Like most of the eating establishments on the “Pho Mile” in London’s Shoreditch, Sen Viet Vegan Restaurant is family run.
The history of the 10 or so Vietnamese eateries on or around Kingsland Road dates back to the late 1970s when thousands of refugees left Vietnam for a safer life and were resettled by the then government in Britain. Individual families were dispersed across the country, but over time naturally found themselves gravitating towards and putting down roots nearer to extended family and friends.
Nowadays Kingsland Road is to pho – a popular Vietnamese noodle soup dish – what Brick Lane is to curry. Unlike the other restaurants, Sen Viet Vegan, previously vegetarian focused due to the owners’ cultural and religious beliefs, is now fully vegan and has been since April 2022.
It’s an unassuming little place on this busy street, almost empty when we arrived at 1pm on a Wednesday, and we were seated by the window. I stared out on to what was once an old Roman road leading towards Kingsland, an ancient settlement in modern day Dalston.
And I looked down at the menu with its luridly coloured photos, which, to be honest, and as usual, I’d already perused more than casually online. Despite my research I couldn’t choose. My inclination was to go for safe, tried and tested food; who could go wrong with a classic tofu and coconut curry? But there was a strong feeling among the three of us that a little more experimentation might yield dividends.
Starters were a no-brainer. Why have one thing when you can have everything? So we unanimously opted for the house platter to share. At £14 a person, this covered pretty much everything from summer rolls to salted chilli tofu, and the portions were generous enough for us all to have one of each and then some. The tofu texture was perfect while its batter managed to be both crisp and fragrant, the rolls with satay dip were fresh, crunchy and tangy, and the grilled betel leaves with black fungus and shiitake mushrooms were intriguingly piquant and umami.
For mains, there was a whole section on the menu called classic Vietnamese family courses, which felt the most authentic way to go, except that the words “banana” and “caramelised” kept appearing. I wasn’t the only one there with a distaste for mixing the sweet and savoury. Names such as marine tofu caramel and tomato sauce, and caramelised vegetables and tofu in clay pot were way out of the comfort zone of my somewhat pedestrian tastebuds, but the most culinarily adventurous of us who did opt for the dau hu kho (the clay pot dish) said it was delicious. It certainly looked good.
Having asked the waitress for advice, I took the presidential bun cha, mainly because, once again, it seemed to have a lot of elements. What arrived was incredibly inviting on the eye, and very flavoursome. As a rule, fake meat plant protein isn’t something I’d order when there’s a tofu alternative, but, damn, this was good stuff, with a just-right chewy texture and rich multi-layered flavour. It came with a spring roll and vermicelli or rice.
Once again, I’d eaten too much to want afters, but there were four choices on offer, mainly creamy puddings, with one interesting-looking fried ice-cream dessert, which for novelty value alone would have been my choice.
Next time maybe. I say this with confidence as, having just been there, I’ve already booked my next visit in a few weeks time. Reasonably priced and with a friendly staff serving flavour-rich traditional food, Sen Viet Vegan gets the full five stars from me.
Bardo Burner 