Tag Archives: Vietnamese

Fernandez and Leluu: a supper club supreme

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Mix and match at Fernandez and Leluu

The whole table erupted with laughter and I, a little tipsily, reached for the bottle of wine and found, to no-one’s surprise, that it was empty. I was still reeling a little from the concentrated aromatic hit of Pho (who knew that broth could be that good).

As I leaned back in my chair, my eyes blearily roaming the table for another bottle, more food was brought out – great plates of shiny sleek fresh tuna and bowls that, by their salty fried aroma were full of chips. Greedy Diva, Slow Food Kitchen, Vintage Macaroon and I all looked at one another sharing a moment of foodie appreciation before someone said something and we all burst out laughing again. Continue reading →

Cafe VN

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Deep fried squid
144 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 5DP 020 7278 4123 www.cafevn.co.uk

Like the proverbial buses, Vietnamese restaurants seem to be appearing all at once. For a long time, you had to travel to Shoreditch or Mare Street to get your Pho fix but now you can score a summer roll all over London.

Cafe VN is emblamatic of the new breed of Vietnamese style cafe-restaurants. Following the lead of Pho restaurant they are eschewing the canteen-like and or mock Indochina decor you find in most established joints in favour of a more contemporary feel. The menus are shorter too, but still cover the basics of summer rolls, bun cha and pho. Continue reading →

Pho restaurant

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Salads at Pho
86 St John St, London, EC1M 4EH, 020 7253 7624, www.phocafe.co.uk

I go to Pho quite a lot, it’s the only place within walking distance from work where I can get a decent noodle soup to take back to my desk. So when Mathilde asked me to come and review it for lunch, I thought “why not”? I thought I knew what I would say – that it’s a great introduction to Vietnamese food for the uninitiated, but it’s hard to match up to some of the Phos you get in Shoreditch.

But I didn’t have Pho. And I made a discovery. Pho is not what Pho is best at. Explore the menu a little more, venture off the fashionably beaten track and you’ll be rewarded with some tasty surprises Continue reading →

Fresh Vietnamese(ish) style summer rolls

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Fresh summer rolls, sweet potato and watercress

After sampling the fabulous Vietnamese rolls at Fernandez and Leluu’s supper club, I’ve gone a bit summer roll mad. This was encouraged by creating a lunch for someone who’s severely alergic to gluten, all dairy, and can’t eat much fat. After wracking my brain for hours the my mind wandered back to those fabulous summer rolls.

Rice, herbs, vegetables, lean meat, prawns – all low fat, gluten and dairy free goodness. I did a little jig before getting down to the serious business of planning the lunch. Then again last night the hankering came upon me again. This time I was less well prepared. But y’know, where there’s a will… Continue reading →

Prawn cakes, fresh spring rolls and a noodle salad

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SE Asian platters

Having dined on Thai for lunch I had a hankering for more fresh and spicy SE Asian flavours. Also, as part of an ongoing January clear out, I wanted to use up some of the bits and pieces sitting unnoticed at the back of the cupboard. You know, those things that looked like a great idea in the shop, but then somehow just never got used.

Delving into the fridge netted me a pack of raw prawns, some poached chicken and a couple of slightly tired stalks of lemongrass (left over from Wednesday’s cleansing chicken soup), basil, mint, half a cabbage and a lime. The store cupboard meanwhile served up a pack of dried rice spring-roll wrappers. Add to that some Indonesian chilli and ginger sauce I got for Xmas, peanut paste, sweet chilli and crusty old bottle of fish sauce and I had the beginnings of a mini-feast.  Continue reading →