Address - Mizuno Building 2F, 3-20-2 Ueno Taito-ku Tokyo 110-0005 Opening Hours Monday to Friday 5pm – 11pm, Sat 11am – 11pm, Closed on Sundays Map See site Telephone 3836-1877 Credit Cards No

We were lucky enough to find this restaurant in our end of Tokyo about 2 years ago, since then we have made it a regular haunt.

Song Huong won’t thrill you with its décor or flashy “art food” presentation; rather it’s more homely and authentic.  The kitchen does it’s best to prepare authentic Vietnamese dishes with the goods available to them in Japan. The staff (possibly a group of sisters) is friendly and accommodating.  English, to my knowledge, isn’t spoken and the menu is in Japanese and Vietnamese.  It does, however, have pictures. 

Some of our favourite dishes are;

GOI CUON (Fresh Spring Rolls) \600 CHA GIO (Fried Spring Rolls) \700

GOI DU DU (Papaya Salad) \900 BAHN CUON (Dumplings) \850

CANH GA CHIEN NUOC MAM (Fried Chicken Wings in Nuoc Mam) \680

BAHN XEO (“Vietnamese Okonomiyaki”) \1200

BUN CHA GIO (Cold Noodles served with Fried Spring Rolls & Pickles) \800

333 (Vietnamese beer [pronounced “Ba Ba Ba”]) \550 a can

The fact that they serve “Bahn Cuon”, one of my favourite dishes I came across while in Vietnam, is reason enough to get me there.  The prices aren’t “cheap”, rather more reasonable. 

The restaurants website is: http://songhuong.web.infoseek.co.jp/ (although it’s only in Japanese it has a map and the menu with prices and photos).  SONG HUONG is located near JR Okachimachi station, not far from Ueno’s Ameyoko area. 

January 2005