Bánh Bánh

Authentic Vietnamese street food in Peckham, South London. Serving freshly made pho, banh mi, summer rolls and daily specials.

Vietnamese Street Food | Banh Banh

We are a small independent Vietnamese restaurant run by five siblings.

Half our tables are bookable by clicking on the reservations tab, the other half and bar area are for walk ins.

We are a fairly small restaurant therefore we ask that buggies and prams must be folded before and placed by the bar.

http://www.banhbanh.com

What happened to The Begging Bowl? | Below The River

Photo: website The waiter – friendly enough – explained the no-surprises sharing plate set-up, recommending we choose two from the first half of the menu and two from the second half (on the website they suggest five plates between two).

We grimaced and replied it should be fine, double-checking with another waiter who assured us that four plates between two was how to do it.

During this time the first waiter smashed some glasses he was clearing from the table behind us and had to get the dustpan and brush out of the cupboard.

Then the other large plate, a bowl of Chiang Mai slow-cooked pork belly, made a tardy appearance.

Eventually we asked if our final small plate – a delicious sounding relish of cured mackerel with hen’s egg and raw seasonal vegetables – was normally served at the end of the meal.

London's Newest Bars And Restaurants To Visit This Spring

Serving contemporary Indian dishes and offering a large malt whiskey selection, a cocktail bar, and a gin and punch bar, this enchanting Victorian-esque, industrialized restaurant is perfect for adventurous foodies.

Located in Spitalfields, in sociable Blessing’s wine and cocktail bar, Origins Of will have three main dishes on the menu – spice infused fried chicken, buttermilk soaked cauliflower florets and classic falafel.

Innovative new dishes such as cured ribcap, pickles and fermented chili bean dip, and crab with rice broth make great additions to the menu, which is famous for its delectable steamed milk buns and other Taiwanese dishes.

Palatable milkshakes, cocktails, and sake are all present on the drinks menu, and with a cool and contemporary interior, the restaurant will be able to seat more customers than the Bao in Soho, but is expected to be just as popular!

In a 16,000 square foot building close to the Gherkin, there will be two nine-hole crazy golf courses, five cocktail bars, three street food vendors, a double story clubhouse, and a gin terrace.

Whaam Bánh Mì London opening

The first Whaam Bánh Mì restaurant, which will specialise in bánh mì sandwiches - a baguette type bread filled with meat or seafood, pâté, sliced cucumber, pickled vegetables, chilli and coriander - will open in Great Windmill Street under a soft launch on 30 March.

Barlow, who worked in Vietnam for several years, spent more than a year developing the concept with Vietnamese street food vendors and British bakers before starting it out as a street food stall.

"Bánh mì used to be my life blood along with cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee).

"Bánh mì will soon be a buzz word around town and we’re going to be opening several outlets over the next couple of years," he said.

The restaurant, which is designed to 'transport' customers to Vietnam with a pop art wall installation, will serve desserts and Vietnamese coffees from The Saigon Coffee Company and Blacksheep Coffee in the afternoons.

Bánh Bánh Vietnamese street food restaurant opening in Peckham

The Nguyen family are moving from their residency at South London’s Bussey Building to a 50-cover site on Peckham Rye.

Bánh Bánh's menu is inspired by the sibling’s grandmother, who worked as a chef in Saigon in the 1940’s, with dishes ranging from Pho to Banh Khot (crispy turmeric, prawn and coconut pancakes), and Fried Mango Snapper.

An Nguyen told BigHospitality the though the pop-up had been ‘really successful’ the move to a larger kitchen would allow the team to expand their menu.

While opening a business with five siblings may sound off-putting to some, An said the restaurant ran as a well-oiled machine with her two brothers cooking in the kitchen and the three sisters front-of-house.

Though the public appetite for Vietnamese cuisine is growing, the Nguyen’s are keen to keep Bánh Bánh as a family-run business rather rolling it out as a chain.

Bánh Bánh Vietnamese restaurant Brixton

Bánh Bánh was created by the Nguyen family with dishes inspired by their grandmother, who worked as a chef in Saigon in the 1940’s.

The siblings began Bánh Bánh as a London pop-up, before launching their first permanent location in their home borough of Peckham last year.

An Nguyen told BigHospitality​ last year​​ that the family ran the restaurant as a tight-knit unit, with the two brothers in the kitchen and the three sisters front-of-house.

She added that though the siblings were keen to expand they were wanted to keep Bánh Bánh as a family business.

Property agency Shelley Sandzer acted for Bánh Bánh to secure the Brixton site.

The Insomniac's Guide to a Night Out in London | SAVEUR

In my quest for an across-the-pond equivalent of Bushwick—Brooklyn’s up-and-coming food, drink, and nightlife capital—, I asked London natives living in both cities, many of whom pointed to Peckham Rye, located south of river and generally considered to be off the beaten path.

To really understand the neighborhood’s identity and its emergence as a cultural and food destination, I linked up with born-and-bred Peckham resident An Nguyen who, along with her five siblings, mother, aunts, and cousins, own and operate Bánh Bánh, a modern Vietnamese restaurant located on Peckham Rye.

While most of London’s Vietnamese restaurants found in Shoreditch’s immigrant enclave more closely resemble the no-frills, fluorescent-light mainstays of American Chinatowns, the Nguyens’ establishment opts for a more polished approach, offering a craft cocktail menu and small-plates selection in a dimly lit space filled with lush greenery.

At the bi-level arcade bar, you’ve got The Invaders, Pac-Man, Tron, and Street Fighter II—all perfect activities for consuming beer, cocktails, and you betcha, American bar food.

Nestled on an unassuming side street near the Peckham Rye Station, the restaurant is a reliably cozy spot for the standards: meatballs, whole-fish entrees, pasta, and pizza.

Fay Maschler reviews Bánh Bánh: Bringing Saigon splendour to ...

Fear of not finding Peckham Rye means they are there early and, beguiled by the food being delivered to other tables, have started ordering.

Gossamer rice paper skins bulge with lettuce strips, vermicelli noodles, shredded vegetables and, as they put it, paddy herbs plus the prawns we choose (we could have had tofu).

Smart snackish options include spring rolls, sticky chicken wings — poultry supplied by Flock + Herd, the excellent butcher’s shop in Bellenden Road — and ground beef in stimulating betel leaves served on steamed vermicelli to be dragged through nuoc cham dipping sauce to delectable effect.

From Classics bun noodle (rice vermicelli) salad with vegetables, pickles, peanuts and spring rolls accompanied by either char-grilled pork patties or crisp tofu and mushrooms is a fine and crunchy backing group for the melody of the meal.

In this month’s Lucky Peach magazine David Chang, founder of the Momofuko restaurant group, remarks “if anything is going to kill ramen, it’s pho”.

100 Brilliant Budget Restaurants | London's Best Cheap Eats

London might well be the world’s greatest food city (that’s right, we’ve gone there) but with spiraling living costs putting the brakes on the concept of ‘spare’ cash, it’s not like any of us can eat out as much as we’d like to.

Don’t worry: our list of London’s 100 best cheap eats will help remedy that.

Everything here has been budgeted at £10 a head or less, and variety is the name of the game – so expect anything from basement roti kitchens to grand Parisian-style cafés, steamy Cantonese bun houses and hip taco joints (plus a few burger and pizza spots thrown in for good meaure), all serving brilliant food at super-low prices.

Gather your pennies and hit the streets – filling up in London's best restaurants needn’t empty the wallet.