Best Vietnamese in London?!

I thought I should pass on this restaurant tip as it was soooo good…

Mien Tay 180 Lavender Hill, Battersea SW11 5TQ (02073500721)

Last night I went to Mien Tay on Lavender Hill, which is a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant. Recently reviewed by AA Gill IN THE Sunday Times, it received 4 out of 5 stars and was said by him to be ‘the best Vietnamese in London’. Traditionally most Vietnamese are found in Kingsland Road in the Northern part of London, but this is situated just a 5 min walk from Clapham Junction – so has great transport links and is in the South of London.

After visiting pre and post review some of the dishes I can recommend are:

-Fresh (summer) shrimp rolls
-Pho soup with beef
-Crispy egg pancake with beansprouts
-Green Papaya salad with dry spicy beef
-Beef with lemongrass and chilli
-Goat curry with galangal

The top three dishes are very traditional and the signature dishes of Vietnam – staples, really, if you go to a Vietnamese restaurant.

For four people it came to £50 which is peanuts and it’s BYOB – even better!!!

If you get the chance to go let me know what you think!

Happy Cooking!

Harriet

More Sweet Treats

When i was up in St Andrews a couple of months ago i was inspired by a new bakery called Bibi's. they had some great flavour ideas including the mini oreo cupcakes (a recipe inspired by Hummingbird and Bibi's is below in an older post) and the choc mint cupcakes i had a go at this week- i was pretty chuffed with the results!

I also had a go at making some cherry compote cupcakes with white chocolate and marscapone icing. I dropped a spoonful of cherry compote in the middle of the vanilla sponge mix and it made a fabulous gooey centre...all cakes were made with the delicious Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract of course...!!

Happy Cooking!

H

Marketing Meeting Fun - we cook regional Thai!!

Each month i invite the Marketing teams (Blue Dragon and Pataks) to join me in the AB World Foods kitchen for a research and learning session. We look at our products, competitors products, and learn about the cuisines of the Far East and India.

This session we focused on regional Thai - i had been out in Thailand for a month, earlier on in the year, and i was keen to share with them some of the dishes i had experienced...

Prawns in a curdled yellow curry sauce – SOUTHERN

Naturally seafood is very important in the south and this dish is commonly made with crab. We however used prawns for their ease and it worked rather well. A touch of mild curry powder added the pop of yellow colour to the dish and the addition of eggs to the curry sauce base thickened and curdled the mixture. It was delicious and one of the favourites!

Pad Thai with Crispy Wontons– CENTRAL

I tried this fantastic dish in perhaps the best Pad Thai restaurant in Bangkok. They leave out the noodles from the dish, in favour of serving the bits in the sauce with a bundle full of deep fried crispy wontons – YUM! The secret ingredient in the best Pad Thais is the pickled radish. It adds a sweet vinegary flavour that just lifts the dish from great to fantastiche!!

Wood ear Mushrooms with egg and coriander – CHAOZHOU

This dish is great for texture – the mushrooms are kind of crunchy and rubbery at the same time, and the coriander adds a fantastic freshness to the eggs. All seasoned up with chillies and light soy sauce, it makes for a yummy vegetarian dish. Chaozhou (as I mentioned previously in my blog) is a style of cooking that comes from Chinese immigrants to Thailand – making use of Chinese recipes that incorporate some Thai influences/ ingredients.

Jungle Curry – NORTH

Jungle curry is a very hot curry for the north. It is traditionally made with a paste to start, and then cooked in a stock (rather than coconut milk) with pea and apple aubergines, chicken, thai sweet basil, coriander and many chillies and green peppercorns. It certainly cleaned out the sinuses!

Som Tam with Fruit (in silver bowl on left) – ISARN

This dish is popular among the dieters of Bangkok as it contains almost no calories! It traditionally comes from the Isarn or North Eastern part of Thailand and is made from green papaya and has a hot and sour flavour profile. The street hawkers of Bangkok like to change it up a bit and sometimes make it with fruits like rose apple (and salty crabs), which give it a pleasing crunch. We made ours with granny smith and pink lady apples, radishes, carrot and sugar snap peas for their crispness.

Happy cooking!

H