So the inevitable happened. On Thursday last week we went into Lockdown 2. Not a shock but very frustrating. It’s not quite the same as Lockdown 1. This time schools and universities stay open and people are encouraged to go to work if they can’t work from home. But all hospitality closes except for takeaways so adios to eating or drinking out. And it’s for a month. There’s lots to debate about this course of action but I don’t have the energy anymore. So instead I’m going to cheer myself up and take you to some of the lovely places I visited before L2. Luckily I have a few stored up. Gonna miss those London days out.
Today we’re heading for South Kensington for a walk in the park, a visit to my favourite building in London, the Natural History Museum and of course an impromptu lunch. Discussions about where to go to eat were veering towards a Chinese feast when we spotted a Vietnamese restaurant across the road from our pre-lunch pub venue.
I’ve been to Vietnam twice and it’s high on my list of places to go in the dreamy faraway post-lockdown world hopefully somewhere in the future. I love everything about it. Especially the food. So I was excited to have spotted GoViet.
What’s on the menu
All the favourite dishes and some I’d never heard of made choosing lunch tricky! Not that I’m complaining. To start we went for the Vietnamese spring rolls with home-made crispy skin wrapped around a mix of free range pork, mushroom and carrot. I love this clever lattice-like pastry that’s so light and crisp. All encasing a tasty meaty filling.
And then my absolute favourite Vietnamese dish – summer rolls with fresh water prawns. I ate these for breakfast while in Vietnam and have even made them at home. I love the freshness of the herb and prawn combo and the softness of the light wrappers.
We’ve found the trick of maximising our pleasure in London’s Vietnamese restaurants is to order dishes one at a time. Food tends to come up very quickly and we like to stretch out the experience for as long as possible. So once we’d finished our tasty starters we ordered a dish from the pho (traditional Vietnamese broth dish) section of the menu.
As it happens this was a bit of a different sort of pho. As our waiter pointed out it came as more of a gravy than soup. Love trying something completely different and this was one heavenly dish. Described as Grandmother braised beef with rice noodles in chilli oil and fresh herbs – this has to be the ultimate way to slow-cook beef. Resulting in rich, luscious, melt-in-your mouth meat and a thick gravy, all lightened up with some noodles and fresh herbs. Grandmother certainly knows her braising techniques!
Okay at this stage we were feeling rather full. But one more dish had caught my eye so we had to try it. Good decision, too. Home-cooked pork belly with lettuce, fresh herbs, vermicelli, peanut and fish sauce. Another one of those classic Vietnamese combinations. How I love wrapping up little lettuce parcels and taking a bite into all those delicious flavours and different textures.
This is a superb, authentic little restaurant. It’s casual with service with a smile and the tastiest of Vietnamese dishes. Simple food perfectly cooked. I’ll be heading back once everything’s unlocked. May that be soon.
Today’s price point
Go Viet is great value, too. Our four dishes cost £27.
We completed our meal with a bottle of South African Merlot which also cost £27.
Go Viet is at 53 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington SW7.
