So, randomly ended up heading out for Vietnamese food again last night! No objections here, I'm definitely a fan! This time myself and two friends went to Mien Tay restaurant on Kingsland Road in Shoreditch, which I had heard was a winner.
The first thing I'll say is that both the atmosphere and the service was miles ahead of last week's outing to Song Que. Specifically, the service was spot on- our waiter was so attentive the whole time. At one stage, when my rice was about 90 seconds late he rushed over to apologise profusely, and he always served with a smile. (Incidentally, we were all a little on the late side arriving and there was no obnoxious stares from the staff this time!)
To start, we ordered Salt and Pepper Squid and Fresh Prawn Rolls to share. The Prawn Rolls were really good, somewhere between a steamed dumpling and a spring roll but really fantastically fresh tasting, and they came with a gorgeous peanut dipping sauce- it tasted a little like a peanut plum sauce.
The Squid, too, was tasty, although I'm not quite sure it lived up to its name. My Dad is a fantastic home cook, and he loves Asian food particularly. He literally makes the best S&P squid I have ever tasted, really light and tender but packed full of flavour (I'll write up the recipe in another blog post). Point being, I constantly find myself disappointed when I order it in restaurants because it always seems to miss the mark. The squid last night was covered in a heavy batter, and lacked the neccessary S&P flavour! If it had been advertised as deep fried calamari, great! But Salt and Pepper Squid it was not.
For the main, I was very tempted to get Pho again, as it was so delicious last time but variety being the spice of life and all that, I decided to try something different. After much deliberation (side note: you do not want to go to a restaurant with me- I take FOREVER to decide) I chose the mixed seafood Vietnamese curry, as recommended to me by our helpful server.
The curry was good- it was a peanut based curry and had a bit of a Massamam flavour to it- it was much sweeter than I had expected. It needed a stronger hit of chilli to balance the sweetness, and maybe some lime juice but the sauce itself was still delicious. My biggest complaint about the dish was the quality of the seafood- rubbery tiger prawns, squid and mussels overcooked- did not contribute much to the dish. That said, at £61 (including two bottles of wine) for three people, maybe my expectations were too high.
My companions ordered Vermicelli Noodles with Chicken, Honey and Spices and Vermicelli Noodles with Seafood, respectively. Both enjoyed their meals, although I think the slight lack of quality seafood was apparent throughout. Also, my friend said the dish lacked flavour and needed to be drowned in chilli oil which quickly got a bit sickening.
Having said that, the fish looked great- one of the reviews in the menu cited Deep Fried Seabass with Fish Sauce and Mango which I really wanted to try but unfortunately wasn't on the menu! Disappointing but I saw some of the other whole fish dishes and they looked great, would definitely try one next time!
In summation, its a good, cheap Vietnamese restaurant with good flavours. I definitely want to return to try the Pho there, but in future, I would stick for the meat and poultry options. But its a really nice place with a great atmosphere and I would definitely visit again. While the food may not have been as good as last week's foray to Song Que, the overall experience definitely was.
Link below:
http://www.mientay.co.uk/shoreditch/index.html
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