A bright, airy new Vietnamese restaurant has just opened its doors in the middle of Tooley Street, London and it’s getting quite a lot of attention. Now, this could be for one of two reasons – the new hi-tech ordering system or the great food. In this case however, it’s both – and that rarely happens.
Let’s start with the ordering system. Aimed at fast, reliable service, the restaurant is very functional (comfort is not something you should be focusing on) with a row of touchscreens for customers to browse the menu and ‘stroke’ their way through its virtual pages. You order on screen. You pay on screen and then in rather an Argos kind of way, you watch the status of your order as it progresses through the kitchen. Et voila, it is delivered over to you by a person with a smile. The human touch in a techno world. We like that.
Now for the food, after all that is what you came for. Velo serve traditional Vietnamese street food - light, tasty and healthy. The menu is small and carefully designed to cater to discerning palates.
Among the specialities is Pho Velo, Banh Mi LX and Vermicelli Roast Pork. For the uninitiated, here’s the low-down on Vietnamese terminology;
Pho - a traditional Vietnamese soup noodle dish: smooth & silky flat rice noodles in a hot fragrant broth with beef, chicken, prawn or tofu. There is a choice of beef, chicken or vegetarian broth - complemented with beansprouts, fresh Asian herbs, chilli & a squeeze of lemon.
Banh Mi is a Vietnamese baguette. At Velo a long-established family baker makes the bread to custom specifications. The baguette can contain pate, lap xuong Asian salami, roast pork, beef, tofu along with cucumber, pickled daikon and carrot, herbs and sauces.
They also serve rice, vermicelli, soups, spring rolls, summer rolls, green papaya salads and a variety of drinks, including the hugely popular Naked Juices and desserts.
104 Tooley Street, London