Hanoi Café

To love Vietnamese food is one thing but to gain more cognition about the Vietnamese people themselves goes much deeper than just a bowl of pho. Ever since I noticed the huge refugee camps in Malaysia housing the boat people back in the 80s, I’ve always been intrigued by my South East Asian neighbours. I knew that they were never allowed to settle in Kuala Lumpur because of the fact that the Vietnamese (primarily Buddhist) might disrupt an already awkward balance of ‘harmony’ dominated by the Muslim majority of Malaysia. Sadly the Vietnamese were perceived as yet another threatening Chinese tribe and like an additional kick in the teeth, they came bestowed with communist leanings (communism in Malaysia is defiled and illegal). Over the past three decades I've learned to respect and admire the Vietnamese British, the trauma of the 70s and 80s experienced by the first generation of the Người Việt Hải Ngoại only went further to enhance their reputation as a resilient sort. They’re hardly one to sit by idly or be spoon-fed by the State and end up perennially as spongebobs; no, they are naturally entrepreneurial and resourceful. And like the Chinese community before, the Vietnamese British have established themselves by setting up successful businesses revolving around the restaurant and food trade.

The majority of the Vietnamese folks residing in Hackney and South East London hail from North Vietnam and this is the part of the country that is also responsible for such illustrious dishes like phở, bánh cuốn and bún riêu. As Londoners, we are extremely lucky with the ever-growing number of Vietnamese eateries appearing and thankfully the food served is usually reassuringly authentic. Of course, a so-called ‘Vietnamese’ dining companion or a seasoned Hanoi traveller might snootily disagree, but I don’t give a toss because I wholeheartedly enjoy going for a Vietnamese in London every week. And lest I forget, Vietnamese cuisine found in London is definitely less approximate than its Indian, Thai or Italian equivalent!

Hanoi Café is run and owned by a North Vietnamese family. It has been around for over eight years and that’s despite its ‘homage to the 80s’ style dining room. It’s always practically empty whenever I turn up and remains the least patronised of any restaurants on the Pho Mile. This bodes well for solo diners, agoraphobic sufferers, or cynical anti-socials like yours truly. Hanoi Café obviously know a thing or two about survival by selling only six bowls of noodles daily or could it be due to the regular flow of fully-paid and ghostly diners that turns its competitors into green-eyed monsters!

The food served at this place is pretty much faultless and everyone of them delicious-

Bò lá lốt- grilled beef wrapped in betel leaves.

To find out more about lá lốt and other Vietnamese herbs please click here for an indispensable read .

London’s cheapest soft-shell crab dish can be found at Hanoi Café.

1 x chilli and salt crab at £3.50!

The beef pho.
Beautiful broth but annoyingly let down by the cheap quality meat.

Bún Chả cá Lã Vọng - grilled pieces of fish then pan fried and served with bún (rice vermicelli), salad and herbs.

When it comes to monkfish for the masses, you cannot beat farmed catfish for its taste and value.

Gà kho sả ớt- chicken simmered with lemongrass in hot blistering chilli sauce.

Hanoi Café is as authentic as Vietnamese goes in London and it’s a great place to sample the holy trinity of South East Asian spices of lemongrass, chillies, and garlic. Its hidden service charge is not something that I endorse but nonetheless it’s my kinda secret tip off. Enjoy.  

98 Kingsland Road
London E2 8DP

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Burger & Lobster

If I were an animal I'd be a lobster because I’m noble (self-assessed no less) and fancy a bit of negligible senescence. But then again-

'Tis the voice of the Lobster: I heard him declare
"You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair."
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.
When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark;
But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.

Lewis Carroll

Oh dear, tremulous and whatnot, the lobster is therefore hellishly foolish and thus a condemned creature. That said; its deliciousness which will never pass into nothingness, has its ‘easy prey’ tag to thank for (or not).

Lobster is an ancient creature
Eating lobster is a luxury
Luxury is an ancient notion

Burger & Lobster needs no introduction and if I’m to sum it up, it has to be one of London's best cheap eats.

Where else can you find a lobsta dinner for less than 20 quid?

There’s the Thermidor for £19.99 from Marks and Sparks...

...or the dressed Canadian for the same price.

Lest I forget, the £16.80 Lobster Noodles from Hung’s in Chinatown...

...augmented with enough noodles to feed more than 1 person but sadly let down by the flavourless lobster that was quite plainly harvested out of the the freezer.

Or the most complete caboodle of joy for 2 tenners plus 12.5% service.

The lobster came with crunchy greaseless chips, a wonderfully dressed salad, and the ambrosia quality of the lemon and garlic butter. The crustacean, first steamed and finally grilled was outstanding. It was delectably sweet, fresh and generously large (it must have taken the poor so and so at least four to five years to reach the size). And to think, there I am gloating about this magnificent beast and it wasn’t even native but Nova Scotian.

The Burger or a Goodman one by any other name.

It too came with the excellent chips and salad that accompanied the lobster. The burger was ordered medium rare with optional cheese and bacon requested at no extra premium (I know, the world’s your oyster for £20!). It arrived mooingly rare and was frightful enough to put my dining companion off. Which meant all the more for me and I happily scoffed the whole thing. It was a very good burger but not quite as good as this.

If I were an animal I'd be a pig at Burger & Lobster instead. Highly recommended.




29 Clarges Street
Mayfair
London, W1J 7EF

burgerandlobster.com

Busaba Eatviet

Just a little over two years’ ago Viet Hoa embarked on a total re-branding exercise and abandoned the canteen-for-the-proletariat identity it had thrived on for about eight years. Whilst the majority of its contemporaries on The Pho Mile remained faithful to this formula Viet Hoa decided to attract more of the Hoxton’s and Shroeditch’s hipsters to its doors instead and proclaim-

We proudly welcome fans of Aphex Twin and the Gavin Turk brigade to our family-run restaurant that serves freshly cooked ethnic food and a service which complies with your lifestyle and every whim.

IOW- free WiFi, music playlists, exotic Beerlao, and amongst other things, the loo…a latent one that is but cunningly executed.

If Alan Yau were to start a chain of Vietnamese joints then the above would be it right up his street but Viet Hoa have nipped it before he can utter Busaba Eatviet. Viet Hoa is divided into two sections, Café on ground level (where I have always dined) and the Mess in the basement, which adopts a plusher dining experience to take on the likes of Viet Grill. I must say that two years on it still looks pretty ok and almost none of the wear and tear that are normally associated with the use of cheap and compromised shop fittings were evident.

I don’t care much now for the the rest of the food served at Vietnamese restaurants in London but at the very least the pho has to be good.

Banh cuon-
It was woeful and poor. Discarded strips of nondescript hor fun noodles thrown in with a tiny amount of juliennes of Vietnamese sausage and a nominal ‘yawn yawn’ salad. A good and proper bánh cuốn should and always be presented like this (cannelloni form) and taste out of this world but sadly the above took the piss.

Chả cá Hà Nội-
Grilled fish Hanoi style (or for the occidental diners you’ll be offered sizzling salmon instead) served with a generous rice vermicelli salad.

The fish in question, like tilapia, is one of the world’s most intensively farmed varieties otherwise known as basa, pangasius or plain catfish. The dish whilst potentially good was beautifully seasoned and ‘herbed’ but badly let down by the fish that tasted as if it had been frozen and thawed over and over again.

The pho

A good visual test for a half-decent bowl of pho is that the broth should exhibit a hue that’s similar to jasmine tea. And when it comes to matters regarding the olfactory perception and tastebuds, the bowl should also possess a perfect balance of savoury-beefy yang and aromatic fresh-herbs yin. So good things abound; for there was the depth of flavour, good beef chucked in, al dente hor fun, freshness of the ingredients as a whole, wedges of lime instead of shortcuts like lemons…it was simply a dish worth slurping loudly and deliciously.

The pho at Viet Hoa is very good but that’s all.




70-72 Kingsland Road
London E2 8DP

www.viethoarestaurant.co.uk
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New Fook Lam Moon

New Fook Lam Moon is a longstanding Cantonese restaurant in London’s Chinatown and to the Chinese the name conjures up and preserves a degree of assurance; ‘fortune arriveth at the door’. The restaurant’s strong reputation, as acknowledged by its large and loyal following of Chinese customers, is based purely on the consistently good roast meats it excels in. Unfortunately a majority of the above only come in to takeaway their favourite siu mei as opposed to dining in to avoid the dull and formulaic Cantonese dishes that only the gweilos would embrace wholeheartedly.

Thankfully the owners possessed enough foresight and invested in the talented abilities of the Malaysian Chinese kitchen staff to include a chef’s special section of predominantly but enticing Malaysian dishes like Mamite Prawns and Asam Curry. This post reflects the specials’ menu.

Few pointers-

This is a smallish restaurant and it's ideal for solo diners.
Service is pleasant for Chinatown and never condescending.
Like Wong Kei, tea should be gratis and that’s regardless of one's race, creed or colour.
Service charge at 10% duly noted.
Slices of oranges served free at end of meal.
The final bill is always itemised, clear, precise and never dodgy.

What I’ve eaten here-

Takeaway of excellent roast duck and luminescent but moreish cuttlefish on rice. £6.50

NB the roast pork here is absolutely outstanding and they’re unusually chopped up finely instead of the usual unwieldy chunks found elsewhere.

Singapore Laksa at £7.50

One can specify yellow egg noodles or rice vermicelli or both. The laksa here was ok but it lacked the usual richness (coconut milk gone awol) and the frightful looking pieces of overdone aubergine didn’t bode well. The best laksa in London still resides here.

Hainanese Chicken Rice at £6.50

This dish is off-menu. The sight of the slightly pink flesh and near-red marrow spells all kinds of mad panic but at least it was faithful to what the original Hainanese recipe of South East Asia intended. And before you scream ‘yikes!’ I’ve never experienced any food poisoning from eating Hainanese Chicken Rice anywhere in the world. Anyway the chicken was ‘slippery’, juicy and moist but if I were to be pernickety then an older hen would be more flavoursome than the juvenile battery bird found above.
Hainanese Chicken Rice comprises of four components- the said chicken, the rice, the broth and the chilli dipping sauce. Disappointingly the dish at New Fook Lam Moon came soupless and the chilli sauce was lame (devoid of ginger and garlic to give a kick and zing). However the generous portion of rice was wondrous for it was sticky, oily rich and relentlessly chickeny; the golden hue comes from the addition of chicken fat. For the all-defining chicken rice experience you’ll need to go to Malaysia, Singapore or Thailand but the one at New Fook Lam Moon is pretty commendable for London’s standards.

Nyonya-style Fried Noodles with Prawns at £7.00

It baffled me as to why the restaurant chose to call it so as it was basically Char Kway Teow spiced up with loads of belacan.
In fact there’s even Goulash on their menu and that should read classic Cantonese braised beef brisket instead (without any paprika whatsoever but soy sauce, star anise, etc.). These guys don’t do themselves any favours!
That said the above dish is potentially one on the most authentic Char Kway Teows I’ve come across in London -smoky, lardy, and unlike an overrated example like here, it was deliciously fulfilling. Furthermore, the inclusion of six juicy king prawns was enough to make the above excellent value for money.

Bak Kut Teh served with slices of fried dough sticks and a large bowl of rice at £8.50

This classic ‘meat bone tea’ soup-dish is vehemently revered by my tribe, the Hokkiens. I’m not going to dwell on it but you can read about it here. In brief Bak Kut Teh is an acquired taste that’s brings together the porky nirvana and the alarming decoction of a traditional Chinese herbal prescription in one pot. The version here was ok; a tad too sweet and so obviously made with the aid of a ready-mix herb and spice packet that can be purchased in Chinese supermarkets.

Petai Beans and Minced Pork in Sambal Sauce at £11.50

Has Anthony Bourdain tried petai beans, no I don’t tink so! In all, this pungent and spicy dish was an accomplished one- the beans were buttery, bitterish and nutty; the pork whilst not maddeningly spicy was quite luscious. You’ll need loads of rice to soak up the excellent sambal sauce. Loved it.

A note about the little known Petai Bean-

Its permeating properties make the aftermath of eating asparagus positively fragrant, the petai beans are responsible for the mother of all offensively malodorous consequences when burping, urinating, farting and pursuing number twos. Or in other words it’s a sure-fire way to be excluded from society… permanently! Best of luck pals!

Deep-fried King Prawns with Butter and Egg Threads at £13.50

Best known as plain Butter Prawns. This is one of the best dishes introduced by the Malaysian Chinese and it was only conceived during the latter part of the last century. Whole prawns fried with a coating of butter and egg yolk and topped with eggy shreds, desiccated coconut and aromatic curry leaves. If you want it spicier then the bird's eye chilli on the side is there for the taking. It was a dependably exact dish that can be described as a ‘home from home’ effort. If 10 Greek Street charges £15 for 6 simply-grilled prawns (same size and I daresay provenance) and José’s three were 8 quid then New Fook Lam Moon’s eight specimens are a massive bargain! It simply involved more work, creativity, prep, ingredients, etc…I digress.

New Fook Lam Moon is joint that might not rewrite history but it’s still deservedly a little gem. Recommended.



10 Gerrard Street
Soho
London W1D 5PW


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Pizarro

If I were to divulge about the top five world cuisines then Spanish wouldn’t figure. And if we were talking about the top ten instead, it would still lag behind the Japanese, Moroccans, Mexicans and dare I say the Vietnamese. Spanish cooking in general thrives on the best and freshest ingredients that doesn’t rely on unneeded complexities or the culinary rigmarole of the rest of the world’s best offerings. In spite of its simplicity Spanish cooking is also undyingly delicious. So it’s hardly a surprise that the clear majority of Spanish chefs who hold three Michelin stars have embraced rocket sciences and molecular gastronomy to achieve their respective merits globally; and to good effect I might add. Nicholas Lander, in his review of Jeremy Lee’s Quo Vadis for the FT said- ‘These are simple dishes that could be cooked at home, though they are even better when left to a consummate professional.’ Well, the statement sums up my experiences at Pizarro in its entirety.

Quickie notes:

To get there- crossing the Thames might be a chore too much for some.

Ambience- a welcoming bright and airy jaunt during lunch but too dark when supping in the evening.

Service- Smiley and pleasant but depending on where you’re sitting; if you’re allocated in some secluded corner facing Bermondsey Street then you might as well serve yourself or throw a tantrum.

Drinks- Filtered tap water, choice of still or sparkling served free. High mark-ups on the wines and sherrys indicated a trigger-happy mentality to keep the restaurant’s bank manager smiling incessantly.

Food-

The wonderful cover-charge-free enticement of radish and cauliflower was a good sign of what to expect.

Quail, Romesco

The anaemic looking bird belied its looks. It was beautifully cooked and thus moist and succulent. The sweet nutty Romesco sauce lent itself an immense apricity to the dish.

Salt cod, white beans, and spinach

The way the fish flaked so easily with the slightest of fork-nudges was a joy. Simply marvellous. It was a dish that was reassuringly rewarding created out of a combination of subtle tasting ingredients. And if the pescatarian disciples of the Dukan Diet had a sacred dish in mind, this would be it.

The next two dishes ordered are José Pizarro’s favourite dishes at the restaurant-

Duck livers, capers, Fino

Potentially another finely concocted dish that made me wish I was a humble peasant instead of living in W2 and faffing around with sliding doors. Fresh, sharp and earthy. This dish would’ve been fit for kings except that the livers were a little overcooked for my liking.

Lamb, lentils, radicchio

Lamb should always be cooked like the above; no more and no less. Impressive. However I was brought up on Sunday Roasts so where’s the gravy? And if the omnivorous disciples of the Dukan Diet had a sacred dish in mind this would be it.

Dessert of Vanilla ice cream, Moscatel grapes, PX

Sweet as hell but devilishly momentous, so much so and for my sins, one of my crowns broke in half. I blamed the almonds and injury lawyers were as a matter of fact, not consulted.

The second time I came back here the gaffer, José, was grafting his dues in the kitchen. Psychologically, the food can only get better and it did. Can I also say that Sr. Pizarro is my height, i.e. shortish…elation exclaimed!

Croquetas

José’s version was very good. Then, so too is Miguel’s, Jesús’, Santiago’s, Javier’s and Enrique’s but I love this the best because of the bacony bits.

Lamb’s tongues, red onion, gherkins

A dish whereby adjectives can do no further justice to. Memorable. A redeemable dish for those who have an aversion to lamb (taste nowt of and guaranteed) and for those who sigh about the myth that surrounds the melt-in-the mouth tedium.

NB just don’t bite your own tongue when enjoying.

Prawns, crispy Serrano ham, piquillo pepper

Impossible to share let alone oneself. The prawns may be not be the fabled Palamós y la gamba but they were one of the best I’ve tasted. Perfectly cooked and seasoned, and the crispy Serrano was beyond a tease! The only problem was…

…Michel Roux, Jr. has left the building!

Lamb, roasted winter vegetables, salsa verde

José loves his lamb, faultless and right up there but once again-

‘Love me tender, love me sweet,’

So, let's chant-

Gravy! Gravy! My kingdom for some gravy!

Iberico pork fillet, mashed potatoes, peppers, almonds

Heaven is akin to eating near raw pork without the fear of trichinosis. It was boar taint at its finest, a perfume no longer offensive but inviting and luscious. Blimey, how do the Spaniards get away with this sort of thing, I’m numbed out but overwhelmed. Although it was not exactly the much hyped Pluma Iberica it was still a brilliant dish. The mash was in itself a standout star, it was made and seasoned so well that MsMarmitelover would love and envy at the same time.

Cambridge burnt cream Crema Catalana

Words desserted desert dessert me- like a child, I liked, liked and forver will like.

Simplicity at its best; that’s Pizarro. Highly recommended.



194 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3TQ

www.josepizarro.com