Song Que Cafe
134 Kingsland Road
London E3 8DY
Nearest Tube: Old Street (about a 15+ minute walk) with Hoxton Overground (2 minute walk)
4 Yummy stars
Price ££ Starters/soup/salad £5.40-£15.20; Mains £8.20-£16.80 (at time of writing)
☏ 020 7613 3222
Beef Pho at Song Que Cafe
Buzz Factor 4/5 stars
Food 4/5 stars
Value for money 4.2/5 stars
Food is great here.
The focus is on the food rather than the décor, which was very basic, with tables quite close to each other. The restaurant is one big room packed full of people in their 20s/30s with a lively atmosphere (though can be rather noisy) at evening meal time. The walls are a garish green but the tables do come with table cloths. The restaurant sits in the corner of the road. Best to avoid sitting facing the cross roads as you may be blinded by the super bright lights of the oncoming cars.
The menu is very extensive, offering 168 dishes (excluding desserts)!
The best dish we tasted was their Pho – with a myriad of combination of ingredients. The soup has a real depth of flavour. The Pho here was the closest to the truly astoundingly scrumptious Pho that we have had in Vietnam.
Their chicken satay was richly marinated and simply delicious, with a thick satay sauce drizzled over them. I would have preferred to have the sauce separately, leaving me to dip the satay in as much sauce I liked. Unlike satay in other restaurants, the star in this dish is in the chicken itself rather than the sauce.
The softshell crab was pretty good too. If you can’t take very hot food, I would stay away from eating the chillis.
The chicken in tamarind sauce was another winner. Accompanied by onions, chillis and a rich sauce, the chicken was seriously yummy.
This is a restaurant that is really good for casual dining and the food is uncompromisingly delicious.
One thing though. Avoid going to the toilet if you can or go with a friend. The lock was missing on the toilet door…..
