Mien Tay: Shoreditch, London

Mien Tay

Date of Visit: 26^th August 2013

We saw a small queue as we were about to enter Mien Tay but we wanted to try the food since it appeared to be one of the more popular Vietnamese restaurants along the “Pho Mile”.  Despite the queue, we did not have to wait as we were asked if we minded being seated next door by the window.  We didn’t mind at all but found it strange that the restaurant had two front doors but I guess what happened was Mien Tay started off as a tiny restaurant but due to its popularity, it had to extend to the premises adjacent to it but the owners hadn’t bothered to knock down the wall in between.  This wouldn’t have been a problem if the waiters didn’t constantly walk from one premises to the next (meaning there wasn’t necessarily anybody in sight when you needed attention). Tables are so tightly packed in that you might as well me dining with strangers… to put it into perspective, even I struggled to get pass the table next to us without knocking things down when I needed to get to my seat and when I need to leave the table at the end of the meal.

Anyway, in terms of décor, the restaurant is in desperate need of a lick of new paint and a bit of a clean around the edges.  Despite not much attention were paid to the wall décor, the tables were unique.  Each table had a glass see-through top which presented a nice display of hand-made straw/wooden items such as benches, carts, umbrellas etc. which created an olden day scene.  It was definitely a talking point.

Food

For starters, we shared a “chargrilled quail with honey, garlic and spices” which was tasty – the skin was crispy and the middle part was surprisingly meaty.  The garlic and spices were noticeable but it wasn’t overpowering when mixed with the sweetness of the honey.

For mains, we opted for a Pho with sliced beef and beef balls and a “chargrilled pork chop egg on rice”.  The latter did not sound enticing at all but we’ve had many great Vietnamese pork chop rice over our time to know the meat was likely to be marinated in lemon grass spices and sure thing it was.  The pork was tender and flavoursome and the egg with a runny yolk was a bonus.   The beef pho wasn’t bad either.  It was a big enough portion with quite a fair bit of meat and the beef balls were fairly big too.  However, I didn’t rate the soup base – I mean it was ok but it didn’t have the wow factor but I was thankful it wasn’t too salty (as I’ve experienced in local Vietnamese restaurants). 

Drinks wise, we had a hot soya milk drink which was clearly microwaved (not a problem if they bothered to remove the skin at the top of the milk).  It tasted home made in that it wasn’t overly sweet and weirdly, the drink stayed uber hot throughout the whole meal! As for the Vietnamese rainbow drink, it was a tad disappointing as it didn’t have the green jelly in it but it had mung bean in it instead which is not the norm – the norm being red beans, green jelly and coconut milk.

This restaurant had an extensive menu with a wide range of choices but they failed to offer one of our favourite Vietnamese starters (pork cheung fun often topped with fried shallots and Vietnamese pork cured slices).

Service

The service was a bit hit and miss… We were seated very quickly but getting the attention of waiters proved difficult.  It took a while to flag down somebody to order the food and whilst the food arrived very quickly, I had to bring it to their attention twice that my drink had failed to arrive.  As I mentioned earlier, there were times where no waiters were available as they had all gone next door.  That is one thing that needs to be addressed – they need to have at least one person on each side of the restaurant at all times.  It took a while for the table next to us to wave somebody down to bring the bill so as soon as they were paying, we also asked for the bill even though we hadn’t finished our drinks, in fear of waiting a long time if we missed that chance.  I give them the benefit of the doubt that it was a busy night.

Summary

It’s a shame that there were a couple of let downs because the food is actually quite good here and I can see why it’s popular.  Being in the hip part of town, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s constantly rammed but if that is the case, they need to hire more staff!

Would I return?  Quite possibly but I would be more likely to try some of the other restaurants along the Pho Mile first.