little hanoi, Shoreditch, London

I visited this restaurant on a Wednesday, since my partner and I we both love Vietnamese food and frequently visit the restaurants of the so-called Pho Mile in Kingsland Road.
We ordered grilled prawns in sugar cane and prawn papaya salad for starters and shaking beef and Bun Cha Ca for mains.
The salad was fresh, but it was very cold, as it just had come from the fridge awaiting ready there to be served and, although pleasant, lacked herbs and a more sharp flavour.
The grilled prawns in sugar cane were just a portion of two and they were correct, but not as good as some served in other restaurants in London. The same happened with shaking beef. It was a small portion and the meat was on the chewy side.
The Bun Cha Ca was a surprise, since it was our first encounter with this dish. It is a tomato soup with fish fritters. The soup tasted good, a mixture of tomato and lemon flavours but again it had no herbs. When it came to the fish fritters, the first taste was rather nice, fishy and fresh, but after that initial second it turned into a stale sensation in the mouth. Were this fritters made a week ago or is it just that they are supposed to taste as if the flour had gone wrong?
Unfortunately, we didn't try the grilled scallops that everybody praises in their reviews on the internet. Perhaps we just chose the wrong dishes, but our experience in Little Hanoi was rather underwhelming. For the same price (cheaper if one doesn't have a tastecard discount) one can eat much nicer food by just walking for ten minutes to the great Vietnamese places in Kingsland Road.

Really great little Vietnamese place. Very authentic food, and a huge menu - almost too big. It was actually hard to narrow down what I wanted!

Really enjoyed the duck with ginger and spring onion. Noodles were a bit bland though.

I hear the lunch is a great value, but I must say dinner isn't bad either. Most mains will run between £5.50 and £8. Definitely worth and open till at least 11 every night.

If you like Vietnamese cuisine i can thoroughly recommend “Little Hanoi” in Shoeditch. At lunch time you can sample an excellent buffet…eat as much as you like for £5.50. The A la carte menu is also available at lunchtime and of course in the evening and is very good value. The wine is also reasonably priced. This venue has a Cafe type atmosphere and is very popular with the Hoxton village locals.