The Kingsland Road branch of this Vietnamese restaurant is an easy-going spot, with BYO, big tables and even bigger sharing dishes. It’s where you go when you want to feast with friends and not squabble about the bill afterwards.
On our mid-week visit, it was rammed by 7.30pm. Floor-to-ceiling bamboo makes it feel like a dodgy set in ‘The Crystal Maze’, but service is friendly, if a little slow.
Chargrilled quail is a Mien Tay regional speciality, with an addictive honey spiced crispy skin. It was messy, but worth every smear, and came with a lime-infused sugary salt that I wanted to sprinkle on every other dish. Chargrilled goat tasted suspiciously similar to the quail, but it was the best thing on the menu, with satisfyingly charred edges.
The tofu crispy pancake was so impressive the next table ordered the same thing, but there were wobbles elsewhere. A rice flour crepe wasn’t crisp and the veggie filling was lacklustre. The ‘crispy’ sea bass also really wasn’t crispy. And the spicy beef brisket soup bowl may have been big enough to swim in, but the broth lacked depth.
Mien Tay has a faithful following: the food isn’t going to blow you away, but it’s still BYO, so you’ll probably be having too good of a time with your mates to care.