Eat Vietnam
A TURBO BOOST FOR STIRCHDITCH’S ASPIRATIONS
CLICK HERE FOR A MORE RECENT REVIEW OF EAT VIETNAM FROM OCTOBER 22 2020
I don’t like Oriental food particularly, nor does the family for that matter. But I accept it sounds more than a bit ridiculous given ‘Oriental’ covers all the countries of East Asia and that would include Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Thai cuisines… to name but a few. It’s much like someone saying they don’t like Mediterranean food… and that’s everything Spanish, French from the Pyrenees to Provence, Italian, and Greek. And that really does sound completely ridiculous.
But then if I consider the majority of Italian, Spanish, French and Greek restaurants in this city and across much of the UK, it’s not actually that ridiculous at all. They are mostly all serving broadly the same selection of tourist fare-versions of their country’s full culinary repertoire. Boring, boring, boring! So, I can genuinely understand when people say I don’t like Italian food, Spanish food … or Oriental food. It just depends what version of that cuisine you use to make those judgements.
However, given I’ve heard nothing but praise from friends about Eat Vietnam since they opened up 6 weeks ago, I decided it was time to test my judgement afresh on ‘Oriental food’. Having moved from regular pop ups in some of the city’s more clued up pubs, they’ve opened up their own place on Stirchditch High Street. It also helped their case that they do social media especially well and so I’ve regularly salivated at Instagram or Facebook photos and posts that show off the food, describe the cooking processes and celebrate their hand picked suppliers and ingredients.
I booked the table for the 3 of us at 8 although that didn’t go down particularly well with the family, who were already showing signs of hanger by 7. So, we head down a bit earlier arriving at 7.40 and they were only too happy to accommodate us. Whilst only about two thirds full, they’ve clearly been busy as we are told there’s only one mackerel special left, as the menus were handed out. And I knew this one from Instagram … “Scottish mackerel, with smoked onion sambal… straight off the firebox onto the specials board” so immediately reserve that without even looking at the menu, nor consulting the table.
I suggest we adopt a tapas approach where we all get to share as wide a range of dishes as possible. Our vegetarian daughter declines this opportunity, choosing the pho chai—shiitake noodle soup—for herself.
On the dinner menu tonight there are 4 noodle dishes, a rice bowl, 3 specials plus 6 small plates to choose from. Eventually we decide in addition to the mackerel we’ll have the rice bowl – banana blossom coconut curry with jasmine rice and the crispy pork belly. On enquiring if adding tamarind chicken wings would be too much for two, we’re simply told “you won’t regret it, they are absolutely delicious” and that’s that. Bring it on.
Water and glasses had been brought on arrival and are refreshed mid way through, but it’s Saturday night and a menu that demands wine. We go for a bottle of Amaltea d Loxarel (£25) listed as “hints of white pear and tropical fruit aromas. Fresh white.” The waitress can’t tell us anything more about the wine but is happy to bring us the bottle to take a look. I can’t discern too much from the label other than it’s Spanish / Catalonian and organic. But as Connolly’s supply the wines I’m happy to go with it and apart from being a little on the warm side it’s perfect with the food, being both full and crisp (and nothing that an ice cube couldn’t sort out).
Even though they’re a new kid on the block, Eat Vietnam have put a bit more than usual effort into the dining in experience. It’s been designed and implemented by someone clearly with an eye for style. The room feels warm and inviting, the music was upbeat and the acoustics are such that you could listen to it or let it wash into the background and it was light enough to feel well lit but not so much that it felt stark. The open kitchen sits at one end of the room and it emits a buzz that carries through into the staff, who were all attentive, efficient and charming. But it all serves just to leave me more aware of my high expectation for the food, which is now cranked to maximum.
Eat Vietnam photo by Handover Agency
Then the food arrived and it was very obvious, very quickly that my expectations were not misplaced. First things first, the waitress was absolutely right about the Tamarind Chicken – coated, deep fried wings topped with peanuts and spring onions – they are crunchy, succulent, bursting with flavour and sticky too, meaning the accompanying finger bowls were absolutely necessary. This is my new fried chicken high benchmark.
Tamarind chicken photo by Handover Agency
The mackerel - which comes blackened, headless but whole - is cooked perfectly and sitting on its smoked onion sambal; lightly pickled in the accompanying thin sauce. I’m least moved by the crispy pork belly, which comes as four slices in a sweet and sour chilli dressing – there’s nothing wrong with it but I have an aversion to obvious fat—although eyeing the crispy skin I’m prepared to let that go. But I do use my remaining pork belly slice to negotiate a swap for an extra piece of chicken… bargain!
Crispy Pork Belly photo by Handover Agency
We also have the rice bowl with the banana blossom coconut curry – the banana blossom being part of the flower that eventually develops the fruit. It’s fabulous to look at—quite alien—but I don’t get much of a specific flavour from it—certainly nothing at all bananary. The curry itself is a fairly dry sauce with such a fabulous depth of flavour you could dance in its groove. The dry sauce also meant there’s surplus rice, perfect for mopping up the other wetter sauces, which at various points would all have been dribbling down my chin.
The bill comes in at £69.50 – even with a £5 taxi bill each way it’s well worth every penny.
So, do I now like Oriental food? It’s a moot point, but I do love Eat Vietnam and their take on Vietnamese food – it’s quite simply great food cooked with the finest ingredients in a kitchen that cares about textures and flavours that marry divinely together, served in a restaurant that cares about its customers.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
