A Revisit to Viet Grill

It'd had been quite a while since our last vist to Viet Grill on the Pho Mile, so on this given Sunday after a stenious gym workout we found ourselves outside Viet Grill in the need of some light and filling fayre.

Cay Tre in Soho

For some reason I thought I had already reviews the Soho branch of Cay Tre, but it seems not, which is a bit odd, as I’ve eaten there on several occasions.

Hot Pho @ Cay Tre

I’m a big lover of the Cay Tre Vietnamese Kitchens, as they style themselves. Viet Grill and Cay Tre in Soho have given some of the best Pho and Bun Cha I’ve tasted in London.

Pho @ Cu Tu

Standing on the site of the old Hung Viet Restaurant is the new Cu Tu Restaurant. I’d never eaten in Hung Viet, so I cannot say if this is a new incarnation to avoid some taxes or is a totally new gaff in its own right, but it certainly has a lived in feel about it already.

Sunday afternoon Pho @ Loong Kee

We always seem to stick to the same few restaurants along the Pho Mile that I thought it was time we tried the rest and first off was Loong Kee.

Viet Grill - A Revisit

Shamelessly it had been quite a while since the last visit to Viet Grill, a long bloody time.

This has come about that we are trying, but failing to eat at a few regular places and then at some old favourites once in a while.

Sadly the old fave’s are being missed big time due to this new practice, but until that £100,000 job comes along then this is how it has to be. But we’re slowly doing the rounds again.

Tay Do on the Pho Mile

Another visit to the Pho Mile brought us to Tay Do. For some reason this large restaurant had been missed on our regular walks down the Pho Mile.

As I said it has a large, but bland dining room. The highlight is a street sign from Albert Square hanging on a wall. The hotel like dining room is very beige.

As per normal we ordered the same dishes. We really need to be more adventurous with our ordering sometimes, but I am a creature of habit, and I go to Vietnamese restaurants for 2 things and two things only. Summer Rolls and Pho. Love them to death, and I’m a happy boy when they are good, and a pissed off son of a bitch when they are not.

Thankfully Tay Do delivered and delivered pretty damn well, which was surprising for such a beige dining room. Did I mention the dull dining room?

The service was nice, friendly and patient as it took an age for us to make our minds up on which Pho we wanted, well apart from the Bun Bo Hue, which is a mainstay. Tay Do also does a Special Pho, which could not be missed.

Even though my Bun Bo Hue was pretty damn special, I kinda wished I’d gone for the Bun Cha, but I go into Pho mode every time I walk down that street. Damn those hypnotic sessions. One day I will be free of them.

I did however find a small shop that I’d never seen before that sells ducks tongues. Awesome find, am pretty excited about this, as been meaning to return to Bar Shan for some of those little tasty treats one day soon. Now no need. God help anyone coming round to my place for supper in the future.

The Pho’s both had a good earthy base to them, which is all I want in a good Pho. To be honest, neither really needed a lot of extra seasoning as they were pretty damn good from the off.

The summer rolls were jam packed with lovely prawns and herbs. The prawns were moist and still had some give in them. Phew. The mixture of herbs and salad added a perfect addition. They were wrapped tightly, so after my first bite everything still held together.

I’m gonna return here and have that Bun Cha, but boy I wish they would spruce up that dire dining room. It really is so bland.

Foto Friday # 45

The main accompaniments for a good Pho, Cambodian style.

Pho @ Mien Tay

We were disappointed with Mien Tay. It has all the hallmarks of being a great place. Nice, small, friendly restaurant, being busy when others around it were empty. But sometimes looks can be deceiving.

I have to say however that the food wasn’t the worst I have ever eaten. I mean its Pho was nowhere as bad as that chain of the same name, then again who would serve a lukewarm broth with under cooked noodles. Utter disgrace. Once bitten, twice keep hand in wallet.

So on a cold Sunday afternoon, we found ourselves sitting inside a nice warm and fairly busy Mien Tay. There was a nice vibe inside, with lots of people chatting and tucking into some nice looking food.

The menu reads as it should do. Lot’s of good Vietnamese staples on there, of the Vietnamese kind. Which is a blessing these days, as I keep coming across Vietnamese restaurants of the Chinese kind, or are they Chinese restaurants with a beef noodle soup on the menu. Marketing.

To get things going, we ordered some Salad rolls. You kinda know how the rest of the meal is going to be after tucking into a staple of any Vietnamese gaff. They were not bad. A little too fat and stumpy, but with the peanut sauce they were tasty. So far so good.

Next up really should be the star of any show in any Vietnamese restaurant are the Pho’s. So we ordered one beef and one chicken.

The Pho’s, which were well made, and had all the right accompaniments, but were just a little underwhelming. There was not that roasted spice depth of flavour that you come to expect from a good Pho. The stock was the problem. I’m guessing they can’t either make a good stock, or they had watered it down a bit to get more out of it. Either way, bloody disappointing.

But as it was near arctic temperatures outside, the Pho did warm us up and supply some well needed nourishment and soul boosting energy for the trip back outside. Damn it was a cold Sunday.

I kinda wish we had tried the fried fish, as everyone around us was eating it and enjoying it. Maybe that is their star. Not sure if there will be a next time, but if there is, then maybe.

Foto Friday # 4

Travelling in tropical countries, you always find cold refreshing juices to drink. My favourite has to be coconut juice drunk from the coconut shell itself. Not only do you get the fresh juice, but you get to eat the flesh inside as well. Drink and desert all in one. Excellent.

Viet Grill – It’s as good as it gets over here….

Whilst we enjoyed our meal at Song Que, it left us a tad disappointed. As we both knew Vietnamese food is a lot better than that. The broth for the Pho was excellent, but it would have to be. As if any self-respecting Vietnamese restaurant serves up a limp sipid broth for their Pho then they should not be in business. Ahh like that chain Pho. Utter garbage, they even served the stock was luke warm. Disgraceful.

It’s amazing how people writing blogs, has really opened up a new sphere on restaurant reviews. Gone are the days of your over paid newspaper critics pushing for free meals for a good review. I’ve seen a few recently, and in the restaurant we cooked a fair few free meals for reviewers. So nowadays I’m more inclined to believe bloggers than professional reviewers.

So after reading quite a few blogs on the experiences at Viet Grill, which were all mostly positive. This is always a good thing. When 20 people say something is good it kinda is, well most of the time. But you can more or less spot the fake ones these days.

So as we have some friends who are making their way into Asia for the first time. We wanted to give them a taste of how good Vietnamese food is. It was also their first time out East, as pure Westerners, the East is a mysterious place for them, only glimpses of stories in the metro in the morning. But they were keen to come all the way over here. So we couldn’t say no. 

The interior of the Viet Grill is pretty swish, which is in stark contrast to the flashing neon sign on the outside. Lots of dark wood and moody green lighting. A complete change to other Vietnamese joints on the same road.

We were seated next to a fish tank of 3 bored looking fish that just stared at us during our whole time there. Reminded me of that scene in Monty Pythons Meaning of Life right before Mr Creosote enters the restaurant. Thankfully he wasn’t there that night.

The menu is long and varied, with some classic Vietnamese dishes, and some Viet Grill variations.

We started off with the the mixed starter platter was pretty good, although the highlight was the chilli salt and pepper fried squid, which had a lovely light crust to it. Lush. The deep fried spring rolls were scrumptious also, but did not match the fresh salad rolls, which we ordered as another starter. Just to get the party going you see.

These had that fantastic Vietnamese mint which has a kinda aniseed taste to it. Truly delicious and fresh. Best salad rolls I’ve had outside of Vietnam for sure.

The best lunch I ever had in Vietnam was Bun Cha. Its bar-b-q’d pork, served with white rice noodles, some salad and a fish sauce dip. Simplicity in its purest form. Viet Grill does it as a one pot meal. So the dip is below the noodles and the pork on top. It was good, but nothing like it’s original Hanoi counterpart.

Lina had the Bun Bo Hue, a spicy Pho originally from Hue. As with any self respecting Vietnamese restaurant if you cannot do a good Pho, you shouldn’t be in business. That’s why Viet Grill are still in business, the broth had good depth and a little spicy but not too much. T’was a great of pho.

Our friends stuck with something they could understand off the menu. It didn’t look too exciting and I cannot actually remember what they had, but they said it tasted great, and they were very happy.

With the amount of drinks we had before we ordered and during the meal, the bill was a little steep, which is easily done in a quality place like this where you really want to eat everything off the menu. The service was sometimes a little too much. One of us was running a few minutes late, but 3 or 4 waiters kept coming over to remove the cutlery from the empty seat.  It was a constant fight to keep them there. But this did mean they cleared away any empty plates right away. Which is a good thing.

Will be returning to Viet Grill really soon, but hopefully spending a little less.

Afterwards we stopped in at the Electric Showrooms on our way back to Old Street tube. Great place, it was a little quiet, but it was 11pm on a Wednesday night. So all can be forgiven.

I really like interesting odd pubs, and the Electric Showrooms definitely fits the bill. I’ve found my next set of Xmas lights, but how am I to steal that flashing peacock out back.

Although we never ate anything, the menu looked pretty good. Nice and simple. Good selection of beers and bitters. Good wine list to keep our wine head of the night happy. Must really explore this part of London much much more. 

Hanoi Hannah

I was expecting good things from Hanoi. It all however stared very bad. I really have an aversion to taxi drivers, and the guy who took us to our hotel,decided to ride around town for a bit to extract as much money from us as possible. I had heard that Hanoi has this reputation, which is a shame as the rest of Vietnam is fantastic.

We stayed at a hotel in the Old Quarter, which is great and atmospheric, apart from the massive amount of moto's, taxis and cyclos around. Making life a little dangerous at rush hour. 

Food is everywhere, people from Hanoi have a montage of foods to choose from. It is easy to find a good Pho shop, as I always say if it's busy then its good. Had some fantastic Pho Bo and Pho Ga. We had Pho everyday for breakfast, really does set you up for a busy day of sight seeing. I wonder if Uncle Ho had Pho everyday. 

We also got to have for lunch one day, Bun Cha. Barbecued pork, served in fish sauce and complemented with noodles and salad leaves. This really blew me away. I smelt the pork being cooked from a couple of streets away. Bizarre thing was the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. Somehow my nose homed in on it. Seated on small plastic chairs only fit for children in England. Biting into that delicious pork was pure heaven. I am a sucka for anything bar-b-q'd, as my obsession with it back in England can tell. Although I call myself an amateur compared to the folks at www.barbecuebible.com ... They are really obsessed. The whole combination of pork, fish sauce, salad leaves and noodles is a real mind blower. Why we only had this once, is beyond me, but time and other foods to seek out kept us away from this little street corner. 

A lot of the food in restaurants in the Old Quarter are really designed for tourists. So the food has been dumbed down, to one place where it really had no taste at all. How can anyone make duck with 5 spice powder taste of nothing is beyond me, but they succeeded. 

We didn't really have to search high and low for fantastic food, it just entailed a slightly longer walk than normal. We revisited Quan Ag Ngan, the same place where we had eaten in Saigon. Exactly the same great food, same layout, just as packed. I just love the way they cook either chicken, pork or shrimps in lemongrass and chilli. It has a real edgy bite to it. Lina opted this time, as she tried to have in Saigon, was the steamed mudfish. It comes with rice paper and salad leaves for you to roll your own. It was a good meal for 2 or even 3. But we did see some guy having it to himself. So greedy, but respect is due. The fish was so delicate, that anything else but steaming it would have killed the taste. Also no chilli dip was served, just leaves. Really fantastic. We did start t panic, as we always do not take large amounts of money with us, so we were panicking a little, until we got the bill as to wether we had enough money to pay for it. The fish was per kilo, and it was a big fish, but it came in just under a kilo. Phew. That will teach Lina to be so greedy. 

I had walked past Quan Com Pho, it did not look anything special, but something attracted me to it. So had a look inside. Full of local workers munching on some great looking food. The owner invited us in to eat, but as we had just had Pho, was not up to more food just yet. But I remembered the spot where it was, and we returned a day or so later for lunch. So glad we did. It would have been a crime to miss it. We never had that much, we just fancied some beers and something to eat whilst we were drowning our thirst. So we ordered some grilled squid in a honey sauce, and some clams in lemongrass and chilli. That combo again. To be honest we could of eaten everything on the menu. The squid had a real sweet taste to it, and it was a nice contrast to the citrsuy, chilli tang to it. Divine is the word we both kept saying afterwards. 

I had wanted to do a cooking class in Hanoi, but time and sight seeing kept me away. It would have been at Highway 4, if I managed to get my arse in gear in time. We did however eat there n our last night in Hanoi. The menu is a lot different from the normal places we had eaten at in Vietnam. Very French influenced. As you climb the stairs to the roof tp terrace, you can view all the activity in the kitchen. I  like places that show off the kitchen, it says to me, that we are claen and we do not mess around with your food. 

As we had eaten lunch, we decided on just the man course. Which to be honest, would have done a small dinner party rather than just the two of us. We had stir fried chayote with garlic and chilli, and a dish of pork leg simmered in some local wine (which I have forgotten what it was). It was melt in your mouth stuff. The fat was creamy and unxious, the sauce was thick and sticky and clung to the pork. This is my kinda food. Instead of rice to go with, they suggested bread to mop up those juices. Fabulous recommendation. Half way through I had to take a break and rest for a while before I made the final assault. We left a little bit of fat, didn't want to be see as really greedy gits. Even though we are. 

All in all Hanoi has some really good food, it's just unfortunate that a lot of people who got there, never get to eat this..... 

Pho - Is it just a Noodle Soup ?

Pho, is with out doubt the national dish of Vietnam. It is a bowl of white noodles served in a clear beef stock. In Hanoi, it seemed to have taken on obsessional status. They seem to have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am sure there are people who eat it 3 times a day, everyday. It comes in many different variants, the most popular is Pho Bo, or Beef Pho. thin cuts of beef, like brisket, flank or steak. Although Pho Ga, Chicken Pho is pretty good also. You can make it with anything really, intestines and other offal are popular. 

The stock is made in the usual way of simmering beef bones, with roasted veg and spices for several hours till you have a stock to die for. This is really the backbone of a good Pho. Without a good stock it would be just a beef noodle soup, as you get in some Chinese restaurants. The noodles people use are always fresh white ones. No self respecting Pho seller would use anything else. 

The noodles are put in the bowl first, then the stock is added, and finally before it is served a garnish is added. This seems to differ from shop to shop, maker to maker. This is what sets some apart from others. Mostly spring onions, coriander leaves, basil, bean sprouts are used. We had one today off a lady who sprinkled crushed peanuts on top. Yummy. Depending on the shop you will also get served a dish of other herbs to add at your will, like mint, and a few I have never seen before. You always get a bowl of lime wedges, chilli sauce, chilli slices and fish sauce to add as well. I am in favour of a little more heat to my Pho, but only after I have tasted a bit already. I like to see how good their stock is before I pep it up a bit. Phở is pronounced with a falling-rising tone in Vietnamese, as if asking a question in English. It is therefore pronounced as FUH? But I try my best to say it properly, I think I am generally understood though. Especially when asking for Pho in a Pho shop. Kinda obvious what I want. 

Pho originated in Northern Vietnam, and only spread to the rest of Vietnam in the mid 1950's, after the division of the country. The Northerners who did not want to be under communist rule headed South and took Pho with them. Noone is sure how it came about, maybe from the French and their stock making skills, or it was created out of the scraps that the people could afford. Similar to all good peasant dishes. Their are also those who say it was came from China, but the Vietnamese, I am sure would kill anyone who said it was that. They still hate the Chinese. Not surprising after 1,000 years of rule. 

Some of the best Pho I have had here in Vietnam, has actually came from a chain. Pho 24. It's a clean, trendy place, but lacks atmosphere of your smaller family run business. Other good ones have been at Pho 2000 in Saigon. In Hanoi, the best Pho is where the crowds are, and these places are small family run. They do not look much, you sit on small plastic chairs at small tables. You have to wipe the chopstix and spoon before using them. So if I see a shop with a lot of local people, then 99 times out of a 100 it has to be good Pho. and until now, this has never failed me. 

Pho connesueurs, will say that the best Pho is from the north, and the southern style from Saigon, is somewhat sweeter. Pho Hue style contains bits of offal, like steamed blood. Yum, yum.  This what Lina was eating in Saigon, when that chilli tried to kill me, but as it was Pho, I forgave it. 

To say wether Ramen noodles are better than Pho is a question I am avoiding. Lets just say I am addicted to both, and lets leave it at that shall we. 

Death By Chilli ....

The question that I have been pondering in the last few days is, can a chilli kill? 

The reason I have been thinking about this is because a chilli, or a slice of chilli nearly killed me. Well almost. 

We were at a popular lunchtime spot called Quan An Ngon, here in Saigon. I was happily eating away at my Green Papaya Salad with Sliced Pigs Ears, and some Salad Rolls with Pork and Shrimp. These were going down very well, when I decided to try some of Lina's Hue Style Pho, which was fantastic. But it needed a bit of heat to match the Salad I was eating, so I reached over with my chpstix and picked up a slice of green chilli, and said to Lina, "I am addicted to chilli, I need the heat", and popped it in my mouth. Within 2 seconds it attached the back of my throat like a firebomb. I have never felt such pain before and so quickly also. Lina said my face went red from the bottom up, and my eyes were watering. I grabbed over and picked up her coconut and  finished off her  juice, then downed a bottle of water I had in my bag. Still the pain was there. Was it ever going to go away. Finally after a few minutes it resided. 

Whilst this was going on, I was trying, and did a good job of keeping the pain in. No screams. Hopefully noone noticed around us that I was in incredible pain.

I always thought I could eat any chilli, as I really am addicted to them. But normally they just burn the front of my mouth, never my throat as this evil monster did. 

The last time I felt real pain was a few years ago in a restaurant in Palenque, Mexico, we were given some nachos and a dark red chilli dip to go with our beers. The chilli's burnt my lips and tongue, but I kept going back for more and more. The pain was intense, it felt as if the front of my mouth was on fire. I was red and sweating, but I still scooped up loads of the dip on my nachos, knowing what it was going to do to me. But I had to keep that feeling going.  Addiction.

After this recent incident, I have been wondering, could a chilli actually kill, and so how many times have these little devils struck. Should they be given a warning. Could you sue a restaurant or shop if you encountered a particularly fiery beast, and they never warned you. But isn't that the fun, every chilli could be that ticking time bomb, waiting to strike when you least expect it. 

I, myself will continue to play Russian Roulette with these little time bombs. I enjoy living life on the edge.