Return to the House of Ho

We’re meeting S and L again, and they like their cocktails. So we arrive at House of Ho, in Percy Street in time for happy “hour”, two for one cocktails from 5.30 to 7pm – we fall in with the doors.  We get through two rounds before heading down to the restaurant for dinner.  Only to be promptly told to go back up two floors!

Again, it’s one of those places where you can’t easily distinguish starters from mains – sorry, but I like a bit of structure – though we do crack it in the end.  We have some edamame beans and Vietnamese prawn crackers while choosing.

Up first we have popcorn shrimps, really tempting deep-fried little pieces, which B scoffs most of. The prawn summer roll in rice-paper wrap is good, the coriander leaves coming through. Crab and prawn wanton is a little more ordinary, and pulled pork slider doesn’t really work shared between four. 

Then “mains” do arrive.  My choice was the shaking beef, fillet with interesting spices, which is very tender as you’d expect.  S’s choice of green chicken curry is the largest portion, not too fiery but enough to make it good. L’s  king prawns with chilli and garlic comes, not as I expected stir-fried, but deep-fried  - but is nonetheless very good. B chooses the duck and watermelon salad, which is perhaps the best of the lot – light, fresh, tangy spice.  We also have noodles.

One bottle of wine (the other came down from the bar), takes the bill to a pretty modest £220.  Definitely a reliably good value venue.