Thanh Binh restaurant in Camden didn’t take long in becoming our favourite Vietnamese restaurant in London, if not the UK. The first time we tried it’s delights was back in Winter 2009 and a combination of the mouthwatering Mekong mackerel, giant mussels in a creamy coconut milk curry sauce, chilli beef with noodles, a classic iced Vietnamese coffee and a pretty date left us massively impressed.
However, one good visit doesn’t make a restaurant great, so we headed back again to try a few more things from the menu; this time starting out with some spring rolls, which were cooked perfectly and came with a tasty dipping sauce. Then for the main course we tried the stir fried beef with coconut milk, turmeric, onions and peanuts, which was a real taste sensation.
The creamy sauce, tender beef and crunchy peanuts combination is delicious and made us contemplate the merits of smashing a few peanuts on other meals too; scrambled egg with peanuts, cheese and peanuts on toast, a King’s special with mushy peanuts, semolina with chocolate coated peanuts… the possibilities are endless, and in all fairness that last idea might actually have some possibility of success.
Anyway, we also had some of the stewed fish in a clay pot, which blew our tiny little minds. Verging on the H.O.T side of the spice equation, it came out to the table literally in flames. We half expected the waiter, who had gotten very excited about the order, to blow them out, but he just lifted the lid and left us to fend for ourselves, which was a lot of fun. After doing the honours with the fire extinguisher it was time to take the first bite and instantly we understood instantly what the ceremony was all about. With an intensely tasty spicy kick, the meaty fish was amazing and by the time we’d polished it off we were on an eating roll and scoured the table for more. It wasn’t that we were still hungry, it was just that we’d become addicted to all the great tastes available.
In a nut shell (probably peanut) Thanh Binh is as cool as it gets, and with a big menu to choose from, consistently good quality food, iced coffees a go go and really friendly waiters & waitresses that actually know about what they’re bringing out, you can expect good things every time you eat there. It may not be the most stylised restaurant in Camden, but it’s classic charms make it a banker for good food.
Thanh Binh, Camden review: 4.7/5
