Lunch for 1 with Vietnamese Coffee: £15.00

Recommended by: Cheese and Biscuits

The purpose of my trip to Clapham a couple of weeks ago was to see if it was a neighborhood I might like to live in.  It should come as no surprise that one requirement for any place I choose to live is proximity to good food shops and restaurants.  Since I didn’t know the neighborhood at all I looked around at some of my favorite food blogs for ideas.

Mien Tay was enthusiastically reviewed by Cheese and Biscuits and since I love Vietnamese food I was eager to try out one that I might be able to get regular take away from.

Mien Tay is a short walk from the train station and it has that fairly standard bland interior of many a Vietnamese restaurant.  The welcome I received from the staff however was so friendly that it warmed the place right up.  You so often forget what its like to get personal service in a restaurant in London, its such a pleasant surprise when you do.

Ban Xeo with Pork, Prawn & Beansprouts

I started out with the Ban Xeo with shrimp and pork.  I love Ban Xeo and this one was good.  It was also completely enormous which makes them better to share – especially if like me – you also order a main.

Next up came the Bun – rice vermicelli with spring roll and char grilled pork.  Anyone who has ever been to a Vietnamese restaurant with me knows that I am rather obsessed with this particular dish.  9 times out of 10 this is what I will order.  And this was really one of the best servings I’ve ever had of it.

Rice Vermicelli with Spring Roll & Chargrilled Pork

The pork was excellent and the spring rolls were super crispy.  There were plenty of fresh herbs and vegetables.  It all tasted freshly prepared – so much better than much I’ve had on Kingsland road (though I’ve never been to the Mien Tay on Kingsland).  I thoroughly enjoyed this meal.

Having Mien Tay as a local is definitely a draw to Clapham, but even if I don’t end up living there I’ll go back for the food.

Book I was reading: The Wordy Shipmates

Mien Tay
180 Lavender Hill,
London, SW11 5TQ

Recommend by Eating in Translation

It goes without saying that I find a lot of the restaurants I try by reading other food blogs. One of my all time favorites is Eating in Translation. Dave Cook manages to try an unbelievable number of restaurants, stores, events, etc and I check his site daily for inspiration for new food adventures. And I can honestly say his site has never steered me to a bad meal.

So last weekend when the Alsatian and I were planning an epic walk from our place in Brooklyn to Union Square I checked the blog out for a good place to go in Chinatown – which conveniently was at the midway point of our walk.   I am a sucker for a good bowl of noodles so we decided to try some tasty hand pulled ones.

Lunch for two: $12.50

About 3 miles into our 6.5 mile route we stopped in to refuel at this diminutive restaurant.  The friendly waitress showed us to one end of a long communal table with a couple at the other end eagerly slurping away at their lunch.  From our spot we had a perfect vantage point to watch the actual hand pulling of the noodles.

If you’ve never seen noodles being hand pulled it is quite a fascinating sight.  I would love to know exactly how it is that a single blob of dough becomes a pile of thin noodles without any pasta machine or knives of any kind – it is a pretty amazing process that involves some considerable dexterity which I almost certainly lack.  There is a lot of twisting and twirling and voila noodles. 

You can get any style of noodle they offer with any topping in soup or dry (fried). We started with an order of shredded pork chop knife pealed noodles which as the name might suggest are cut rather than pulled.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed when they placed the dish down in front of us but it what it lacked in color it made up for in taste.   It was actually quite good and we left nothing on the plate.

Shredded Pork Chop Knife Pealed Noodles

Eating in Translation mentioned being underwhelmed with the quality of the fishballs so we opted for short ribs in our soup instead.  It looked really promising when it hit the table.   A generous portion of noodles, greens and short ribs.

Shredded Pork Chop Knife Pealed Noodles

When I tasted the soup I thought the noodles were yummy and as fresh as could be but the broth was a little thin on flavor. I must’ve been giving off some kind of disappointment vibe because the waitress bolted over to point out the fresh cilantro and chili sauce on the table.   These additions really made the meal.   The sauce was a chili sesame mix that was fantastic and really added a punch to the soup.  This turned the soup from ok to really good.

Chilli Sauce that I really loved

We left rested and fueled up and ready to finish our walk. This would be a perfect place to come on your own though don’t expect to have a table all to yourself if you do.

Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles
1 Doyers St
New York, NY 10013