The Saigon Kitchen, Redland: ‘An invigorating addition to Bristol’ – restaurant review

It’s a welcome sight to see Cheltenham Road bustling with life again on a Saturday night. It’s only 7pm but there’s already a man on his knees outside the Prince of Wales. Nature truly is healing.

Tucked away from the lurching revellers on the quieter Zetland Road is The Saigon Kitchen, a new restaurant that has replaced Greens. Peer through the condensation on the window into the yellow light and you’ll see densely packed tables and chopsticks tucking into fresh Vietnamese dishes.

It’s nice to feel like you’ve really arrived in a restaurant. To be immediately surrounded by lively chatter and inviting smells and the bustle of service as soon as you open the door. We’re shown to a table which is within elbow-knocking distance of our neighbours on both sides, arguably too close for comfort but the eavesdropping is top notch.

The table on the right are already planning the dinner they’re going to have in 48 hours time (sushi) and those on the left are reminiscing fond memories of a friend being caught with class A drugs. A truer cross-section of Bristol you’d be hard-pressed to find.

Service is authentically Vietnamese in its warmth and enthusiasm but is slightly confused at times. It’s only their first week of opening and the staff are still somewhat finding their feet. That said, I very much enjoyed having the table laid with bowls, chopsticks and spoons after we sat down, our sense of anticipation heightened by the ceremony.

The menu is modest which is always a good sign. Starters begin at £4.50 and mains at £11, with a generous split between meat, vegetarian and pescatarian options. I note that the dish Vietnam is perhaps most well known for, pho, is only served here on Sundays as a ‘hangover cure’. A good pho is pretty much a cure for anything, so I’ll have to come back on a Sunday to test it out. To accompany the food is a minimal wine list, fresh juices and a handful of local beers.

To start, Nem Chay Hà Nôi or fried hanoi style spring rolls (£5) and a Goi Xoài Vói Tôm or spicy mango and pomegranate salad on prawn crackers with king prawns (£6.50).

I’m relieved when the spring rolls arrive, for if they weren’t up to par it would be a very foreboding sign of things to come. My fears are quickly alleviated. The rolls are crisp but not greasy, and brimming with depth of flavour. We opted for vegetarian and the tofu filled rolls are smoky and savoury.

Crispy and tasty spring rolls were a promising start

The pomegranate and mango salad is a dish of two halves. It is literally served on prawn crackers which is entertaining, almost like a Vietnamese take on a crispy taco. The salad itself is wonderful, a celebratory marriage of fruity mango and pomegranate with a touch of fresh coriander and a lovely dressing. I can’t make up my mind on the prawn crackers. It’s an unusual choice but the contrast of slightly salty and fried cracker with the fresh salad works, or at least it does if you eat it in the first three minutes. After that, the crackers start to dissolve. Always fun to have the countdown clock in the back of your mind when enjoying a starter, the punchline being shredded mango all over your lap. Not a first-date food, for anyone wondering.

I have made up my mind on the prawns though, unlike their cracker counterparts they are disappointing. They’re small and unusually cut in half lengthways so that they look like whole prawns but in fact are not. I wouldn’t have noticed their absence; better to leave them off altogether than serve them literally half-heartedly.

Salad served on prawn crackers is a first!

For mains it was dâu phu tho nuóc dùra or caramelised tofu in coconut cream, fragrant mushrooms, lemon grass and ginger (£11), com trang or jasmine steamed rice (£2.50) and bún cha hà noi, described as ‘an authentic Hanoi style dish with caramelised pork meatballs and BBQ pork belly served with rice noodles and fresh herbs’ (£12).

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The barbecue pork dish arrives a banquet of a plate, a steaming bowl of broth laden with meat, a generous portion of noodles on the side and a pile of fresh salad and herbs. The broth was a surprise but not an unpleasant one, in place of the meaty umami flavours I’d anticipated it was sweet and sour. It tasted like fish sauce on acid, with a healthy dose of vinegar thrown in too. That makes it sound unpleasant and it was quite odd when tasted by itself, but paired with the perfectly caramelised pork meatballs and belly it was a barbecue taste sensation. Truly delicious. The fresh salad and herbs cut through the barbecue flavours nicely and perfectly balanced the weighing scales that Vietnamese food is best known for; a sensual dance of umami and vibrancy.

The BBQ dish was a feast for the eyes too

The ‘caramelised’ tofu didn’t quite achieve crispness but could be awarded points for trying. The chunks were also disconcertingly under seasoned; their spongey texture perfect for soaking up the delicious sauce they were bathed in but sadly tasting of little else.  Fortunately the tofu needn’t worry too much about its lacklustre performance as it was carried by the sensational puddle of curried coconut sauce it was bathed in. Not dissimilar to a Thai red curry, this is a fragrant dish that makes juggling sweet, sour and silky creaminess look effortless.

The portion sizes for both mains were generous

The rice is advertised as ‘jasmine steamed’ but like the tofu hasn’t been seasoned and the jasmine is a distant sense of deja vu. It’s also slightly overcooked, but that does make it easier to balance in clumps on the end of a chopstick.

So far, I am suitably impressed. I won’t go as far as to say I was nervous coming here but I’ve nothing but wonderful memories of the food and hospitality in Vietnam so the stakes were high. Buoyed by the experience so far, we opt to try one of the three desserts. Given the fact I’d never seen it on a menu before, let alone eaten it, it had to be the ‘day xanh duroc cot dùa’, or mung bean pudding (£4).

The congealed porridge-like thing that arrived was quite unlike anything I’d eaten before. It tasted, and looked for that matter, like rice-pudding and daal had had a baby. A cold, slimy baby, sweet but earthy. A baby that at first appears hideously ugly, but after spending a bit of time with it you grow to love it. Even though I’m not sure I can look you in the eyes and tell you I liked it, I have tremendous admiration for this dish. It’s rare to taste something so alien, so unlike anything I’ve eaten before. Something that ties your brain in knots as you try to understand it, until you accept that it is not to be understood, only appreciated.

Strawberries provided a sweet contrast to the unusual dessert

As we pay up and scuttle across the road to nearby Filthy 13 for a cocktail, I reflect on The Saigon Kitchen experience. It had its imperfections, but they only really served as a reminder of how close to being perfect it is. It’s very easy to forecast many warm and enjoyable evenings in there with family, friends, colleagues or dates.

The location is superb, the food was refreshing and the service will be great, given another week or two. An invigorating addition to Zetland Road and to the wider Bristol food scene; I can’t think of anything else quite like it.

The Saigon Kitchen, 25 Zetland Road, Redland, Bristol, BS6 7AH
www.thesaigonkitchen.co.uk

All photos: Meg Houghton-Gilmour

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