Picture of Viet Rest, SE8 4NS

Historical version 1 of Viet Rest, SE8 4NS (view current version)

Vietnamese restaurant in Deptford. They also do takeaway.

It's quite small inside, just a single room seating around 30 people. Exposed pale wood floorboards are underfoot, and long murals of peaceful water scenes (possibly Ha Long Bay?) stretch along the side walls. A fishtank embedded in the counter at the far end adds interest.

Kake has visited twice now, both times on Tuesday lunchtimes around 1pm and both to order takeaway, first in December 2014 and then in January 2015. There were about half a dozen other customers in both times, and the flatscreen behind the counter was showing Vietnamese news with the sound on.

Prawn summer rolls (nem cuon tom; £5 for four in Jan 2015) photo were nice and fresh, with crunchy lettuce and structurally sound wrappers; I would have preferred more herbs, but this is a minor quibble. The dipping sauce was well balanced, and had some tasty crunchy slices of vegetable in too.

Glutinous rice with braised pork (xoi thit; £5.50 in Dec 2014) photo was also good. The glutinous rice had a good texture, neither soggy nor overly hard, and came with generous servings of pork floss and deep-fried shallots spread over the top. The pork was pork belly, with plenty of flavour both intrinsic and from spicing, and with a good balance of fat to meat. It had been braised for a good length of time, enough for the skin to soften to a beautifully gelatinous texture.

Accessibility: A ramp to get in. The space by the doorway is a little narrow. Toilets not checked, but seem to be in the basement.

See also:

Last visited (for takeaway) by Kake, January 2015.
OS X co-ord: 537181 OS Y co-ord: 177266 (Latitude: 51.477211 Longitude: -0.024399)
This is version 1 (as of 2015-01-13 16:56:35). View current version.