Vietnamese street food in Birmingham

What Vietnamese street food actually is

On a Hanoi street corner you don't order a plate and wait. You pull up a low stool, and food keeps arriving: a bowl of broth, a plate of herbs, grilled pork off the coals, rolls you dip and pass on. It's fresh, fragrant and built for sharing: lime, chilli, mint and fish sauce doing the work, not heavy sauces. That's Vietnamese street food, and it's the food we grew up eating.

Vietnamese Street Kitchen brings it to Birmingham as a proper sit-down restaurant: my grandmother's recipes, passed to my mother, cooked by the family. Same small-plate, share-it-round rhythm; a roof, a bar and a table to do it at.

The street-food dishes we cook

Start with the snacks made for sharing: summer rolls wrapped to order, crispy spring rolls, and sweet-soy chicken wings. Then the bao buns, proved in house, six fillings. Bun cha, char-grilled pork and king prawn meatballs with vermicelli and nuoc cham on the side, is the Hanoi capital dish, on the menu every day. And pho in several bowls on a broth simmered 25 hours: beef, chicken, king prawn and a vegan tofu. Big Bowls (lemongrass beef curry, salt & chilli prawns, char-grilled lemongrass chicken) round out the table for a proper feed.

Street food, sat down

Birmingham does street food well: Digbeth Dining Club, the food halls, the market stalls and lunchtime vans are brilliant for a quick bite on your feet. What they're not built for is a long, sit-down version of it: a two-hour table where the plates keep coming, with a bar, a booking and somewhere warm to put your coat.

That's the gap we fill. Asian street food in Birmingham often means a counter and a queue; we serve the Vietnamese end of it as a restaurant: the full repertoire, not the pho-first shortlist, cooked by the family that owns it. Street-food flavours, restaurant service.

Where to find it

Bullring is the flagship: St Martin's Square, opposite Selfridges, with the Hippodrome a short walk down Hurst Street. Twenty tables, a long centre row for big groups, and Birmingham's first Vietnamese bottomless brunch (Sun–Thu, £32.99 pp). Resorts World is by the NEC with parking on the door, handy before a show at bp pulse LIVE or a day at the exhibition halls.

How to eat here

Most bookings come through the book page; we use Stampede, so confirmation is instant by email. Walk-ins are welcome midweek; book ahead for Friday and Saturday evenings or a Sunday brunch slot. Big group? A private section (20–40) or full venue hire (up to 120) at either restaurant goes through the celebrations enquiry. Every dish carries its diet flags (veg, vegan, GF) on the menu page, with halal options at both restaurants.