunchy full stemmed herbs in the pic — they are serious! If you like your herbs chopped up, this is not the dish for you.
Then the check came. Overpriced? Absolutely. Even for the quality sourced ingredients they pride themselves on. 16 quid for a Vietnamese chicken curry entrée. I’ve had better for cheaper. But this place is trending and worth a go.

I’m so glad we were able to get a table on a Saturday night without having a reservation. They were fully booked, but were able to work us in since we got there right when they opened. By the time we got our entrees, every table was filled. Everything we ate was phenomenal. We started with their beef carpaccio special. It was super flavorful and the had just the right amount of spice. I had the Bun Bo Hue. The broth was rich and it had lots of tender beef chunks. My friend had the Crepes which he really enjoyed. This a great place for people with gluten sensitivity too since most of the menu contained no wheat. I highly recommend going there. Just make sure you have a reservation.

Phở is not my favourite so I was disappointed we got there too late for the banh mi (which is my favourite!) but I still enjoyed my bun bo hue which is a lovely spicy noodle soup. My friend who tried the beef phở commented that it seemed to be very good quality. The restaurant itself, as others have said, is particularly pretty and a pleasant place to sit.

Actually found the Phở better than virtually every other place in London I’ve eaten (inc Kingsland Road) as they kept the spice and heat up. The banh mi and spring rolls are good too.
But more fancy than usual place but totally authentic and will be coming back again and again! Though those chopsticks are slightly too difficult to use! Esp with such warm service too. Impressive.

All our dishes were either lukewarm or cold so we were rather disappointed after reading all the amazing reviews. Couldn’t read the menu as it was too dark. Friendly staff got our order wrong. Quite unprofessional place really — they need to buck their ideas up! One dish was superb — a kind of beef stew. Yummy. Sort it out chaps!
I’ve heard that a bunch of good reviews makes the place so busy that the kitchen falls over under the strain. Could be the case here???

Such a beautiful space. Service is friendly and efficient. The food is delicious and authentic yet modern (in a good way). The only drawback is it is a bit pricy and the portions can be on the small side for Vietnamese food. I’m excited to try Sunday Supper (if I can get a seat!).

I am a very fussy little Viet when it comes to Vietnamese food. Minor things that I would normally forgive with other cuisines, I will mark down when it comes to imperfect Vietnamese food. This is mostly because my mother is a super cook and growing with her cooking, I always felt like it was such a waste to pay for inferior food. Not so with The Little Viet Kitchen, this place is very good and probably the only Vietnamese restaurant I would recommend in London without caveats. I had the prawn pops and beef phở. The prawn pops was a cacophony of prawn and lemongrass, perfectly seasoned and cooked. The phở broth was deep and flavourful. I can tell they used a good amount of bones, not like the insipid watered down ‘broth’ in many Vietnamese restaurants in London. And the presentations of each dish was beautiful. The prices are a little higher than the regular East London Viet places but you can see where your money has gone.

I love Vietnamese cooking because it’s light, fresh and packed full of flavour, so living in Islington, I really wanted this place to be good.
This is better than I’d hoped — it’s clever, modern cooking that takes the best of classic Vietnamese food and brings it up to date. There is so much effort taken in preparation, flavour and presentation. You can see and taste the quality of the ingredients.
The beef phở is delicious, slowly braised for hours and one of the best tasting I’ve ever had. The caramelised pork banh mi is bursting with flavour and overflowing with salad in a crunchy bread roll.
The restaurant is light, modern and informal — just like the food. The staff are lovely too. I really can’t fault it. 5 stars it is.

Amazing Bahn Mi! So glad I found this place. A perfect sandwich, delicious tasty pork, generous patè, rich mayonnaise and nicely spicy with all the trimmings!
I have literally tried Bahn mi in many different countries around the world and this is up there with the best!
I’ll be back!