4th May 2016 6pm
I have heard so many good things about this place so I was pleased that we finally got round to trying it. Vietnam House is a smallish, family run restaurant, beautifully decorated with art for sale on the walls. The menu wasn’t overwhelming as it was both explained well and did not offer thousands of items to wade through. We went for fresh (goi cuon) and fried (cha gio) spring rolls and then for mains I went for braised pork in caramel sauce (thit heo kho) and my dining companion went for the lotus chicken rice (xoi ga).
Vietnam House Restaurant
I’d ordered the fried rolls and my friend the fresh ones on the basis that as there were three of each we’d swap one. The fried rolls came with a garlic chilli dipping sauce. These rolls were hot, crispy and full of flavour. I was pleased to see that there was plenty of meat. The fresh rolls tasted super fresh and the wrappers had that glutinous texture which went well with the peanut dip (which I could have eaten a bucket of). We were both very happy with the starters.
When the mains arrived, mine looked cute in its presentation, with two perfectly formed bowls; one for the pork and one for the rice. The pork was soft and melted in the mouth. The mix of flank and loin worked really well. The sauce wasn’t overly sweet, which was good. The star anise and garlic balanced that out. The sticky rice sucked up all the sauce as I went along. On the other side of the table the lotus chicken rice was visually impressive and tasted good. The little pickled side salad that accompanied it was devoured. So much so that she said she would happily order a main just of that salad.
We really enjoyed our meal here in a relaxing environment.
Food -9/10
Service – 8.5/10
Atmosphere – 8.5/10
Value – 8.5/10
Overall – 34.5/40
Would I eat here again? You betcha!
Cost £35 for two starters and mains and a Diet Coke.
