For the very best in Vietnamese restaurants, my vote goes to Cay Tre for those heart-warming bowls of Pho that takes 18 hours to make the broth. The unusual Vietnamese super crunchy spring rolls accompanied with the dipping sauce. I’ve been most of the Vietnamese Kitchen restaurants except for Viet Grill.
Arriving in the Pho mile of Hoxton, on a Sunday evening Viet Grill wasn’t exceptionally busy. The restaurant sports a part French colonial and sophisticated orient look of bamboo art gracing the walls, bird cages hanging off the ceilings, with an open bar serving Vietnamese flavours inspired cocktails drinks.
A must have at any Vietnamese restaurant is the Banh xeo, a wafer thin pancake, folded in half crammed with prawns, chicken, and mixed herbs. It’s engineered to eat in one-bit mouthful with the lettuce provided.
If I have realised the seafood grill platter included soft shell crab, I wouldn’t have ordered a dish on it’s own. Anyways the seafood platter is all the seafood dishes from the chilli salt & pepper section, squid, soft shell crab, and Ecuador prawns. Insanely addicted simple ingredients dusted in batter deep fried until you have the perfect crunch, and seasoned with chilli salt and pepper with semi cooked onion slices, spring onions and chilli’s.
The next dish is a popular Southern Asia one, green papaya salad, shredded up papaya, carrots, seared cure beef, Thai basil, drenched with nuoc cham vinaigrette and topped with mashed peanuts. Four crackers are placed in each corner of the dish, and the salad makes a refreshing start before the heavier courses.
Classic Beef pho needs no introduction, a dish I repeatedly order from all the other branches from the Vietnamese Kitchen. The taste is always consistent no matter where I go. Nailing that unique 18-hour cooked on the stove deep flavourful broth.
The last main we tried is a popular noodle dish, Mi Quang, turmeric coated rice noodles, soft and tender sautéed monkfish fillets, topped with sesame crackers and the usual coriander and herbs.
Finally to end the meal, we ordered the lucky dip ice creams. Developed and made with Gelupo you’re onto a winner. You never know what flavour you end up with; a mix of three is scoop in a tall glass. Lucky for us, it was three flavours I love, sesame, salted caramel and green tea. Ice cream is incredibly smooth, and powerfully flavoured.
Overall Viet Grill ticks the right boxes for a great Vietnamese food, punchy flavours, impeccable ingredients, with and relax causal dining flair. Viet Grill offers more than pho, the menu is an extension to Cay Tre dishes.
Address: 58 KINGSLAND ROAD
LONDON E2 8DP
Tel: +44 20 7739 6686
http://vietnamesekitchen.co.uk/viet-grill/