'Pho'get your money worries

Mien Tay

Location: Kingsland Road, London

Rating: Four stars

The week before pay day tends to be a fairly grim time, when endless evenings are punctuated only with reality tv and bland pasta dinners.

But hang on, before you begin sobbing into your napkin, there is a way to have fun in these bleak weeks, as I recently discovered on Kingsland Road.

The Vietnamese cafes and restaurants lining this east London road known as 'Pho Mile' are the perfect way to eat out on a budget. In particular Mien Tay is a great choice. Kitch decoration aside, this restaurant tends to be the busiest on the road, and its BYO policy certainly brings in the crowds.

My friend and I headed to Mien Tay pre-pay day and had a fun and tasty night. While slugging on wine from the local offie, we decided to share some fresh spring rolls followed by bowls of steaming Pho.

The fresh spring rolls are delicious and at £3.50 for four they are very reasonably priced too. Stuffed with king prawns, pork and Vietnamese salad, they are are accompanied by a bowl of dipping sauce which is mouth-wateringly good.

Coming up next were our bowls of seafood pho (£6.50). This noodle soup is a Vietnamese specialty and the key to a good Pho is that all of the ingredients must be very fresh - from the vegetable broth to the mint leaves and prawns. Mien Tay hit the nail on the head and we devoured our bowls without a care for how unattractive supping on this slurpy soup must look.

The atmosphere throughout our meal was buzzing, and when our bill came to a mere £8.25 each, we were buzzing more than anyone.

Find out more at www.mientay.co.uk