Picture of Long Time Cafe, SE4 2RW

Historical version 1 of Long Time Cafe, SE4 2RW (view current version)

  • 020 8691 3855
  • 10 Coulgate Street, SE4 2RW (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
  • 5pm-10:30pm (last sitting 10pm) Mon-Sat; closed Sundays and bank holidays

Tiny cafe/takeaway near Brockley Station offering decent Vietnamese food. They also do a couple of Thai and Chinese dishes. Their full name is actually "Love You Long Time Cafe", but as seen in the photo on this page, the name is shortened to "Long Time Cafe".

Note that this place really is tiny - they only have seating for about 15 people, and if all the chairs were full then it would be very cosy indeed. They recommend that you book if you want to eat in.

They don't serve any alcohol, but you can bring your own for a reasonable corkage charge. They accept cash and cheques only - no cards. A 15% service charge is added for eat-in. They also offer takeaway and delivery.

Kake, Ewan, and doop visited on a Monday evening in February 2008. We started with sweet potato pancakes (£4.50) and papaya salad with fresh mango (also £4.50). Despite the warning on the menu that the salad would be "spicy", it wasn't really. We detected evidence of chilli sauce, but fresh chillies would have been better. It was good and fresh-tasting though.

For our mains, Ewan had the mixed vegetables and tofu served over crispy noodles (£ 5.50), and Kake and doop both had the pho; house special (£6.50) for doop and sliced beef (£5.50) for Kake. Both versions of pho were fairly good. The broth was slightly fattier than the version we had at Cafe East a couple of months ago, but not in a bad way. Again, though, it could have been spicier. Kake would also have preferred her beef to be a little rarer. Noodles were fine.

Kake's verdict: Would certainly come back here if I was in the area. I'd like to try some of the other dishes on the menu, such as the rice paper rolls (pork, prawn, or tofu, all £4.50 for two), which are only available on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Other interesting-looking dishes include the Vietnamese noodle salads (£5.50-6, a choice of spring rolls, tiger prawns and herbs, sliced beef and basil, sliced pork and lemongrass, or sliced chicken and lemongrass) and the specials (from £6 for stewed belly pork to £8.50 for various fish dishes).

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Last visited by Kake, Ewan, and doop, 18 February 2008. Prices, opening hours, and info about cash/cheques taken from menu on that visit.
OS X co-ord: 536441 OS Y co-ord: 175751 (Latitude: 51.463775 Longitude: -0.035635)
This is version 1 (as of 2008-02-19 13:53:50). View current version.