House of Ho does beautiful, tasty food, hitting the right balance between flavour and heat. In…read moreaddition, they have a lovely Albariño on the wine list.
House of Ho just off Charlotte Street in Fitzrovia does what it calls modern Vietnamese food. I walked past a few times before and never realised that it has different dining rooms on different floors. When I walked in, I was taken to the first floor and got a nice table in the middle of the room.
The room is beautifully decorated. With the large vintage mirrors in combination with the light green benches and chairs, the place looks kind of fancy, while not overwhelmingly so. On my floor there was also a second room with walls of wine bottles, it looked even more stunning and interesting to me.
I started my dinner with wine. I immediately noticed the nice design of the wine glasses. It did not take me too long to make a decision, it had to be a glass of the Spanish 'Casal Caeiro' Albariño from the Rías Baixas region. It was a very enjoyable, young wine with strong mineral notes. Wines like this is why I became a fan of Albariño.
Staff at House of Ho were very friendly and knew something about the food and drinks. Throughout the evening, my waiter gave me great recommendations and I mostly went with his suggestions.
My first course was 'Black Angus Fillet La Lot wrapped in Betel Leaves, homemade Peanut Sauce'. I thought it was a clever, tiny dish. The Betel leaves were more than just decoration, they added flavour to the beef strips. And although I am not always a big fan of peanut sauce, this incarnation surprised me. I could see and taste actual peanuts which added an interesting crispy texture. The sauce was kind of fruity and sweet with the right level of heat, yet not too spicy for my palate. It was a great start and really very tasty, though a bit small.
When my starter came, I realised once again that I should probably better learn to eat with sticks. I did not even try this time and simply explained that I am too stupid, then I got cutlery, which made my life much easier.
For the main, I followed my waiter's recommendation and went for the Lemongrass Free Range Chicken and Chicken Scratchings together with some Ho Special Rice on the side. After the waiter told me what was so special about the rice, I asked him if they could leave out the prawns. It is like an egg fried rice with some crispy pork, I think, mixed in. The bowl of rice was very good and the pieces of meat added a bit of crunch.
Now to the chicken. On the menu, it was listed under "Signature Sharing", I asked my waiter and he confirmed that it is also good as a main dish for one person. And he was right, it's not a massive portion.
The chicken was crispy and delicious. I enjoyed the perfect balance between beautiful flavours and a certain spiciness. I could clearly taste the lemongrass throughout every bite and the chicken crackling added more texture to the dish.
Finally, I was ready for dessert. When ordering the
'Warm Green Tea Fondant, Passion Fruit with Vanilla ice cream', I was not entirely sure about what I would get. I remember once having a horrible green tea ice cream at some restaurant, so I was a bit wary. Luckily, this time the green tea dessert turned out to be a delightful white chocolate and green tea fondant with a liquid centre. I only would have prefered more passion fruit on the plate or maybe passion fruit ice cream instead of vanilla.
I really enjoyed all three courses and was more than happy with my wine. House of Ho is a friendly, modern restaurant where the plates do not only look good, but also taste delicious.