Song Que | London

It is always exciting walking along Kingsland Road, the street famous for its limitless choices of Vietnamese food. Even though I have not tried all of them yet, I have been to quite a few and have established some selected favourites. Song Que is one of them. It is bright and open, with quite an extensive menu I sometimes wonder how they do it.  If you are looking for cheap, no-fuss and authentic Vietnamese food, this will be the one.

With its bright green sign at the corner of Kingsland road and Cremer Street, it is impossible to miss. Plus, it is only about a minute walk away from Hoxton station.

Grilled beef wrapped in betel leaf

It gets a little messy while eating but this isn't stopping me from ordering this ever so often. It is the process of wrapping the grilled beef in lettuce and betel leaf then dip into the sauce that I really enjoy.

Known for their excellent pho, do try their beef pho. In this photo, it is stewed beef noodle soup. The beef has been cooked for so long, it falls apart easily and the soup is packed full of flavour. Just delicious!

Hot and spicy prawn noodle soup is different from the typical beef pho. If you prefer seafood to beef, this will be a good option. It actually reminds me of the less intense version of Malaysian prawn noodle soup which I love. 

Smile..

Excellent pho and Vietnamese food. Valuable.

Frown..

Service is relaxed here so don’t expect seamless service.

Will I return?

Of course. Already have!

Song Que Cafe

134 Kingsland Road
E2 8DY
London, UK.

Tel: +44 (0)20 7312 3222

Nearest station: Hoxton (overground)

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Brunch at Cafe 338 | London

Good morning! Weekdays are over and a good hearty breakfast will be a great way to start the weekend! If you live anywhere in the vicinity of Bethnal Green road, there is a corner café with white walls covered in lillustration where you will see a queue of people trying to get possibly their first cup of coffee or freshly squeezed orange juice. Well, join the queue. The queue moves pretty quickly, considering the size of this café. There are about a dozen tables or so packed really close to each other, there’s only space for one skinny person to walk between them. Even though it gets very busy, service is still prompt, friendly and attentive. 

Mega breakfast with 2 slices of toasts and a cup of free tea or coffee. 

Girls, even if you think this gigantic portion of breakfast sounds great and will fill you up the whole day, think twice cause it is indeed very very filling, even for a hungry man. A girl sat next to us ordered it and left pretty much half of the plate untouched.

The pancake menu is for those of us who likes a little bit of both savoury and sweet. Remember to place the pancakes closer to your side cause who knows, the friend or boyfriend you are with might be a pancake stealer!! Yup, I only managed to have one of that fluffy pancake with overflowing golden syrup.

Smile..

There is freshly squeezed juice, cheap, good and big portion.

Frown..

There's a queue and it's cold outside but who cares if you want proper breakfast.

Will I return?

Yes

Cafe 338

338 Bethnal Green Rd
E2 0AG United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7729 0246

Closest station: Bethnal Green (central)

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Hurwundeki Cafe and Hair Salon | London

Hurwundeki used to be a shop based on the trendy Commercial Street selling vintage clothes . The clothes they had there was really interesting, perfect for the location. The Korean owner also opened up his hair salon at the same premise. But as the recession hits, business went downhill and it was impossible to sustain the shop at the pricey location so the shop at Commercial Street was closed down and this cafe at Cambridge Heath was born. He has been quite versatile and changed to fit his business to the ever changing times. Since this cafe first opened, it has become quite a popular spot for morning coffee especially when the weather is good as there are lots of seating outside with very interesting decor. Even the inside of the cafe seems to look like everything was either hand made or recycled yet keeping its original form. A very unique space, I must say.

View from inside the cafe

Their new menu

When I was here about a year ago, they had limited food on the menu and the main was twice the price than it is now. They have even added a new deal of £10 for 1 main + 1 side dish + gim (roasted seaweed). Be aware that all korean restaurants and cafes always serve Banchan ahead of your meals. And these are free so in actual fact, even ordering a main on its own per person, is enough for a simple meal.

Water with mint in the bottle

Banchan (means side dish in English) is served prior to the food you ordered. The banchan served here was korean miso soup, kimchi and beansprouts.

Kimchi Jeon, a spicy korean kimchi and spring onion pancake

I quite like the Bibimbap in hot stone pot. It's spicy, with lots of vegetables, egg and beef; one of my favourite simple korean food. It is one of those everything in a bowl sort of food that you could easily make at home. The best thing about this dish is that you get to add as much chilli sauce as you like and mix it all up into a messy pot of deliciousness while it's still cooking itself in the hot stone pot.

The spicy pork bulgogi  marinated in spicy chilli pepper sauce, served on a hot plate was quite good although I would like it to be spicier. It's just me, being brought up with mountains of chilli.

They also have a hair salon next to the cafe with very affordable quick haircuts. The women's hair stylist is the owner of Hurwundeki, a very experienced and creative man who used to train at Vidal Sassoon and used to style the hair of Korean celebrities. As my hair was in dire need of haircut and did not have time to go all the way to my usual stylist in Soho, I braved myself for this haircut for convenience sake. I must say, I was pretty happy with the result and this is probably the cheapest haircut I have had in London! What a find. Will probably come back for a cut again.

Hurwundeki Cafe & Hair Salon

298 - 299 Cambridge Heath Road
E2 9HA London, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 7969 537871

Closest station: Cambridge Heath (rail), Bethnal Green (central line)

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