Ngon Ngon is quite a new Vietnamese restaurant situated in Clerkenwell, taking the former Cafe VN. Due to it's more commercial area it is more quiet during the weekend than the weekdays, especially during lunch hours. However it went through a lovely refurbishment with it's more welcomed yellow walls making the place seem more airy and bright, giving the place a nice wooden lodge cabin feel to it. The tables were nicely laid out, spacious with good natural light coming in too.
Our waiter could have been a little more jollier. Most of the time he just stood there bored looking at their empty restaurant. The other staff seem to be more happier, one preparing the sprouts whilst the other remain on his phone nearly most of the time
Vietnamese spring rolls
As much as I enjoyed the crispiness and how greaseless these were, I found the skin too thick masking a lot of flavour and texture of the filing. From the photo I uploaded you can see how they were double wrapped. However I did enjoy the variation of meats in the filling, from shrimp, squid to pork which helped recover some flavour. Nuoc nam was perfectly sour to sweet, mild on the chilli which made a refreshing dipping sauce to balance out the heaviness
Grilled quail
These were definitely worth ordering. Being quail they don't have a lot of meat on it but whatever was there was worth getting your fingers dirty for. The meat was incredibly flavoursome, rich, juicy and tender in the honey and Vietnamese spices it was marinated in. The dipping sauce it came with which tasted like salty sour plum was amazing, a bit strong so just a little dip will do the trick, sending a whole complex range of flavour across the quail.
Vietnamese crepe with prawns
Some have achieved a thinner crepe but this was still very satisfyingly thin, crispy and eggy. It was the filling that let it down a bit, lacking wok energy and a bit too wet with a monotone soy cornstarch slurry over the prawns and beansprouts. Needed more depth. But the variation of textures won it over for me. Lovely crunches and bounciness from the prawns. The nuoc nam aided it with flavour and a generous amount of Vietnamese herbs for complexity and to soak up the moisture.
Salted and peppered while seabass
Very presentable but poorly executed. The fried fish pieces delivered no flavour, bland and uninspiring. None of the onions, salt or pepper rubbed onto the fish which meant it lacked wok energy. The batter was chewy rather than crispy. The whole dish was desperately reliant on the nuoc nam for flavour.
Grilled pork bún
A very refreshing dish. The noodles were perfectly al dente topped over with aromatic pieces of grilled pork, packed full of flavour with a nice smokey edge to it from where it was charred. Peanuts and deep fried onions added a nice contrast in texture and added flavour. Herbs gave it complexity and made it peppery. Could have been a bit more generous with the nuoc nam seeing the size of the dish but a very minute problem seeing how delicious the dish was overall.
Spicy beef noodles
An excellent take on bun bo hue. The broth had depth and complexity with nice sour and spicy notes. The noodles were the authentic round kind, wonderfully slippery against the generous amount of tender rare beef slices which had a good amount of fatty bits giving it that richness in flavour and sweetness.
Morning glory with garlic
This was nice to have as a side and cooked well where the garlic flavours really infused into the greens itself. Lacked wok energy although seasoning was perfect and a nice cornstarch slurry so the morning glory was kept moist and the flavours attached.
Ngon Ngon is a quite a good choice if you're looking for decent Vietnamese food. It's definitely not perfect and lacks passion to deliver the best out of all the dishes especially with any dish requiring a wok as it seems they know how to let the oil heat up before putting the ingredients in to allow the flavours to be released. Their grilled dishes, noodle soups and buns are definitely more successful and if I was to return, I will stick to that. read more