Looking for good Vietnamese food in the city?

If you’re looking for a good, authentic Vietnamese in the City, look no further than Com Viet.

I have been meaning to try Com Viet (http://www.comviet.co.uk/) for some time.  I walk passed the restaurant at least once per week on my way back from Zumba.  I could have been fooled by my rumbling stomach that the smells were incredible but my experience of the restaurant on Saturday showed me this was not the case!

After a wander along South Bank with a pit-stop at Borough Market, my sister and I developed quite an appetite for lunch.  This despite tasting every cheese, meat and chocolate indulgence in Borough Market at 11am.  Not to mention sipping on Mulled Wine at a rather uncouth time in the morning.

 

I have always looked at old men in grubby pubs with a pint of beer in their hand at 11am on a Saturday morning and tutted at their gluttonous ways.  “I would never do that!”, I have said.  I wouldn’t say I’ve gone so far as to become a grubby old man but it certainly felt a tad wrong to be drinking mulled wine at 11am!

Nevertheless, our flutter with Christmas in a cup and a hearty walk did leave us wanting something substantial for lunch.  With a reservation for Jamie Oliver and Adam Perry Lang’s restaurant, Barbecoa (post to follow!), in the evening, we couldn’t afford to be overly calorific.

With a little shopping to do in Covent Garden, Com Viet was the perfect spot for lunch…”FINALLY!” my stomach yelled!

When we walked into the restaurant there were six or seven café style tables.  We didn’t mind this at all but when we were offered the opportunity to sit downstairs, curiosity sent us marching.

I would recommend sitting downstairs to anyone.  The décor is cosy and you have a view of the kitchen too (which to me tends to mean less grease and fewer cockroaches than the average kitchen – joking!).  Despite making my sister descend the staircase with her blistered feet (I did tell her to wear flat shoes, I’m not a one for the tube!), she was pleased to have taken a seat downstairs too.

The menu is small enough to convince you that there is love and care behind the dishes but large enough to give you a good choice.  The dishes seem to focus on one or two big flavours and, having been to Vietnam, I can say they are true to Vietnamese style.

I ordered a dish of slow-cooked chicken in chilli and lemongrass, which was recommended by our helpful waitress.  My sister ordered stir fried duck with ginger and spring onions.  We shared a bowl of Jasmine rice, which was more than enough for two.

My chicken was absolutely delicious, tender, moist and plenty of it.  It had obviously been marinating in the sauce for long enough to take on the intense flavour of the lemongrass.  The waitress told me the dish was hot (spicy hot, not hot hot), which made me reluctant to go for it, as I am far from a queen of spice.  The heat was pleasant in actual fact, not too overpowering at all.

If I have one reservation about the dish, it is that it can get tiresome and a little samey by the end (in part because there is so much of it, not that I’m complaining) but it would be a great dish to pick as part of a selection to share with others.  If you aren’t out with Joey Tribbiani that is…

 

Photograph taken from fyeahfriendsgifs.tumblr.com.

The recipe - If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the chicken was cooked in chicken stock with a drop of fish sauce, mirin, soy, a couple of tablespoons of sugar and garlic, with the obvious additions of lemongrass and chilli.  If you try to make it yourself be careful not to overpower the dish with lemongrass. 

My tips: Consider adding a bay leaf for an extra dimension and try mixing the side of Jasmine rice with spring onions and soya beans to add a little more texture and variety to the dish.

As for the duck dish, I found the forkful I was allowed before my hand was slapped away, very tasty…I have it on good authority that the duck was “mmm nice!”!

The tipple

For me, selecting a drink in a Vietnamese is a tricky one.  To try and find a drink that goes with the strong flavours of ginger, spring onion, chilli and lemongrass is difficult.  Given it was a birthday celebration and the drink itself is highly inoffensive, sitting relatively easily with almost anything, I decided on two glasses of prosecco.  It wasn’t a great match for the food but it was more than palatable.

But what about dessert?

In order to give you the complete picture, I can tell you I proceeded to drag my sister walking for miles further (cruel I know!).  She did perk up on seeing M&M World and the Rainforest Café (nope, she isn’t five years old either!) but her eyes really brightened when we walked passed a small French patisserie on Shaftesbury Avenue (sorry I have tried to Google and just can’t find the name but it had a rather nice chandelier if that helps).  Needless to say we wandered back to the little French Patisserie and continued our flirt with prosecco over a delightful MilleFuille and Black Forest Gateaux…I also tend to shy away from Vietnamese desserts…perhaps MilleFuilles and Black Forest Gateaux are the reasons why!

Happy visiting!