Go-Viet, South Kensington: Vietnamese with va va voom

A higher-end approach to London’s BYO staple
Calming: Go-Viet
Ben Norum12 December 2017

London has a serious love affair with Vietnamese food. We flock to the hottest spots on Kingsland Road in our droves to slurp down bowl after bowl of pho — even if we haven’t quite figured out how to pronounce it without sounding either pompous or philistine.

But contrary to other Asian cuisines, Vietnamese has so far only flourished at the most casual end of the market where BYO is de rigueur. With very few notable exceptions (House of Ho, for one) Hanoi’s high-end side remains relatively unexplored.

Enter Go-Viet, a Vietnamese restaurant away from the flock in South Kensington, which has been launched by a man who does upmarket Asian well: former Hakkasan Mayfair chef Jeff Tan. It’s his second solo outing, following the opening of Viet Food in Soho a couple of years ago, and this one is more formal, elaborate and experimental.

There’s no white tableclothed pomp, but a calm refined edge to the setting, service and menu. Exemplifying this is a small plate of ‘bí mật tomato’ to begin, which sees skinned baby plum tomatoes marinated for 10 hours in a stock made from 10 different Vietnamese herbs. They burst with juice and flavour on biting, and make a near-perfect appetite-whetting nibble, like Vietnamese olives.

Vietnamese olives: bí mật tomato

A slow-cooked beef cheek served meltingly soft, enveloped in a spiced oyster sauce glaze shows off similar finesse, while summer rolls filled with crispy tofu are a particularly well-honed version of the ubiquitous staple, benefitting from a medley of crunchy and soft textures.

King prawns, grilled and served on lemongrass skewers, also show off some clever textures. Smoky and soft, they are lavished with what the menu calls ‘crispy, fluffy stuff’ — a scattering of crunchy garlic and shallot shavings.

Complex: marbled beef pho

Pho is, of course, a mainstay. There are several on offer, all cooked for 16 hours with chicken or beef bones. Top of the pile is a version made with marbled beef. Not only are the slices of meat themselves deeply flavoured, but the stock is rich, complex and aromatic throughout — a wholesome multi-layered broth in contrast to the somewhat watery lesser versions we’ve all found put in front of us from time-to-time.

If being able to slurp away at this energising soup, knowing it has been made from high quality ingredients, and pairing it with some rather nice vino from a chunky list, is what you get when Vietnamese goes higher end, then hooray for that.

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There’s a time and a place for bringing your own bottle and getting your fill for a tenner but Go-Viet — which isn’t particularly posh or overly pricey — is helping London’s Vietnamese food scene step up a gear, the way we’ve already witnessed in the cases of Indian, Chinese and Thai. House of Ho

If you’re already a fan, this could become a favourite. If you’re not, it might just convert you.

Will we back? Pho sure.

Go-Viet, South Kensington: The lowdown

Final Flavour: Vietnamese with va va voom.

At what cost? Small plates from £3.20, mains from £10.80, pho from £7.90. Wine from £6 a glass.

Visit if you like: Viet Food, House of Ho, CoBa.

Find it: 53 Old Brompton Road, SW7 3JS; vietnamfood.co.uk/go-viet

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