"I used to live in Vietnam and since moving back to the UK, I've yet to find anything as authentic as Anne's food." says a fellow customer of Taste of Vietnam who I chatted to as we waited to collect our feasts from Anne's home in St Albans. This lady wasn't the only customer who sung Taste of Vietnam's praises. A gentleman told me he travels regulary from Harpenden for Anne's food; he used to live in London and misses the plethora of cuisines he had at his fingertips there. Taste of Vietnam was a wonderful break from the overwhelmingly "boring offers of pizza and fried chicken on Deliveroo" he says.
So on Friday night, I drove back to Hemel with high expectations, and a hellavalotta food in the car. We ordered the £50 deal of 4 starters and 4 mains so that we could try everything from this week's menu. In hindsight this was far too much food and yes, you probably guessed it, it was supposed to be for 4 people! So that works out at great value of £12.50 per head.
A selection of dishes are posted each week on Facebook or Instagram, and orders are made directly on either site in advance of collection slots on either Friday or Saturday. Payment can be made by cash on collection or in advance via mobile payment. Bit of a pain to order this way, but in practice this is a small hurdle that's worth it.
The food is mostly collected cold or luke warm. Confusingly, the heating instructions are actually on the menu which Anne posts every week on Instagram, rather than being sent along with the dishes. This is a bit of a bother, but it's easy to assemble and heat up once you check. All dishes are labelled and colour coded so its clear which noodles, sauces and toppings go with which broth etc.
There's no easy way to write this review if I'm honest, because the top line of it all is that: Taste of Vietnam's food is amazing. There's no clever way I can circumnavigate that fact or allude to it. It's plain and simple: this is excellent food. Nothing here is ground breaking, innovative or unexpected. Contrrary to that, it's traditional, authentic, and perfect in it's simplicity. The ingredients are fresh and the dishes Anne creates are bursting with flavour. The textures deliver perrfectly and the flavours whisk me away to Hanoi.
Our favourite dishes that standout were the Lime Beef Salad, Sweetcorn Fritters, Banh Cuon, Fish Patty Udon Noodle Soup. The Lime Beef Salad was ultra thin strips of lean, rare, seared beef, tossed with a fish sauce, chilli and lime dressing, mint, coriander, peanuts and chilli. It was so succulent and jam packed with flavour but it was also such a generous portion size and the meat seemed like wonderful quality; so tender and perfectly seared. The Sweetcorn Fritters (and Calamari that we had for that matter) were light and crisp. Considering they had been packed in foil containers to get home, they didn't go soggy or seep oil. They were also fresh, crunchy and light. The Banh Cuon are all made by hand using homemade rice paper wrappers which is blindingly impressive. They were so delicate and the meat inside was juicy and marinated well. Finally, the noodle dishes and broths. All were incredibly comforting with that touch of something special. In the Pho, the beef was raw on collection and sliced so thinly that when the broth is poured over, it lightly cooks the beef to perfection so it just melts in the mouth. Despite being a clear broth, it is packed with flavour too. The Fish Patty Udon Soup had such a spongy, light patty which paired perfectly with the hearty noodles and chilli broth. The Chicken Bamboo Noodle Soup was a slightly less complex dish without a huge hit of flavour and a bit bland in comparison to the other dishes, but it carried a roundness to a freshly made chicken stock that you only get from the homemade kind.
Finally, we tried the Souffle Cotton Cheesecake. Oh. My Gosh. I've said previously that I'm trademarking the term "floofy". If you were ever to look it up in the dictionary, there would just be a picture of this cake there. This is a lighter-than-air cheesecake, served with tart raspberry jam and fresh raspberries. I feel like I could eat a LOT of this cake. Despite it not being a traditional New York Cheesecake, I can honesty say, its one of the best cheesecakes I've ever eaten in my life. I'd skin Rachel and Chandler alive if they ever tried to steal this one from me.
As everything is homemade, all ingredients are known and allergens are easy to identify. The fact that most Vietnamese food also centres around rice rather than wheat and has minimal dairy is great news for those with gluten or dairy issues too. Plus it's worth noting, that many dishes can be made vegan too on request which is a lovely touch.
Vietnamese food is not about super complex dishes. It celebrates the best of fresh ingredients and delivers light, fresh, flavoursome rounded dishes that zing, tingle, comfort, mellow and incite salivation. This simplicity is perfected by Anne and the authenticity of her food is evident.
Anne has been doing this for 4 years. All dishes are made purely from scratch; and I mean EVERYTHING from every marinade, sauce, spice blend and rice paper roll! Anne's expertise is further displayed through the fact that she shares this knowledge in regular cookery classes in normal times. Once lockdowns lift and these start again, I'll fight you for a spot. There are also Bahn Mi available every Thursday for lunch which is exciting!
It's easy living in London to think that London is the be-all and end-all of cuisines. But every Vietnamese restaurant we tried in London over the years just pales in comparison to Taste of Vietnam. This is a wonderful business that should and -I have no doubt- will thrive, grow and expand. It is food of the highest quality and a complete joy to have so closeby!
Sometimes you should believe the hype.
Service:
Ordered directly via Facebook and Instagram and then collection from St Albans which is a little analog but this enabled us to chat to Anne and her husband and makes a lovely personal service where you feel well looked after and part of the Taste of Vietnam family. Also a lovely byproduct of this format, especially now, when the only people J and I see is each other, our daughter and the cat- is that you can chat to other people collecting at the same time.
Quality:
Top line: blimmin' great quality fresh ingredients, assembled with perfection.
Value & Price:
If you get a meal deal, like we did, it's £12.50 per head. But you're looking at £5-£7/ starter or £8.50-£11.50/main dish. And definitely get the £4 cheesecake!
Overall:
OUTSTANDING - This is brilliant and we want to eat it every week. It's fresh and relatively healthy take away but still feels like such a dayuuuummm treat! Do us a favour and don't tell anyone about it... We want this all to ourselves!
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