db Eats: The House of Ho

Vietnamese cuisine has been thrust into the spotlight this year via Bobby Chin’s The House of Ho, which opened in Soho in January.

Drawing on 18 years of cooking experience in Hanoi and Saigon, Chin, who was born to a Chinese father and Egyptian mother, brings a contemporary twist to Vietnamese cuisine via the likes of shredded duck and banana blossom salad, christened “duck à la banana” after Gareth’s experimental dish in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Having opened restaurants in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, this is the third venture of the self-styled “ethnic mutt”, who, before becoming a chef, worked stints as a stand up comic, stock broker, shoe shiner and lift operator.

The House of Ho’s interiors are a masterclass in industrial chic; lamps are low hung, wooden tables are bare, and exposed brick walls are populated with arty black-and-white shots of Hanoi. The deep house soundtrack meanwhile, is ear-bleedingly loud.

Ho’rny Devil cocktail

The cavernous, 90-cover space is cleverly compartmentalised, with a long, stool-less bar spanning the length of the front section. Cocktails are accomplished and feature twists on classics using Asian ingredients.

My coconut-rimmed Ho’rny Devil, blending lemongrass vodka with Vietnamese devil’s chili, proved a refreshing drop with just the right level of heat.

The searingly fresh, lip-puckering Flying Shiso Martini meanwhile, mixed Tanqueray 10 gin with shiso, yuzu and lime. Both cost a wallet-friendly £7 and paired surprisingly well with the food.

Split into bite-sized sections, including “rolls”, “raw”, “grilled”, “steamed” and “braised”, dishes at The House of Ho are designed to be shared.

Ranging from £4.50 to £18, with the majority hovering around the affordable £8 mark, food is sent out when it’s ready, resulting in an onslaught of dishes arriving at once. A slow burn rather than scattergun approach would have been preferable.

While the hallmarks of Vietnamese cuisine could be said to be crunchy, punchy, life-affirming flavours, in place of freshness and heat, the majority of dishes veered on the cloying side of sweet, the ingredients glistening expectantly from inside their black bowls.

Stealing the show was the “shaking beef’, composed of tender cubes of baby-soft, 30 day aged Angus beef. The melt in the mouth, lightly charred flesh tasted like licking a barbecue (in a good way) and had bags of character.

Lemongrass chicken and caramel meanwhile, was a Vietnamese take on black cod and sweet miso, the marriage of white meat with a Cadbury’s sweet sauce was saved from oblivion by the vibrant citrus tang of the lemongrass. Apple-smoked pork belly was a triumph. Boasting a crunchy crust with a diamond lattice design, the silky, salty meat was served with curls of fried onions and a boiled egg with a gooey, sunshine yellow yolk.

Apple-smoked pork belly

Many of the plates offered playful takes on Vietnamese classics, with Chin giving dishes a Modernist makeover.

Coconut lemongrass steamed prawn rolls with vegetable noodles were dressed in see-through jackets and served with a rich satay dipping sauce, though I preferred the purity of them naked, while a side of alluringly titled “heavenly flowers” turned out to be bitter courgette flower buds.

The evening ended on a high with a lilting, lemon-scented crème brûlée served with a zingy ball of lemongrass sorbet. Lifting the rich dish with its nostalgic, lemon curd laced interior, the pudding proved the perfect union of East and West.

The House of Ho is Vietnam viewed through Western eyes. It’s like we’ve been given the PG version and I’m left craving for the 18. The soft, soothing flavours work up to a point, but I would have liked it to have been rougher around the edges.

Bobby is a talented and hugely charismatic chef, but I fear he’s played it a little too safe in London with his sugar-coated approach, and in doing so has tamed the wild beauty of Vietnamese cuisine.

The brilliance of the capital is that its legion of insatiable foodies are open-minded and adventurous. Chin can afford to take more risks with his menu in order to bring an authentic slice of Hanoi to Soho. Enough with the sweetness, it’s time to turn up the heat.

The House of Ho, 57-59 Old Compton Street, Soho, London W1D 6HP; Tel: +44 (0)20 7287 0770