Let’s play a game.
Go to the website for this Vietnamese restaurant in Clerkenwell and tell me when the restaurant is open.
Now, go to the website for this crab-focused restaurant in Broadgate Circus and check its opening hours. Wait til Sunday. Call them and ask when their actual opening hours are.
WHY IS IT SO HARD PEOPLE? WHY? (I will start an Opening Hours Page of Shame soon. Get ready for it.)
Back to Ngon Ngon in Clerkenwell. It turns out they were open on a Sunday afternoon when I dropped in for a restorative bowl of pho to cure what ailed me. So that was good. (But please…someone please come up with the cure for the common cold.)
Not so good? The fact that the temperature in the restaurant had been set to “Par-Boil.” I could barely eat, I was so hot. And I certainly couldn’t eat a steaming bowl of hot pho.
So I got some spring rolls and some noodles instead. And while the veggie spring rolls were delightful, the beef noodles had me contemplating the word “unctuous.” Is “unctuous” a good word or a bad word? I really can’t decide. “Unctuous pork belly” doesn’t sound so bad. But “unctuous noodles” makes me feel a little, well unctuous.
The redeeming factor? Service was sweet and the prices were right.
The Verdict: On the fence.
