Caphe Pho

Had the phở with rare beef and a side of egg rolls. The soup base wasn’t bad. It was actually one of the better ones I’ve had in the London. The egg rolls were nice. It had the right filling (pork, vermicelli, wood ear mushroom, etc.) and was properly served with lettuce, pickled veggies, and fish sauce. Service was quick and the staff were friendly. Would recommend to give this place a try.
On a separate note, while looking over their menu I noticed they also have bahn mi for £5.5. Still struggling to understand why it’s so expensive considering in the states you can get a really good bahn mi for about $ 3 (£1.9-ish) and… we’re not even gonna go there on how much it costs in Vietnam. Seen this price at a couple of other places out in the London area. Outraged…

Caphe Phở is the latest addition to the Vietnamese lunch scene in the City… I can now get Vietnamese takeaway from a difference place every day for a week, if I so desired. It opened nearly two months ago at the start of June, but I have only now found out about it and decided to give it a try. When I went around noon, the restaurant was entirely empty save for one solo diner, almost as if it had just opened for the first time a few hours ago. It was a pretty depressing sight. I wanted to try some of my usual go-​to lunch dishes, so I got the special hue noodle soup and an order of pork spring rolls. I thought the spring rolls were average, not at all like the glorious ones at City Caphe and the still-​good-​but-​one-​less-​spring-​roll version from Banh Mi Bay. These had a smooth outer wrapper, kind of like a Chinese egg roll, and was served with just fish sauce and some shredded carrots/​radish. It was unclear what the carrots/​radish were for, but there was no lettuce wrapper like I have come to enjoy. Those were very missable. However, I was quite pleased with my special hue, as the broth was good and the pieces of meat were quite decent. It wasn’t all that spicy, either. I’d be happy to have it again. However, with all the other Vietnamese place save for City Caphe offering loyalty cards, it’s still a tough market to break into.

Love this place. I came to check out their new restaurant as was a regular in their previous place in Bermondsey street (where they’re sorely missed!). Lovely, fresh and traditional taste. It’s a great new look for them, with the same delicious food. Highly recommend!

Caphe Phở is new to the scene at farringdon… I’ve been here a good few times for lunch over the past 2 weeks… have to admit the service was a bit slow to begin with in the first week but that can be expected for them just opening up and upgrading from a little coffee shop near London Bridge previously… its now improved from ordering at the tills (makes sense if you’re just ordering takeout) to actual staff serving you at the table.
My order was the phở and the goi salad, typical Vietnamese dishes and to their compliment taste as authentic as can be :) Also tried out a few takeaways too, the Ginger beef with rice and coconut chicken, good portion size for a takeaway too!
Definitely recommend going back and looking forward to try there for dinner soon!

The lunchtime service at caphe phở is painfully slow. On the first day my friend and I ordered phở and a bun hue. Both are soup noodles that are pre-​cooked all that is required is for them to place noodles and raw meat into a bowl of broth and serve to our table. My bowl of phở arrived after 10 minutes which is a reasonable amount of time even though the restaurant was not busy yet, after chasing twice my friend’s bun hue eventually arrived 20 minutes later (30 minutes after ordering)!
Two days later I thought I would give caphe phở another chance so went for chargrilled pork vermicelli salad. Again I had to wait 30 minutes before my order was served, that is far too long to wait for street food. Nobody has the luxury of waiting so long in the city during their lunch break for simple food to be served and annoyingly having to rush once the dish was finally served.
Just as well there is no service charge as the set up is rather odd. If you are dining in upon arrival the greeter shows you to a table and issues a slip handwritten with the table number. Whether you are dining in or taking away there is one queue at the open kitchen counter. After placing your order you need to collect your own cutlery and sauces which are scattered around the restaurant in difficult to reach places. This was not apparent on our first visit until a server brought out one dish and told us we need to get our own cutlery! If it is self service why is the cutlery and sauces not placed at the counter where people are required to place their order?
After a long long wait you may be lucky if your order is served correctly. You may ask whether the food is worth the wait? Well I regret to report that no Vietnamese street food is worth waiting 30 minutes for, there are too many other more efficient competitors around in the City. Go to leather lane market 5 minutes away where there is a decent Vietnamese stall that makes proper chargrilled meat dishes for £5.