My friend and her boyfriend schedule in a date night into their lives to spend quality time with each other outside their home doing something fun. When she first told me about it I thought it was a great idea and decided to give it a go too.
It’s easy to miss Noodles & Magic when you’re hurrying down King Street in Hammersmith. Tucked away beside Books for Amnesty, on the ground floor of Appleton House, it doesn’t look very inviting in the day. But in the evenings when all the candles are lit, you peep in and see a few happy people bent over their meals, and it’s warm and welcoming.
I’ve got a bit of a travelling husband. So earlier this week, instead of sitting around at my dining table on my own, I decided to take myself out for a proper meal at a proper restaurant. Could have been fairly boring, but thankfully wasn’t!
Vietnam is a foodie’s paradise. Seafood, pork, chicken, chilli, shallots, basil, mint, lemongrass, chives, coriander, dill, garlic, lemon, cucumber, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, beansprouts, sesame seeds a plenty. Simple flavours combined beautifully. Wrapped in banana leaves, or rolled in rice paper, or thrown into a lovely broth with every kind of noodle, or stuffed in a pancake or bread or dumpling. Fried, steamed, grilled, or simmered. Served up fresh and inviting and bursting with flavour. To be drizzled with or dunked in fish sauce, chilli sauce, or soy sauce. My mouth’s watering just remembering all those many many superb meals. Some at a busy street crossing, some by the river on little stools and tables that reminded me of childrens’ tea parties, some in cafes adorned with traditional colourful lanterns.
Here’s my list of Vietnamese food you must try if you visit :)
Burger craving satisfied. And how! The Hoxton Grill has come up in conversation a number of times in the last few months, but I never got around to going to it somehow, so when it was suggested as a probable dinner destination for an impromptu catch up with peeps from my previous workplace, I was thrilled.