I realise it’s been a while not just since I’ve posted, but since I have done a review of a restaurant. Not that I haven’t been stuffing my face, but honestly I’ve gotten lazy. But enough about that, I’m back and now that I am leaving London (I know…so sad!) I’ve marked tons of places I want to try before I leave. So here’s to being inspired both to share my thoughts more, but to going to do it.

I always venture into central central London (aka SoHo area) when I choose a spot to meet up with friends, so it’s nice that my dad is staying close by and I get to discover more of my own neighbourhood. To be honest, not sure how this popped up on my radar, but happy it did.

MẮM is a Vietnamese place in Notting Hill area and it’s not your usually grudgey pho place around the corner and instead has a cozy garden vibe with (fake) flowers hanging from the wooden ceiling beams.

After a long day outside in the cold, it was nice to sit down and warm up with a cup of tea as we figured out what to order.

I was definitely thinking of pho to warm myself up, but when I looked at the menu the Banh-Hoi caught my eye.  I have to give a shout-out to the simple one-page menu that MẮM offered.  It didn’t overload me with options, but enough that I felt like I had choices.

We got ourselves some chicken Cha Gio (spring roles) and the Goi Du Du (papaya salad) as starters.  The lettuce wrap under the spring roles was a really nice touch that added an extra freshness I really enjoyed.

For the Banh-Hoi, which is essentially a platter to create lettuce wraps with the BBQ, we got the Pork Shoulder, King Prawn and Black Pepper Beef skewers.  All were delicious, but the beef definitely won my heart.  Plus I just love lettuce wraps.

I am really happy to have found this little gem close to home and will definitely be dragging Chris to eat it with me next time.

There are so many posts in progress, so until next time (hopefully sooner)…toodles