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Nha Trang Kitchen: Vietnamese Street Food Stall Built on One Family's Recipes
- NOVA ESEA
- May 8
- 3 min read
Updated: 10 hours ago
The Stall Named After Her Mum's Hometown
Chau's parents were among the Vietnamese boat people who fled the country after the war. They made it to Hong Kong, met there, and that's where Chau was born. She came to the UK at one year old. The journey that brought her family here was dangerous; everything left behind is the quiet foundation beneath every dish she sells.
Her mum's family is from Nha Trang. The stall carries that name. Which means every bánh mì sold at Berwick Street is, in some small way, a thread back to that coastal city.
The Long Way Round
Before any of this, Chau was studying to be a lawyer. A career that made sense on paper and felt wrong in practice. "Food was really my passion," she says. "Street food was really booming at the time and I thought — why not take my mum's recipes, Vietnamese cuisine, bring it to the streets and see what happens?"
She might have stayed in law longer, but redundancy forced the decision. "It was either a now or never situation. You've got nothing to lose — why not jump in feet first?"
Her parents, predictably, had reservations. "Obviously they're very skeptical, especially being from an Asian background — you know, it's all study, study, work, work." But her mum had her own quiet excitement underneath the worry. She could come on board. She could share her recipes. She did both. Now she's in the kitchen most mornings, marinating more chicken.
The Food Itself
The menu is tighter than it sounds. Bánh mì, noodle salad bowls, rice bowls, but the choices matter. Caramelised pork, lemongrass chicken, tangy tofu. Meats are marinated overnight, then grilled fresh to order on site. The bread — a Vietnamese baguette, softer and flakier than its French equivalent, has been on the menu since day one. "We've had that for over ten years," Chau says. "It's never failed us."
The winter special is her mother's crispy roast pork: slow-roasted, finished in the air fryer to order, served in a bánh mì, rice bowl, or noodle salad. It went on the menu for a week on trial. Everyone loved it. It came back.
If you've never had Vietnamese food before, Chau's recommendation is the caramelised pork bánh mì. "People say it's just a sandwich, it's just a baguette — it's so much more than that." Inside: pickled daikon and carrot, homemade peanut sauce, her mum's homemade chilli, crispy onion, coriander, and mayo. Everything is balanced, so nothing drowns anything else out.
Finding Vietnamese Identity
Working within Vietnamese food every day has done something else too — deepened a connection to a culture she grew up alongside but wasn't fully immersed in. "Before, I was Vietnamese, and I was fond of my Vietnamese culture, but it wasn't deeply ingrained within me," she says. "Now it's just part of my day-to-day life, and it's something I want to expose to more and more people."
Her mum's family is from Nha Trang. The stall carries that name. The queue starts at noon.
🎥 Check our interview video below
Find Them
📍 Monday – Friday @ Berwick Street Market, London
📍 Saturday @ Primrose Hill Food Market, London
📍 Sunday @ Clapham Common Market, London
Have you tried Nha Trang Kitchen's bánh mì, or do you have a go-to Vietnamese spot in London you think we should know about?
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