Randomness Guide to London Menu

Vietnamese restaurant in Pimlico.

It's very small, with only about a dozen seats on the ground floor plus more tables in the basement. As well as Vietnamese food, the menu also includes several Thai dishes and a couple of Chinese ones. There's a good selection of vegetarian options, all indicated clearly on the menu. They are licensed, and have a few wines by the glass as well as the bottle.

Kake and friend visited on a Wednesday evening in March 2012. We'd booked in advance, and were seated at a small corner table; the place is so small that we had to sit at right angles to each other rather than face-to-face, but this wasn't a problem for us.

Vegetarian spring rolls (£3.50) photo had Cantonese-style wheatflour skins rather than the more usual Vietnamese rice paper wrappers. They were fairly unexciting in flavour but there was nothing objectionable about them, and it was good to see them served with fresh herbs and lettuce for wrapping. Vegetarian crystal rolls (£4.10) photo were also fine.

The main course dishes were not particularly large; we shared two between the two of us, but if we'd been hungrier then three between us would not have been excessive either in terms of portion size or in price. Braised fragrant aubergine (£3.90) photo looked quite oily on arrival but was actually fine, with a nice texture to the aubergine and plenty of flavour. Braised quail eggs (£4.20) photo were also fine; the hard-boiled quail eggs and deep-fried tofu pieces added interest to what would otherwise have been a fairly pedestrian vegetable dish.

Various desserts were advertised on a blackboard, including mango sorbet and banana fritters photo. Mint tea was not advertised, but we asked and they were happy to make some.

Service was fine. A 10% service charge was added to the bill.

Kake's verdict: I like that they have a lot of vegetarian options, and everything we ate was fine, but I didn't find the food particularly outstanding overall. I might give it another go if I was in the area (certainly if I was with a vegetarian), but I wouldn't make a special journey to come here.

Accessibility: Can't remember if there was a step to get in. It's quite cramped inside, and the toilets are down a flight of stairs with a handrail and a bend in the middle.

See also:

• Time Out review
• Another Food Blog reviews: Oct 2006, Feb 2008
• London Eating comments
• Yelp comments