Reviews or Comments for 'Huong-Viet' (5)

Despite Huong Viet’s relative inaccessibility by tube (it’s a 15-minute bus ride from the closest station), Jon and I used to eat there once a month. The “hanoi” beef pho, the prawn banh xeo (Vietnamese pancake), and the whole steamed sea bass at low low prices made the 40-minute bus-and-walk journey from our flat worthwhile.

Jon and I weren’t the only ones who loved Huong Viet - Hardens, TimeOut, and the Good Food Guide tripped over themselves singing HV’s praises.

BUT, the thing with Huong Viet that Jon and I always worked hard to overlook was the service. It’s not that the servers are nasty, but they’re just totally harried. In a country where I think restaurants are often under-staffed, Huong Viet took server inattentiveness to new heights: there just were never enough servers for the *crowds* that fill the dining room. A meal at Huong Viet always seemed to turn into the night’s main activity because it was impossible to get in and out in under two hours. (Weird for a restaurant that you’d assume works on a turn-those-tables-fast profitability model).

A few months ago, Jon and I stopped going when, after waiting ages for some white rice, we were informed that the restaurant had run out of white rice for the evening. How does that happen, really? And why could nobody make more?

Well, as proof of how delish and cheap the food at Huong Viet is, last Friday, Jon and I couldn’t resist the memory of the resto’s fragrant, hot pho and their crispy banh xeo. We braved the monsoon, caught the No. 30 bus to Dalston, and walked the fifteen minutes down to Englefield Road, dreaming of good stuff.
prawn banh xeo (crispy Vietnamese pancake)

I remembered the prawn banh xeo (£6.50) bursting with massive, juicy prawns. How sad that after our months-long hiatus, Jon and I returned to HV only to find our beloved crispy pancake filled with half-cooked yellow onions, a few crunchy bean sprouts and some shriveled-up, microscopic bits of overcooked prawns. The yellowing, limp slices of iceburg lettuce on the side (can you see it in the upper-right-hand corner of the prawn banh xeo photo above?) further depressed.

Thinking maybe we should go to an old, reliable standby, Jon and I ordered pork and prawn cha gio (£4). These were at least tasty, though horribly disfigured (i.e., burned and misshapen). Maybe I can’t even credit them with being tasty . . . a spicy-sweet-tangy nuoc cham has a way of hiding all manner of sins.

Thank god the hanoi pho with beef (£5.60 for a large) still came through for us. I’d be sad if nothing at all were as I remembered at Huong Viet. The steamed whole sea bass for £8.50 was still fragrant with ginger and scallions. And the corkage charge is still a reasonable £1.50 per person, so HV is still the place to be for an inexpensive, boozy meal out with friends.

Overall, though, it may be months before I make the journey over there again. Well-priced sea bass and pho aren’t big enough pulls to overcome the travel time from my flat and the indifference of servers. Not when I have Viet Garden two minutes from my flat and the joys of more-easily reached Kingsland Road to eat.

An's profile     Other reviews by An     An likes    

The building looks distinctly uninviting, but as you enter a good sign is a real charcoal grill, with the coals red hot and meat being grilled. The dining room itself has fairly a low-ceiling and is very cramped. Tables are crammed in, and need to be moved around just to sit down. The floor is a grey-green lino, and tables have quite unpleasant plastic tablecloths, which are wiped now but none too successfully: ours was not the only one to be badly stained. The walls are cream except for the far wall as you enter, which is red. The ceiling has white ceiling tiles, and there are overhead spots: it is quite brightly lit. On the cream walls (with blue painted dado rail) are various black and white framed photos of Vietnamese scenes, and there are a couple of pleasant flower displays, one on the right as you come in and one on the bar area. Windows have bamboo blinds. Each table had a little glass containing carnations and narcissi. Napkins are paper and tiny. The chairs are uncomfortable fold-up metal things, with red plastic upholstery. China is a cheap blue pattern on white. The crowd is casual and mostly local.

Service was friendly but poor. Admittedly this was a busy Saturday night, but the staff were clearly over-stretched, and long gaps occurred. Our fairly simple meal took over two and a half hours to produce. Dishes appeared as they were ready rather than at once, and there was some difficulty in getting any attention. The Vietnamese staff were dressed casually, mostly in black trousers and white shirts. The restaurant has no alcohol licence, which would have been useful to know when I made the booking, but this went un-remarked when I made the reservation; there is an off-licence, but it is several minutes walk up the road. As this is the sort of area where the Alsatians go around in pairs, it is best to bring something from home.

Vietnamese spring rolls were served as four rolls, with a little lettuce and coriander leaf as salad garnish. These had excellent flavour and texture, though were not piping hot. A sweet chilli sauce was a good compliment to the richness of the rolls (1/10). A prawn pancake was a large crispy affair, stuffed with well-cooked prawns and bean sprouts: this dish worked fairly well, though was a generous size for a starter (1/10).

I tried the chicken with lemon-grass, which was cooked on the charcoal grill but was grilled a little too long: not chewy but not optimal either. This was served with a small salad and some pickled vegetables, as well as a pile of none-too-hot but acceptably textured noodles (1/10). A “tamarind fillet of fish” was not a fillet at all, just a fried catfish with little flesh and plenty of bones, with what I can only describe as a brown gravy since it manifestly failed to taste of tamarind, or indeed anything else. This had some snow peas and red peppers for garnish, but they could not rescue the dish (0/10). Better were the vegetables dishes. French beans with garlic were lightly cooked with a generous amount of garlic (2/10). Even better were some very lightly cooked snow peas, served with garlic and a well made black bean sauce (3/10). A dish of Singapore noodles was very bland, while some egg fried rice was acceptable.

A pineapple leaf cake came as two slices of conventional cake, whose filling was green and managed to have no discernable taste whatever. I’m not sure what pineapple leaf tastes like, and after this I am none the wiser. Still, the cake was moist and well enough made (round up). Creamy tofu in a sweet ginger sauce was served in a bowl and was essentially a sweet ginger soup with pieces of tofu and coconut floating on top.

Coffee was served in a cup with a little filter draining into it. Unfortunately it was all too authentic Vietnamese coffee, which is made with chicory, and is frightful (0/10). Jasmine tea is a better bet, and was fine.

Andy's profile     Other reviews by Andy     Andy likes    

Huong-Viet is just off Kingsland Rd. The restaurant is set in the old baths of Hackney, the inside is quiet small and basic but clean and cheap. It's also has had its fair share of write ups in the popular press, so there will be no need for me to go on about how good the cuisine is here. Fancy going somewhere off the beaten track and you live around debeauvior and you love Vietnamese food, get down here quick.

"Huong Viet is part of the Vietnamese Cultural Centre so I assume the food to be authentic although not having eating Vietnamese I couldn't say for sure! I came with friends for a quick meal, and we brought our own bottles of course which made it a cheap night out. The squid was melt in the mouth delicious as was the lamb galangal while one friend enjoyed the cat fish fillet and another the chicken and cashew nuts. " For fifteen quid a head you really can't go wrong."

"I've been going to this restaurant for years and have always loved it, the quality of food was fantastic and it was always busy and had friendly staff... But I went last friday and it seems to have turned into another restaurant. We ordered and after waiting 45 mins and asking the waiters a couple of times the mains turned up twice before we'd even had our starters, then the wrong starters came and we had to have a talk with the manager before we got the right ones. It eventually took an hour and a half before we got some food! when we'd finished we got 2 puddings put down in front of us which I assumed was an apology for the hassle we'd been through but no, they were taken away when we asked." If it is a take-over then you could put this down to teething problems but what's much worse is the food has gone seriously downhill, the dishes I knew and loved so well have turned mediocre and flavourless - it's terrible and I will never go back!!"