From Niche to Mainstream: How Vietnamese and Filipino Cuisines Are Reshaping UK Food Retail

Vietnamese signals including lemongrass, are up 90.8% on UK restaurant menus in the past year. Filipino, Thai and Vietnamese cuisines are the fastest-growing Asian food trend categories globally. UK restaurant revenue from Japanese and Vietnamese cuisines is showing growth even as the wider Asian restaurant market stabilises. Both cuisines are moving from specialist community restaurants into mainstream UK retail and foodservice.

In 2010, a UK consumer who wanted Vietnamese pho had to find a Vietnamese restaurant — most likely in London. In 2026, they can buy a pho kit in Waitrose, order it from Deliveroo in dozens of UK cities, or cook it from scratch using stock, rice noodles and fish sauce from their local Asian supermarket.

Filipino cuisine is at an earlier stage of the same journey. Ube has become a global flavour. Sinigang was named the world’s best soup by TasteAtlas in 2021. Filipino pop-ups and restaurants are opening in UK cities, and the UK’s sizeable Filipino community is a retail base already buying the ingredients.

For UK wholesale buyers, both cuisines represent significant and growing demand — and, for those who move early, a meaningful commercial advantage over suppliers still focused only on Chinese and Thai ranges.

The Data: Vietnamese and Filipino Food in the UK

Why Now? What Is Driving Vietnamese and Filipino Cuisine Into UK Mainstream

Social Media Has Shortened the Path from Discovery to Purchase

Five years ago, a UK consumer who had never tasted pho needed to visit a Vietnamese restaurant before they would buy fish sauce at a supermarket. Today, they have watched 30 videos of pho recipes on TikTok, learned how broth is made, and already know what they want to cook before they walk into a shop. Social media has compressed the discovery-to-purchase cycle for unfamiliar cuisines from years to weeks. For the broader picture of how social media is reshaping Asian food demand in the UK, read our guide to TikTok and Instagram driving oriental food sales.

QSR Chains Have Built Familiarity With Southeast Asian Flavours

Wagamama, Itsu, Wasabi and Pho (the UK Vietnamese restaurant chain) have collectively exposed millions of UK consumers to Southeast Asian flavour profiles at accessible price points. A consumer who eats at Pho once a month already understands lemongrass, fish sauce, rice noodles and fresh herbs. When they encounter those ingredients in a retail context, they are not intimidated — they are interested.

The UK’s Community Populations Are Growing Retail Markets

The UK has established Vietnamese and Filipino communities concentrated in London, Birmingham, Manchester and other major cities. These communities have always purchased Vietnamese and Filipino ingredients through specialist stores. What is new is that mainstream retailers are expanding their ranges to meet this demand, increasing product visibility for the wider population and creating a feedback loop of growing familiarity and growing sales.

Health Trends Align With Both Cuisines

Vietnamese cuisine is built on fresh herbs, light broths, rice noodles and minimal cooking fat — a profile that aligns precisely with the UK consumer trend toward lighter, health-forward eating. Filipino cuisine offers fermented, probiotic-rich products (vinegar-based adobo, fermented shrimp paste) and a rich tradition of sour-flavoured cooking (sinigang) that sits comfortably alongside the UK fermented food trend.

Vietnamese Cuisine in the UK: What’s Growing and What Buyers Should Stock

Pho: The Entry Point for Most UK Consumers

Pho — Vietnamese beef or chicken noodle soup — is the dish that introduced most UK consumers to Vietnamese cuisine. It is now available as a restaurant staple, a supermarket kit and a delivery option in most UK cities. The UK market for pho is growing alongside broader broth and noodle soup demand.

Key wholesale ingredients: rice noodles, pho broth base or star anise and cinnamon-based spice blend, fish sauce, bean sprouts, fresh herbs. Browse our dried products for rice noodles, our spices category for star anise and cinnamon, and our sauces range for fish sauce.

Banh Mi

The Vietnamese baguette sandwich — banh mi — has built a significant following in UK street food and fast-casual markets. Typically filled with pork, pickled daikon and carrot, fresh coriander, sliced chilli and mayonnaise, banh mi works as both a dine-in and delivery format. Its French-Vietnamese fusion origin story also makes it an accessible entry point for consumers new to the cuisine.

Fresh Rolls and Rice Paper

Vietnamese fresh spring rolls (gỏi cuốn) made with rice paper, rice vermicelli, fresh herbs and dipping sauce are growing as a healthy starter option in UK restaurants. Rice paper is a specialist ingredient available through Asian wholesale suppliers. Browse our dried products category for rice paper and rice noodle products.

Vietnamese Dipping Sauces and Condiments

Nước chấm (fish sauce-based dipping sauce), hoisin sauce and sriracha are the key condiments in Vietnamese cooking. Sate sauce, a Vietnamese-style chilli and lemongrass blend, is also growing in UK restaurant use. Browse our sauces range and read our Thai vs Vietnamese sauces guide for a side-by-side comparison of the two cuisine sauce profiles.

The Herbs That Define Vietnamese Cooking

Fresh herbs — coriander, Thai basil, mint, perilla (shiso) — sit at the centre of Vietnamese cuisine in a way that makes it genuinely different from Chinese and Japanese cooking. Most UK wholesale buyers do not stock these as fresh produce, but dried herbs, herb pastes and freeze-dried alternatives provide workable substitutes for commercial kitchens.

Filipino Cuisine in the UK: What’s Emerging and Where the Opportunity Lies

Adobo: The Dish That Explains the Whole Cuisine

Filipino adobo is a method as much as a dish: meat, seafood or vegetables braised in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and bay leaves. It is deeply savoury, acidic and aromatic — a flavour profile that UK consumers already understand because it sits in the same register as other slow-braised dishes they love. Adobo has appeared in Gourmet magazine and attracted food media attention globally. In the UK, it is still primarily a community dish, but restaurant openings are spreading awareness.

Key wholesale ingredients: soy sauce, white cane vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, black pepper. Browse our sauces range for soy sauce varieties and our spices category for black pepper and bay leaves.

Sinigang: The World’s Best Soup

Sinigang — a sour, tamarind-based broth with vegetables and meat or seafood — was named the world’s best soup by TasteAtlas in 2021. In the Philippines, sinigang mix (a tamarind powder blend) is a household staple, and it is available in UK specialist Asian stores. As Filipino cuisine grows in UK visibility, sinigang mix is likely to become an increasingly mainstream wholesale product.

Browse our seasonings category for sinigang mix and related Filipino flavouring products.

Ube: The Colour That Built a Global Audience

Ube — Filipino purple yam — has become one of the most recognisable food ingredients globally. Its vivid purple colour photographs strikingly and its sweet, vanilla-like flavour works in ice cream, cakes, waffles, lattes and pastry fillings. UK bakeries and dessert bars have adopted ube as a flavouring. The ingredient is still primarily bought through specialist suppliers, but mainstream retail uptake is growing.

Browse our dried products and seasonings range for ube extract and flavouring products.

Lumpia and Filipino Snack Culture

Lumpia — the Filipino spring roll — is thinner and crispier than Chinese spring rolls, and is one of the most culturally significant dishes in Filipino cooking. In UK terms, it functions similarly to a spring roll but with a distinct flavour profile. Browse our frozen category for spring roll and lumpia wrappers.

Comparing the Maturity of Both Cuisines in UK Wholesale

What UK Wholesale Buyers Should Stock for Both Cuisines

Vietnamese Core Range

A wholesale buyer serving Vietnamese restaurants or retailers needs the following at minimum:

• Fish sauce — the primary seasoning across nearly all Vietnamese dishes.
• Rice noodles and vermicelli — the backbone of pho and fresh rolls.
• Rice paper — for fresh spring rolls.
• Hoisin sauce and sriracha — the standard table condiment combination.
• Lemongrass paste or dried lemongrass — used across soups, curries and marinades.
• Bean paste and sate sauce — used in Vietnamese-Chinese fusion dishes.

Browse our sauces range, dried products and pastes category for the full Vietnamese wholesale ingredient range.

Filipino Core Range

A wholesale buyer building a Filipino range for the first time should prioritise:

• Soy sauce — used in adobo and most savoury cooking.
• Cane vinegar — the distinctive acid in adobo and Filipino pickles.
• Sinigang mix — the tamarind-based soup seasoning used in every Filipino household.
• Coconut milk and coconut products — used across ginataan (coconut-based dishes) and desserts.
• Ube extract or ube halaya paste — growing retail demand for the purple yam flavour.
• Lumpia or spring roll wrappers — thin wrapper format distinct from Chinese versions.

Browse our sauces range, seasonings category and coconut products for the full range. Register as a trade buyer to discuss which product lines JK Foods currently supplies across both cuisines.

Related Reading

UK Asian Food Market Report 2026 — the full market data including emerging cuisine growth statistics.

Thai vs Vietnamese Sauces: A Guide for UK Restaurant and Takeaway Buyers — compare sauce profiles across the two closest cuisine families.

Asian Comfort Food Trends: Why Ramen, Bao and Curry Bowls Are Dominating UK Menus — understand the broader comfort food context that benefits Vietnamese cuisine.

How TikTok and Instagram Are Driving Oriental Food Sales — social media is the primary discovery engine for both cuisines in the UK.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Vietnamese food growing in the UK?

Yes. Vietnamese signals, including lemongrass, are up 90.8% on UK restaurant menus in the past year according to Tastewise, making it one of the fastest-growing cuisine signals in UK foodservice. IBISWorld identifies Vietnamese cuisine as one of the positive revenue growth areas within the UK Asian restaurant sector.

What Vietnamese ingredients do UK restaurants need?

The core wholesale range for a Vietnamese restaurant covers fish sauce, rice noodles, rice paper, hoisin sauce, sriracha, lemongrass paste and pho spice blend. Browse our sauces range and dried products category for these products.

Is Filipino food becoming mainstream in the UK?

Filipino cuisine is at an earlier stage of mainstream adoption than Vietnamese but is growing quickly. Ube (Filipino purple yam) has become a global retail flavour. Sinigang was named the world’s best soup by TasteAtlas. Filipino pop-up restaurants and permanent openings are increasing in London and other major UK cities.

What is ube and why is it growing in the UK?

Ube is Filipino purple yam, used in desserts, ice cream, cakes and drinks. Its vivid purple colour and sweet, vanilla-like flavour make it highly visual for social media content and approachable for consumers new to Filipino food. UK bakeries and dessert bars have adopted ube as a flavouring ingredient, broadening awareness beyond the Filipino community.

What is the difference between Vietnamese and Thai cuisine for UK buyers?

Both cuisines use fish sauce, lemongrass and rice noodles as staples, but Vietnamese cooking tends to be lighter, herb-forward and broth-based, while Thai cooking uses more coconut milk, curry pastes and chilli heat. Read our Thai vs Vietnamese sauces guide for a detailed comparison to help inform stocking decisions.

Which UK cities have the strongest demand for Vietnamese and Filipino food?

London leads in both cuisines, with established Vietnamese communities in areas including Lewisham and Hackney, and a significant Filipino community across the city. Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol all have growing Vietnamese food scenes. Filipino restaurants outside London are still limited in number but growing, with pop-ups and street food stalls in most major cities.

Browse JK Foods UK’s full product range, or register as a trade buyer to discuss wholesale pricing across Vietnamese, Filipino and pan-Asian product categories.