There has been a lot of new Vietnamese restaurants opening around London recently : Viet Food in Soho, FOLD on Brick Lane and Yum Som in the City which I have planned to visit pretty soon.
Seeing all the vietnamese dishes on my Twitter timeline I decided to pay a visit to my old local restaurants around Holborn - Banh Mi Bay.
On that occasion we were not very lucky with my boyfriend as Banh Mi Bay was already full. We went instead on Clerkenwell Road (3 minutes away) to Ngon Ngon.
We arrived around 1.30pm. Ngon Ngon was absolutely packed too but we managed to get the last empty table. While we were ordering, we were informed that unfortunately they had totally sold out of banh mi. My boyfriend was a bit disappointed.
We started our meal by sharing some prawn, pork and squid spring rolls. They were very light, crispy and full of flavour. I liked the fact they had squid in as it gave an extra texture to the usual classic prawn and pork spring rolls you get anywhere else.
As a main dish, my boyfriend had the Pho tai, which was rice noodles in a clear beef broth with slim rare cuts of beef. It came with some chili, lime and herbs on the side.
I tried his dish, the broth was packed in flavour (even without herbs and spice). The beef was also really tasty and not chewy at all.
I had stir fried flat noodles with chicken (Pho Xao Ga). It came with some crispy vegetables: carrot, pak choi, courgette and crispy onions on top. I thought the dish was pretty good, and also had the perfect balance of meat, carbs and vegetables. I remember at Banh Mi Bay the portions are usually slightly bigger but you end up with more noodles than meat or vegetables.
Service at Ngon Ngon was pretty good and quick, we waited only 5 minutes between ordering and getting dishes on the table. Our waiter was the restaurant Manager, who was pretty efficient, nice and friendly.
Overall I think Ngon Ngon was close to be the perfect restaurant for a short lunch break for £10 or less per head. All the dishes were delicious and smelled amazing. It would have probably been the perfect place if they hadn't sold out of banh mi by 1.30pm.
We started our meal by sharing some prawn, pork and squid spring rolls. They were very light, crispy and full of flavour. I liked the fact they had squid in as it gave an extra texture to the usual classic prawn and pork spring rolls you get anywhere else.
As a main dish, my boyfriend had the Pho tai, which was rice noodles in a clear beef broth with slim rare cuts of beef. It came with some chili, lime and herbs on the side.
I tried his dish, the broth was packed in flavour (even without herbs and spice). The beef was also really tasty and not chewy at all.
I had stir fried flat noodles with chicken (Pho Xao Ga). It came with some crispy vegetables: carrot, pak choi, courgette and crispy onions on top. I thought the dish was pretty good, and also had the perfect balance of meat, carbs and vegetables. I remember at Banh Mi Bay the portions are usually slightly bigger but you end up with more noodles than meat or vegetables.
Service at Ngon Ngon was pretty good and quick, we waited only 5 minutes between ordering and getting dishes on the table. Our waiter was the restaurant Manager, who was pretty efficient, nice and friendly.
Overall I think Ngon Ngon was close to be the perfect restaurant for a short lunch break for £10 or less per head. All the dishes were delicious and smelled amazing. It would have probably been the perfect place if they hadn't sold out of banh mi by 1.30pm.
8/10
Ngon Ngon
144 Clerkenwell road
London EC1R 5DP
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