Ben Thanh

As an expat from Portland, Oregon and growing up in a Vietnamese-​Chinese family who spoiled me with incredible food — I’m determined to find a decent place to get Vietnamese food. The first place I tried around Twickenham (where I work) was Phở Twickenham and it was a horrible experience (I reviewed that place). Ben Trinh popped up just a block down from Phở Twickenham so of course I had to try it. I went with a colleague around 1:00 on a weekday for lunch. When we walked in, we saw people with tiny bowls of phở… We ordered the following:
1. Grilled lemongrass chicken w/​rice, and side salad (£7.50) — Chicken was nice, in terms of portions, you get about half a chicken tit with overcooked white rice, two thin slices of cucumber and tomatoes (this is the «side salad»).
2. Grilled lemongrass pork w/​vermicelli noodles and mixed salad (£7) — Pork was nice, however you only got five small pieces in a medium bowl filled with vermicelli noodles (cooked nicely) and herbs.
3. Cha Gio — Viet spring rolls w/​prawns, pork and wood-​ear mushrooms — For £4 you get four fried spring rolls with fish sauce. The spring rolls were average.
They have a mandatory 10% service charge. Flavour was average, portions below average and prices were high for the amount of food you get. If I had to choose between this place and Phở Twickenham, I would definitely pick this place. However, for about £10pp it was certainly underwhelming and my colleague and I both agreed that we left still feeling hungry. I would rather walk down to M&S and spend £10 towards sandwiches or ready meals and be much, much more fuller and satisfied.