Fresh Roll, Crouch End, Restaurant Review

By Laura Johnston on July 26th 2011

It was certainly a mistake to demolish a large slice of strawberry cheesecake on the afternoon before I visited Fresh Roll- the Vietnamese restaurant which opened three months ago on Park Road.

The noodle bar has such a huge menu offering mouth-watering Vietnamese street foods and national dishes there was no way my friend Kellie and I were going to be able to resist trying a variety of their specialities- despite the afternoon appetiser.

We spent an age drooling over the menu and when the super friendly staff come over to take our order we were still undecided as to what to choose -   but luckily they were eager to offer their knowledgeable advice.

We nibbled on prawn crackers as we waited for our starters to arrive and they certainly exceeded expectations. The Special Summer Rolls were stuffed with juicy prawns, chicken, crabmeat and fresh herbs with a decadent plum and peanut sauce, and the vegetable spring rolls were crispy and light and came with a bed of ice-berg lettuce to wrap them in and dip in the special Ruoc Cham sauce. Although that proved a little messy and so we ended up leaving the green stuff on the side.

We couldn’t resist the suggestion of aromatic duck and pancakes for seconds. It was deliciously crispy and we stuffed the pancakes full with the duck, spring onions and oozing hoi-sin sauce.

We had a short while to carry on gossiping until the waiter covered our table with plates of enormous, appetising dishes. The Ha Noi sizzling platter of marinated white fish with fresh dill and spring onions was perfectly flavoured and cooked to perfection, as was the Bun Thit Nuong, succulent char grilled pork, marinated in herbs and spices.  The Chicken Pad Thai was extremely flavoursome although the tofu Bun Sa, stir fried rice vermicelli, was blander but a nice contrast.

The décor doesn’t have the wow factor of some of the other restaurants in Crouch End to entice diners but the food certainly does, which was evident by the number of people popping in throughout the evening to collect takeaways. Just remember, pass on the afternoon cake before visiting. (Laura Johnston)

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