Over the last couples of years, Brunch has been taking the UK by storm. Brunch has always been around for as long as I can remember, but not until now has it really become such a craze. Some restaurants in London have even stopped serving breakfast/lunch menus altogether at the weekend, replacing it with Brunch. Personally I’ve never been a huge fan of this late-morning meal time, as it means you’re caught between a trap of missing breakfast & lunch, then replacing it – my body just doesn’t know how to cope. But then I discovered Bobby’s rock n’roll brunch at The House of Ho and the promise of unlimited prosecco with a feast of a meal for only £29 was enough to entice me in alone.
One tip you all need to know about (and adhere to), is DO NOT eat anything before you come for Brunch here – you’ll struggle as it is. To whet our appetites along this feast of a journey, the humble edamame was offered and quickly demolished by us both. Imperial rolls didn’t look like much, but were actually one of the highlights. A mixture of vegetables, glass noodles and shredded pork all encased in a crystal roll which is then fried off. The 7 spiced marinated squid I ‘d for some reason expected to be just OK, but instead it was some of the best I’ve had in a while. They managed to cooked the squid so perfectly that not an ounce of chewiness was in sight, season to perfection and a crumb so crispy, it was begging to be dunked into that delicious chilli heavy dip.
Fresh summer rolls were as expected – fresh, vibrant and full of summer charm – flavoured with the intense hit of coriander and a citrus dipping sauce. Duch pho cuon was the one dish which went quietly under the radar, but very quickly everyone discovered its secret and none of us could keep at bay from such a delicious tasting dish. By this point the unlimited prosecco offering was taking its toll – I could feel one eye drooping and the other one fixated on making sure our waiter didn’t disappear too far in case my glass-fill got low – some people call it alcoholism, I call it good living. Smoky aubergine – was incredibly smoky. Perhaps a little over zealous for some people, but for me it was perfect. I love smoke, and who can resist soft and silky slithers of juicy aubergine – I for one certainly can’t. Glazed chicken wings were juicy, smoky, full of flavour and one of the highlights of our meal here – they may be messy but they’re worth ruining my white shirts for any day.
You wouldn’t believe we’d only hit our main courses and that all those other bits before were simply nibbles and starters – as I said, an epic feast. Lemon grass chicken in a fish caramel sauce is one of House of Ho’s signature dishes I believe and there’s good reason. The chicken is moist and the caramel fish sauce is so sticky and sweet, it creates a sort of extra layer onto the chicken adding a lovely texture. I rather enjoyed nibbling on that smoked spring onion too. Morning glory (of the vegetable dish kind) was a rather unusual affair. I believe the vegetable is known as water spinach and this was actually the first time I’d eaten it before. The dish was smoked, but overly smoked in my opinion and dominated the dish leaving a not so nice lingering flavour in the mouth. Pork belly comes at a supplement of £6 and if like me, you love meat – then its worth the extra few pounds. You’ll need it to soak up some of that prosecco too.
By this point you could only imagine the state we were in. Incredibly full, drunk and ready for our beds – finishing up on a well executed crème brulee. Soho is changing so much right now and looking back only three years or so years ago, this part of town was always known as the slightly hedonistic place for drinking and famed for its abundance of gay bars. Three years on and it still has all of those things, but with a lot more restaurants and a little more class – Soho is now the foodie hub of London and it’s still very much in its infancy. The next time someone asks you where to go for good Vietnamese food and unlimited bubbly – come here. It will be the best £29 you’ve ever spent. Fact.
7/10
I was invited to review
