Deptford Pho Noodle Lunch Picker on Saturday Market Day

Saturday on Deptford High Street means stalls selling fruit, fish, fabric, old records and second-hand everything, and by early afternoon your arms are full and your feet are cold. That is the moment for pho. The Vietnamese cafes around the high street and the streets toward Lewisham feed market shoppers who want something hot, quick and filling before carrying on. This pho noodle lunch picker is about fitting a bowl into a market day: where to stop with your bags, what to order and how to finish the afternoon by the creek.

Deptford High Street has been a working market street for generations, serving the dockyard town that grew up beside the Thames when the royal shipyard here built warships for the navy. The yards closed long ago, but the street kept its trade. On market days it fills with stalls and with people from across south east London, many of whose families arrived from the Caribbean, West Africa, Ireland and Vietnam over the last century.

Vietnamese families settled in this corner of Lewisham as they did in Hackney, and a handful of cafes and grocers grew up around the high street and the roads leading south. They are simple rooms, used to market traders on their break, students from Goldsmiths up the hill and families doing a big weekly shop. That mix means you can walk in with bags and muddy shoes and nobody looks twice.

Think about your haul before you choose a table. If you are carrying one light bag, any seat will do. If you have a trolley, a box of vegetables or a bulky find from the second-hand stalls, look for a cafe with a little space by the wall or a corner table where you can stack things without blocking the aisle. Ask staff where to put large items; they usually have a spot in mind.

Keep anything that smells strongly, like fish from the market, sealed and away from the table, and put soft fruit on top of the pile so it does not get crushed while you eat. Hang your coat on the chair and keep your purse on your lap or a zipped pocket rather than on the table. Then let your arms rest. A short sit down with a hot bowl makes the walk home far easier.

Because you still have walking to do, choose a bowl that warms you without making you sleepy. A regular beef pho with rare slices and well-done brisket is a good middle ground. The rare beef cooks in the broth as it arrives, the brisket is soft, and the broth carries the warm spice of star anise and charred ginger. A large bowl with extra tendon is a better choice for the end of the day, not the middle.

If the cold has got into your hands, order a pot of tea alongside, and if you want something to carry on with, ask whether the cafe sells banh mi to take away. A crusty roll with pickled carrot, cucumber, coriander and chilli makes a good afternoon snack in your bag. Vegetarians can usually find a tofu or vegetable pho, but ask whether the broth itself is made without meat.

Taste the broth on its own before adding anything. Then tear a few Thai basil leaves into the bowl, drop in some bean sprouts and squeeze in one lime wedge. Fresh chilli comes in thin slices; add two or three and taste again. Regulars at market cafes often keep things simple, adding herbs and a little chilli and leaving the bottled sauces alone, so the broth tastes of what the kitchen intended.

If you do like hoisin and sriracha, try putting a little of each in the small saucer beside your bowl and dipping the beef into it rather than squirting it straight into the broth. That way you can enjoy both, and the soup stays clear. Use the spoon as a support under the chopsticks, lean over the bowl and do not worry about slurping. It is the only sensible way to eat hot noodles.

Once you have warmed up, the area around the high street rewards a slow walk with bags. St Paul's Deptford, a grand baroque church set in a leafy churchyard just off the high street, is one of the most striking buildings in south London, with a semicircular portico and a tall steeple. The churchyard benches are a good spot to rearrange your shopping before the next leg.

Albury Street, nearby, has rows of early Georgian houses with carved wooden door cases, built for naval officers and shipwrights when the dockyard was busy. Walk north toward the river and you reach the edge of the old dockyard, where new buildings now stand on land that once built ships for the fleet. It is easy to imagine the street market feeding all those workers.

If you have the energy, Deptford Creek is a short walk east. This tidal inlet, where the small River Ravensbourne meets the Thames, rises and falls with the tide, and at low water you can see mud banks, old timber jetties and wading birds picking along the edge. The bridge over the creek near the station gives a good view, and the walk along to Greenwich is flat and easy with bags.

On a wet afternoon, skip the long walk. Deptford station sits just off the high street, and buses run along the main roads toward New Cross, Lewisham and Greenwich. Many market shoppers make the cafe their last stop for that reason, finishing a bowl of pho before heading straight to the platform with the shopping and warm hands.

Around the middle of the day on Saturdays, the cafes near the stalls get busy, especially in winter, when everyone wants a hot lunch at once. If there is a queue at the door and you are carrying a lot, do not stand in a narrow doorway with your bags. Walk a little further from the market, where cafes are often calmer, or do one more lap of the stalls and return in twenty minutes.

If a sit-down meal is out of the question, ask for pho to take away. Many cafes pack the broth separately from the noodles, herbs and beef, so you can assemble it at home without anything going soggy. A banh mi eaten on a churchyard bench is another fine plan B, and it leaves your hands free sooner.

Decide your route before you go: which stalls you want to reach first, roughly when you will be hungry and how much you plan to carry. Bring a strong canvas bag or a folding trolley, wear shoes that can handle wet pavements and leave enough space in your bag for a takeaway banh mi. If you have allergies, tell staff, since sauces often contain fish sauce and some dishes come with peanuts.

The Karpo APP can help you plan the stop. Search for pho near Deptford High Street, save one cafe close to the stalls and one a little further away for busy moments, and choose depending on the queue when you get there. A market morning, a hot bowl and a slow walk past the old church and the creek make a very good Saturday in south east London.