Saigon Saigon is one of a cluster of restaurants located on King Street in Hammersmith; it aims to serve authentic Vietnamese cuisine. I went along for a catch up with a few school friends and arrived first so spent a while being nosey and looking round the restaurant. I would describe Saigon Saigon as a high end take-away joint, with reasonable prices, genuinely good food, and reliable service, the interior is warm and welcoming.
The menu is never-ending, with many of the options seeming almost identical. After a few rounds of spicy prawn crackers we chose a few starters to share. I insisted on chargrilled marinated chicken satay, succulent meat squashed onto sticks and covered in a deliciously sweet peanut marinade. The others were keen on the fishy choices and chose the spicy farci crab shell filled with crab meat, vermicelli threads and backfeather fish meat... surprisingly filling, the prospect of mains became a little daunting.
The next course came in steaming bowls. I chose chicken curry with sweet potatoes, basil, chilli and coriander. This dish was a cross between a Thai and Indian curry, the aromatic flavours of Thai with the thickness and creamy texture of Indian. I loved the curry sauce, very fresh and zingy flavours made it very moreish but there was far too much chicken and not enough vegetables, and I ended up leaving a sad pile of untouched meat in my bowl. Around the table my friends tried the rice vermicelli topped with stir fried beef with chilli & lemongrass and the king prawn curry with aubergine, okra, diced potatoes, green peppers & sweet basil. The portions seemed average, but along with accompanying steamed fragrant rice we all found it difficult to finish.
I am a little ignorant of Vietnamese food so feel it is unfair for me to judge the authenticity of Saigon Saigon, but from my lovely experience here I would say it is definitely worth a try if you live nearby.
Saigon Saigon, 313-317 King Street, Hammersmith, W6 9NH. Visit the website here.
I've been there! It was very nice =)
ReplyDeleteI had some sort of sugary lime drink which was interesting.