Super Secret Supper Club - Vietnamese Style

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to take part in Thuy’s first Secret SupperClub @ The Little Viet Kitchen. Thuy is no stranger to Supper Clubs (this is actually how she got started before opening the restaurant back in May), and this one did not disappoint. You can really feel how passionate she is about cooking authentic, traditional and fresh food from her childhood memories in Vietnam.  Not only was the food delicious, and plentiful, the front of house team, led by her husband Dave, are an equally important part to making The Little Viet Kitchen the standout restaurant on Chapel Market.

We arrived a little early, so decided to go wait at the pub a couple of doors down, The Joker of Penton Street. The décor here is very quirky, but attentive staff behind the bar and they have a good selection of gins including Hendricks, Tanqueray 10 and King of Soho. We also noticed that the food here is courtesy of Burger Bear – had we not been booked in for a Vietnamese feast we might have stayed here all night.

After a quick drink we strolled back to The Little Viet Kitchen where we were greeted with a refreshing welcome drink and escorted to our corner table. In actual fact the restaurant had been pretty much booked out for a 30^th birthday party (HBD Lucy!) and along with another table of 2 we were the only dinners not part of that party. Dave and the team made sure we didn’t feel left out and kept us all entertained with flaring from the bar team,  lovely introductions to the meals and making sure we always had enough drinks. 

Thuy announced the first course of a trio of summer rolls, or as she described it, she “couldn’t make up her mind between serving, pork prawn or tofu, so we get all three.” Another thing you need to know about Thuy, she is very generous with her portions. So you will never leave the LVK feeling hungry. What appeared next was 6 pieces of summer rolls (which we first thought were for sharing but turned out to be individual portions). I started off with the tofu (by mistake) and it has changed my mind on what I thought was a tasteless veggie option. What a revelation! This was probably my favorite of the three, followed by the sweet juice prawn and then the finely slice pork rolls. The traditional dipping sauce was full of fresh flavours, with a lovely lime zing, a touch of spice and that underlying fish sauce taste. 

The next course was the very popular spring rolls. Thuy explained that in Vietnam these are different depending where you are. And in the southern part they are a little chewier rather than crispy. Emphasis was once again made on the dipping sauce, which she expected to be used up completely and not a drop wasted, made with coconut juice, green papaya, and lemongrass. This was the perfect accompaniment to the chewy organic mushroom spring rolls, with underlying hints of pepper.

In between course we of course tested out some of their lovely cocktails. Starting off with a heavenly Meekong Coconut Margarita (coconut tequila, lime & agave) and the Rose 75 (gin, pink vermouth, prosecco, raspberry).  Followed by my favorite Lemongrass & Ginger Sherbert Colada (non-alcoholic) and then a couple of hard Cucumber Mojitos, which were absolutely refreshing and a great pairing with the last course.

We had had a sneak peek at one of the star ingredients of the night on the LVKs twitter when they posted a picture of tuna steaks. And what we were presented did not disappoint.  Perfectly cooked seared tuna slices (like carpaccio) dressed with a delicious pineapple lemongrass and chili sauce. Once again, Thuy asked that we eat everything, from the melt in your moth tuna to the sauce and the herbs that served as garnish. And she didn’t have to ask twice. 

By this point we had heard rumors of giants prawns and as we had been promised a 4 course menu, we were anxiously waiting for the famed crustaceans to make an appearance. And when they did, they did not disappoint. These prawns could have easily been langoustines they were so big! And this time we were instructed by the chef that we should enjoy the whole prawn, and go down the traditional route by sucking its brains. Now, prawns are probably one of my favorite things, and I could just happily spend and afternoon going through a couple pints of prawns. And although I have eaten them with their shell on (Mexico, 2013) I’m not too keen on sucking anything’s brains out. However, I tried my best and picked at a bit of the meat in the head… but I’m afraid I had to divert the rest of the extraction to J, who was more than happy to oblige. But back to the prawns, they were covered in a light crispy batter and the meat pulled off the shell with no effort. This was accompanied by a beautiful green mango and papaya salad that just brought a light freshness to the dish.

Once we had finished feasting on those beautiful juice prawns, we though the evening would soon be coming to an end. But how wrong we were. Thuy had one last surprise for us – her calling card. You can’t have Vietnamese and not have some sort of noodle dish. Thuy explained that she gave this much thought and there was only one way to end the menu, and that was with one of her favorite dishes, a classic Oxtail Bún bò Huế. This is a dish that deserves absolute respect, not only when preparing it but also when being presented it to eat.  This really is a truly special dish. The stock is left to simmer for 8 hours!!  So you can imagine how much flavor there was in this glorious soup. The stock itself was sweet and salty and lightly spiced (more chili could be added on request), the meat itself was as soft as you like, complimented by a lovely Vietnamese sausage and noodles. All I can say is wow! What a way to end a meal.

We had previously planned to go down to 69 Colebrooke Row for a nightcap, but we were so happily stuffed that once we said our goodbyes it was straight home and to bed. What a great night and one we are still talking about. We’ll be sure to keep an eye and ear open for the next one, but we might just have to be back sooner than that!