Keu

This is easily five stars for the quality of food. The curries, stews and roast meats are all beautifully prepared and delicious. However it’s only three stars because you pay for that quality. Most of the main dishes are £8-£10 with some going over that. A banh mi plus side will hit £10. £10 is just psychologically a major barrier to regular visits here so save it for treats.
The beef stew is incredibly good though, so I’ll make the trip every now and again, just not as much as I might have done if everything was £1 or so less.

If you can judge a lunch place by the length of its line, this place gets 5 stars. This is the local favorite for people who love bahn mi. My colleagues and I, who work across the street, eat here at least once or twice a week. The bread is awesome and crispy. The seasoning is spot on. I usually go with the classic or duck sandwiches. Both are great. What I don’t love (personal preference) is that you get a lot of meat fat and skin (I like my meat lean). If anything, this is probably more authentic. When I want to be healthier, I get the beef and papaya salad. A yummy alternative. As mentioned originally, the line can be long… and it can take awhile to get through it and get food. I’d recommend getting there before 12:30pm.

As a big lover of roast duck, I couldn’t help but make the slightly out-​of-​my-​way trek to Keu once I heard about it to check out their lunch options. I got the roast duck on rice, which set me back £9.50, and I tried to get a char siu bun, but was told that it would be a 10 minute wait to heat up. That was a bit annoying, like can you not just use the microwave? I like that the duck is served in a traditional manner, with rice, some Chinese vegetables, and the duck, and a very nice, light sauce. The cons are that the raw cucumber slices are a bit out of place, and no part of the dish was hot when I sat down to eat it 10 minutes later. The two things I have to compare it to in the area is Taro’s new duck rice with a thick hoisin sauce and the duck ramen at Chi Noodle, where I wish they would have a rice option. I much prefer the sauce here to the hoisin sauce at Taro, and since it is light, it is a much better complement to the richness of the duck. But the duck ramen at Chi Noodle is still my favourite, as they give you a very large serving of duck and it is only £7.75 too! I really don’t get the pricing of Keu, as it seems to be cheaper at their Shoreditch site at £7.95 and they don’t have a website for this location. And it’s funny how they are serving Cantonese roast duck, but I suppose this does succeed in setting them apart from the many Vietnamese takeaway places in the City. The meal was not terrible, but I don’t think it’s something I will continue to go out-​of-​my-​way for.