GOOD MORNING

If you find yourself in Broomhill, in Sheffield, you may well catch sight of the Nam Song Ca Phe, a Vietnamese joint that serves meals all day.  So obviously you might go in there for breakfast.  And as you sit down at the table and  look at the menu you’ll probably be tempted by this offering:

 

BÁNH MÌ OP LA FRYUP £11.95 

SWEET CHILLI SAUSAGE, BACON, BEEF, TWICE FRIED TOFU, SRIRACHA FRIED EGGS, SAUTEED SPRING ONIONS, DAIRYLEA CHEESE TRIANGLE, TOAST & PATE 

 

And you might think, as did I at first, that this item was a product of well-meaning immigrants who hadn’t quite got the grasp of the full English breakfast. Well you, and I, would be wrong.

 

Photo: Caroline Gannon

As soon as we entered it was conspicuous that there was nobody working there who looked at all Vietnamese, neither front of house nor in the kitchen, which you could see into from the dining room.

 

The explanation, perhaps even a mission statement, can be found on the website.

 

ON OUR GAP YEAR WE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO 

EXPERIENCE THE INCREDIBLE COUNTRY OF VIETNAM. 

THE PLACES, THE PEOPLE, THE ATMOSPHERE,

THE FOOD AND THE COFFEE. SIMPLY UNREAL.

 

ALL WE WANTED TO DO WAS TO BE ABLE TO RELIVE THIS EVERY DAY SO WHEN WE GOT BACK TO THE UK WE CREATED NǍM SÔNG!

​

NǍM SÔNG (MEANING FIVE RIVERS IN VIETNAMESE, AN ODE TO OUR FOUNDING CITY OF SHEFFIELD WHICH IS BUILT ON SEVEN HILLS & FIVE RIVERS) IS AND ALL-DAY-ALL-NIGHT COFFEE SHOP, RESTAURANT AND BAR SERVING UP OUR FAVOURITE VIETNAMESE FOOD, DRINKS AND OF COURSE THE LEGENDARY PHIN FILTER COFFEE.

 

There’s more but that’s enough for anyone.  The ‘legendary phin filter coffee’ can be seen at the top of this post.

 

The breakfast duly arrived looking like this:

And no, I wasn't quite as troubled as I look in the photograph below.

Photo: Caroline Gannon

Everything tasted pretty good but you did have to wonder if it all belonged on the same plate.  I could certainly have done without the pate, and probably without the Dairylea triangle but I’m not complaining. The eggs were decent and the beef was terrific.

 

There was too much food, of course, but that was probably the whole point.  We honestly didn’t need to eat again for another 7 hours. And didn’t.

 

Now, I have never been to Vietnam, though I have been to a reasonable number of Vietnamese restaurants both in the UK and in the States.  Would you find anything like this in a restaurantion Vietnam?  Well I suppose so, otherwise why would the Brromhill folk have tried to replicate it?  But I can’t find evidence for this.

 

On the other hand a little light research (I mean I didn’t get much further than Wikipedia) tells us that ‘In the Nguyễn dynasty, (which lasted from 1802 to 1945) the 50 best chefs from all over the kingdom were selected for the Thượng Thiện board to serve the king. There were three meals per day—12 dishes at breakfast and 66 dishes for lunch and dinner (including 50 main dishes and 16 sweets)’

 

So who’s to say that somewhere among the 78 dishes there wasn’t an English fry up. It’s what they call fusion.