Vietnamese: Song Que

134 Kingsland Road
E2 8DY
Tel: 020 7613 3222

Date of Last Visit: Friday, November 24th 2006

The Victims: Too many to mention

The Damage: £15 each with beer.

The Background: Ben & Gerry suggested a night out at the circus over at the Bethnal Green Working Man’s Club. We were game for the excursion, and met up at Song Que for some eats beforehand. I, of course, was on time and everyone else showed up 10 minutes later. Rather than sit around and wait for the others, I chatted up my server and ordered up a Saigon and some of those delicious leaf-wrapped-beef-parcels and sat back to soak in the atmosphere. That last crack about the atmosphere is a joke; Song Que has as much atmosphere as a high school cafeteria.This isn’t a bad thing necessarily, but I did want to mention it.

The Starters: Along with the leafy beef thingies, we ordered a veggie tofu pancake which was honestly so very delicious. I could have been happy with just that. We also ordered up an assortment platter, but I can’t tell you what type of assortment it was because the platter was licked clean–safe for one crummy prawn toast–by the time it made it down to my end of the table.

The Mains: Ben and I split 1/4 crispy duck. Love the duck!!! I think this would really be my last meal request. Echo ordered the sweet and sour prawns because she saw PRAWNS and got really excited. She did not enjoy her meal. (I sometimes feel I know Chinese people better than they know themselves!) But she did enjoy the side of veggie noodles she ordered–as did I! I helped myself to a large portion of her dish–sorry Echo! The rest of the table seemed to very much enjoy everything they ordered, and rounds of Saigon and Jasmine tea were in abundance. 

Aside: Ben was wearing a top hat which got us plenty of attention–Gerry had made it herself and it was awesome. She had also made Echo and I feathery circusy headpieces. We looked very festive. Gerry makes some pretty amazing stuff, and you should totally visit her Web site and/or stop by the Truman Brewery some Sunday when she has a stand.

The Service: I had read lots on-line about the gruffness of the service and you know what, you gotta work with it. I asked our server for his favorite beer, and his favorite food. And he loved us for that, and we loved him too. I did think writing the time on the tablecloth for when we had to leave was a bit annoying, but given the speed in which food is delivered, they know their average turn rate. They gave us 90 minutes, and we were out of there in less than that.

The Verdict: Cheap. Delicious. And spacious in comparison to Cay Tre. Song Que is what it is. Fluorescent lights and all. Once I get a bike pump, I can see myself biking over quite frequently.