We were invited by our friends at the Little Viet Kitchen to join their first ever Vegan supper club as part of the pre-launch of their fantastic new restaurant on Chapel Street Market in Angel, London.
With Eliza unable to make the event we sent our friend Damien who is a vegan athlete and blogger on all things vegan to go and check it out.
How amazing doing these Banh Cuon steamed rice rolls with sweetcorn tofu look? As good as they tasted, for sure!
I was very excited to visit The Little Viet Kitchen on behalf of Healthy Living London.
In 2009 I embarked on a 3 week trip around Vietnam. That trip made me a huge fan of Vietnamese food. The fresh spices and herbs of the food eaten during that trip have lived long in my memory.
Since then I have scoured the Vietnamese restaurants of London searching for those punchy flavours that I experienced during my travels.
The Little Viet Kitchen looked wonderful. The turquoise green colour scheme was calming and welcoming.
Deep fried tofu
On arrival The Little Viet Kitchen looked wonderful. The turquoise green colour scheme was calming and welcoming. Once seated we received a glass of prosecco and Thuy (the chef) came and greeted us.
She explained how Eliza’s Vegan experience had inspired her to try this menu. She told us how one of her parents is Christian and the other Buddhist, meaning that growing up her mother cooked lots of vegetarian food at certain times in the month, so this was food from her childhood.
The restaurant had a lovely ambience with Bonobo playing in the background, polite and well informed staff and a lovely cooling turquoise colour scheme.
I went along with my friends Judy and Sarah Jane and immediately we found ourselves laughing away and getting excited about the 5 course menu.
The starter of deep fried crispy tofu-cubed was amazing, I can honestly say this was the best tofu I have ever tasted. Any Vegan will tell you that not all tofu is equal, a lot of skill goes into turning this potentially bland lean protein into something that can make your mouth water.
Vietnamese summer rolls followed the starter. These are fresh rolls, that are packed full of fresh herbs. These really took me back to the long hot days in Vietnam, these were the summer rolls I had been searching London for.
The banh cuon steamed rice rolls were delicious and we all couldn’t get enough of the savory onion soy sauce. I can only describe it as the sort of food that you wish you could make for all of your friends.
By this point all of us were having a great time.
From L to R: Andy, Damien, Thuy, SJ and Judy.
The food had been delicious and the rest of the evening didn’t disappoint our creamy coconut tamarind curry was warming and delicious. The spicy hue soup was really spicy but delicious and the desert was a totally unique experience of sweet corn and coconut pudding.
By the end of the evening my friends and I had truly had a wonderful culinary experience. Thuy the chef came out to check everyone had a great time, I felt so excited for her new venture.
Often when I visit Vietnamese restaurants in London I find the service to be curt and the food although sometimes tasty just thrown together. This wasn’t the case at The Little Viet Kitchen, you felt cared for and that you food you were eaten was made with love.
It is hard not to find joy in eating this food even if you’re not normally a plant-based eater. I personally hope the Vegan menu is going to be a regular feature of The Little Viet Kitchen, if so this will soon be one of the hottest Vegan nights in London and I for one will be a regular.
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