This is a small, unpretentious family-run Vietnamese restaurant, serving a wide variety of Vietnamese and Chinese dishes. Prices are very reasonable, especially for soups (around £3-4) and mains (from £5 upwards). There is a very wide choice for vegetarians (over 40 dishes, if you include starters and mains), including a vegetarian set menu for two, which is not always the case for south-east Asian cuisine. The wine list starts at under £10 for the very drinkable French Red. We were very happy with the quality of our food, particularly with some delicious soups, but also with fresh, well-presented main dishes. Overall, it offers very good value. Service is reasonably efficient and friendly. Expect to pay around £20-£25 a head for two courses, including wine and service. read more

I like to think that I knew good Vietnamese food when I tasted it... especially since I grew up amongst Vietnamese people for most of my life and use to live in a house full of Vietnamese girls. When I saw Au Lac and their menu, I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical, even with all the articles and stickers of praise in their windows. Could there possibly be a "good" Vietnamese restaurant with low prices in the neighborhood that I had just moved into? My husband I finally decided to make the trip and see if this place was worth any trouble. I was glad to see that the family and people running the restaurant were Vietnamese. I ordered a simple bowl of pho. Don't be fooled, it's the easiest to make, but the easiest to mess up. When it came out, I was happy to be greeted with an accompanying plate of bean sprouts, red chili, basil, and lemon. Upon first sip of the broth, I was pleasantly surprised. Made from scratch and very aromatic! Plus there was no need to get carried away with the sriracha (aka rooster/cock sauce) or the hoisin sauce, which is what I commonly do if I don't appreciate the broth very much. Overall, I was very pleased. And now I'm happy to know that when I'm craving a nice home-cooked Vietnamese meal I don't have to go very far at all! P.S. Best shrimp toast ever!! read more

There's nothing I love more than a big bowl of fragrant Pho. Pho broth is this clear beefy gloriousness that's flavoured by lemongrass and ginger. Then you get to throw in lots of bean sprouts, fresh herbs, sauces, and chilis to suit your taste before slurping up the noodles, meat, and broth to your heart's content. I've had some pretty good pho in London, but unfortunately this usually requires a trip to Hackney. Au Lac, on the other hand, is located near Arsenal which is closer to where I live. When we came in it was pretty busy, and from listening to people waiting by the door you can tell that there are many local regulars who can recite parts of the menu from memory. The one downside is that the service could have been more attentive. It wasn't bad to the point where we felt we were being ignored--just a bit chaotic. You really just needed to wave your arms frantically to get someone's attention if you wanted a drink refill or something. When they did notice the frantic arm waving they were certainly nice and responsive enough. Also: a couple of the waiters didn't seem to understand when we were ordering by number and made us recite the dishes by name. If you're horrible at pronouncing vietnamese this could lead to humiliation (being asian I hopefully made a decent attempt). The menu is huge and categorised by protein, with many vegetarian options. There were some rice vermicelli noodle dishes that almost tempted me away from my pho craving, but in the end it was all about the pho, which was really, really, REALLY good. And reasonably priced. The herbs and chilis that were included on the side were all fresh. Did I mention that it was really good? Finally, there was a dessert whose name I couldn't resist--vietnamese pudding. It was a coconut milk based dessert with sweet beans (either red or yellow, can't remember) in it. It reminded me of a filipino dessert called halo halo. Beans in a dessert sound wrong I know, but don't knock it till you try it! read more

I have quite mix feelings about this place. I ordered as a takeaway so cannot judge the interior of the restaurant though it looked nice and cosy. The starter - squids with garlic and chilli - was really nice and tasty. The main dish though - Stir fried Glass Noodles with Prawns & vegetables - was awful, without any specific taste. I only ate the prawns and had to throw the rest away which I rarely do. Summing up - do not order glass noodles, otherwise you should be fine! read more

Au Lac - Squids with Garlic and Chilli - Vietnamese Near Me - London, XGL

One of two or three great local restaurants in the area, I think Au Lac is often a bit overlooked by some of the locals who don't realise that rather than trecking down to the Kingsland road, they already have some of the best Vietnamese food in north London right on their doorstep. While the menu has plenty of bog-standard local chinese staples on it, ignore these and stick to the Vietnamese dishes. Of the starters the delicious, healthy fresh rolls with prawn and/or tofu are as good as any I've had, as are the fresh salads (especially the crunchy kohlrabi) which come speckled with warm fried peanuts, and have a fierce raw chilli kick. Best of all is the soft shelled crab which comes garnished with chunks of delicious crunchy/chewy fried garlic and spring onions and a dipping sauce on the side. I usually follow up with a bowl of pho (I go for a mixture of rare and well-done beef). This is one of my favourite dishes of all time, and I'm pretty fussy about it, but I would say that Au Lac's is broth is consistently the best I've had in London, and certainly every bit as good as anything on the so called 'pho mile'. As you might expect, this is proper cheap eats territory. Unless you order a table full of food, you are unlikely to spend much more than £20/head even with a beer to wash it down. Service is usually polite and efficient, but nothing more, and although I've had one occasion where everything we ordered arrived almost at once, that was an isolated incident, and I eat here on a regular basis. Highly recommended. read more

4 stars for the Vietnamese lemonade and the Grilled Aubergine with Garlic & Spring Onions. But only 3 stars for the Vietnamese pancake, and the Pho. The broth wasn't bad but they didn't offer beef balls or any tripe and my noodles were a bit stuck together. Also the Sriracha sauce wasn't the good stuff, it was weirdly sweet and watery. But it's great to have some decent Vietnamese food in this part of London. And I'd go back for the Vietnamese lemonade alone. read more

Vietnamese food ranks as one of my favourite things in the whole world, so I was pretty pleased to find a cute neighbourhood spot tucked away in Highbury. The food was just fine, no major complaints, but the service was so appallingly slow it ruined the experience. It took nearly 20 minutes for our order to be taken (it wasn't busy), the food took absolutely ages, and to top it off - they'd screwed up the order. Maybe they were having an off night, but I think next time I'll get Takeaway. read more

I really, really wanted to like Au Lac. I ordered delivery for dinner - pho with rare beef and fresh rolls. My food arrived in about an hour, but the delivery man was unable to find my address and I was forced to walk up and down the street in search of him while he shouted at me on the phone. The food - what a disappointment. I didn't really have high standards for pho delivery, but what I experienced was really quite sad. While it appeared to be neatly packed, I was displeased to find a torn open PLASTIC bag floating atop the styrofoam container of steaming hot pho broth. Obviously, the broth had been pre-frozen in single servings and was heated in the microwave - I suppose someone forgot to remove the plastic. I thought I could forgive that, but worse yet, I found several small hairs in my pho broth and the noodles, which was really gross. I ended up tossing out the pho after a few bites because of the hairs, and also because the broth itself was not very tasty. It tasted as though the restaurant had not made the broth from scratch, but perhaps used a quick pho powder stock. The fresh rolls were decent, but nothing exciting. The fish sauce based condiment provided to accompany them was watery and not flavorful. Sigh. read more

THIS IS A VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT THAT DOES DELIVERY! That's right: delivery. It's the only one I know of in the area - We're in N16 near the N1 border and they come to us. Frankly, that alone makes them worthy of mention but as it happens the food is also good and reasonably priced. The Pho is almost always in our order because they supply it with the soup base separate to the rest of the ingredients so you mix it yourself for that super-fresh taste. Friendly people who almost always deliver in less than half an hour. Ate in the restaurant once as well and that was good as well. read more

This place is awesome for pho, shaking beef, pork vermicelli, spring rolls- well lots of good stuff. One of my favourite places in London. The only tip I'd give is that their Vietnamese recipes is what I like about them. The Chinese food here can be a little hit or miss read more

Not the best vietnamese I've been to, but I like the proximity to my place. The service is good and friendly. I had the fresh spring rolls, which felt very ricey, and could do with a bit more prawn. The beef and rice noodles dish was pretty decent. The kicker for me were the banana fritters, which were disgustingly good, and grotesquely over the top, with a huuuge scoop of ice cream the size of a grapefruit. Nice! read more

Au Lac is Highbury's own treasure, predating the London Vietnamese food craze by many years. Totally dependable for delivery, their food is always fresh, well prepared and at your door quickly. Fantastic value. I particularly recommend their fresh rolls, the prawns or squid with garlic & chilli, the caramel pork, the crispy duck... oh it's all good! Eat in is great too, though the decor is quite basic. read more

Vegetarian pho was really really good. Veggie summer rolls also rocked. Like other reviews service was meh. I was literally the only person in there early on a Sunday night and it was hard to get my waiter's attention. Either way I would go back as the food was so good and not far from my flat read more

Great food in a friendly, local Vietnamese restaurant. We had beef and broccoli and sizzling prawns, from a menu packed with great choices. Service was friendly and food came quickly, even though the place was packed. read more

REPRISAL*** Highly disappointing experience again. Appalling service seems to be new waiters with little understanding of making customers feel welcome. There was a new young male waiter who went out of his way to ignore all the paying diners. Seriously, the restaurant was a sea of waving hands trying to get the attention of the much better female waitresses! Its a real shame as the food was good, apart from the fish was overcooked, the meal itself was very pleasant. Now I'm not sure about other people but I like to eat out in local restaurants and I have enjoyed many meals in this restaurant and always thought most waiters were friendly and efficient. A fellow diner shared with us their concern about this place going downhill and I think thats definitely the case. We chose to only pay some of the tip, because the female waiter who served us once was attentive. When the rude waiter heard this he got very angry with us and demanded that we pay the whole tip! We explained and refused to pay the full discretionary charge. After leaving the restaurant we passed this rude waiter having a cigarette outside a shop. He shouted 'not very nice people' at us as we walked by! I was astonished and we went back to ask him why he spoke to us in this way. His friend then came out of the shop and said that we misheard and that they had been speaking in their own language! This friend had been in the shop during the insult and his obvious excuse was laughable. We laughed and walked off, never to return to Au Lac again! read more

Very disappointing! I'm a huge Asian food fan especially Vietnamese and I found the food to be bland, boring and plain. Even the spicy dish I tried lacked flavour. And they charge extra for rice! 2 pounds for 5 pence worth of rice is ridiculous in my opinion. I complained to the owner but he was very unsympathetic. I won't be going back! read more