About a month ago my friend Malin and I had a farewell dinner at The House of Ho, a fairly newly opened Vietnamese restaurant in London, as Malin was moving away. Not far, but I still miss her.

The restaurant is lively and along the back wall there is a long bar and small tables are scattered around the cosy area. My first thought was that it’s a great place to go on a date, as it was buzzing and fun but still a bit intimate.

The menu consisting of both small dishes and proper main courses was interesting and we decided to share a few dishes to get to try as many things as possible.

The salmon tartar, above, with onions, seaweed and flavoured salt was nice, but I prefer already mixed tartars to these where you mix yourself on the plate.

The smoky aubergine with spring onion vinaigrette and fried onions that Malin’s colleague recommended to us was absolutely lovely and probably my favourite for the evening.

The pomolo and crab salad with noodles, mint and prawn crackers was nice but not amazing. The monk fish with lemongrass and caramel sauce (no picture) was lovely though.

I found the food to be a bit hit or miss, although everything was well cooked some dishes lacked a bit of oomph. It’s stiff competition having a restaurant in London and The House of Ho definitely has potential but needs to figure out what they’re good at and stick to that.

House of Ho, 57-59 Old Compton St, Soho, London W1D 6HP