Brighton is not exactly short of places to eat, but it is surprisingly thin on Vietnamese. The Big Bowl, run by brothers Chris and Brandon Vu, is the only Vietnamese restaurant in town, and it has been holding that position since it opened back in 2015, making it one of the first of its kind to set up here. It sits at 54 Preston Street, and the whole thing runs on family recipes passed down through generations, with ingredients brought over from Vietnam.
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The pho is the obvious place to start. The broth is aromatic and takes 16 hours to come together, and you can load it with slow-cooked beef, king prawn, tofu, bone marrow or short rib. The Big Bowl version is £15.50, while the beef, the Hanoi rump steak and the king prawn and tofu options all sit at £14.50 or £14.00. Beyond the pho, there are bun noodle bowls and rice noodle dishes, plus summer rolls filled with salmon, prawn, chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or vegetables, served with a vinaigrette dipping sauce. The sweet garlic soy wings and the creamy curry rice dishes, with sweet potato, chicken, tofu or king prawn, are the other standouts. A few more prices to give you the shape of it: the Bún Ch is £14.50, BBQ honey pork £13.50, grilled lemongrass chicken £12.00, veggie spring rolls £10.50, and the short ribs and bone marrow £16.00. The curries, from chicken to tofu and baby corn, land around £15.00.
One of the better things about the menu is how much of it you can actually eat. There are vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options, and a lot of the dishes, the pho among them, are naturally gluten-free, with the menu clearly marked for anyone with Coeliac disease. That makes it an easy place to bring a group with different requirements without anyone ending up with a side salad.
On the practical side, it is open for lunch, dinner and takeaway, though the hours shift a bit across the week. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, then runs Wednesday to Friday from 12:00 to 15:30 and 17:30 to 21:00, with Saturday and Sunday opening slightly later in the afternoon and closing around 21:00. There is free wifi, highchairs, table service and wheelchair access, and a children's menu, so it works as well for a family dinner as for a quiet lunch. If you book through First Table for dinner, you can get 50% off the food bill for one, two or three diners.
The reviews lean positive, with a 4.6 out of 5 rating. People tend to talk about the broth being fragrant and the beef in the pho melting in the mouth, and the staff are described as knowledgeable and helpful. A review from April 2026 noted the cosy atmosphere and friendly service, while one from May mentioned the pho was tasty but the portion felt small for the price. Earlier, in October 2025, someone praised the spotless bathrooms and a thoughtful server. It is a straightforward, family-run spot that does exactly what it says on the tin, and in a city with so little Vietnamese to choose from, that is a fair amount of credit to give it.
