This is one of those places where I say: use it or lose it.
S
ome hot dining spots seem to expand almost the moment they open, but east London’s Vietnamese stalwart Sông Quê has waited almost 25 years to spawn a little sister, Sông Quê Phở Bar. The new offshoot sits on Commercial Street, a mile or so down the road, and serves a tiny menu focusing on phở, as well as a smattering of the original cafe’s small plates in the form of summer rolls, green papaya salad, grilled lamb chops and savoury banh khot cupcakes.
Quite why Sông Quê, with its regular weekend queues and well-known name, took so long to branch out, however, is unknown. Still, why rush things? After all, the road to restaurant ruin is paved with premature brand roll-outs, and even if managers think they’re superhuman, they cannot be in two – or three or four – sites all at the same time. Plus, the big question with an institution such as the OG Sông Quê is: can you really recreate the magic elsewhere?
The new phở bar has appeared in what at a glance seems a pretty good location, almost directly opposite the much-adored (not least by me) Xian Biang Biang Noodles (go for the belt noodles, I implore you), and close to the beloved Thai hotspot Som Saa. It’s also just down the road from somewhere called Slurp Thai, but the less said about that name, the better.
