What: While it might sound like a fast-casual offshoot, Jeff Tan’s Go-Viet is a more refined version of his Soho restaurant Vietfood. In leafy South Ken, it’s billed as his flagship but sensibly offers a surprisingly good value lunch menu with most dishes around £10, including Tan’s excellent pho.
The food: Tan’s menus are a great fit for an area that skews heavily to waist-conscious female diners. Vietnamese food is less heavy than most other Asian cuisines and Tan’s take on it is lighter still. Referred to as ‘Chef Jeff’ by his largely Vietnamese front-of-house team, Tan is a formidable talent with a CV that includes chef de cuisine at Hakkasan Mayfair. The approach is broadly similar to Hakkasan in the sense that Tan creates modern takes on classic dishes but retains an authentic taste. The dinner menu is big on luxury ingredients and, therefore, pricier but it’s still possible to navigate on a budget.
Key dishes: Must-order items include 24-hour-cooked beef cheeks served with an incredible wine and oyster sauce; grilled chicken wings marinated in turmeric and fresh herbs; baby tomatoes marinated in 12 different Asian herbs; and the mysteriously titled grilled lemongrass wild king prawns served with plum fish sauce and crispy fluffy ‘stuff’. Herbs, spices and other specialist ingredients, including amazing, savoury Vietmanese plums are sourced from Vietnam but most of the vegetables and proteins come from the UK and are of high quality
The space: On Old Brompton Road, the 60-cover restaurant has a terracotta colour scheme with backlit tortoiseshell wall panels with subtle south-east Asian touches.